2009 LEAF Season Review
Due to spring's late arrival, the flowers were held back and protected from the June snowfall in warm green houses thanks to the foresight and great call by the North Parks District Supervisor. Although the flowers arrived later in the season, they were alive and vibrant. We were spared the extra expense of replacing dead foliage killed by the unwelcome spring snowfall.
This year the Parks crew addressed the tree wells along Hawkwood Boulevard with extra weeding and mulch. We addressed the concerns of community residents after receiving permission from the City Roads Department to protect the hedge at the bottom of Hawkwood Boulevard and John Laurie. Large rocks were strategically placed within the bed to prevent cars jumping the curb and crushing the plants.
The fall clean up began the week before the Thanksgiving snow fall. Thankfully the beds and planters were cleaned up before the early freeze. Because the leaves didn't get a chance to change color and fall, we had to push some of the fall clean up into the spring clean up of 2010.
Despite The City of Calgary's best efforts, we have for a second year in a row run a budget deficit. As a result, we will be increasing the Landscape Enhancement Tax Levy in 2010 by 3%. The 2010 levy will be increased from $55.00 to $56.65 annually per household (or from $4.58 to $4.72 per month). Increasing the budget is necessary in order to maintain the standards we are hoping to achieve in this community. Despite the increase for 2010 our budget continues to be tight. The City District Supervisor is addressing cut backs to certain areas of maintenance in order to achieve a balanced budget for the 2010 season. Weather is the great unknown in this business and it has a tremendous impact on fluctuating landscape maintenance costs. For example drought can cost our program more for watering fields, plants and flowers while too much rain can increase the grass mowing budget. This year the sports fields and playgrounds were in poor condition therefore aerating and fertilizing increased the budget this year.
The City of Calgary provided a very dedicated gardening crew for Hawkwood. Any concerns we had were quickly and effectively addressed. The crew commented that neighbors often stopped to compliment them on the beautiful community that they were creating. This gave them great pride in their job. Thank you Hawkwood for your appreciative encouragement. We are very fortunate to have a program like this in place that inspires neighborhood pride and beauty. We hope you have enjoyed the beautiful flowers and green space maintenance this year. We look forward to the 2010 growing season.
If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions for this program. Please leave a message on the Hot Line number and a Board of Director member will return your call.
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