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Friends, Follies 3 was wonderful. Many thanks to the organizers and participants. What a treat to be there! The generosity and spirit of Friends of Lansdowne people continue to amaze us. Here we are, after years of work, still fighting for what’s right at Lansdowne, still willing to keep it going -- and still giving money as generously as ever! Follies 3 was our second most successful fundraiser yet. We raised an amazing $15,000 from ticket sales, cash and cheques in the collection buckets, plus an offer by a generous individual to match all the money in the buckets. The Follies 3 money, plus what we had in the bank, gave us enough to send another good payment to our hard-working lawyers. They deserve it -- Steven Shrybman and his colleagues went the extra mile and then some. And they did it whether we could pay their fees or not. And they did it even though City has paid their lawyers a million dollars more than we have paid ours. It would be good to narrow that gap somewhat! The fact that we have not yet heard from the Ontario Supreme Court suggests that the Court is taking our case seriously, and shows what an outstanding job our Steven and his colleagues did for us. We remain optimistic that the decision will go our way. This message is to ask everyone receiving this message to add to the success of Follies 3 and donate again. You have been wonderfully generous. Since FOL began raising money, you have given more than 1,500 donations averaging about $200. That’s simply outstanding. Thanks for all you’ve done. Let’s keep it going. And if you need one more thing to encourage you to donate, here's the news from the City of Ottawa's Art and Heritage Advisory Committee this week. The 1% that the City requires be earmarked for public art on civic projects will not be awarded through the normal call for proposals from artists. Instead it was folded into the contract for the urban park consultants -- Philips, Farevaag, Smallenberg, who have awarded it to one artist (Jill Anholt Studio) for two pieces: a screen and a beacon. Many from the arts community are shocked that they did not have an opportunity to compete for this important $4 million commission. This is yet another situation where normal, competitive processes have not been followed for the Lansdowne development. You can make a donation
Friends of Lansdowne Thanks everyone. June Creelman and Ken Shipley. |