The Whaletown Commons

Update 2011

2011-03-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

Barred Owl in the Whaletown Commons

The Strathcona Regional District has been in negotiations with the current owner, Island Timberlands to acquire the Whaletown Commons property as a park for the community.

These negotiations have been 'in-camera,' so no specifics as to numbers could be released to the public.

Regional Director Anderson was able to tell us though, that IT didn't agree to the initial offer made by the SRD, despite the fact that it was arrived at by careful valuation of current property and timber market conditions.

After thirteen years of effort by the Cortes Island community and *three* regional directors, it seems we have to wait a little longer to realize our objective. The good news is that raw land prices on Cortes Island are on the decline, which bodes well for the affordability of the parcel in the future. This is a great opportunity for Island Timberlands to show Cortes it wants to be a good corporate neighbour. We'll keep you posted!

Mary Weiler Painting Silent Auction

2008-02-16T22:35:00.000-08:00

To Cortes Islanders and friends

The Whaletown Commons Project is pleased to be holding a silent auction for a beautiful and historic painting by Cortes Islander, Mary Weiler (1915 - 1999). The painting, entitled "Entrance to the Gorge Harbour," was generously donated by the Cortes Land Conservancy to support the purchase of the Whaletown Creek property as park land for the Cortes Island community.

Mary Weiler was a well-known artist in British Columbia, a meticulous observer, and passionate painter of Cortes Island life. "Entrance to the Gorge Harbour," with its precipitous cliffs dotted with fir, is one of her later paintings. It is the work of a mature and confident artist and is reminiscent of Chinese landscape painting. It measures 24” x 29”, and is being offered in a handmade wooden frame by Cortes craftsman, Howie Roman.

Mary Weiler moved to Cortes Island in 1947 with her husband Otto. In spite of the isolation of the island in the days before the ferry, Mary continued to paint and to exhibit her work widely. She and Ottie raised a family of four, ran the Whaletown store for some years and the post office for many more. Mary was also a nurse and often served as the only emergency medical resource on the island. Both were were very active in the community, and are remembered here with great fondness. Mary left Cortes in 1974 after the death of Otto, continuing to paint for another 25 years. She also took up photography and was a pioneer in creative darkroom techniques. She passed away in 1999, leaving a large body of work, which is represented in collections around the world.

"The Entrance to the Gorge Harbour" will be on display at the Manson’s Hall until East Monday. The auction will close at 5:00 PM on March 24, 2008, and the winning bidder will take home this beautiful painting, a unique piece of our island history.

Bids by email will be accepted! If you cannot be here on the island to participate in the bidding, please send your bid in an email to:

whaletowncommons@gmail.com

Bids will be checked once a day, and you will be notified if you are winning or if you have been outbid. Date stamps on email will determine bidding order.

Wild and extravagant bidding is encouraged! All proceeds of this auction go toward the purchase of the Whaletown Commons and the acquisition of community-owned lands for Cortes Island!

For more information about the Whaletown Commons Project, please go to:
http://www.cortesisland.com/whaletowncommons

Many thanks for your participation and support.

Fall 2007 Update

2007-12-08T17:58:00.000-08:00

Whaletown Commons Project
Community Land in Community Hands

Vision - To create a community park,
public assembly area for the future needs of the community and
to protect the salmon-bearing creek in perpetuity.

Hello everyone and a big thank you for the supportive thoughts, words, and actions on behalf of the Whaletown Commons Project.

The fundraising effort continues to make steady progress.

The community has raised more than $53,000 in donations and pledges so far and the Regional District of Comox Strathacona (RDCS) continues to support the Project. As you may recall, the RDCS Board passed the following motion in June 2006:

WHEREAS Manson’s Landing having the greatest population in Area I (Cortes) has 3 provincial and 3 regional district parks; and

WHEREAS Whaletown having the second greatest population in Area I (Cortes) has no provincial or region
al district parks;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Area I (Cortes) Park Acquisition Reserve Fund be designated for the purchase of a park in the Whaletown area;
AND FURTHER THAT a significant portion from the 2006 and each year thereafter be set aside from Area I's (Cortes) Park Budget and accumulated for the purchase of a park in the Whaletown area.

Fundraising continues with a silent auction through the Christmas season. Bidding will start for Mary Weiler’s painting “The Entrance to the Gorge Harbour” at the Gorge Craft Fair on December 8th. The Whaletown Commons Project will also be at the Manson’s Hall for the Christmas Friday Markets December 7, 14, and 21. The auction will finish on Valentine’s Day when the successful bidder takes this original watercolor home. A special thank you to Sabina Leader-Mense of the Cortes Land Conservancy for donating Mary’s painting to the Project.

Speaking of names, the Society has been aware for some time that the name “Whaletown Commons” does not accurately reflect the island-wide nature of the project – the acquisition of parkland for the entire Cortes Island community to use and enjoy.

The property we are focusing on has been known historically by several names, including Robertson Creek, Burnside Creek and Whaletown Creek. The name “Whaletown Commons” was chosen back in 2005 to describe the location of the property, in Whaletown, as well as the common good it would serve.

Since the inception of the Whaletown Commons Society, 260 members have signed up, and the distribution of our membership truly represents island-wide support. We have thought about changing the name to reflect this support, but to do so would be both complicated and expensive, requiring the disbanding of the current Society and re-registering under a new name. In addition, changing the name at this point risks creating confusion among the current stakeholders.

The Whaletown Commons Society is temporary, and will disband as soon as its objective of acquiring this land for all Cortes Islanders is achieved. At that time, the community can decide what to name its new park, and will decide how best to facilitate the formulation and implementation of a land use plan. So, for now, let’s get it together and work toward the purchase of this beautiful property, which will enrich our community in many ways.

And speaking of beautiful, the trails are in top form thanks to the loving attention of some community angels. So Cortes Islanders go and enjoy a walk, breath the clean air, listen to the murmur of the creek, and thank the beautiful trees. Let’s persevere in our dream to bring this land into community hands.

New Website

2007-04-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

The Whaletown Commons Project has a new virtual home. Check us out at:

www.cortesisland.com/whaletowncommons

Meanwhile, this site will be kept as an archive, until we figure out a new use for it...maybe as a gallery of images and stories about the Commons? We'll post information and updates on the new site. Thanks for stopping by.

Progress Report - Spring 2007

2007-03-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

In our on-going search for ideas, enthusiasm, and both financial and moral support, the Whaletown Commons Society is hosting a public meeting at the Gorge Hall on Saturday, March 24th, at 3:00 pm.

We urge everyone who cares about the future of Whaletown and public space on Cortes Island to come and lend us your voice and support at this crucial meeting.

This past fall, the Whaletown Commons Project launched a community outreach campaign. Our goal was threefold: to increase public awareness of the proposed Whaletown Commons land and the need to secure it for the future use of Cortes Islanders; to increase the membership in the Whaletown Commons Society; and to raise funds toward the purchase of the land.

We’re pleased to announce that we were successful in all these areas.

The community awareness campaign centered around a series of thematic walks through the proposed Whaletown Commons site. The series, “Imagine the Commons,” grew from the idea that the creation of the Whaletown Commons will depend on the collective imagination of the Cortes Island community. Novelist Ruth Ozeki led a Haiku Walk in October, photographer Richard Trueman led a Photo Walk in November, and painter Dianne Bersea led an Art walk in December.

Participants have contributed their work to an on-line gallery, currently under development, and to the Whaletown Commons Project’s on-going fundraising, outreach and archiving efforts. The walks have been lots of fun and due to popular demand, they will be repeated periodically throughout the next year.

We launched a special Whaletown Commons section on the Tideline website at:
www.cortesisland.com/whaletowncommons

The website has information about our fundraising events, as well as other news and developments regarding the status of the Commons.

As a result of these outreach and awareness building efforts, our membership has increased to 220.

Our fundraising, which included raffles, personal appeals, and a weekly presence at the Friday markets, resulted in raising over $30,000 in cash, cheques and pledges. Clearly we have a long ways to go, but we are continuing in our efforts to find backers with significant financial resources as well as other sources of funding.

These numbers aptly demonstrate the strong public support for the creation of the Whaletown Commons, and we will take this mandate to our representatives at the Regional District and strongly request their active involvement in securing this land for our use.

In the past few months, the need for public land in Whaletown has become increasingly evident. With the closing of the Whaletown General Store, we are reminded again of the vulnerability of our town centre, and in particular of the post office and library, which are located on the same piece of private land. The Old Schoolhouse is another precious island asset whose present location is precarious, and other community projects and programs need secure homes. It seems more urgent now than ever to secure a publicly held piece of property to meet both present and future needs, before Whaletown becomes just a name on a map.

BOOK-READING & BROCHURE-FOLDING SHINDIG - with Ruth Ozeki

2006-11-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

I’d like to invite all Cortes Island booklovers to join me this Friday night at Trude’s Cafe for an informal book-reading-and-brochure-folding party to help support the Whaletown Commons Project.

The idea for the evening came from a documentary film I saw about a Cuban cigar factory, which hired a reader to entertain the workers while they rolled cigars. The reader, a darkly handsome and dramatic young man, read from what appeared to be a very racy and exciting pulp fiction novel. The workers, mostly female, seemed transfixed.

Now, I’m not making any promises, but I love reading aloud, my novel “All Over Creation” does have some racy and exciting bits (and not just about pollinating potatoes and promiscuous squashes), and the Whaletown Commons Project has 500 brochures that need folding. So if you have a couple of hours free on Friday night, please come lend your ears and your hands!

“All Over Creation” is the story of a small town farmer, defending his seeds and staking his claim against the encroaching interests of a large multi-national biotech corporation. He gets some unexpected help from the Seeds of Resistance, a roving band of environmental activists, who are traveling across America in a biodiesel powered Winnebago, called the Spudnik.

The party starts at 7:00, on Friday, December 1, at Trude’s Café. Come be entertained and help support the Whaletown Commons Project and the Cortes Self-Sufficiency Coop.

ART WALK

2006-11-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

The third event in the “Imagine the Commons” series will be an art walk, led by Dianne Bersea through the proposed site of the Whaletown Commons. The walk will start at 1:00 on Sunday, November 26. (In the event that the weather is windy and raining, the art walk will be rescheduled in the new year.) These walks are completely free of charge, and everyone is invited. No art experience needed!

Dianne will take us on a slow, alert walk through the Commons and teach us simple exercises designed to enhance seeing, hearing, sensing, and creative awareness. Dianne is a wonderfully accomplished artist and teacher who works in a number of media and is best known for her watercolor paintings of Cortes Island, which have sold throughout North America and Europe. She is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Color (cspwc). Feel free to browse Dianne’s website for information about her work, upcoming workshops, and online shopping for prints, greeting cards and original artwork: www.islemuse.com.

“Imagine the Commons” is a community outreach effort, centering around a series of thematic walks, sponsored by the Whaletown Commons Project. Novelist and writer Ruth Ozeki led a Haiku Walk in October, and photographer Richard Trueman led Photo Walk in November, capturing in images and words the beauty of the Whaletown Creek autumn. The walks have been loads of fun and very successful, and will be repeated once a season throughout the next twelve months, so that by this time next year, we will have a gallery of images depicting the four seasons in the Commons.

Other planned events include a silent walking meditation and a bird walk.

The walks are an invitation to appreciate this unique piece of land and to make an imaginative investment in its future. Every person will experience the Commons differently, and from this diversity we hope to build a common vision of our community’s future. Please come join us!

MEET: at the entrance to the proposed Whaletown Commons site, on Whaletown Road, next to the Firehall.

WHEN: on Sunday, November 26 from 1-3 pm

BRING: A pencil and a small notebook. Warm clothing recommended.

QUESTIONS: Please email Dianne at Dianne@islemuse.com,
or call 935-6791.

Photo Walk

2006-10-31T10:57:00.000-08:00

The second event in the “Imagine the Commons” series will be a photo walk, led by Richard Trueman through the proposed site of the Whaletown Commons. The walk will start at 1:00 on Saturday, November 4 (Rain date: Sunday, November 5). This is a great opportunity to hone your photography skills with a master teacher, while becoming acquainted with a truly beautiful piece of land in Whaletown.

Richard Trueman is the co-creator of cortesisland.com, and he has long been documenting the beauty of our island and sharing his vision with others. He has studied, practiced and taught graphic arts and photography since the 1970’s and the predigital days of film, darkrooms and chemical processing. He was an early adopter of digital image technology in the 1990’s, when he and Irene Blueth started experimenting with first generation digital cameras. Since that time, Richard has been on the cutting edge of the field, specializing in photography for the web.

The Whaletown Creek (historically known as Burnside Creek) and the adjacent ravine is a spectacular landscape of towering big leaf maples, colorful mushrooms, and verdant mosses. It is unique on Cortes Island and guaranteed to inspire your shutter lust.

This walk is part of a series, “Imagine the Commons,” sponsored by the Whaletown Commons Project. The project is a volunteer-driven community effort, dedicated to purchasing this 71-acre of land in Whaletown for the Cortes Island community.

Each walk has a focus: on an image-making medium (like photography, poetry, drawing and mapping); or on data collection (bird counts, ecological surveys). Participants are invited to contribute to an on-line Virtual Commons gallery and to the Whaletown Commons Project’s on-going fundraising, outreach and archiving efforts.

The successful creation of the Whaletown Commons will rely on the collective imagination of the Cortes Island community. The walks are an invitation to appreciate this unique piece of land and to make an imaginative investment in its future. Every person will experience the Commons differently, and from this diversity we hope to build a common vision of our community’s future.

MEET: at the entrance to the proposed Whaletown Commons site, on Whaletown Road, next to the Firehall.

WHEN: on Saturday, November 4 (Rain date: Sunday, November 5) at 1:00

BRING: A camera if you have one (if not, there will be one or two extras available to borrow). Digital or film cameras are fine.

QUESTIONS: Please email Richard at rctrue@telus.net, or call 935-0120

IMAGINING THE COMMONS

2006-10-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

The Whaletown Commons will emerge from the collective imagination and vision of the Cortes Island community. To help spark this vision, the Whaletown Commons Society is sponsoring a series of creative walks through the proposed Commons site.

Each walk will focus on an image-making medium — photography, poetry, and drawing, for starters — and participants will be invited to contribute their images to an on-line gallery and to the Whaletown Commons Project's on-going outreach and archiving efforts.

The walks are an invitation to appreciate this unique piece of land and to make an imaginative investment in its future. Every person will experience the Commons uniquely, and from this diversity we hope to build a common vision of our community’s future.

HAIKU POETRY WALK – with Ruth Ozeki

I’d like to invite people to come on a HAIKU WALK on Sunday, October 29, from 2:00 – 4:00 pm. On the walk, we’ll talk a little about haiku, and then wander through the Commons in search of poetic inspiration. At the end, we’ll regroup to share the poems we’ve written, or just to listen, and then maybe go for a cup of tea.

ABOUT HAIKU

Haiku is an ancient Japanese poetic form, dating back some 700 years. Traditional haiku are very short poems, usually three lines, in a pattern of 5-7-5 syllables:

At daybreak, softly,
trees exhale a common sigh—
Today. Tomorrow?

But traditional haiku were of course written in Japanese, which lends itself to this concise rhythmic structure in ways that the English language may not. Many English haiku poets, including the Beat poets, choose to deviate from the strict form and write haiku in a looser style:

Desolation, Desolation
so hard
To come down off of

-Jack Kerouac

Haiku is a poetic form that is relatively unintimidating and easy to start writing — I mean, how nervous can you get in seventeen syllables? But it’s a form that is subtle and elusive as well, and haiku poets work lifetimes to master it.

HAIKU WALK

The haiku we write on our walk will be inspired by what we see in the Whaletown Commons — the ravine, Burnside Creek, the plant and wildlife. The poems may turn out to be serious or funny, political or poetical, elegant or abrupt, profound or profane. They might not adhere to the strict haiku form, but we’ll work to keep them brief and pithy, and to capture the haiku “feeling.”

Anyone interested should plan to meet at the entrance to the proposed Whaletown Commons site, on Whaletown Road, next to the Firehall. Please bring pencil and paper and the desire to write. No experience necessary!

If you have any questions, please email Ruth at ozekiland@gmail.com

2006-09-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Sybil Irwin who won Dianne Bersea's "Sword Fern Meadow" watercolor painting in the raffle draw September 1st. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

A small, enthusiastic group gathered at Trude's Cafe on September 1st for an update about the Whaletown Commons Project. We have raised $17,000 this summer toward the purchase of the property. Our goal is to raise $150,000 by December 2006.

We invite you to join the many people who share the vision of community land in community hands. Talk to friends and colleagues about the project. Ask them to adopt an acre for $1000 and donate it to the Regional District. Consider making a substantial contribution and having a beautiful bench made for you by Hubert Havelaar. Donations can also be made directly to the Quadra Credit Union, bank account number 9140791.

Call Michael Hoskin (935-6500), Helen Radosavic (935-6406), or Suzan Denis (935-0092) for more information. Thanks.

2006-07-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

Cortes Days Fundraiser:

July 15th is Cortes Day, a perfect day to fundraise for the Whaletown Commons Project. Come out and hear about the project. Enjoy an Italian Soda. Purchase raffle tickets for an opportunity to win Dianne Bersea’s exquisite painting “Sword Fern Meadow”.
Buy a membership with the Whaletown Commons Society and participate in bringing a community dream to life.
Adopt an acre of the Whaletown Creek property and help to keep this land in community hands. The vision is to create a community park and public assembly area for the community's future needs and to protect the creek in perpetuity.

The community’s "public assembly" buildings such as the post office, library, Old School House, and community hall are all in provisional locations where rebuilding or the extension of existing agreements might not be assured in the future. Public recreational areas such as baseball and/or a soccer playing field would also be an asset to the community as it continues to grow.

Tax deductible receipts available for all donations over $20.

2006-07-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

Regional District Passes Motion:

Good news everyone! Jenny Hiebert took the following resolution to the Regional District’s Community Services Committee. They brought it before the RD Board the Board passed it!!!

WHEREAS Manson’s Landing having the greatest population in Area I (Cortes) has 3 provincial and 3 regional district parks; and

WHEREAS Whaletown having the second greatest population in Area I (Cortes) has no provincial or regional district parks;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Area I (Cortes) Park Acquisition Reserve Fund be designated for the purchase of a park in the Whaletown area;

AND FURTHER THAT a significant portion from the 2006 and each year thereafter be set aside from Area I's (Cortes) Park Budget and accumulated for the purchase of a park in the Whaletown area.

The RD’s commitment is a forward step for the Whaletown Commons Project. It offers us the hope of acquiring the Whaletown Creek property for a combination park and public assembly space to complement other organi-zations developing community space in Whaletown. Let’s all work toward fulfilling this vision.
Thank you for your support Jenny!

2006-06-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

Whaletown Commons Project:
Community Land in Community Hands

Vision: To create a community park, public assemblies area for the future needs of the community and to protect the creek in perpetuity with covenants. The community’s "public assembly" buildings such as the post office, library, Old School House, and community hall are in provisional locations where rebuilding or extending the agreement won’t necessarily be possible. Public recreational areas like a baseball and/or a soccer playing field would also be an asset to the community as it grows.

Description: This 71 acre parcel located right in the centre of the Whaletown community is the only sizable, undeveloped, centrally located land in the Whaletown area. Trails, set within a mature forest, run along a beautiful-salmon bearing creek to connect Jocelyn, Omsted, Carrington Bay, and Whaletown roads.

History: The community has been interested in acquiring this land for ongoing community use since 1999. A group of dedicated volunteers began working with a variety of agencies to find a way to purchase it. In 2004, the community came together to discuss funding options. A consensus emerged to protect the unique ecology of the creek, to provide space for the possible future location of public facilities that would include ample off road parking and the development of an emergency access road to Jocelyn Road and to preserve/extend the trail network connecting these neighborhoods.

In 2005, a group of community members formed the Whaletown Commons Society (WCS) and became incorporated as a not-for-profit organization. Research into funding options continues. The WCS perseveres in dialogue with possible stakeholders.

The Regional District of Strathcona/Comox (RDCS) is one of the stakeholders involved with the project. At a recent meeting between the WCS and RDCS, Carlos Felip, Manager for Parks Planning indicated, “There is willingness on the part of RDCS to support WCS in the purchase of the Whaletown Creek Property. There appear to be some alternatives for the financing of this purchase that includes some monies from the RDCS.”

And during a community meeting in January 2006, the community expressed overwhelming support, pledging a total of $10,000 that very evening. A few more details need to fall into place before a fundraising campaign can begin in earnest.

Future: Look for information and ways you can help over the summer and fall. Details will be posted on http://whaletowncommons.blogspot.com and on bulletin boards at Manson’s Hall and next to the Whaletown post office.

A big thank you to the Cortes community and friends of Cortes Island for your encouragement, support, and financial pledges. “Where there is a will, there is a way,” says our friend Ann Mortifee and we believe she is right!

For more information, please contact:

Hubert Havelaar
250-935-6947

Helen Radosavic
250-935-6406

Suzan Denis
250-935-0092

Oliver Kellhammer
250-935-6664

Michael Hoskin
250-935-6500