Needles and Needling

Yesterday Tink got his final menjugate needle. He was not impressed, and neither was I actually. The regular nurse is recovering from surgery so this brusque, no-nonsense woman just jabbed the sucker right into his leg with barely any warning. I usually like to be right in his face so that I can provide immediate comfort. Oh well, he didn't seem too worse for wear and had a fabulous afternoon nap so all's well that ends well.

Yesterday evening I went to a community association meeting regarding some re-zoning changes that a builder wants to make with the land directly behind my house. The association president needled everyone into a frenzy, and rightly so. The changes are big and obviously with an eye to increased profit for the builders. The gist of it was that a downtown city block would be dumped onto the land that was intended for some low to medium density zoning. You know, cute little ground-level shops with some condominiums on top of them, a lovely park that continues to sustain the wildlife that lives there, maybe a few office buildings - no more than three stories high. Now we're looking at eight-story apartment buildings and some serious office buildings a la twelve stories. All in my backyard. 1500 units crammed into a space originally intended for much less. We would have stayed downtown if that's what we were looking for! I'm absolutely not against development of the land. But really, make it appropriate to its environment. We're trying to create a community here, not another faceless city block.

Anyway, I found it very interesting. Tonight is a meeting with the builders. On the encouragement of the community association, I will be drafting a letter shortly to my city councillor to plead for help. Please don't allow these changes! Don't let the big, bad corporation beat out the will of the little guy!