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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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 Dual Stream Recycling (pg. 9) Graffiti Wall Doug Fluhrer Park (pg. 10) Local Climate Fund (pg. 19)
Whenever garbage collection day approaches, like many Kingston residents, I often have to check the collection calendar to remind myself whether to put out my blue box or my grey box. As a family we try to recycle as much as we can, but with two weeks in between collection, our blue box is often…
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One of my top priorities as mayor is to ensure we get more housing built in our community. The goal is not only to provide more housing, but to also ensure that new buildings are attractive and create vibrant streetscapes that contribute to the vitality of our community. That’s why this year we will be…
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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 Climate Change Emergency Motion (pg. 17) Mid-Rise and Tall Building Policies