Kingston waterfront news: May 2007
THE THREE RACING AREAS AT THE VOLVO YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS will be named Orange, Blue, and Yellow.
Orange corresponds roughly to Course Alpha, Blue to Course Echo, and Yellow to Course Charlie, our more traditional names for these zones.
Here's a diagram of their approximate sizes and locations:
COUNCILLOR BILL GLOVER EVIDENTLY "GETS" IT, as you can read in today's Whig Standard. It's an edited transcript of Councillor Glover's remarks at the recent Marine Museum AGM.
Read the whole thing. Time is of the essence. Some people, it seems, need to put up or get out of the way. And soon.
Worth noting: THE KINGSTON DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL is coming up, on Saturday, June 9th, 2007.
TOURISM INDUSTRY, BUSINESS WOULD BENEFIT FROM BETTER DOCK, says Maurice Smith in a letter in today's Whig.
Click for more details on the repairs required to Kingston's only downtown dock having water for bigger vessels.
The KINGSTON BOARDSAILING ASSOCIATION AGM is tonight, 7:30 PM, at the Kingston Yacht Club.
BYM SAILING & SPORTS: Volvo Youth Worlds another chapter for Kingston sailing history. BYM is based in San Francisco.
Kingston really has an impressive sailing history; it's an international sporting events tradition to match or surpass any other city or town in Canada.
INTERESTING FINDINGS UNDERWATER at Brule Road, as reported by the CFB Kingston Dolphin Scuba Club.
ELEVATOR BAY DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING PHOTO SET on Flickr.
Here are photos of the panels that were on display at the start of the meeting.
Click the thumbnails to see larger versions. For really large detailed photos, click the "All Sizes" link you'll find there.
TICK POPULATION RISING, and these suckers can give you Lyme Disease. Report by Ian Elliot in today's Whig.
Previously: LYME DISEASE TICS HAVE ARRIVED from August 19, 2006.
ELEVATOR BAY PROJECT DETAILS today in The Whig in a report by Jordan Press.
The first public information meeting is tonight between 6 and 9 pm at the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club.
There are several waterfront items on TUESDAY'S COUNCIL AGENDA:
Under "Delegations", Marianne Davis, Executive Director of the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship (July 12-21) will speak to Council.
Under "Reports":
- Marine Museum Purchase Status Report. See also today's other K7 news item for details because it's a doozie.
- Front-end financing of the construction of seawall improvements at Block D whereby the costs of repairing and constructing a seawall around the perimeter of Block D adjacent to the City owned lands will be paid by Homestead Land Holdings Limited and LAJJC Inc. and reimbursed by the City no later than December 31, 2008.
- License agreement renewal with Frontenac Condominium Corporation No. 20 for the seawall in Kingston Marina.
Previously (March 20, 2007): List of waterfront items in the 2007-08 municipal capital budget
A MARINE MUSEUM PURCHASE STATUS REPORT will be presented at Tuesday's Council meeting. The recommendation asks for $195,000 in funding for engineering investigations into the west wharf, east wharf and drydock structures.
There's much more in the report, including this ballpark estimate:
In the next 2 to 10 years, it is estimated that over $6,000,000 must be spent on remedial works to reinstate the following marine structures back to a serviceable condition:
- Complete rehabilitation of the west wharf
- Reconstruction of the upper section of wall around the perimeter of the drydock extension
- Rehabilitation of the east wharf
- Possible rehabilitation of the limestone block section of the drydock.
This estimated cost does not include contingency, contract administration, inspection, environmental, etc., which could easily exceed an additional $2,500,000. None of these costs, totaling an estimated $8.5 million are budgeted in the City's ten year capital plan.
NOT MAKING THIS UP: Read the caption below this photo which appeared on page 60 of the Saturday Kingston Whig Standard, The Ticket section, in a travel article about sailing in Spain.
"A Chinese team and the U.S. BMW Oracle narrowly miss capsizing off the coast of Valencia, Spain"
Can you imagine this caption on that photo appearing in a daily paper based in Annapolis MD, La Rochelle France, Sardinia Italy, or Sydney Australia?
One possible lesson:
Do not underestimate the massive amount of education required about waterfront and waterfront activities (like sailing) in this town.
Normal intelligent people can still be almost totally clueless about waterfront in general, and sailing in particular.
If you are reading this and you don't sail, then maybe it's not obvious. What we see in the photo are two normal America's Cup boats crossing as they sail upwind in light to medium breeze. They are nowhere near capsizing.
The VOLVO YOUTH WORLDS ENTRY SUMMARY shows 227 competitors and 81 coaches from 52 countries. The visiting countries with the largest teams are:
- Brazil 13
- Denmark 13
- France 13
- Great Britian 13
- Germany 13
- Italy 13
- New Zealand 13
- Australia 12
- Singapore 12
- United States 12
Finally, SOME GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE IMPERIAL WAREHOUSE. The threat of demolition certainly seems diminished.
Here's our Imperial Warehouse wiki topic and our new Flickr collection of Imperial Warehouse photos, some dating back to 1924.
The Forrest Group of Toronto has planned an ELEVATOR BAY DEVELOPMENT OPEN HOUSE in the Dining Room at the Cataraqui Golf and Country Club from 6pm to 9pm on May 16, 2007. The room will be open at 5:30pm and the presentation will commence at 6pm.
THE MARINE MUSEUM'S ALEXANDER HENRY is the subject of a CKWS-TV news report today.
It seems that the Federal Government is, as usual, bumbling and uncoopertive.