Municipal Archives — Lindsay Advocate

Council eyes tear-down of east-side historical properties to allow for apartment building

Published on September 19, 2019 in Community/Just in Time/Municipal/Opinion by Jamie Morris and Sara Walker-Howe

It’s a property with a now well-documented past but an uncertain future. There are competing interests and City Council and its Planning Advisory Committee have some decisions to make.

You can see the property for yourself if you turn off King Street onto St. David, towards Logie Road. Number 3 St. David, one of the property’s two houses, will be on your right. It’s a large red-brick, gable-front Victorian with a wrap-around porch, set back from the road on a well-treed lot (there’s a towering walnut, some maples and others).

Take the first right onto the extension of Riverview and past a line of mature pine trees you’ll find 4 Riverview, the second, smaller house — a typical Ontario Gothic cottage.

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Going, going, gone: Death of a species as Kawartha Lakes set to lose 24,000 trees

Published on September 13, 2019 in Around Town/Community/Environment/Municipal by Jamie Morris

Peace Park sits on a small, irregular plot of land just north of Central Senior Public School. It’s bordered by Albert Street., Peel Street W., a parking lot used by LCVI students, and a home. You might not have been aware it’s a park: there are no benches or play equipment. Until very recently what it consisted of was a stand of trees. There were thirteen of them, all planted in 1992, which is the year the park was dedicated.

The number 13 was significant, as a plaque explains: “The trees are symbolic of Canada’s Provinces and Territories and represent a link with one another, with nature, and as a symbol of hope for the future.”

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It’s ‘Housing First,’ addiction issues after, says Fourcast

Published on September 12, 2019 in Community/Health/Municipal/Poverty Reduction by Roderick Benns

Twenty-four chronically homeless people in our area now have a home, thanks to the City of Kawartha Lakes and and Kawartha Lakes Housing Corporation. But since many of them are struggling with addictions, hundreds of readers recently questioned on social media whether they were deserving of accommodation.

The story, ‘New housing complex should be for rehab, not ‘condoning drugs’: Woman’s petition,’ was read by thousands with the majority of readers on social media holding the opinion that these 24 people should be ‘clean’ first before being given the keys to a brand new one bedroom apartment.

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Council reviews High Water Bill Adjustment Policy

Published on September 12, 2019 in Municipal by Lindsay Advocate

At the Committee of the Whole meeting September 10, Council recommended changes to the High Water Bill Adjustment Policy be forwarded to the Regular Council Meeting of September 24 for adoption.

At the July 16 Committee of the Whole meeting, Council heard a presentation from Jennifer Stover, Director of Corporate Services on the purpose of and related areas of concern within the High Bill Adjustment Policy. Those concerns have been incorporated into the new policy recommendations.

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Housing Services proposing aggressive targets for new affordable housing

Published on September 11, 2019 in Municipal/Poverty Reduction by Lindsay Advocate

At the September 10 Committee of the Whole meeting, Council heard a presentation outlining the targets for the next decade being proposed by Housing Services.

Hope Lee, Manager of Housing, presented the targets, noting that the municipality in its role as Service Manager for the City and the County is in the process of refreshing the Housing and Homelessness Plan 2020-2029 and will bring the refreshed plan to Council in November. A committee has created a draft plan, completed multiple forms of public consultations and have published a comprehensive needs assessment. Keep Reading

Housing and mental health supported by CKL-Trent University partnership

Published on September 9, 2019 in Municipal by Lindsay Advocate

Over the past three years, Trent University and the municipality of Kawartha Lakes have partnered to create an Intensive Case Management Evaluation Report for Kawartha Lakes. Intensive Case Management (ICM) is an approach to supporting clients with complex needs in terms of housing and mental health. The Evaluation Report found that the ICM program results in better quality of life for clients, more sustainable service delivery and increased satisfaction in housing.

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New housing complex should be for rehab, not ‘condoning drugs’: Woman’s petition

Published on September 4, 2019 in Community/Municipal/Poverty Reduction by Roderick Benns

Vera Fillion lost her 23-year-old son nearly six years ago from a Fentanyl overdose. Now her partner is hooked on hard drugs once again, after he moved into an apartment at the brand new 68 Lindsay Street North building, at the corner of Queen Street.

She calls the new housing “a terrible place to be” and says it “smells like death.”

“It feels like they got this building to get the worst of the worst together,” she tells the Advocate.

“The girls wander the hallways like zombies…covered in open wounds from crystal meth. My partner got a room in there – he went in sober and now he’s back on drugs.”

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Conservative cuts to library system now mean user fees for some book loans

Published on September 3, 2019 in Community/Municipal/Poverty Reduction/Provincial by Roderick Benns

Free inter-library loans are back at the Kawartha Lakes Public Library system, even after the Ontario Conservatives slashed budgets across the province. But ‘free’ comes at a cost, as this will now impact the collections budget and has also created a new type of user fee for books that come from universities.

In April the Advocate reported that funding for two key services – the Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS) and the Northern Ontario Library Service (NOLS) were cut in half. SOLS – of which Kawartha Lakes system is a member of — supplies courier service that moves material between different systems. About 200-250 items per month for local patrons are moved about through other libraries, showing the popularity of the system.

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Province keeps municipalities guessing: Is paramedic funding down or up?

Published on August 29, 2019 in Municipal/Provincial by Roderick Benns

It hasn’t been easy for municipalities to get a handle on this current provincial government when it comes to funding, whether for paramedic services, childcare, Ontario Works, and more.

Communication has been unclear and sometimes contradictory. The Province has sent mixed signals on cuts, promising to slay a deficit that grew under two previous Liberal governments, solely by cutting “red tape.” At the same time they’ve promised to avoid the kinds of egregious cuts made by Ontario Conservatives in the Mike Harris years.

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New Lindsay transit route, expanded fleet, as part of new infrastructure money

Published on August 16, 2019 in Federal/Municipal/Provincial by Roderick Benns

New Lindsay bus route, expanded fleet, as part of new infrastructure money

Lindsay Transit will be updating its fleet, adding a new route, creating bike racks on buses and upgrading transit software, among other changes after the Province announced new infrastructure funding.

Laurie Scott, minister of infrastructure, announced Kawartha Lakes has been nominated for funding under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). Ontario will be investing upwards of $790,000 to go towards new transit infrastructure projects.

The project is being nominated under the Public Transit stream of the ICIP, a 10-year, $30 billion fund created by Federal and Provincial levels of government to provide support to help municipalities repair or build critical infrastructure.

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