Councillor Gord Perks has confirmed that the planned reconstruction will indeed take place in 2009. Work will likely begin in early spring after the thaw, and will continue through the summer. The Roncesvalles Village BIA is preparing a disruption plan to help businesses cope during the reconstructiion.

The delay works to our advantage and gives us time to work on getting the best possible plan in place for the redesign of Roncesvalles.

So this coming spring and summer will be business as usual for business owners, and 2009 will be the year of disruptions.

Karen Palkowski of the High Park Residents’ Association informs us about an important public meeting to take place on January 17 at Howard Public School (30 Marmaduke St), from 7-9 pm. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the possibility of making the school’s parking lot available to the public, presumably outside school hours.

Parking is tight in the Roncesvalles area, with only about 200 or so on-street spaces. Proposed plans for the 2008 or 2009 reconstruction of Roncesvalles call for the widening of the sidewalk in several areas, which would reduce parking further. If the public were able to park in the school’s lot on evenings, weekends and holidays, this would add significant capacity while bringing the school added revenue.

Such partnerships are not new for Roncesvalles. Green P recently installed a meter in the parking lot of the St. Stanislaus - St. Casimir’s Polish Parishes Credit Union, making a few dozen additional spots available to Roncesvalles shoppers. These are creative solutions that allow for increased parking without needing to build additional lots.