Month: September 2017

Introducing the Mayor’s Innovation Challenge

This week I am very proud to introduce the Mayor’s Innovation Challenge – a pitch competition for Kingston’s post-secondary students! I’m inviting students to help us tackle a complex challenge facing the city. The winning team members will each be offered a paid internship with the city next summer to implement their idea. Check out…
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World’s First Automated, On-Site E. Coli Detection – TECTA-PDS – Tour Stop #5

Kingston based TECTA-PDS has created the world’s first fully-automated, microbiology system for on-site testing for E. coli and Total Coliform bacteria in drinking water samples. This innovative technology was originally developed and patented here in Kingston by a group of Queen’s researchers. The company started in 2003 (under a different name) as a direct result…
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Kingston Transit Passes as a Bridge to Employment

Part of building a smart and livable city is ensuring that no one is left behind. That means finding creative and effective ways to offer a helping hand to those in need. For example, there are people currently living on social assistance that want to find employment but getting to and from the workplace is…
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From the Mayor’s Chair – September 19

Check out the latest version of From the Mayor’s Chair, where I break down the decisions of Council in 2 minutes! The September 19 Council meeting began with a discussion on the future of Belle Park. Based on recent public feedback, city staff brought forward a recommendation to close the existing golf course and begin…
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Telemedicine – Kingston Community Health Centres – Tour Stop #4

Kingston Community Health Centres (KCHC) is now providing specialized care through a service called Telemedicine. It’s a simple but powerful way to provide Kingston residents with easy access to medical specialists that are located in other cities. The Innovation Telemedicine uses secure videoconference technology to facilitate appointments between patients and specialists or health care providers…
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A Better Future for Belle Park

The future of the city’s 9 hole golf course at Belle Park has been discussed at length over the last few years. Next week I will be asking council to support what I believe will open up this important waterfront green space to far more people across our city. Specifically, I will be asking them…
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Making Space for Innovation – Queen’s Human Media Lab – Tour Stop #3

The Human Media Laboratory is run by Queen’s School of Computing Professor Roel Vertegaal and six multi-disciplinary and diversely skilled graduate students. It is a lab dedicated to creating adaptive technology meant to be integrated into everyday objects. The Innovation A number of leading edge technologies have originated in the Human Media Lab: the MagicWand,…
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Exciting Potential for a Key Downtown Property

Enhancing the vitality of the downtown is one of my top priorities as mayor and this week City Council took an important step that will help achieve this goal. At our meeting, council formally approved the purchase of the Arnon parking lot located directly beside City Hall. The property extends from Brock Street over to…
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From the Mayor’s Chair – September 5

Check out the latest version of From the Mayor’s Chair, where I break down the decisions of Council in 2 minutes! The September 5 meeting began with a decision by council to buy the Arnon parking lot directly beside City Hall. Council voted unanimously to buy the lot noting the potential options for the future…
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30,000 Pounds of Produce – Food Bank Garden at Frontenac Institution – Tour Stop #2

Inmates at Frontenac Institution have been gardening for a number of years. After the Collins Bay prison farm was closed in 2010, the inmates received a half acre of land for gardening use. From the beginning, produce was often donated to the Partners in Mission Food Bank and over time this led to a formalized…
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