We have two examples from right here in Tuscany to share with you.

The first is a video sent into us by one of our members.  An elderly lady pushing a stroller is crossing the street and the vehicle doesn’t even slow down, forcing her to run across the road else be hit.  The Community Association has received a number of complaints regarding traffic safety incidents in the past and we encourage you to report violations to the Calgary Police Service.

The second issue concerns illegal parking.  These photos taken at a local cul-de-sac show vehicles angle parked and parallel parked adjacent to the central island landscaping – illegal in both cases. Should a fire truck or ambulance need to assist on this street, they would not be able to access a number of homes.

Do you think Tuscany has traffic issues? Take our poll and feel free to leave a comment with any solutions you might suggest (please note that all comments are moderated).

View This Poll

http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Recreation/Pages/Research-and-development/P3-NW-SE.aspx?redirect=%2Fnewreccentres

To help gauge interest, we invite you to take our online survey and tell us which activities might be of interest to you or your family. We really appreciate your feedback.  View This Poll

Poll closes 7 November 2011.

In order for us to best serve our community, we want to hear from you. Post your comments to these two questions:

Should the TCA sponsor more arts based events and activities in the community?

What other events and activities would you like to see in Tuscany?

Thanks again for attending the event. Have a great summer enjoying the Tuscany Outdoor Art Gallery!

The Tuscany Community Association  is working with the Tuscany Elementary and St. Basil’s Catholic School to showcase their students art on the fence, and then on June 12, we invite all members of the community to “paint a canvas” for display on the fence for the remainder of the construction project. The TCA will provide cloroplast boards that will serve as the canvas, and Benjamin Moore has provided us with a great deal on paint that we will be using. Sobey’s has generously allowed us to use their parking lot and will be on hand with their famous barbecue!

This year there are ten $200 gift certificates that you will be entered into a draw for, just for taking five minutes to fill out the survey.  Plus you will help to make Calgary a place that everyone is proud to call home.

If you think that Calgary is a neighbourly place, or if you feel your community can be improved, check out the survey here.  Everyone’s opinion is important!

We represent the community in civic matters (infrastructure, schools, LRT), as well as coordinate TCA Soccer, Adult Softball, Tuscany Race, Tuscany Book Swap, Tuscany Community Garden and Tuscany Community Art Gallery. We welcome new ideas and look forward to your input. We also extend a special invitation to any community members that wish to join the board as a director, as we have a number of vacancies in the upcoming year.

If you are interested in learning more about the TCA and its activities, expressing your thoughts for making Tuscany an even better community or would like to volunteer, we look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

Am I the only one that is disappointed by the changes in the Tuscany commercial area over the past year? When the florist left, I hoped we might get a small take-out restaurant in its place – and instead all we got was a bigger liquor store. When the movie rental store went out of business, I thought we might get another business to serve our community in its place – and instead the hair salon currently adjoining Rexall is moving into that location. For the size of Tuscany, we have a disproportionately low number of local businesses – especially establishments that serve food. What I wouldn’t give for a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant that didn’t require a 15 minute drive to get to!

Sincerely,
Jason Dunn

Great Hobby

On the weekend of April 16^th-17^th, The Calgary British Railway Modellers group is having a show, in which my group has a layout. I have attended for the last two years since I rekindled my interest after I began to re-assemble my own layout three years ago.

It’s always been very well attended and is one of those hobbies which does not seem to be to prevalent today – sad really. It’s a great hobby and kept me in when I was in my early teens on those dark winter nights when most kids were out causing trouble – that was England though.

Click here to see more!

Carl

Thanks for a Great Neighbour

A wonderful act of kindness took place in our community a few weeks ago and I wanted to share it with all of you.

I had just finished shopping at Home Depot and was busy buckling in my two young sons in my car when I mistakenly left my wallet (full of cash) in a cart in the parking lot. A few hours later a lovely mom named Rolanda was at my door holding my wallet, which I hadn’t yet noticed was missing. Rolanda had found my wallet and personally delivered it to my house!

A BIG THANK YOU to you Rolanda for being so kind and thoughtful. Good Karma is sure to be with you in 2011!

Lindsay D.

Great Neighbours
When I describe the neighbors on my street to my friends it always sounds like I’m exaggerating but I’m not – I truly am blessed with the most incredible neighbors anyone could ask for.  We moved here 5 years ago and immediately found the neighbors extremely friendly.  We had only been here a week when my wife was invited to one of those “sex toy” parties (I guess that would fall under the “funniest neighbor moments” category).   It’s always a race with my neighbors to see who shovels my sidewalk and mows my lawn first – they usually beat me and I have hardly had to mow my front lawn since the day I moved in.  I swim every week with one neighbor, play volleyball every week with another neighbor and visit with all the other neighbors regularly and easily.  Everyone is so friendly, helpful and generous; it really is an amazing street and I am so thankful to live here!

Genuinely,
Rob

We’d like to send out congratulations to our local photographer and Sun contributor, Erin Baer, on the birth of a health baby boy named Henry. You can read all about Henry on page 37, as well as see a few beautiful pictures of this little boy. In Erin’s article, she mentions that she’s been loving receiving old family photos from her uncle who has been digitizing their original family photos.

If any of you have access to old family photos, I would highly recommend taking on the project of scanning them into your computer. I did this with my Opa’s albums (the original form of scrapbooking), which contained tin types of his grandparents and photos of his family, his childhood, major events (WWII, travel, moving to Canada, marriage,etc) and the progression of his family. I was also able to capture his handwriting, the telegram he sent to my Oma from his warship telling her he was coming home and they could marry, and many of his stories before he passed away. One of my favourite things from this project was to see the longevity of family – to see my Oma so strongly in the face of one of her youngest grandchildren. Although it took it a bit of time, I’m so happy that I did it because now my children can see and hear about their family stories and all of my family has copies of these photos, too.

Carrying on the theme of family and relationships, this month’s question is “ Who was your best friend in high school and are you still friends?” This question was inspired by my oldest child who was wondering last week who my friends were in school and were we still friends. I’m blessed to have a few friends still from my childhood but my oldest friend is Oreola who I met on the first day of school in grade 7. She and I had meet briefly years before through a neighbourhood friend and I recognized her. Being the gregarious soul I am, I bounced up to her with a cheerful “hey” and startled her into spilling her soup onto her sweater! Twenty-six years later, we see each other many times a year, visit on the phone and are watching each other’s children grow up.

To finish up, I am receiving many notes from residents about the dog poo situation now that things are starting to melt. Rather that get into the annual publication of everyone’s frustration about this yucky situation, I’ll ask on behalf of all residents in Tuscany that you always pick up after your dog. It’s your responsibility. Enough said.

Hope you have a wonderful March.

o       The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

o       The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Space by Jim Lebans

o       The Accusers by Lindsey Davis

o        Learning in Relationship: Foundation for Personal and Professional Success by Ronald R. Short

o       The Guernsey Island Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

o       The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger