I hope everyone had as good a holiday experience as they could, in spite of the new and more stringent COVID requirements. And particularly, I hope that all were able to stay safe. It was certainly different for many of us, not able to gather with family and friends, or visit our favorite local restaurants. At least we can surely look forward to 2021 – it cannot be worse than 2020 for most of us.
However, as we go into this new year, give a thought to our local businesses. It’s been a tough year for many of them, particularly the restaurants who lost most of their Christmas and New Year’s business. So, do try to help them as much as you can by shopping local, ordering take-out, and going back once things reopen. They’re a vital part of what makes our neighbourhood great.
With the Annual Meeting of your community association out of the way, as I described last month, one of the first orders of business for your new board (which looks remarkably like the previous board) was to appoint officers. I’m pleased to say that the incumbents agreed to stay on in their former positions. Gerda Bloemraad as Vice President and Secretary, Doug Hay as Treasurer, and myself as President, and that this was supported by the board. That said, there are lots of openings on the board for new faces and fresh ideas of how to advance Eau Claire as a community in which to live.
So, I’ll repeat my frequent welcome, to anyone in Eau Claire who wants to find out more about what we do, and to get more involved with your community, to join us at one of our regular meetings, the first Thursday of each month at 5:30 pm. For now, we meet virtually via Zoom and you only have to let us know you’re interested by sending a note to [email protected].
We also started our planning for some new social and community events, although what we’ll actually be able to do will of course, depend upon when and how the current restrictions are lifted. As they say, “Watch this space”, for more news – updates will be posted on our webpage and social media sites as soon as they are available.
One of the features of Calgary is the City’s commitment to involve community associations in the planning of developments in their neighbourhoods, and we were happy to express our support for the proposal from the Calgary River Surfing Association to build a small storage/changing/gathering facility at the base of the Louise Bridge.
In closing, stay healthy everyone, and best wishes for 2021.
