Saturday, June 11th, 2016
10:00am - 2:00pm
Kilbirnie Park
The Half Moon Bay and Stonebridge Community Associations have joined forces to bring you the first annual community safety event at Kilbirnie Park.
Wander over after you pack up your Garage Sales. Bring your bikes and your friends!
This Halloween (Friday, October 31) the Half Moon Bay Community Association will be handing out peanut-free candy from 5pm to 6pm at the corner of River Mist and Cambrian.
Bring out your little ones in their costumes to get some candy provided by our generous sponsors! The City of Ottawa has also provided some reflective snap bracelets for the trick or treaters.
Back this year are our friends from Rogers who will be deploying the Pumpkin Patrol to help keep us safe. Look for the Rogers vehicles around the community. The Half Moon Bay Neighbourhood Watch has also arranged for the Kappa Sigma Fraternity brothers to patrol our area again. Make sure to say hi!
We'll also be handing out "All Valuables Removed" warning cards for your vehicles and money saving coupons for $5 off LED light bulbs to help light up the neighbourhood.
If you missed our Food Drive earlier this month, we will be collecting non-perishable food items for the Barrhaven Food Cupboard at this event as well.
See you on Halloween!
As we're all aware there has been an unfortunate spike in crime in our area over the past few weeks. Items have been stolen from houses and cars as well as graffiti and vandalism all over the community.
We have been in touch with both Jan Harder's office and our Community Police Officer Cst. Timothy Murray about these issues. Jan's office was able to have the graffiti removed immediately, and Constable Murray has requested extra patrols be assigned to our area.
There are ways that we as a community can help make the area more secure:
Leaving your outdoor lights on at night will give criminals and vandals fewer places to hide and commit the crime.
Keeping an eye out can be as simple as helping your neighbour out by checking on their house while they're on vacation, going for a walk, or peeking out your window.
While on a walk, say "hi" to everyone you meet. Chances are you'll be speaking to a neighbour, but if someone is in the neighbourhood planning to commit a crime, they will then know that someone has seen their face and acknowledged their presence. This technique is sometimes taught to employees in retail stores for loss prevention and can be quite effective. If nothing else we'll be quite a friendly community!
If you happen to see a crime in progress, do not get involved, but rather remain a witness, record details, and call 911 immediately. If you see something suspicious call the Ottawa Police "Other Emergencies" line at 613-230-6211.
Constable Murray gave us the following information about Citizen Foot Patrols. "...residents are perfectly within their rights to actively walk through their community in an effort to deter crime. Should they observe a crime in progress, the Ottawa Police recommends that they do not get involved and instead remain a witness and call 911. Should they observe suspicious people, the Ottawa Police Service recommends that they call police immediately at 613-230-6211."
If you decide to form a foot patrol please keep these tips in mind:
The Ottawa Police has a comprehensive list of safety and prevention tips on their website for Personal Safety and Home & Neighbourhood Safety. Visit their website now to read this important safety information.
They have also provided these helpful documents:
You can also find more excellent information in the Crime Prevention Ottawa Toolkit.
If you have other concerns please do not hesitate to contact us at hmbca.ca/contact.
Door-to-Door salespeople are becoming more common, and unfortunately more aggressive as well. We've all heard stories of them trying to enter our homes under the guise of representing an energy company, or the city.
It's important to know your rights.
The following information about door to door sales is given on the Canadian Consumer Handbook website:
- Ask to see the salesperson’s company issued identification and seller’s license or registration. Make note of his or her name, the name and address of the company, and whether the salesperson carries proper identification.
- Don’t be pressured into buying anything. Watch for the warning signs: an offer of a free gift if you buy a product, an offer that is only good that day or a claim that a neighbour just made a purchase.
- If you are interested in the product, ask for sales literature and then call or visit local stores that sell the same merchandise to compare prices. Some door-to-door products may be overpriced.
- If you feel threatened or intimidated, ask the person to leave. Don’t leave the person unattended in any room of your home. When you are suspicious, immediately report the incident to the police.
If you sign a contract with one of these companies, you are legally allowed to cancel the contract without penalty.
The Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services website provides the following information about cancelling a contract:
Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, you have the right to cancel an agreement and have your money returned to you if:
- The contract is subject to a cooling off period. You have the absolute right to cancel (for any reason) within 10 days of receiving a written copy of the agreement.
- The vendor has made a false, misleading or deceptive representation about the goods or services you agreed to buy or lease.
- The information about the goods or services, or your rights as a consumer required by the Consumer Protection Act, are not provided to you in the agreement.
If you do want to cancel the contract, see the Ministry's website for sample letters.
We at the HMBCA are here to help you. If you experience an aggressive door to door salesperson, or recognize them in our community, please let us know immediately so we can alert other members via Twitter and Facebook.
Recently some HMB residents approached us with concerns about vehicles not obeying stop signs on Cambrian, specifically at the Grand Canal intersection. This 4-way stop was added about a year ago, and still seems to be catching some motorists off-guard when entering the community from the west, on Cambrian.
I contacted the City of Ottawa on behalf of the Community Association and HMB residents, and have received the following response:
Traffic Investigations and Survey’s has completed a review of this location and will be taking the following actions:
Our investigation did note that there was a OC Transpo Bus stop sign in very close proximity to the stop sign and we will discuss with OC Transpo representatives to request that they reposition it. The visibility of the stop sign is not impacted to a point where this could be considered a strong contributory factor to non-compliance. We would suggest that non-compliance of this sign should be considered a driver behaviour issue and as such we recommend contacting the Ottawa Police Service to request enforcement by calling 613-236-1222 ext 7300. A work order has been issued to facilitate the above work, a reasonable expectation for completion of said work would be 3-4 weeks from today’s date.
Please direct all questions regarding this issue to:
Traffic Inquiry Management Desk
P: 613-580-2424 x.27777
E:
If you have a safety or security concern in HMB, please contact
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