Today

October 22, 2007

We would like to invite you to our Annual General Meeting on Monday, October 29th at the Strathcona Community League, 10139 87 Avenue, where Gene Zwozdesky, MLA for Edmonton Millcreek, will be presenting the Friends of Queen Elizabeth Pool with $160,000 towards the pool rebuild. This is the second grant we have received from the province!  So far, we have raised $450,000 towards rebuilding this historic pool! 

Now, to update you on what has been happening over the last year. Edmonton City Council approved the $4.1 million dollar pool design, developed by Architects Burgess Bredo, last year. Since then, two-fixed price tenders or RFP’s were submitted with both coming in at well over the budgeted price; somewhere between $7-8 million dollars. The city turned down both bids as being over budget.  

Then, earlier this year, Western Recreation of Winnipeg once again contacted us. The company, which has built swimming pools all across Canada, offered to build the pool with Goldwing Construction for between $4-5 million dollars.

We met with City of Edmonton Community Services, City Councillor Bryan Anderson, Asset Management, Western Recreation and Goldwing Construction to discuss the offer.  City administration would not pursue this without the approval of city council.  We are expecting a report back from Community Services on November 19th on whether to pursue this offer. 
We believe that there are ways to get this project completed in a responsible and affordable way. In addition to continued support from the province, we have commitments from Strathcona Community League and from the Strathcona Playground Redevelopment Society. Our goal is to raise as much money as possible to support the project and given that we have known commitments for $450,000, a goal of a million dollars might be reasonable. 

We are a long way from a shovel going into the ground; but we are still very optimistic that this project can be done and leave a wonderful legacy for our children and the Community. We need your help in several ways:

1. Join the Friends of the Queen Pool Society
Membership is only $10.00 per family. An application is included with this letter, please take a few minutes and become a member, if you are not already.

2. AGM
We encourage you to attend our AGM, October 29, at the Strathcona Community League, 10139-87 Avenue.

3. Stay informed
Join our email listing from the website www.savequeenepool.org. so we can keep you informed through emails and website updates.

4. Volunteer
It really is a small group who has gotten the project this far. What we need are some additional volunteers for the following positions:

• Board Member -As any group new people bring new ideas and perspective, we encourage your to get involved. We will be looking for new people to join our Board at the AGM on October 29th.
• Planter/Horticultural Person -We need someone to approach the Edmonton Horticultural Society to see if they would be interested in using this site as potential community garden.
• Construction Consultant/Builders Representative -We do need someone with a strong background in construction that can be our resource in talking with the City and the builder on various aspects of the build.
• Casino Workers  -We need volunteers for the Casino March 1-2, 2008. Please email me at stoobeco@shaw.ca if you’d like to participate.

5. Donations/Fundraising
If you have an idea you think will make a difference, please let us know. We have recently asked the local schools to support the project and do one event as part of their community involvement.
Thank you for your support. We would not be where we are today without the varied and ongoing support of our Community. Every contribution whether time, an idea or money makes a huge difference.

Sincerely, 
John Stobbe

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May 21, 2007

Dear Community Members

As summer approaches we know it is timely for an update on the status of the rebuild of the Queen E Pool - The Jewel of the Edmonton River Valley.

Currently, City Council has approved a borrowed expenditure of $4.2. Million to rebuild the pool at the existing site. Designs were discussed with community user groups and we have attached the most recent design that was used to try and obtain a suitable fixed price bid for the construction. Burgess Bredo was the architect; the same group that did Strathcona Library. This design is very pleasing indeed.

The first tender was issued in the fall of 2006 and a second tender issued in early 2007. Both of these fixed price bids came in well over the budgeted amount approved by council; thus no contract was ordered to build the pool. Both bidders are well known Edmonton companies. In speaking with other groups and other builders in construction we have found out that in our heated economy many projects are being done on a Construction Management basis. This allows the client, the City of Edmonton in this case, and the builder work together to plan a design to fit the budget. We are working with Community Services to encourage them and the City’s Asset Management department to consider approaching the Queen E Project rebuild on this basis.

Just when the last bid was withdrawn, we got a call from Western Recreation of Winnipeg. This is the company that has said it could build the pool for the city’s budgeted amount of $4.2 million. This would be done using (Gold Wing Construction of Edmonton?) a local construction company as the General Contractor. Western Recreation would bring its traveling crew of workers to build the pool. The City has been receptive to this concept and we are pleased to report we will be meeting with them this week.

Last month we received $160,000 from the Provincial Government towards the project as money raised by the Friends of Queen E Pool Society. This was presented by Gene Zwozdesky at the King Edward Elementary School. We have been approved for an additional $160,000 from the province and expect to get that shortly. We will be applying for other grants as well. In addition we have a welcome commitment from the Strathcona Community League for $25,000 and $80,000 from the Strathcona Playground Redevelopment Society. A goal for the Society is to raise as much money as possible to support the project and given that we have known commitments for $450,000, a goal of a million dollars might be reasonable.

We are still a long way from a shovel going into the ground; but we are still very optimistic that this project can be done and leave a wonderful legacy for our children and the Community. We need your help in several ways;

1) Join the Friends of the Queen Pool Society - Memberships are only $10.00 per family. An application is available from our website.
2) Join our email listing from the website www.savequeenepool.org. This way we can keep you updated on the project through various emails and information from the website.
3) Volunteer - it really is a small group who has gotten the project this far. What we need are some additional volunteers for the following positions:
Experienced Grant Writer; we need someone to help us apply for grants for the project. We have most of the basic information but need someone with some time and a computer to put out some requests. We also need to put together a history of the project for a mural on the wall.
Planter; we need someone to approach the Edmonton Horticultural Society to see if they would be interested in using this site as potential community garden.
Construction Consultant - we need someone with a strong background in construction that can be our support in talking with the City and the builder on various aspects of the build. The group has always been pushing for cost saving ideas to get this project done.
Among the other many other volunteer roles include: Graphic designer, memberships, fundraiser, etc. If you have a skill, and a little time, we can use it to make a difference!

4) Donations; every penny we raise will show to council that there is support for the project in the community.

Thank you for your support. We would not be where we are today without the varied and ongoing support of our Community. Every contribution whether time, an idea or money does make a huge difference.

We think that new pool will be great for 2008!!!

Sincerely,

John Stobbe
Friends of the Queen Pool Society