Don’t look now but artificial respiration is being administered to some long- comatose ratepayer associations in Mississauga, and the result can only be good news for residents and the municipality as a whole.
The Lakeview Ratepayers’ Association has already been rejuvenated and is girding to fight a new gas-powered plant on the Lakeview G.S. site.
Now comes a sighting of the venerable Park Royal Community Association (PRCA), which was formed in 1958 and had a long history of social and political action before it petered out from lack of interest at the beginning of this decade.
One of those applying oxygen is Muktha Tumkur, who has lived in the area for fewer than five years. She got interested in its history through her opposition to a proposal to put a new car wash bay at the site of an old gas station, at the corner of Truscott Dr. and Bodmin Rd. right across from Park Royal Plaza.
Taking up a petition to oppose the car wash, which was the subject of an Ontario Municipal Board hearing last month, proved highly educational for Tumkur.
“I never heard of a ratepayers’ association before in my life,” she said.
Her anger at jamming such a modern facility on such a small, older site prompted her to start talking to her neighbours on Seagull Dr. She learned about people like Tom Peebles, who died in December, but was one of the founders and stalwarts of the long-lived PRCA.
Looking through old clippings and scrapbooks that people had kept, Tumkur was amazed to see how the association enriched the lives of everyone who lived in Park Royal (the neighbourhood developed by John Welton and his United Lands Corp. and bounded by the QEW on the north, Southdown Rd. on the east, the CN line to the south, and Winston Churchill on the west.)
“They had field days (the three-legged race was always a big hit) and bingo nights and sewing classes and they even declared a Mrs. Park Royal, who was the best housewife,” says Tumkur.
In fact one of the young bands who played at the teen dances was some group called Rush. Wonder what ever happened to them?
The late Denny Doherty, by the way, lived for a while on Lewisham Dr. when he first settled here.
Several former ratepayer leaders have shown interest in getting it going again. More impetus was provided during the municipal election campaign when Park Royal resident, and Ward 2 council candidate, Brian Hurley lamented the lack of active ratepayer sounding boards.
“I’m particularly interested in the beautification of Park Royal,” says Hurley, who would like to see a nice entrance sign erected on Truscott at Southdown Rd. like the one on Sheridan Park Dr. that announces entry into Sheridan Homelands.
Mrs. Park Royal may be stale-dated, says Hurley, but how about a contest for the best front garden?
There are no shortage of issues. If you are going to the Clarkson GO, you can have a roller coaster ride on Bromsgrove Rd. to warm you up. The sewer flooding problems in the south end are still ongoing and Park Royal, like virtually every other Mississauga neighbourhood, is going to face big-time pressure to add density to multi-residential properties considered to be underused.
The Park Royal Community Association will officially be re-launched Thursday at 6:45 p.m. when the revamped constitution is presented and new officers will be elected. An annual general meeting will follow.
Ward 2 has traditionally been a hotbed of ratepayer activity in Mississauga, as current Councillor Pat Mullin, and former councillors Margaret Marland and Mary Helen Spence can amply attest. The ward still has 14 associations on its books.
Although it might seem like a contradiction, especially since active ratepayer associations often serve to educate and train potential political opponents, good councillors want active ratepayer groups.
The worst thing you can do as a politician is guess what your community wants.
Thank goodness Park Royal will again have a voice. May a trend follow.