Will our neighbourhood soon become ‘valour district’?

Plans are afoot to label part of our neighbourhood the “valour district.” And City Council recently gave a unanimous green light to move ahead with considering the previously unheard-of scheme.

In early March the gallery at City Council was crowded with Kingston residents, many from the Skeleton Park neighbourhood. They had come to support the movement to finally put an end to the plans to drive the Wellington Street Extension through one of the few green spaces in the near north end. Thankfully, it seems like a Council majority agrees with the four neighbourhood women who have led the determined effort to put a stop to the pricey, disruptive road.

Then, at the end of the meeting, two suburban councillors came up with another motion aimed at our district.

Moved by Councillor Osanic, Seconded by Deputy Mayor Boehme

Whereas brave members of this community stepped forward in World War I and World War II to fight for King and country, and
Whereas many made the ultimate sacrifice in battle, and
Whereas interested supporters of the military community have requested an area be designated to commemorate the departure of the 21st Battalion and members of Queen’s Stationary Hospital from Kingston 100 years ago in May 2015,
Therefore Be It Resolved That staff be directed to bring a report to Council in April 2015, after having completed consultation, to consider designating an area spanning from the Kingston Armouries to Fort Frontenac as “Valour District” to commemorate the valiant military service of past Kingstonians and that the report would include the cost options with either altering or adding the district signs, an implementation plan, and a proposed schedule for the installation of the signs.

The language reflects the nineteenth century imperial spirit that no doubt gave rise to the street names that already dot the environs of Skeleton Park. Balaclava. Alma. Redan. Raglan. They speak of the Crimean War, best remembered as a testament to the long history of incompetence in the conduct of war – the tragically notorious Charge of the Light Brigade. Then, of course, we have Artillery Park. And, most bizarre of all, Ordnance Street – named after ammunition.

Proposed valour district street signs. (Draft)

Kingston has almost as many war memorials as it does plaques and statues honouring Sir John A. Macdonald. We have artillery pieces in parks. A fine new Memorial Park – echoing Washington’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial — with the names of those killed in war. A City Hall Memorial Room with romantic, stained glass images of World War One. Triumphalist statues.

The issue of a valour district may provoke questions for some. It certainly does for me. That’s because I’ve been pondering issues of peace and war as well as the culture and politics of commemoration for several years now.

*Does Kingston have sufficient war memorials, especially those that tend to emphasize glory and valour?

*Who will be consulted about the proposed valour district? Will city officials confine their discussions to private chats with unnamed “supporters of the military community”? What about those of us who actually live nearby?

*Kingston has placed a moratorium on new commemoration initiatives until we have a fresh commemoration policy in place. The new policy has been subject to widespread community consultation, with consultants hired and surveys circulated. How does the apparent rush to commemorate a little-known 1915 event fit in with the city’s moratorium?

Proposed boundaries of the valour district. (Draft)

*Is there a way of commemorating this particular part of Kingston to include the first peoples who used the place?

*Should we develop ways of commemoration that highlight war’s unspeakable tragedies, its follies, it waste of life and its corrosive environmental effects?

*When commemorating people who have died on the job, why does the Official Story so often ignore workers who have built our city and died doing so? Are they not also worth commemorating?

The local group PeaceQuest planted a young oak tree in City Park on the International Day of Peace in 2013, just as the various WW I centenaries (see motion, above) were about to begin. The accompanying plaque, together with a granite marker, reads “Grieving the tragedy of war, committed to the promise of peace.” The group was obliged to pay for the granite marker out of its own funds. Who will pay for changing the street signs should this “valour district” go through?

Let’s stop harping on war. Let’s give peace a chance.

Kingston writer Jamie Swift has lived in the Skeleton Park area for 25 years. He’s the author with Ian McKay, of “Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety.” Jamie and Ian are working on “The Vimy Trap,” a book about the cultural politics of commemoration

Winter Solstice Gathering in the Park 12.21.14

How big is the threat of a downtown casino? Tough question.

by Anne Lougheed

As April waned, discussion of a possible casino in Kingston became pretty lively. Mid-month, King’s Town Councillor Rob Hutchison brought forward a motion to council to have a referendum attached to October’s municipal ballot. The referendum question, as he originally wrote it, was “Are you in favour of a casino being located in the City of Kingston? Yes or No.” During the council meeting, it was decided to add an amendment excluding the Central Business District, as most councillors (and most participants in the city’s survey)  oppose a casino being located downtown.

The referendum question then became “Are you in favour of a casino being located in the City of Kingston, excluding the Central Business District (Downtown)? Yes or No.” Council had to rush to have both the mandatory public meeting and the meeting to approve the bylaw before the April 30^th deadline. At those meetings, held April 29^th, a number of Kingston residents and councillors expressed concern that the question was confusing; in the end it was amended back to its original form.

To complicate things, the wording of the question was finalized on the heels of the release of the Auditor General’s report on the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) Modernization Plan. The audit revealed that back in 2012, the goal of the OLG was to replace the Thousand Islands Casino with a new facility in downtown Kingston. This information was apparently not released to any of the stakeholders -in Gananoque, the Township of Leeds and Thousand Islands, and Kingston- until now.

So now we have a clear and simple referendum question, the outcome of which cannot be disputed after the fact, but which offers no inherent protection for the downtown. On the other hand, the OLG issued Request for Proposals (RFPs) to casino operators as of April 25 2014, presumably with the information that Kingston City Council has excluded the downtown as a potential site for a casino. As well, this council, though divided on the casino, is strongly opposed to one downtown.

Some members of council believe that the next step is to amend Kingston’s Official Plan (OP) so that those areas in the city where a casino could legally go are clearly defined, and the downtown is excluded. The city solicitor has said, however, that the new council could reverse changes to the OP if they like. If that is true, then an official plan amendment may not help even as it introduces the term “casino gaming facility” into the OP for the first time. It will be important for voters to know how their electoral candidates feel about a casino, and whether or not one should be located in the downtown business district.

For the record, our current downtown representatives- Rob Hutchison in King’s Town, Jim Neill in Williamsville, and Bill Glover in Sydenham District- are staunch opponents of a casino anywhere in the city.

In the end, the referendum will be legally binding only if there is a 50% voter turnout and a 50%+1 response in favour or against.

Whether or not you oppose a casino, it’s important to understand the referendum question and for a really great (and neutral) FAQ page check out http://tommy.vallier.ca/2014/04/30/where-we-stand-a-faq-on-a-casino-in-kingston/

An Open Letter Opposing the Closure of KCVI

from the Downtown Action Revitalization Network
January 27th, 2014

Within a month, the Ontario Ministry of Education will decide the fate of KCVI. We, the Downtown Action Revitalization Network (DARN!), are writing to add our voice to the growing opposition against the closure of this school. DARN! promotes and advocates a liveable, dynamic and inclusive downtown. We envision Kingston’s core as a place to live, work, shop and play, and believe that schools are essential to this vision.

The downtowns in almost all Canadian medium-sized cities are in trouble, including (perhaps) Kingston. With too many suburban malls and power centres, it is hard to keep a downtown main street going, as we see in Brantford, St. Catherine’s, Belleville and Hamilton. In 2004, the exceptions to this rule were Halifax, Victoria and Kingston, according to an article in the Journal of the American Planning Association. The Kingston BIA is widely admired for re-positioning the central business district to serve both residents and students in the winter and provide programming for tourists in the summer. The renovation of the Grand, the Market Square and the KRock Centre were all positive additions. However, Kingston’s downtown has taken some significant blows in the last couple of years, with the loss of the movie theatre, Indigo and many other locally owned businesses. Walking below Barrie Street on a Saturday is now too quiet for comfort.

The loss of KCVI would be another major blow and we are left to wonder at what point the balance might shift completely and leave a deserted downtown. Most directly, the loss would affect the downtown residents and employees whose children go to school at KCVI. If this city wants families to live downtown, there must be schools. But it would also affect the downtown businesses. Closing KCVI would remove 1000 students from the downtown streets, as well as the parents, teachers and staff that go with them. We believe the loss of downtown spending would be significant.

Most municipalities dream of having a high school on a downtown university campus. We have a full, vibrant and successful one. Let’s keep it.

Sincerely,

The Downtown Action Revitalization Network (DARN!)

For inquiries, please contact us at darnkingston@gmail.com
For information, please visit us at http://www.facebook.com/DARNKingston and @DARNKingston

Skeleton Park January 27, 2014

Photos by Rebecca Spaulding

After the ice storm: Cleaning up the branches in Skeleton Park …

On Sunday December 29th a bunch of local folks got together to clean up the branches scattered throughout McBurney Park. These are photos of the resulting piles plus the hockey netting that was extricated from the ice. Thanks to everyone!

 

Video: Skeleton Park Arts Festival 2013

Kingston Arts Council video featuring music by The Hidden Cameras and dozens of cute neighbourhood kids!

Post-flood @ The Goat

Lemon Bucket Orkestra rocking Princess Street.

The Hidden Cameras at the Sleepless Goat

Wellington Street Block Party Brings a Swarm to a Vibrant Downtown Block…Good Eats, Too

By Jamie Swift

“Just so you know,” offers Al Chater as he hands over another complementary turkey-bacon burger, “We do sell ‘em, too.”
The Pig and Olive’s burgers were moving fast. Free food generally attracts a crowd. And DARN’s most recent swarm reflected this simple fact of life. Things were humming.

The Wellington Street celebration brought well over a hundred people – active DARN supporters and casual passers-by – to the block between Queen and Barrack Streets where two new business sprouted up this past spring. A Liquid Nutrition  juice bar franchise opened a few days after Alan and Danielle Chater’s Bath Road butcher shop took root downtown.

City centre carnivores have not had a non-supermarket outlet since the Block and Cleaver closed its Market Square doors a couple of years back. “Aussie Al,” as he’s sometimes known (they sell “outback steaks”), had worked at John’s Deli and the now-shuttered Hind Quarter (it’s now a pawn shop) before starting the Bath Road butcher shop with Danielle.

The couple met at the former A&P, where Al was moonlighting.

“She made the moves on me,” he grins, handing over another burger.

“Hardly,” replies Danielle with a knowing roll of the eyes as she works the cash while keeping an eye on her son. He’s in top gear because of the swarm of activity in the parents’ new store. The couple doubled their usual mid-week business during the swarm.

Things get even busier as local musician Roger James arrives, strumming his banjo. He’s followed by Virg Allegrini from Pasta Genova down the block. The Italian food store, an independent downtown anchor for twenty-five years now, has been cooking the Pig and Olive burgers. The tiny, in-store kitchen normally produces fresh pasta, sauces, foccacia and, on Fridays, those irresistible cheese sticks. Their foccacia sandwiches are among the best in town.

Mara Fiormanti, chief pasta maker, is doing a steady trade in mini-sandwiches that Pasta Genova has provided to support the DARN swarm. Someone has chalked a sign on the sidewalk in front of Mara’s table. “DARN good food.”

One of the dozens of children, their faces painted by DARN’s Rae Brackenbury down in front of the Anna Lane office, is busy filling in the Os in “good food.”
Mara says she’s worried about the number of empty downtown stores, an anxiety reflected by a customer who claims that there haven’t been this many since she came to town just before Pasta Genova opened in 1988. The popular spot will be celebrating their 25th birthday July 13, coinciding as usual with the buskers’ festival. There will be birthday cake and grilled sausages, made in-store.

Mara and Virg’s parents left Genoa (hence the store’s name) in 1951, part of a group that arrived in Kingston together. Unlike most of the postwar wave of  Italian country folk, Mara and Virg’s  father was a skilled tradesman.

“I’ve known Robbie for years,” smiles Mara when I mention that my longtime barber Robert Castelvetri family also hales from the old Italian port city. “His dad and my dad both got jobs at the locomotive works.” (the chatty Rob Castelvetri’s Johnson Street salon is right around the corner from the Block D apartment complex where the waterfront Canadian Locomotive Company employed his father.)

DARN’s Wellington Street “block party” swarm  was the first to support more than one independent business.

The idea is twofold. To raise awareness that Kingston’s downtown, though successful compared to so many other city centres, is threatened by store closures and a retail uniformity featuring a preponderance of bars, cafes, restaurants and corporate chains. And to let people know about all those small, independent businesses that keep going. Both the Pig and Olive and Pasta Genova are supporters of the local food movement.

DARN’s Wellington Street block party was also supported by Hillary’s dry cleaning where people got a chance at free cleaning. The energetic reflexologist Sue Livesay of  Wellington Acupuncture and Massage offered free foot massages. And the Anna Lane condominium was a key swarm backer. Its sales office at Wellington and Barrack is a block down from the construction site where their building is fast rising from the desolate hole that long graced the corner of Queen and Bagot.  “Downtown – no finer place” boasts the Options for Homes developer.

Finally, a new downtown apartment building that doesn’t wall off the lakefront. (for info on the June 23 Shoreline Shuffle, see wateraccessgroup.weebly.com). Apparently Anna Lane units are selling steadily.

Liquid Nutrition’s marketing hype has it that if you enter the juice bar you’ll get “a sudden rush of health and happiness.”
Perhaps slightly overblown. But the sentiment is what has prompted the whole DARN initiative. Downtown living  certainly is good for “body and soul.” Maybe the ghost of tenorman Coleman Hawkins will grace DARN’s next swarm and treat us to the old jazz standard.

May 29th DARN! Swarm is a Block Party!

We welcome new businesses to Wellington St. and show support for some established ones with a Block Party, this Wednesday!