posting
06-18-2010, 07:39 PM
Kingston City Council – June 15th
Jason here. I’m sure you want to know if the temper of Council has changed since two members (Gerretsen and Matheson) have declared for mayor, and two more have indicated that they will not run (Garrison and Foster). Well, yes it has. Gerretsen- a declared mayoralty candidate - is neater and generally no angry words were shared last night. And they could have been.
Sustainable Kingston – is a landmark report (see www.sustainablekingston.ca)*. It has the potential to change the face of Kingston and it is coming at you. At 63 pages the report won’t save many trees if you print it, (you wouldn’t would you?)
The recently received report is worth a read. The challenge before the committee is to determine how to get the citizenry to buy into Kingston as a sustainable city. This is not an easy task. My guess is that the committee will hold several public meetings which will be attended only by those who support the plan. Then the committee will declare success. This is how most public consultation occurs. To do otherwise would be to engage those who do not feel that intervention into the economic, social, cultural and environmental life of the city is merited. And of course, to engage those who don’t care (they have other things on their mind). Focus Kingston will have to marry the report as will Council. Even then, the chances of success are not high.
On that point – environmental sustainability - the students at Centennial Public School through Councillor Gerretsen presented a good petition on how worn - out batteries could be handled It is initiatives such as this that help the environment and engage school students. I guess they could go into ‘hazardous waste’ but that seems like a lot of work. I like the idea of dropping them off at a location(s) in the city. I’ll keep mine in anticipation.
Delegations and briefings last evening included a delegation on “Save our Prison Farms’ and a quarterly briefing from KEDCO. I think it safe to say that the question of Prison farms has not seized the imagination of the citizenry. Although the protest is very well organized, it seems a bit short on statistics. This is a lesson for Sustainable Kingston - (keep the footnotes coming – some people read them!).
Listening to KEDCO is a bit like listening to the BIA. Both have learned to be very positive and KEDCO is very well received by Council. This (KEDCO) is the group charged with the long-term sustainability of the economy of Kingston. Good on them. May they prosper and may we!
Missy has a new haircut (which may or may not be relevant to anything.) Rumour has it that she is not running again. Getting on with her life?
* Reference:
For other sustainable Kingston resources see the following link:
http://www.google.ca/webhp#hl=en&source=hp&q=sustainable+kingston&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=88a1cdb132c6ac27
Jason here. I’m sure you want to know if the temper of Council has changed since two members (Gerretsen and Matheson) have declared for mayor, and two more have indicated that they will not run (Garrison and Foster). Well, yes it has. Gerretsen- a declared mayoralty candidate - is neater and generally no angry words were shared last night. And they could have been.
Sustainable Kingston – is a landmark report (see www.sustainablekingston.ca)*. It has the potential to change the face of Kingston and it is coming at you. At 63 pages the report won’t save many trees if you print it, (you wouldn’t would you?)
The recently received report is worth a read. The challenge before the committee is to determine how to get the citizenry to buy into Kingston as a sustainable city. This is not an easy task. My guess is that the committee will hold several public meetings which will be attended only by those who support the plan. Then the committee will declare success. This is how most public consultation occurs. To do otherwise would be to engage those who do not feel that intervention into the economic, social, cultural and environmental life of the city is merited. And of course, to engage those who don’t care (they have other things on their mind). Focus Kingston will have to marry the report as will Council. Even then, the chances of success are not high.
On that point – environmental sustainability - the students at Centennial Public School through Councillor Gerretsen presented a good petition on how worn - out batteries could be handled It is initiatives such as this that help the environment and engage school students. I guess they could go into ‘hazardous waste’ but that seems like a lot of work. I like the idea of dropping them off at a location(s) in the city. I’ll keep mine in anticipation.
Delegations and briefings last evening included a delegation on “Save our Prison Farms’ and a quarterly briefing from KEDCO. I think it safe to say that the question of Prison farms has not seized the imagination of the citizenry. Although the protest is very well organized, it seems a bit short on statistics. This is a lesson for Sustainable Kingston - (keep the footnotes coming – some people read them!).
Listening to KEDCO is a bit like listening to the BIA. Both have learned to be very positive and KEDCO is very well received by Council. This (KEDCO) is the group charged with the long-term sustainability of the economy of Kingston. Good on them. May they prosper and may we!
Missy has a new haircut (which may or may not be relevant to anything.) Rumour has it that she is not running again. Getting on with her life?
* Reference:
For other sustainable Kingston resources see the following link:
http://www.google.ca/webhp#hl=en&source=hp&q=sustainable+kingston&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=88a1cdb132c6ac27