The more than 300 chairs set up for Wednesday evening’s inaugural open house of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Residents Association were filled with those ready to have their voices heard on the issues and topics most important to them as people who call NOTL home.
Located outside the old courthouse on Queen Street, the kiosk is more than two years in the making and serves as a welcome centre to greet visitors and residents.
Through a partnership with PortsToronto, the company has officially secured a docking area in Toronto after more than three years of consultation. However, there is still a two-year minimum before the crafts are actually manufactured, Hoverlink’s president told The Lake Report.
Curated by Michele-Elise Burnett, the exhibition made its debut at Willowbank and will travel across Canada next year, with its first stop at Black Creek Village in Toronto.
Cheropita also raised concerns about the apparent cost imbalance between Niagara-on-the-Lake and other municipalities. The report notes the cost per ride as $5.22 for taxpayers.
Councillors raised concerns about environmental impacts and a lack of feedback from the District School Board of Niagara: “The public school in St. Davids is pretty full and we keep putting more and more subdivisions,” Coun. Gary Burroughs said in an interview.
Councillors voted 5-4 against a motion brought forth by Coun. Sandra O’Connor, requesting that the province rescind the powers for NOTL. These powers, which came into effect May 1, give the lord mayor more control over key parts of municipal governance.
Beginning at 6:30 p.m., the meeting will focus on achieving respectful dialogue, informed engagement with local government, and a commitment to integrity, transparency and accountability.
Throughout the campaign, Baldinelli pushed a platform focused on affordability, public safety and economic development: “I can be that voice and that advocate to bring forward their concerns to Ottawa,” he said.
Some business owners presented to council on Tuesday night in favour of keeping the patio program, saying they add vibrancy and life to the community, while others say the program has issues with compliance and enforcement.
With an official opening date of April 30, the start of tulip season in Ontario, TASC’s new farm, located on Line 3 Road, features 135 different varieties of tulip.
The group has been doing the cleanup annually for around four years now, Joyce Loewen told The Lake Report.
“The fire at Glencairn Hall is a profound loss to Niagara-on-the-Lake’s cultural fabric,” said Kirsten McCauley, the town’s director of community and development services, during her presentation.
Throughout her final shift in the paint department, where Judy Doerksen worked for the last few years, customers and NOTLers stopped by to say goodbye and wish her well.
The residents association is requesting that Chautauqua be recognized as a distinct planning area within the town’s official plan.
The provincial fire marshal is looking into the cause of the blaze and assessing the damage to the 193-year-old home. “It’s pretty clearly a total loss,” said one man who witnessed the fire on Wednesday morning.
“It’s a little bit of brightness for the residents,” horticultural society member Susan Dodd told The Lake Report.
Staff confirmed job offers were extended to three different candidates, all of whom declined “for various personal and professional reasons.” Recruitment efforts will continue over the coming months.
Coun. Sandra O’Connor told The Lake Report that strong powers allocated to Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa would jeopardize equal representation among councillors, saying if the powers come into effect, “we no longer have the power the people have given us to represent them.”
“It’s all about the youth, the next generation,” said Harvey Dreaver, Ojibwe drummer and the three-day conference’s guest of honour. “They need to seek the life of culture, our traditional roots, our language, we need to educate ourselves.”
After a lengthy discussion, instead of approving the move, at a cost of $175,000 (coming from capital reserves), council asked staff to look into the details of the proposal and come back to it with more information.
Juno-nominated comedian and Just For Laughs alumni Derek Seguin is making a pitstop in Niagara-on-the-Lake next week as part of his country-wide Life of Leisure comedy tour.
Tourism Niagara-on-the-Lake is projecting that it’ll make up to $2.2 million this year, with big spending planned for marketing campaigns to attract visitors to town.
Run by the school and the Niagara-on-the-Lake Kinsmen, this year’s egg hunt kicks off at the NOTL Community Centre on April 19 at 10 a.m. Funds raised this year will go directly to supporting programs and educational resources at the nursery.
Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa confirmed with The Lake Report that he received the official letter around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning. He said he plans to have the town’s chief administrative officer look over the proposal and piece together what it means before sending a memo to town council.
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