Happy Earth Day ~

Thought for Today ~

Grand Treats & Treasures Closing

"A Little Something for Everyone"~ Grand Treats & Treasures

Places for People - Draft Final - August 7th, 2013

"The street will be a destination, not only linking the services and retail opportunities along the main street but also becoming an attraction as a relevant interpretive piece for the community and people place offering something for everyone.

~ and people place offering something for everyone ~

The street will become a quality public 'story.'  While 'passing through' the community will most likely remain a prime use for the main street, the gateways, portals and markers will announce the beginning of the intriguing story and significance of experiencing the Grand River throughout the interpretive elements of the streetscape.  The streetscape experience will convey Cayuga's geographic significance, and offer its hospitality of shops, services, spaces and attractions."

~ Excerpt from HALDIMAND COUNTY STREETSCAPE PLAN FOR CAYUGA.

Changing Dynamics ~ (from final draft plan for Cayuga)

The process of evolution, the mobility of the average resident and visitors, will and continue to change the role and dynamic of Cayuga; creating a different type of economic centre to what has been experienced in the past.  Future area roadway upgrades enhance traffic patterns.  Improvements to the pedestrian realm are a logical extension of community and infrastructure upgrades for the downtown core.

"Unique, Intimate, Inviting"
Three vision principles that form the basis for the streetscape plan improvements;

Unique Community

• Reinforce the design identity of Cayuga;
• Reflect natural heritage resources;
• Create coherence while fostering creativity;
• Reflect the cultural heritage and value the past history of the Cayuga community; and
• Reinforce the unique features, views and distinctive urban built form that define the character of the community.

Intimate Community

• Create streets where people can walk around and see each other face-to-face;
• Provide accessible public places where people can walk, sit, play, relax, and talk;
• Enhance public spaces and define them with interesting buildings, art, and greening; and
• Support a full range of accessible community businesses and services that are vibrant and foster our commercial cores as destinations.

~ HALDIMAND COUNTY STREETSCAPE PLAN FOR CAYUGA  Final Draft, August 7th, 2013.
[Tomorrow: Inviting Community]

Natty Trappings Closing

I will be the gladdest thing
   Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
   And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds
   With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
   And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show
   Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
   And then start down!

~ Edna St. Vincent Millary (1892 - 1950)  American poet. Pulitzer Prize for poetry.  Robert Frost medal.

Special Projects

Special projects include entry walls, Tourist Information Centre plaza and parking lot improvements.  Allowances for 'special projects' include all components to complete the project, for example, the 'bump out' locations typically include new curbs, planting, associated boulder and/or fabricated seating, and waste/recycling containers.

These budget estimates do not include estimates for murals, public art or other markers; these could vary significantly in price depending on quality and magnitude desired by the community.

From the past:  Cover of brochure inviting folks to "The Heart of Haldimand"

Invitation to the Mayor ~

 

"My motto was always to keep swinging.  Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging."
~ Hank Aaron, MLE Major League Baseball.

"It ain't over till it's over." ~ Yogi Berra

Mayor Hewitt, come by when you get back from Paris, France!  Fred Morison, nice to see you.  We supported you.  At the end of the day, we are looking forward to designated, accessible public parking for the village.  Troubling that the streetscaping final draft identifies "property owners" as providing public parking for our tourists and visitors, suggesting strongly that they make their parking more attractive, while $25,000 to upgrade a "tourist booth."

The plan "proposes that Cayuga Street become more of a people place." It goes on to say, "Cayuga's downtown core, seems to have a 'holding' power that is a real testimony to the spirit of the community."

We have lost beautiful little shops on Cayuga Street ~ owners of which believed that this was a quaint village on the heritage Grand River.  They came. They gave up.