posting
10-08-2009, 10:13 PM
Jason’s View - City Council, October 6, 2009
Jason here. It has been a long time since I sat through a Council meeting whether in person or in the comfort of my own office watching Cable. Have things changed? Can’t say anything about the long term as many members were missing last night. It will be interesting to see when Rosen is back, if the strains between him and the Council have lessened. Last night Matheson was in the chair, Schmolka, Hector, Hutchison as well as Rosen were missing. Members present hit the familiar notes: Smith started every attempt to pull in expenditure with nice words; MacLeod- Kane smirked; Garrison defended the ‘little man’ who, I guess has to send his mother to Rideaucrest; The CAO tried to develop policies in face of a Council which wanted to support ‘good causes’ whatever the cost (Better Beginnings) and surprise! – Foster acted as a ward Councillor in speaking for bathrooms at the soccer field in her ward – this in spite of her support for doing away with the ward system; Missy from the north ward giggled.
The really good news is that the Ravensview Wastewater Plant is FINISHED. This plant provides secondary treatment to our sewage which - according to Wikipedia ‘removes dissolved and suspended biological matter.” When asked by Councillor Gerretsen if one could drink the water going into the river, Jim Keech replied that this was possible but not advisable. Apparently the water going out is as clean as the river into which it flows. Tertiary treatment would involve treating the water outflow- probably with chlorine. This is the biggest project ($115 million plus GST - the LVEC is rumoured to have cost $46.5 million) that the city has ever undertaken. No this will NOT prevent overflow of raw sewage going into the lake in times of extreme rainfall as this depends on the separation of sewers which is proceeding. Interestingly, today I received a call from the Health Unit re the sample of water I submitted. It was from a shore well which is probably as close as possible to lake water. We were told that the total choliform was off the charts and that the e-coli level was 15. It should be zero. Don’t drink the lake and I would hesitate to swim in it as well. Ravensview will make the river better, but not perfect. By the way, Utilities Kingston has planted over 10,000 trees on the property.
I was delighted by the apparent interest in building design shown in the discussion of the property at Queen and Bagot. This property has a checkered history. Once in Kincore’s portfolio, eight storeys, it was supposed to have commercial on the ground floor and some geared to income on upper floors. It was designed for more affluent seniors and students. The plan now is to use the entire building for residential – 93 units, of which 50 would be geared to income. This is the gov’t’s stimulus plan in action. In order to receive funding the ‘construction ready’ project must be started by Dec. 31, 2009 or early in 2010. Now this is the kind of pressure that allows developers to build without thought to design and it was good to see Councillor Glover weighing in for a long-term view - and getting support! This building will be around for a long time and it needs to be sensitive to the historic church beside it as well as being architecturally pleasing. Residential buildings are more than bedrooms. Developers are the guardians of our city. Every city has an implicit architectural standard – some good, some terrible. We need a Council that will keep pounding the drum for good design.
City Bits:
A former Councillor looking at condo construction in Toronto was amazed to see that as far down as the digging went, there was no solid rock. In Kingston there is no site, especially in the downtown where the limestone isn't more than just a few feet below the surface. This requires blasting for building projects and tunnelling for sewer and water line replacements. Then, rock has to hauled away. The cost differential has to be significant. I will try to get costs.
Jason here. It has been a long time since I sat through a Council meeting whether in person or in the comfort of my own office watching Cable. Have things changed? Can’t say anything about the long term as many members were missing last night. It will be interesting to see when Rosen is back, if the strains between him and the Council have lessened. Last night Matheson was in the chair, Schmolka, Hector, Hutchison as well as Rosen were missing. Members present hit the familiar notes: Smith started every attempt to pull in expenditure with nice words; MacLeod- Kane smirked; Garrison defended the ‘little man’ who, I guess has to send his mother to Rideaucrest; The CAO tried to develop policies in face of a Council which wanted to support ‘good causes’ whatever the cost (Better Beginnings) and surprise! – Foster acted as a ward Councillor in speaking for bathrooms at the soccer field in her ward – this in spite of her support for doing away with the ward system; Missy from the north ward giggled.
The really good news is that the Ravensview Wastewater Plant is FINISHED. This plant provides secondary treatment to our sewage which - according to Wikipedia ‘removes dissolved and suspended biological matter.” When asked by Councillor Gerretsen if one could drink the water going into the river, Jim Keech replied that this was possible but not advisable. Apparently the water going out is as clean as the river into which it flows. Tertiary treatment would involve treating the water outflow- probably with chlorine. This is the biggest project ($115 million plus GST - the LVEC is rumoured to have cost $46.5 million) that the city has ever undertaken. No this will NOT prevent overflow of raw sewage going into the lake in times of extreme rainfall as this depends on the separation of sewers which is proceeding. Interestingly, today I received a call from the Health Unit re the sample of water I submitted. It was from a shore well which is probably as close as possible to lake water. We were told that the total choliform was off the charts and that the e-coli level was 15. It should be zero. Don’t drink the lake and I would hesitate to swim in it as well. Ravensview will make the river better, but not perfect. By the way, Utilities Kingston has planted over 10,000 trees on the property.
I was delighted by the apparent interest in building design shown in the discussion of the property at Queen and Bagot. This property has a checkered history. Once in Kincore’s portfolio, eight storeys, it was supposed to have commercial on the ground floor and some geared to income on upper floors. It was designed for more affluent seniors and students. The plan now is to use the entire building for residential – 93 units, of which 50 would be geared to income. This is the gov’t’s stimulus plan in action. In order to receive funding the ‘construction ready’ project must be started by Dec. 31, 2009 or early in 2010. Now this is the kind of pressure that allows developers to build without thought to design and it was good to see Councillor Glover weighing in for a long-term view - and getting support! This building will be around for a long time and it needs to be sensitive to the historic church beside it as well as being architecturally pleasing. Residential buildings are more than bedrooms. Developers are the guardians of our city. Every city has an implicit architectural standard – some good, some terrible. We need a Council that will keep pounding the drum for good design.
City Bits:
A former Councillor looking at condo construction in Toronto was amazed to see that as far down as the digging went, there was no solid rock. In Kingston there is no site, especially in the downtown where the limestone isn't more than just a few feet below the surface. This requires blasting for building projects and tunnelling for sewer and water line replacements. Then, rock has to hauled away. The cost differential has to be significant. I will try to get costs.