Kingston waterfront news: March 2008

POSTPONED: The Crew overboard! seminar, originally scheduled for March 28th, is postponed to May 31. The new programme will include on-water practice following the seminar.

LAKE ONTARIO PARK MASTER PLAN - TERMS OF REFERENCE is a 7-page report just released by the City staff for a committee meeting later this week.

The Terms of Reference for the next phase are focused on finding a viable way of putting in place the vision and planning principles agreed to in the visioning exercise. The Phase I Planning Study achieved its goal of reaching a consensus on the future of Lake Ontario Park. Phase 2 of the park redevelopment process has three objectives which are:

• To develop and recommend a multi-year strategic direction and plan for the revitalization and rejuvenation of the park as a public community facility;
• To ensure ongoing and inclusive community consultation throughout the development of the plan and the related implementation strategy; and
• To develop and recommend a long-term financing and budget strategy for the capital construction and operating costs necessary to implement and maintain the recommended development plan.

Totally unlike, say, City marinas.

Request for proposal: MARINA SUSTAINABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY AND BUSINESS PLAN (29 pages) released by The City of Kingston 9 days ago (March 10th).

But the RFP is still not posted on the City of Kingston Tenders, RFPs and RFIs web page.

Update: The RFP was finally posted sometime after 3:30 PM on March 19th.

When it comes to City Marinas we've seen BS like this before.

NOTES FROM THE TELECONFERENCE held yesterday evening, March 18th, 2008 which was very well run by the International St Lawrence River Board of Control from a central meeting place in Rochester.

Thanks to Mike Hill of the Dolphins for providing the notes.

THE PRESERVE OUR WRECKS, KINGSTON BLOG was just launched today.

This is the first post to what I hope will become an active and informative resource for everyone interested in respecting and protecting the maritime heritage of Kingston, Ontario and neighbouring waters.

Mike Hill

Mike is also one of the folks behind the truly excellent Kingston Dolphins Scuba Club Blog.

Don't be surprised to see the important work of Preserve Our Wrecks brought squarely to the forefront of the ongoing public conversations about our waterfront.

THE MARCH 2008 ISSUE OF THOUSAND ISLANDS LIFE is online. Several interesting articles including Gananoque Inn, and Where Have ALL the Shorelines Gone?.

FROM METALCRAFT MARINE NEWS: A new TV series on Global-TV titled The Guard features, in a very big way, a 47-foot MetalCraft Marine-built search and rescue motor life boat.

From the MetalCraft website:

The aluminum MLB is a 26 knot self-righting seach and rescue craft designed for Sea State 8.

CITY OF KINGSTON REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL for partial dock replacement of "B" Dock at Confederation Basin Marina.

Interestingly this item apparently doesn't appear in the marinas section of the 2007-08 Municipal Capital Budget.

A a six-year Confederation Basin refurbishment program began in 2006.

THE KINGSTON AND DISTRICT SPORTS HALL OF FAME WEBSITE is online, featuring 111 inductees since its establishment in 1996.

You might prefer its Wikipedia article if being spoon-fed the list 20-inductees at a time isn't your bag.

Of the 111 inductees, just 6 have been elected for performance in, or contributions to, waterfront-related sports and, of those, just 2 are inducted as athletes.

Here's the Nominations page.

WE ALL NEED CERTAINTY...AND A SWIMABLE, DRINKABLE, FISHABLE KINGSTON is a wrap of recent Lake Ontario Waterkeeper activity in the area, including the Lafarge tire-burning issue.

Bet you didn't know that Lake Ontario Waterkeeper started in Kingston.

A STUNNING DESKTOP IMAGE from Ian Coristine, available for download in the following screen sizes: 1152 x 864, 1280 x 800 or 1680 x 1050.

The best story which also explains its location will earn a set of 6 prints.

Read more on the photography of Ian Coristine, who's been capturing the Thousand Islands region for more than 15 years.

Related: the photos festooned throughout the Thousand Islands Life e-zine.