Community Updates

City Support for Small Businesses, Social Services and Arts Organizations

The financial challenges facing our local businesses and non-profit agencies have been front and centre for myself and Council during this week’s budget deliberations. As mayor, I continue to press the federal and provincial governments for financial supports to help small business owners and their employees through the current lockdown. While upper levels of government…
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The City’s 2021 Budget: Supporting our Community Through the Pandemic

Next week Council will meet to make final decisions on the City’s budget for 2021. A lot has changed over the last year, and this year’s budget is meant to address and respond to the financial challenges faced by both the City and those across our community. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re projecting a…
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The New Provincial State of Emergency: What Does It Mean for Kingston?

Today is the first day of the new provincial state of emergency that will be in place for at least the next 14 days and is meant to reduce the spread of COVID-19 cases across Ontario. So what does that mean here in Kingston? First and foremost, you should avoid travel outside of the Kingston…
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From Lockdown to Vaccine Rollout: COVID and the Road Ahead for Kingston in 2021

We are now nearly halfway through the 28 day lockdown that the province imposed across Southern Ontario to try to bring down COVID-19 case numbers. During the lockdown we’ve had to close City recreation facilities and reduce transit service, but we’ve also added many online services so you can get City services and info remotely.…
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New Technology to Help Save Lives in the Current Opioid Crisis

We’ve been working hard as a community to limit the spread of COVID-19, but another serious health crisis has continued to worsen at the same time. Over the last few years, dozens of young people have lost their lives because of opioid overdoses. This year alone, KFL&A Public Health issued four different alerts warning people…
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Towards Zero Parking: Housing Affordability and Climate Leadership in Williamsville

This stretch of Princess Street, from the Kingston Centre down to Division Street, is one of the City’s most important hubs for new housing development. Known as the Williamsville corridor, this neighbourhood adjacent to downtown is being transformed by housing projects like Unity Point. This week City Council approved some important changes to the planning…
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Addressing Kingston’s Family Physician Shortage

Over the years, I’ve heard from many residents about their struggle to find a family physician in Kingston. Based on recent data, close to 30,000 residents living in Kingston either don’t have a family doctor, or they travel outside of Kingston to find one. This is a big issue for our community, and in order…
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Winter Sidewalk Patios and Expanded Free Short-Term Parking Downtown

Throughout the pandemic, the City has worked hard to be flexible and find creative ways to help businesses and residents adjust to the public health restrictions required to slow the spread of COVID-19. During the summer, one of the initiatives that saw the most success was the Love Kingston Marketplace. As part of the initiative,…
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Opening the John Counter Boulevard Overpass

It was exciting to be able to officially opened the John Counter Boulevard overpass. The overpass over the CN rail line was the final stage of work required to widen and improve this critical east-west corridor in Kingston. When I was first elected to City Council ten years ago, one of our very first decisions…
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A New Location for the Integrated Care Hub

Earlier this week the integrated care hub moved from Artillery Park to here on Montreal St. Since it first opened several months ago, the integrated care hub has proved to be a much better way to provide services and care to our community’s most vulnerable residents. The hub is a low barrier, 24/7 space that…
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