This week City Council completed its strategic planning work with a very important decision: we are going to begin reducing the annual property tax rate increase below its current level. For the last number of years, we have worked to advance new projects, maintain existing city services and hold the line on property tax increases…
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This week I presented on City Council’s new priorities for the first time. I spoke to a group of Kingston community leaders to get their feedback and to begin talking about how we can make this exciting vision a reality for our city. Now I’d like to share some of this same presentation with you! The…
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STRATEGIC PRIORITIES 1. Increase housing affordability 2. Improve walkability, roads and transportation 3. Demonstrate leadership on climate action 4. Strengthen economic development opportunities 5. Foster healthy citizens and vibrant spaces 1. Increase Housing Affordability In response to the low vacancy rate, the City of Kingston will aim to increase the rate to 3% by 2022.…
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Miss Council last night Kingston? Check out the latest version of From the Mayor’s Chair where I break down the decisions of Council in 2 minutes! Additional links: Council Agenda Hospice Motion (Pg. 13) Living Wage Motion (Pg. 13)
Every year one of the privileges I have as mayor is to recognize outstanding citizens and volunteers in Kingston. The Mayor’s Award for Youth Volunteerism recognizes young people who are working to make a difference in the lives of others, and the First Capital Distinguished Citizen/Honourable Achievement Award recognizes individuals that have made significant lifetime…
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At this week’s Council meeting I was pleased to put forward a motion to explore how the City could contribute to a new hospice facility in Kingston. A hospice is an important service that our community is lacking, and there have been many volunteers and community advocates working with a vision to fill this void.…
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I’m a firm believer in using technology to improve services for residents. That’s the goal of a ‘smart city’. One of the most popular technologies I’ve seen introduced in Kingston is the HonkMobile app – an app where you can pay for parking at city-owned parking lots in the downtown. This was introduced as a…
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Miss Council last night Kingston? Check out the latest version of From the Mayor’s Chair where I break down the decisions of Council in 2 minutes! Additional links: Council Agenda HonkMobile Parking Payment App Heritage Application – A&W (across from Market Square)
Council has been gathering several nights this week to develop Kingston’s strategic priorities for the next four years. It’s a very different experience from our usual council meetings; we break into smaller groups, write ideas down on post-it notes, engage into brainstorming exercises, and then try to pull everything together into a few overarching themes.…
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Yesterday I had the chance to speak at this year’s Canadian Sports Tourism Alliance (CSTA) Conference about the gains we have been making in our local tourism sector. According to the CSTA’s rankings released this week, Kingston is now one of the top communities in the country for sports tourism. In Ontario, only Toronto and Ottawa are ranked higher…
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