I read in a local newspaper that the provincial government actually has a program that will give a grant to study whether cooperation between a school (Yale) and local recreation (ARC) would prove beneficial to local recreation programming. Then the program will pay for capital improvements to need to advance the cooperation.

Does this concept seem as inane to others as it does to me? How could access to Yale school fail to be of benefit to recreation programming? Gymnasiums, change rooms, classrooms etc, open up a wide array of possibilities for programming. The fact is that in the town/small city I grew up in schools were used for a wide range of community activities after school hours thus saving the taxpayers the expense of building facilities when school buildings, with a little creative thought, could serve the community for many purposes. Save the taxpayers putting up two buildings where one could be made to serve double duty. Georgetown, Saskatoon, Toronto, Edmonton; in all these cities I participated in programs making use of school gymnasiums and classrooms at substantial savings to taxpayers wallets.

Unfortunately Abbotsford has the Parks & Recreation Empire and the School Board Empire and we all know that empires are about building up your empire and power by increasing the buildings and workers you control then protecting your empire against any invaders.

Now I do like the concept of the provincial government funding of capital changes that would enhance usage of school buildings for community purposes. I like the idea of funds available to draw up the plans for what changes would permit maximum usage of existing school buildings for community use. I do think that we need to look beyond merely Recreation to include seniors, clubs etc.

I suppose what disturbs me about this matter is the implication that our school buildings are not part of the community outside of providing schooling. Recent articles on the proposed school closures reinforced this apparent division between community and school district. The implication in the words of the school district is that the schools are the property of the school district, not the community. If the school district can use them fine, but if they are of no use to the school district they will be sold to benefit the school district. As if it was not the community that paid for the facilities and that the community does not have a right to use closed facilities if there is a need, especially a pressing need.

We do have a pressing need for one of the empty school buildings, preferably Abbotsford Elementary, because of a total lack of leadership at Abbotsford City Hall, which has chosen to procrastinate rather than take action on homelessness and its associated social issues. Dragging their feet on this matter has allowed these problems to worsen to the point they are on the verge of exploding out of control.
They frittered away time that should have been spent planning and preparing to address the overwhelming need for shelter in this city to the point we are on the point of finding ourselves in a position of having to act NOW to provide some form of shelter and services for the homeless, or of living with them spread throughout the neighbourhoods of the city.

Abbotsford Elementary and other school buildings exist, better yet are designed to withstand the depredations of children. Abbotsford Elementary located where it is offers the best location for providing the homeless with shelter while maintaining their access to the services they need and has the potential for the least disruption on the neighbourhood adjacent to the school. Hopefully we can engage the community spirit shown on the question of closing Philip Sheffield to work with the neighbourhood to minimize disruptions, deal with problems and maximize our ability to begin to address these social problems.

It is going to take community, from local neighbourhoods to the entire city to put in place the programs and facilities needed to start reducing homelessness rather than letting it grow. Granted using Abbotsford Elementary is not ideal, but ideally we would have had leadership on these issues and be in a much better position to deal with the burgeoning crisis of homelessness. Until we can get some leadership and intelligence into Abbotsford City Hall we are just going to have to make do with leadership from the citizens and make use of facilities such as Abbotsford Elementary.