Kingston waterfront news for 2006
WATERKEEPER ROUNDUP: Canada slow to respond to fish virus from The Whig, and Issue burns in Bath, also from The Whig, about last week's stunning approval by the Ministry of the Environment that allows Lafarge to import and burn up to 100 tonnes of municipal waste per day, including tires, meat, bone meal and pelletized garbage for two years whilst, at the same time, banning it everywhere else.
PROVINCE OF ONTARIO APPROVES TIRE BURNING at the Lafarge plant in Bath.
The kicker: The Ministry of the Environment proposed a ban on tire incineration at the same time. This ban would prevent other facilities from applying for permits to burn tires and is based on the Ministry's, "lack of experience monitoring the environmental performance of facilities that incinerate tires."
LIMESTONED ON KITEBOARDING: Wonder why this or something similar isn't playing on "official" KTown tourism websites? with a You Tube video that looks like it might have been shot in Browns Bay.
and wave heights of the lakes.
A ROGUE WAVE apparently hit the Picton Castle and swept a 25-year old woman overboard on Friday night, 765 kilometres east-southeast of Cape Cod. This is the same barque that berthed in Kingston in late summer, hosting a 3-day "cargo sale".
7.5 SQUARE KILOMETERS OF WATER LOT SURROUNDING KINGSTON is up for grabs.
THE 2007 ISAF VOLVO YOUTH WORLDS WEBSITE is live. No content there yet, but bookmark it anyway.
THE CANADIAN YACHTING ASSOCIATION, which is based at POH in Kingston, seeks a High Performance Coordinator for, among other things, the Canadian Sailing Team and the High Performance Youth Sailing programs.
SIERRA LEGAL PUTS IT ON THE TABLE: Wave of raw sewage escapes treatment. Kingston rates poorly, but check out Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto.
Update: Read the CBC's report.
THE CITY SEWER BYPASS LOG was updated sometime late yesterday (November 20) to acknowledge November 16th bypasses of 34,753 cubic meters (7.6 million gallons) due to heavy rains. This represents a delay of four days between the event and the acknowledgement on the website. At the same time, the city acknowledges 755 cubic meters (166,100 gallons) for November 11-14, which is a six to nine day delay, and a further 159 cubic meters (34,980 gallons) on another, presumably prior date.
If you get the sense that the city is providing this environmental accounting grudgingly, and in a half-assed way, you would be right.
For example, we learn that October hath 32 days. Honest mistake? or maybe they really don't give a damn? You decide. Just know that we waited 24 hours to post this story hoping they'd fix obvious mistakes like this. So far, they haven't.
There's more: The Whig reported, on November 18th, citing Jim Keech, president of Utilities Kingston, bypasses of 50,000 cubic meters, not the 34,753 currently being acknowledged by the City. What's going on?
The City doesn't even provide a "last updated" or "valid through" date on the sewer bypass page, so anyone looking-in within a few days of a heavy rain, even a week or more hence, would mistakenly conclude there were no bypasses.
All this isn't good enough, and the waterfront deserves better and prompter sewer bypass accounting than we're getting.
This land is adjacent to Music Marina, and very close to the landing of the so-called "third crossing".
It looks like there is some shoreline infilling involved in the diagrams here.
A GLANCE UPSTREAM AT WATER LEVELS IN THE GREAT LAKES shows that the big lakes, Superior and Michigan / Huron, continue to be notably below average. Lake Superior levels are approaching record lows for this time of year. Superior's November levels haven't been this low since the 1930's.
THE PRESERVE OUR WRECKS FALL 2006 NEWSLETTER is now online. Preserve Our Wrecks Kingston (POW) is celebrating its 25th year of protecting Kingston's Marine Heritage through its preservation efforts of the local area shipwrecks.
CKWS-TV REPORTS that Belleville's Morch Marine is planning quite the expansion and makeover. $150 million worth. Wow.
THE CITY OF KINGSTON SEWER BYPASS LOG has been rather slow with updates in the past few months. Let's see how long it takes for them to acknowledge any bypasses resulting from these rains.
Update (Saturday Nov 18): The Whig reports the city dumped an estimated 50 million litres (50,000 cubic metres) into our waterways this week.
- Utilities Kingston bypassed 14 million litres (14,000 cubic metres) at the Collingwood station, and
- 15 million litres (15,000 cubic metres) at the north end station.
- The OKill water-treatment plant was bypassed for 25 hours.
- There was also the unusual step of bypassing secondary treatment at the west-end sewage plant for 15 hours. The plant removed large solids from waste water but didnt purify it.
No mention yet of any of this on the City of Kingston Sewage Bypass Log.
THE 2nd ANNUAL LIMESTONE CITY MARINE HERITAGE SYMPOSIUM will be held Saturday January 6 2007 at The Ambassador Resort Hotel from 8:00 AM to 4 PM.
The theme of this years show remains ship wrecks of the local area with a special focus on marine archeology and wreck preservation.
The lineup:
- Locally:
- Jeremy Jones - Shore Dive Sign Project. Jeremy reports on regional effort by divers to place in water signage for the protection of both wrecks and divers.
- Scarlette Janusas, a professional underwater archeologist, on researching, working on, and protecting our Marine Heritage.
- Ed Burt reports on his discovery of the almost mythical HMS Speedy
- Dr. Ed Reinhart presenting on his geological and archeologic efforts in Caesarea
- the always popular photograher Vlada Dekina show casing the wrecks of Belle Isle, Nfld
- Dr. Doug Smeaton on historic shipwrecks of Halifax
Tickets may be reserved by contacting wreckshow@ontariodiving.com. Seating is limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. Doors open at 07:30 am.
THE HERITAGE NEWSPAPER, via Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, reports Pollution-to-housing waterfront deal hits a snag about the Davis Tannery site development.
American boaters, on the other hand, are rightfully pissed at the idea since it affects them far more than it will ever affect Kingston.
If this goes through, it's just one more reason why the northern shore of Lake Ontario is a nicer place for boating, and for quality of life. On this so-called "issue" Kingston's current mayor, Harvey Rosen, would be well advised to zip it.
Click the chart below for a larger view or, better yet, see the US Homeland Security page. The box outlined with "blue" dots is the five-mile distance from the U.S. shores and/or U.S.-Canada maritime border. The boxes outlined with "yellow" dots, here shaded pinkish, are the proposed safety zones on Lake Ontario.
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THE LAKE ONTARIO WATERKEEPER/ WOLFE ISLAND WILDLIFE ASSOCIATION WETLAND CORRIDOR PROPOSAL has been released. This is all about cleaning up and renewing the Wolfe Island Canal.
See the very interesting 40-page, 19 Mb PDF document, which includes some fascinating appendices including an inventory of fish, plant, and wildlife on Wolfe Island.
FOUR LARGE CHRONICALLY MALFUNCTIONING LIGHT BUOYS in the lower Cataraqui River were replaced this week with much smaller spar buoys.
WATERKEEPER HIGHLIGHTS two recent Whig articles: Ontario sewage standards stink and Spineless over sewage.
The reaction of Kingston's current mayor, Harvey Rosen, is interesting. The fact is, the city of Kingston only started cleaning up its act after it was left with no other recourse. Ref: the Belle Park Dump.
HERE"S AN INTERSTING ITEM involving an agreement with First Nations involving Belle Island at the Oct 3rd Council meeting.
LAKE ONTARIO WATERKEEPER argues water is not just another commodity.
GENERAL BROCK ON THE ROCKS: Today The Whig Standard published this front page story about the 100-passenger tour boat General Brock III, operated by 1000 Islands Seaway Cruises, that ran aground South of Seeleys Bay. No passengers were on board, no injuries were sustained, and apparently damage to the vessel is minimal.
UPPER GREAT LAKES WATER LEVELS ARE VERY LOW, and there's no relief in sight. Huron and Michigan are at their lowest levels since the 1960s and Lake Superior is at its lowest since 1926.
THE COLLINS CREEK GREENBELT CORRIDOR will be one step closer to reality following the Planning Commitee meeting next Thursday.
Most people don't realize the immense size of the Collins Creek watershed. You barely notice Collins Creek driving over its mouth on Bath Road. Click the diagram below for a larger version.
WORTH ANOTHER LOOK: The Kingston Boardsailing Association has a great clickable chart of Wave Sailing Spots In the Kingston Harbour with brief descriptions.
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For example:
Snake Shoal BreakSounds wild.6-8ft; Straight onshore conditions and nice long rides straight downwind. Jumps on either tack. This shallow shoal is good even in the early season high water. At low water, I wouldn't try to sail straight across this shoal. Instead, ride the surf down either side.
THE WHIG REPORTS on the three options presented by the International Joint Commission for regulating Lake Ontario water levels. See the commission's 162 page report, including some fascinating annexes.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper endorses Plan B+:
Plan B+ represents a favorable compromise between pre-dam ideal environmental conditions and human uses of the Lake and River waterways. LOW notes that this is the only candidate plan that is directed towards the goals of the study, that is improving the Lake and River ecosystem. By permitting a greater range of fluctuations, meadow marsh habitat in Lake Ontario will be significantly improved. Plan B+ does more than any other plan to address species at risk, with notable improvements to populations of least bittern, black tern, yellow rail, and king rail.
VICKI SCHMOLKA writes about getting involved in The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, a 2-week country-wide effort organized and tallied by the Vancouver Aquarium.
We need this.
GOOGLE HAS ANNOUNCED UPGRADED IMAGERY for Google Maps and Google Earth. Large parts of North America are upgraded, and though the Kingston region is not included, Gananoque, Western Howe Island, the Admiralty Islands, and the Lake Fleet Islands are.
Western Camelot and Eastern Niagra Islands from Google Maps.
FIVE PEOPLE DIE at a poker run on Lake Texoma near Willis, Oklahoma.
ABLE SAIL KINGSTON is a dymanic and remarkable piece of our waterfront. You may be impressed with all they are doing, and amazed by the depth of Kingston's Able Sail capabilities. Here are the beginnings of our Able Sail Kingston topic.
CORMORANTS TAKE A BITE OUT OF FISH STOCKS, which confirms what local fishermen have been observing for a long while.
TALL SHIP IN TOWN: The dock of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes will be graced by the 179-foot barque Picton Castle between Aug 31st and Sept 4th. The barque will be hosting a cargo sale Friday and Saturday 11-7, and Sunday and Monday 10-6.
FUNDRAISING CONCERT: GORD DOWNIE will be performing a "Heart of a Lake" tour in three cities between September 18 to 21, 2006. All proceeds from the tour will be used to help communities win back their rights to safely swim, drink, and fish in Lake Ontario.
He'll be performing in Kingston on Thursday, September 21st, 8pm at Sydenham Street United Church, 82 Sydenham Street, Kingston. Tickets $18, fees extra. Available online at www.maplemusic.com and www.grandtheatre-kingston.com, at the Grand Theatre Box office, the John Deutsch University Centre and The Grad Club, and by phone at 613.530.2050
BEACH INFORMATION WHERE? Wondering if a particular local beach is open or closed? The KFL&A Health Unit website is no help. First you must guess that their news page is where this information is kept, and then you must guess if a news item is current since their items are not dated. What's worse, the beach information is buried in a narrative paragraph which must be interpreted, and some of the beach-closure related news items mention some beaches while omitting others.
Searching for "Beaches" or "Beach Closing" on the City of Kingston website yields dysfunctional results.
What this city needs is a web page that clearly shows us the status of all local beaches at a glance.
LYME DISEASE TICS HAVE ARRIVED: Tics carrying Lyme disease have established a presence on Thwartway Island, also know as Leek Island.
UPDATE: Wednesday's Whig reports that a park worker has been diagnosed with Lyme disease, and we can assume that the tics have infested all of the Thousand Islands.
KYC'S 110 YEARS interesting story yesterday at CKWS-News about the celebration at Kingston Yacht Club marking its 110th anniversary, and the 30th anniversary of hosting the sailing competition of the 1976 Olympic Summer Games.
MORE MARINA SHENANEGANS IN THE CITY:
Here's a scanned copy of the 11-page City of Kingston Request For Information (RFI) No. CS-AM-2006-02 on the future of Confederation Basin and Portsmouth Olympic Harbour that describes itself as
"Partnering opportunity with the municipality in the provision of capital investment in marina infrastructure and delivery of marinas operations and marketing services"
Read the whole thing.
[Updated]: Click here to view the July 25th 2006 City of Kingston website announcement of the matter. Click here to see the interesting and detailed documents submitted to Council to approve this move in late March, 2006.
Various questions arise from all this:
- Why hasn't this document been widely circulated? It was advertised once in Kingston This Week. Pick-up only from the Midland St office. It was never publicly posted online by the City. Was a notice of this forwarded to, say, the Ontario Marina Operators
Association? Were players from the wider marina industry approached? Why such a short leash?
- What is the linkage between this RFI and the Request For Proposals, which apparently would soon follow? Why the rush? The RFI packs onerous production requirements into a short time, and reserves all rights to plans and intellectual property conveyed by respondents. The period for questions, for example, has already expired, just three weeks into this.
- What's in place to protect taxpayers, protect access for boating residents and events, and for equitable treatment for other local waterfront-related interests, both commercial and public?
- Why does all this appear to not pass a basic stink-test? Last April, for example, the The Kingston Brewing Company was precipitously given the task of running #6 Clarence Street, which is now the marina office, in what was the restaurant nearest to Confederation Basin.
VICKI SCHMOLKA, who is running for Kingston City Council in Trillium District, notes that the Waterfront Trail is finally, but slowly, being posted.
LAKE ONTARIO WATER LEVELS ARE UP, now about four inches above average. Upstream, Lake Superior is 10 inches below average, and Lakes Michigan and Huron are 20 inches below average water levels.
POKER RUN: Today's Whig Standard lead story, complete with colour photo, proclaims: " Big boats lead to new business".
The Thousand Islands Poker Run proved (sic) it is good for more than electrifying crowds and breaking speed limits over the weekend.
For the first time in its 19-year history, the motorsport spectacle was parlayed into a showcasing weekend for companies looking to expand.
A company in town for the event, which Kingston Economic Development Corp. general manager Jeff Garrah would not name ahead of an official announcement, committed to building a 15,000-square-foot facility that will create about 16 new jobs.
To put this into perspective, your average freestanding fast-food franchise represents as many full-time equivalent jobs as this. This is evidently front-page KEDCO-lauding news in this town.
Lower down:
"We had spectator boats lining both sides of the river from Kingston all the way to Prescott," Taylor said. "That's the magnitude of this event."
Yeah, like a sunny Saturday in August wouldn't otherwise be busy with boat traffic throughout the Thousand Islands.
Our friends at KEDCO and Poker Runs America would be well advised to curb their collegial self-congratulations, and recognize the other boats standing clear for what it really was.
CORMORANTS: The Syracuse Post Standard today ran a story titled Give cormorants credit for goby diet. Cormorants have become a huge problem on some islands near Kingston. Gobies (see also here) are an invasive species currently threatening many native fish populations.
CORK STARTS: Today is the first day of CORK, and it starts with the CORK Offshore event for larger keelboats.
CKWS-TV yesterday carried
this story about the 110-foot long tall ship Fair Jean, currently
operating in Kingston, and its planned year-long return trip to the Caribbean. Apparently there are still crew positions
available.
Here's another recent article about the deadly virus killing fish in Lake Ontario.
Here's a Utilities Kingston Tender posted August first, closing August 16th, for work that must be done before December 15th 2006. Therein:
All this seems ridiculously short-notice and cross-diciplinary. The City of Kingston stumbles on without sense or vision for the Cataraqui River.Landscaping of the on-shore areas of the east and west shores of the Great Cataraqui River - the naturalization of 5,800m2 on the west shore, the restoration of the east shore and landscaping in the vicinity of the River Street Sewage Pumping Station, including Douglas L. Fluhrer Park.
In-water fish compensation works in the Great Cataraqui River - construction of an artificial reef on the east shore of the Great Cataraqui River and the installation of ten (10) root wads on shoreline areas.
On August 1st, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper published a short piece about three local beaches that are presently closed because of E.coli.
Meanwhile, at Richardson Beach, which wasn't closed, on the hottest, muggiest, and smoggiest August 1st in Kingston history, there were very few swimmers, doubtless due to the general confusion over which beaches were, or wern't, safe.
This 112-foot Westport luxury yacht recently spent a few hours at Collins Bay Marina. Next stop: Confederation Basin
Mike Kalin, originally from Kingston, now a varsity sailing coach at MIT in Boston, finished 7th at the 2006 Laser North Americans near Halifax.
Two recent posts from Lake Ontario Waterkeeper:
The City of Kingston has issued a Request for Information for potential partners to "provide capital investment in marina infrastructure" and to "deliver marinas operations and marketing services" for Confederation Basin and Portsmouth Olympic Harbour.
We've just added a new page about The Island Grill on Wolfe Island, another of our local waterfront restaurants, some of which, like The Grill, are immediately accessible by boat.
CBC-News reports that some passport exemptions are likely for ferries and pleasure craft by the January 1st 2007 target date.
(The Horne Ferry on Wolfe Island, less than 10 miles from Kingston, links Canada to the USA.)
Bruce Schneier has an interesting post related to this on his blog: Schneier on Security (a blog that is always interesting).
Either one of two things are true. Either passports are required for security, in which case we interfere with ferries. Or they're for show, in which case we can just do what's convenient. Or maybe we just know that terrorists never take ferries.
Finally, after being notably low, Lake Ontario water levels are about normal for this time of year.
CBC News reports Rideau Canal system hit by high gas prices, bad weather and border woes. In some places along the Rideau Canal, traffic is down 30% compared to last year.
CKWS-TV has filed a transcript of a report on a recent fish die-off in Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence river. It's apparentlly caused by the VHS virus. Here's the report by The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on the matter. See also here and here.
Here's an interesting article by Jamie Swift in the July/August 2006 edition of Independent Voice titled On the shores of Lake Ontario -- In which we attempt to stroll along Kingstons waterfront.
Here are links to two recent CKWS-TV reports about the Ravensview sewage treatment plant upgrade and the Lafarge controversy in Bath.
The Friends of Lake Ontario Park have a website. Therein you can see PDFs of Concept 1, Concept 2, and Concept 3 proposals from the Lake Ontario Park Revitalization Study prepared by Corush Sunderland Wright Ltd.
The city's
sewer bypass log reports 5,400
cubic meters (1.2 million gallons) were dumped into our waterways on June 27th.
For a sense of perspective, a typical tank truck, the sort used to make fuel deliveries on highways and around town, can contain 5,000 gallons. Imagine a line of 240 such trucks, lined up to pump sewage into the water at the causeway. The equivalent of that happened this week in Kingston.
Tuesday we dumped the contents of 240 of these.
Here's another local waterfront blog, called A Sailor's Log, maintained by Nathan Baron, and billed as News, Events, and Stories from the Kingston Yacht Club.
Here's a link to a Globe and Mail article titled Ontario tightens penalties for impaired boat operators.
As we approach July, Lake Ontario water levels are still about six inches below average, and about four inches below last year's level at this time. The forecast calls for levels to rise through July, when historically levels fall.
Abbott Boats of Sarnia, Canada's premier manufacturer of racing sailboats, is completely destroyed by fire. See also here.
Here's a very cool Google
Earth File 
of Lake Ontario Windsurf Spots compiled by Evan
Wamsley. If you haven't yet installed Google Earth, you're in for a treat. Download it here.
CNN reports Green goo globs up Great Lakes. It appears that algae blooms have been on the rise since the mid-1990s in parts of all of the Great Lakes. Here's the text of the report referenced in the CNN story. It's Lake Michigan-centric, but it applies also to Lake Ontario. Interesting how zebra mussles play a part in all this.
Waterkeeper is right: Lafarge's application for a landfill in Bath and it's recent application for burning waste in its kilns should be examined in context together.
Trillium Energy Power Corp apparently plans to build a 140-turbine, 710-megawatt wind farm off Main Duck Island.
To give a sense of the scale of this, only 122 megawatts of wind-generated power exists in the province of Ontario today. 710 megawatts would be sufficient to meet the needs of 200,000 homes. This would be the biggest offshore wind farm outside of northern Europe.
The notable difference in Lake Ontario water levels between this year and 2005 is narrowing.
The Snowbirds precision aerobatic air show is scheduled for 5:45 PM this Wednesday afternoon.
Update: In Kingston the 35-minute Snowbird show started exactly on time and included several 9 plane formations.
Parks Canada is inviting the public help them develop the first management plan for the Kingston Fortifications, in particular to ensure their commemorative integrity. They are concerned with Cathcart Tower, Shoal Tower, Murney Tower and Fort Frederick.
Read the excellent 12-page illustrated brochure here and a comment form is here. All are invited to an open house in Memorial Hall, Kingston City Hall, on May 25 2006 from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
This week the City tabled a transportation report that suggests, among other things, the re-routing of King Street South of the heating plant to improve flow and alleviate Kingston General Hospital parking issues. This would require some infilling. Most of this park exists because of prior infilling.
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At long last, the boathouses at Kingston Yacht Club are being renovated.
As of this weekend the Brown's Bay Inn on Wolfe Island (website here) is open for dining.
Click here for a large-sized diagram of the vessel., and see more MetalCraft Marine fireboat pictures here.
Cold water and its effects are involved in virtually all kayaking and recreational boating deaths. An article posted on the Yachting World website explains what makes cold water exposure so potentially risky, reviews some strategies to minimize that risk, and raise a few hairs with some stories of tragic, and mostly preventable, cold water deaths. For example:
The current water temperature in these parts is 40F. The article is titled Shocking news about cold water. Read the whole thing.
- Nine elite marines, water survival instructors, capsized in 36F water wearing sweatsuits and no PFDs. None of them survived the attempted 100 yard swim to shore.
- Sixteen (16) Danish fishermen jumped into the icy waters of the North Sea when their trawler sank in a storm. They were in the water for a 2 - 3 hours before being rescued. They walked across the deck of the rescue vessel and went down into the galley to warm up. Each and every one collapsed and died in the galley.
- An average adult person has a 50/50 chance of surviving a 50 yard swim in 50F. water.
The City of Kingston announces that the Inner Harbour sewer overflow tank (is now) in operation.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper reports that Kingston dumps raw sewage... again... and again... and again... and again... and again.
Kingston has bypassed sewage seven times during five "events" in the first quarter of 2006. According to Waterkeeper, since 1999, the city has dumped well over 1-b i l l i o n litres of raw sewage into area waterways. How embarassing.
Over at Collins Bay Marina they're already launching boats. "This is the earliest we have ever started the season!" says Hub Steenbakkers, owner of Collins Bay Marina. "It is starting off to be a great season!".
Here are two views from the controllable Collins Bay Marina web cam which you can take for a spin at www.CollinsBayMarina.com/WebCam.html.
At other locations:
- Rideau Marina should begin launch activities in the next week or two, and
- Kingston Yacht Club launch day is April 29th.
- At Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, this afternoon they were hoisting-in the finger docks which winter ashore.
Both the Kingston Yacht Club and Collins Bay Yacht Club have updated their racing and social schedules for the coming months.
The City of Kingston has been working with The Kingston Brewing Company with an eye to reivitalize #6 Clarence Street.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper has issued an open invitation in Kingston this week.
Meet us in Kingston this week!
Join Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and Gord Downie in a discussion about Kingston's burning issues.
Find out what's being done - and what you can do - to win back your lake... and your future.
Where: Queen's Grad Club, Kingston
When: 7:00-9:30. Wed. April 5, 2006.
How: You must be on the list to attend. Please email RSVP@waterkeeper.ca.
Space is limited. First come, first serve!
Yesterday CKWS-TV news ran this piece about Bath's Lafarge cement plant's plans to burn tires in its kilns.
Over at Rideau Marina the South boathouse is being torn down. It's being removed because it covers some deeper-water slips that many boaters hesitate to rent because they are under cover. Very soon those slips will be wide-open.
Today The Whig Standard reports that the City is studying improving and expanding our municipal marinas, possibly establishing a partnership with the private sector.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and Gord Downie ask the government to deny Lafarge permits.
Their 11-page submission in PDF format is here. That's a long list of concerns; read the whole thing.
Here's the transcript of tonight's CKWS-TV story about the Bittern retrofit that was approved by City Council at Tuesday night's meeting.
The Whig reports that CFB Kingston has closed access to a popular waterfront cycling trail.
At issue before Council tonight, the City of Kingston proposes to rent an office at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour to Clifts Marine Sales of Toronto whose homepage already touts this as a done deal. Note the rent. We're guessing this is the thin edge of the wedge, and it's only a matter of time before they start renting docks and using POH as a major sales centre.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper has serious concerns about Lafarge's plan to burn tires and other garbage in its cement kiln near Bath.
The Bath cement plant is already one of the largest polluters in the region (see also here).
The March 2006 issue of the Collins Bay Yacht Club Newsletter is now available.
The Downtown Kingston! organization has announced that August 11, 12 & 13th are dates of this year's 1000 Island's Poker Run.
The full 2006 Poker Runs America schedule is here.
CKWS-TV reports that the City dumped 7 million litres of waste water into the Cataraqui River this week.
From the United States Army Corps of Engineers:
All of the Great Lakes are 3 to 8 inches below the levels of a year ago. Lake Superior is below chart datum and is expected to be at the same level a month from now. Lake Michigan-Huron is below chart datum and should rise 4 inches within the next 30 days. Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie are expected to rise 4 inches over the next month and Lake Ontario is expected to rise two inches over the next month. Due to a warmer than average January and February some of the Great Lakes seem to have begun their seasonal rise earlier than normal, but levels over the next few months on all the Great Lakes are expected to remain lower than 2005.
Two Kingston-area boats recently sailed in the Olson 30 US Nationals and in the Olson 30 class at the light-air Land's End NOOD regatta in Florida. Both events were hosted by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.
Here are pictures of the effects of today's big breeze at Kingston Yacht Club. Environment Canada reports gusts to 84 kmh, off the scale of our chart.
Here is the announcement that the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship will be held in Kingston between 12-21 July 2007.
The Globe and Mail reports Great Lakes pollution rising despite cleanups, study says. The full study is here, courtesy of pollutionwatch.org. We've posted their latest data on the largest polluters in the region on our pollution page.
The Saturday Feb 4 Whig Standard has two interesting online stories. The first is about the Wolfe Island wind turbine project and the second is about ownership and responsibility for Fort Henry.
We may be seeing a show by the Snowbirds precision flying team on Wednesday May 17th.
We've received some great pictures and a history of the shallow wrecks in Anglin Bay.
Surely we're not the only ones who missed the release of the December 2005 CORK Newsletter. Among the interesting items in the two pages are:
- The Trillium Foundation has provided over $50,000 towards the purchase of three new race support boats.
- Marianne Davis is CORK's new general manager.
- The City of Kingston has received a grant from the Government of Canada to refurbish Portsmouth Olympic Harbour which will include fixing-up the existing ramps, adding new ramps, and refurbishing docks.
The Ministry of Natural Resources is rethinking a controversial plan to close bass sanctuaries in the Rideau Lakes area after angry opposition from tourism and fishing operators.
The "Buffalo Niagra Sailing" blog has a great take on club communications. The number of waterfront clubs in Kingston that blog news for their members is currently zero.
CKWS-TV reports on the new underground sewage overflow tank on the western shore of the Cataraqui River.
Brigantine Inc has posted their summer schedule for St. Lawrence II. We notice they are looking for some practical items for donation.
The Collins Bay Yacht Club has posted its preliminary 2006 events calendar.
The Whig Standard today published a story about pending development on the Davis Tannery site, which is on the Inner Harbour waterfront.
The City of Kingston qualified for the January (Belle dump leaching) and the April (sewage dump) "highlights" of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper's Year 2005 in Review.