Winter Forecast – Old Farmer’s Almanac

With flurries in the forecast tonight you may be wondering what’s in store for weather this winter.  The Old Farmer’s Almanac is saying it will be cold and snowy.

It says eight major snowstorms are predicted including significant snow events from mid-to late January in Southern Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

 

Council – Recreational Facilities

Kingston city council has approved three funding proposals for recreational facilities.

The details were contained in a report from city staff and the report was approved at the city council meeting last night.

First on the list…a $40 million renovation of the Memorial Centre. The city will be applying for 16 million dollars in federal funding and $13.3 million in provincial funding. The city and its partners…including Queen’s and the United Way…would provide $10.7 million for the project.

Kingston will also give Loyalist Township $1.5 million to support its $43 million renovation and expansion of the aquatic centre at the W.J. Henderson Recreation Centre.

And…it will partner with the two French language school boards on a future neighbourhood park and their new secondary school sports fields in the West Village subdivision near Taylor-Kidd Boulevard and Centennial Drive.

 

Green Funds

Kingston city council has approved motions to have staff report back on the feasibility of a Green Municipal Bond and a Kingston Green Fund.

The motions came from councillor Jim Neil who says the climate emergency is a greater threat than the second World War and War Bonds helped fund the war effort.

The bonds would carry a set interest rate and the Climate Fund would allow people to make a charitable donation to the city to help fight climate change.

 

Portable Benefit – Rent Geared to Income

What’s known as a portable housing benefit will be a permanent thing for people eligible for rent geared to income housing in Kingston.  The portable housing benefit gives people a subsidy for their rent when there are no rent geared to income units available.  City council has endorsed the housing subsidies as a permanent housing option for new and existing households on the city’s social housing waiting list.

There are 1,290 on that waiting list.

The housing subsidy program was introduced as a pilot project in 2017.

 

Kids to Work Day

You may see some younger than usual faces in your workplace today.

It is Take Our Kids to Work Day.

Grade 9 students are getting a chance to learn about what their parents do for a living by spending the day with them in their workplace.

 

Thief Reveals Himself

This Kingston thief has fallen victim to his own stupidity.

Kingston Police stopped a man in the area of Wellington and Queen Street around 9am on Monday after a jacket had been stolen from a church.

People at the church had seen a man putting a jacket into a backpack before leaving.

The man denied he had stolen it and opened his backpack to show police…but…he accidentally revealed the stolen jacket and was arrested.

The 48-year-old man has been charged with theft, theft of various other items for a downtown store and breach of probation.

 

Downtown Kingston Ornaments

Downtown Kingston has presented its 2019 Pewter Ornaments to Kingston city council.

The collections this year features the Pilot House, Newport House, Douglas Library, Fairfield House and the Royal Kingston Curling Club.

The ornaments are sold for $10 each with receipts from downtown businesses of $25 dollars or more.

The Pilot House will be the first to go on sale on November 18th.

The ornaments will be available at the Leon’s Centre Box Office, Visitor and Information Bureau on Ontario Street and the Grand Theatre Box Office.

 

Frontenac County – Royal

Frontenac County and half a dozen local food businesses are part of a Spotlight on Local display at this year’s edition of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.

The Fair is the largest of its kind in the world and runs through November 10th.

The county has partnered with the South Eastern Ontario Tourism Region and the local businesses on the display that includes props borrowed from Trousdale’s General Store and Upper Canada Village.

The businesses taking part are Food Less Travelled, Holiday Country Manor, Fine Chocolate by Ludwig, David and Sons Fine Condiments, the Cheesecakery Bakery and Hanna’s Meat Pies.