Hello again, friends,
People ask me why I like fundraising. It’s because of donors. Donors are inspiring people. They still think it’s possible to make the world a better place, and they back it up with their money and their time.
We can see it in the generous support for the Friends of Lansdowne (FOL) legal challenge. We’re prepared to do whatever it takes to make it right for Lansdowne Park. And we’re backing it up with our money and hours and hours of volunteer time.
Our fundraising is going amazingly well. It took us five months to raise $100,000. But in the last six weeks we have raised over $60,000 more. Donations have ranged from our biggest single gift of $20,000 from a community organization to $30 from a man on a disability pension, living on only $11,000 per year, who gave me everything he had in his wallet. The average donation is $200.
With support like this, how can we miss?
People also ask me what our target is. I actually don’t know. I expect we will reach our second $100,000 target soon, but I can see that we’ll have to go somewhat beyond that. The case is particularly onerous due to its complexity, and the continued obfuscation by the City of Ottawa and, the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) that has led to extra work and costly delays.
We’ll just have to keep you in the loop about what’s happening and what the costs look like. In the meantime, the more we raise, the more we’ll have to pay our hardworking lawyers and the experts we need. Thanks for all your good messages and for the letters written to the Mayor and council and to the media. It all helps keep the pressure on.
Since I last wrote you, the City has produced, under court order, a large number of documents that have never been made public concerning the Lansdowne Plan. However, the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) has now brought a court motion to suppress some of the financial details included in these documents so our lawyers are once again having to fight for full disclosure.
Understanding the true costs of the Lansdowne development scheme for Ottawa taxpayers is to our argument that the City has violated the municipal act by virtually giving away public property to OSEG. Our investigative accounting firm, Rosen and Associates, will be producing another report once they have reviewed the new information we have wrestled from the City.
Next, the case will be moving into the stage of cross-examination of experts and witnesses – theirs and ours. Because of foot dragging by the City and OSEG in particular, court hearing dates have now been rescheduled for June 21, 22 and 23. There will be a lot of work between now and then.
That is why I am asking you again to make a donation and to spread the word among friends, neighbours and colleagues who may also be willing to support us. If you haven’t looked at the legal case for a while, you can refresh your memory by reading a summary of our application here: http://www.letsgetitright.ca/legal/165-legal-summary-sep13-2010
You can make a donation
- at http://www.letsgetitright.ca/
- at any TD bank to account 3248-5207023 (please let our Treasurer know by email at FoL.Donations@gmail.com
- by sending a cheque to Friends of Lansdowne, c/o Ted Lupinski CA, 137 Second Ave, Suite 2, Ottawa, ON K1S 2H4
You can also help us by checking out our fundraising events. Get more information here on our events page. If you have questions, please ask. Thanks again for your support.
Ken Shipley
Friends of Lansdowne
kship@web.ca
613 234 1862