Residents hold Memorial Centre Public meeting September 27th

[Valley]

A number of Kingston residents have come together to hold a meeting on the future of the Memorial Centre. The Public Meeting will be held on Monday September 27, 2004 at Princess Street United Church (at Albert St.) at 7:00 pm.

[macphail]

Could you supply additional information please?

Cheers, Derek

[ptech]

I've been working at the fair the last few days.

A number of people have been collecting signitures outside of the gates in support of not demolishing the Memorial Centre.

[Valley]

These are the details of the Memorial Centre Public Meeting on September 27th at 7:00 pm at the Princess Street United Church:

Kingston Memorial Centre Public Meeting


Are you concerned about losing the Kingston Memorial Centre?

Warning


* War veterans * children * ballplayers* swimmers * hockey players
* ice skaters joggers * playground users * cricket players
* Walker's/dog walkers * fairgoers * lovers of green space
*all community minded people all taxpayers

Building an entertainment centre at Anglin Bay-Inner Harbor will result in the Memorial Centre and lands being sold off. This would be a tremendous loss to the surrounding neighborhoods and the entire community.

Did You Know:

Williamsville and Kingscourt-Strathcona have the least amount of recreational and green space per person entire city?

Williamsville is at risk of losing more than half of theirs?

The Memorial Center was billed as a living Memorial for the enjoyment of all for generations to come, in honour of Kingstonians who sacrificed their lives in the two World Wars and in the Korean War?


Interested in finding out more? Come and SPEAK OUT!

Attend a public meeting on Monday September 27th at
Princess Street United Church (at Albert Street) at 7 PM

Councillors Ed Smith and Steve Garrison will be there to hear your views

All are welcome

Sponsored by Williamsville Residents' Association and Friends of the Memorial Centre call 549-2005 or williamsville2005@yahoo.ca

[Emerald]

Personally I think a well designed residential development with adequate green space and a memorial would be a fine replacement for the Memorial Centre. The emphasis should be on 'well designed'.

[macphail]

The emphasis should be on 'well designed'.
That should be applied to anything undertaken in Kingston. Unfortunately, that isn't the norm. Look at the blocks - both current and proposed - dotting our waterfront.

Cheers, Derek

[fsrvival]

Personally I think a well designed residential development with adequate green space and a memorial would be a fine replacement for the Memorial Centre. The emphasis should be on 'well designed'.

Hmmm ... there are a lot of issues involved.

Have a look here:

http://www.kcal.ca/SacrThe_MemCentr.html

[macphail]

Printed from www.thewhig.com web site Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - © 2004 The Kingston Whig-Standard

Residents demand Memorial Centre be saved

By Derek Baldwin

Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 07:00

Local News - Councillor Ed Smith resembled a human punching bag last night.

In the thick of an angry public meeting convened by his own Williamsville District constituents, Smith was subjected to relentless taunts and jabs over the possible $5-million sale of the Memorial Centre by the city.

Selling off the centre – which is in Smith’s district – is one of 13 recommendations made by a mayor’s task force to help finance a proposed $28.5-million riverfront arena for the Inner Harbour.

Hundreds of irritated residents crammed into the muggy gymnasium of Princess Street United Church and pressed Smith for a public pledge that he wouldn’t allow the city to raze their beloved Memorial Centre.

The councillor said at no point did he agree with the demolition of the Memorial Centre to sell off the property for $5 million.

Then he said he would fight to keep as much of the green space surrounding the seemingly doomed arena as possible.

The crowd wasn’t impressed.

They jeered and booed.

The charge was led by Williamsville Residents’ Association member Kay Wolstenholme, who accused Smith of not representing his own constituents.

Wolstenholme was one of more than three dozen speakers, all of whom lashed out at city council for considering the fire sale of a publicly owned asset.

She asked Smith why he apparently ignored requests for a public meeting for months prompting her association, in conjunction with the Friends of the Memorial Centre, to schedule their own public session last night.

“You should have called a damned meeting before now,” Wolstenholme chided.

She issued a direct challenge that Smith fight any attempt by council to sell the Memorial Centre.

Smith assumed the podium and pledged that other “funding models are going to be looked at.”

He denied supporting the sale of the Memorial Centre property.

Association member Jana Mills reminded Smith he was quoted by The Whig-Standard April 19 as supporting the sale of the centre.

Smith replied that his “experience with The Whig-Standard is that it doesn’t quote council actions very accurately.”

He was met with another chorus of groans and moans.

A man in the crowd heckled: “Are you going to call us liars if we say something? We’re not The Whig-Standard.”

He was urged as chairman of the steering committee to work with council to propose a motion that would remove the Memorial Centre from any possible sale.

Smith countered: “I, too, have fond memories of the Memorial Centre. It’s not my wish to lose the Memorial Centre grounds or the green space there. So I can promise I’m going to fight to maintain as much as possible the Memorial Centre grounds.”

He was drowned out by more boos.

The crowd started chanting, “Not for sale, not for sale.”

Former Kingston mayor Bill Mills jumped to the microphone and said he would “like to be up before dawn tomorrow morning and put up a not-for-sale sign on the Memorial Arena.”

Mayor Harvey Rosen was also subjected to punishing criticisms at the meeting, most of which centred on the war veterans to whom the Memorial Centre was dedicated.

Retired colonel Bob Chamberlain gave an impassioned plea that the memory of the city’s war heroes not be forgotten.

Levelling the Memorial Centre to make way for a large housing project would decimate that memory, Chamberlain said.

He blasted city councillors sitting nearby.

“You’re desecrating it. You’re upsetting all the veterans who are serving and those who have passed away,” Chamberlain said.

People gave Chamberlain a standing ovation.

Naval historian Bill Glover delivered a blistering attack on councillors for considering any plan that would abandon a memorial to Kingston’s fallen.

Glaring at Rosen, Glover said, “Perhaps on Remembrance Day, Nov. 11, you will say, ‘we will not remember them.’ ”

In a letter that was read aloud, Kingston senior Mildred Bennett said the Memorial Centre is a symbol of thanks to veterans who fought for freedom.

“Mr. Rosen, do not destroy our Memorial Centre,” she pleaded.

Paul Trudeau said council is the custodian of the memorial and should protect it.

Council should ensure it stands as “a sacred trust to safeguard our community values,” he said.

Williamsville resident Susan Bazely asked Smith why the city has fixed up City Park and Churchill Park but has left the Memorial Centre a disgrace.

“What, then, is the problem with the Memorial Centre and fairgrounds? Will you, Councillor Smith, start taking care of this?” Bazely asked.

John Grenville said before a decision is reached on the Memorial Centre, the city should conduct sweeping public consultation.

City council may have some answers from the mood of last night’s meeting, Grenville said.

“If tonight is any indication, the [arena] needs to look elsewhere for its funding,” he said.

Wayne Westfall said he’s alarmed that the green space used by many Williamsville residents at the Memorial Centre could be replaced by a housing project.

“We want to leave something we think is worthwhile green space. We have very little left in the city so we should be sure of what we’re doing,” Westfall said.

“When we pave over our past, we may be paving over our future, too, and I don’t think council realizes that.”

Retired teacher George Dillon suggested that Williamsville residents could fight for a referendum on the matter.

He said that on two prior occasions referendums were held in Kingston.

Dillon said there may be a bylaw on the books allowing for a referendum question to be put on the election ballot in 2006.

“If you want to save the Memorial Centre, dig out the bylaw and put it before residents of the city in the next election,” he said.

One of the meeting’s organizers, Mikaela Hughes, received the biggest applause of the evening.

She said the city would be violating its own Official Plan by selling off the Memorial Centre.

“Parks belong to the people of the City of Kingston – they are not the mayor’s piggy bank,” said Hughes.

[fsrvival]

Derek,

Thanks for posting the Whig report on this.

It will result in making that article google-searchable, which it would otherwise not be.

The Whig does not maintain (yet) their own online-searchable article database. Consequently, those articles are "lost to time" unless posted to a webforum such as this one.

I've noticed several KE Forum references in the Google searches that I have done on LVEC-related stuff - and none from the Whig's site.

M.S.