At a special city council meeting August 25 Rembrandt Park and District 2 were the good fortune of two upgrade measures. As announced previously, but only confirmed by the rest of council at this meeting, work will commence in the next few weeks on the installation of a water games area as well as a large slide/climbing structure. Construction is unlikely to be completed before the end of October, meaning that residents won’t get to experience these wonderful new features until the spring. Well, good things are worth waitiing for. The water game area will be similar to those already in place at Richard Schwartz and Pierre Elliott Trudeau parks. For instance, there will be a large sprinkler in the shape of a flower that spins as it emits water. The total cost for this will be up to $32,524.81. We are now going for tender for construction bids. As for the new play structure, it will replace some older equipment at a cost of $26,361.06.
I was pleased to see Henry Marcovitz and his wife at the special council meeting. Henry, of course, was a distinguished city councillor for many years. The Marcovitzs now reside on Rembrandt, so I feel fortunate to have someone of Henry’s experience to consult with. At the meeting he suggested that we perhaps at some future date lower the size of the hilly areas which front Rembrandt as they could be a detterent to catching any troublemakers in the act. It is no secret that we have had some incidents at Rembrandt Park which have been of particular concern to seniors. This is why we are moving forward with plans in 2009 to get rid of the basketball courts and replace them with tennis courts. We have also had some lights knocked out and broken beyond repair at the park, no doubt by some delinquents. They will be replaced, but this is no small job labour or cost-wise.
