Some days the news assignments are just so easygoing and a pleasure to undertake. They get you outdoors on a gorgeous late summer day when the task at hand seems more fun than work.
Such was the case yesterday (Friday) when I scooted downtown . . . no, sorry that should read scootered downtown with Andrew Gunn and Maddie King of young & free press/Andrew Gunn Consulting.
Earlier this month, in collaboration with the Elgin County Railway Museum, they launched ArtRail Biking Tours which will operate Fridays and Saturdays through to the end of September.
On the guided tours, you will discover colourful murals tucked away in the most unexpected corners of the city.
Best of all you do it in fun, eco-friendly fashion on a motorized scooter or electric bike.
It takes no more than about 20 seconds to get the knack of riding one of the scooters and then the city and its artwork are yours to explore.
After our hour-long mini-tour, I had the opportunity to get the back story to this unique way of re-discovering what the city has to offer from an entirely different perspective.
‘There are lots of people who are interested in the railway history of the city,” acknowledged Gunn, “but then we have added a significant number of large-scale murals throughout the city.
“So, the question was how to combine these two. See the railway history and then connect with all the artwork.
“The electric bikes and electric scooters are just a fun way for people to experience the city in a different way. Seeing the city from the trails and seeing the city open-air like this is fun.
“And what we found is people really enjoy being on the scooters and getting to enjoy all the stories about the new murals around the city.”
The railway museum has a tour guide who goes out with people and the guide helps you get used to the scooters if you haven’t ridden them before.
Gunn added, “If you haven’t tried an electric bike before it’s pretty easy and then you go around the city to get the stories on the murals. So, it’s a guided tour around the city.
“The quirky thing about St. Thomas is it grew up along the railway so we have a very long downtown. Not everyone wants to walk and find all the murals.
“Between the trains and the museum, the views from the elevated park and the murals around the city, people want to stop and get photos.”
“So, we were trying to find a way to shrink that time a little bit between the murals. There are stretches on the tour that are easy to walk when there are three or four murals in a bunch, but then you get on the scooters to do a three- or four-block trip or go down the trails to see some of the murals along the Whistlestop Trail, for example.
“The scooters just make it fun, make it a bit quicker and a little bit easier for people to get around.”
And, let’s face it, the murals offer a creative backdrop for photos.
“St. Thomas Elevated Park as well,” added Gunn. “The tours generally go up and end at the elevated park before coming back to the railway museum.
“Between the trains and the museum, the views from the elevated park and the murals around the city, people want to stop and get photos.
“So we find the tour is about an hour and a half to two hours, depending on how many people are there and how much they want to stop.
“We found the fit seems to be when people who live here have family and friends coming to visit. This is the perfect fit. That’s the way to get connected to the murals, see the historical infrastructure of the railway and get to experience the elevated park in a fun way.”
“I think that would be the one thing for St. Thomas to work on over the coming years is to have a micro-transit network to make all the transitions from different neighbourhoods and from different parts of the city as soon as possible.”
It’s a fun new way of getting to know or getting re-acquainted with your backyard.
“I think this is something at this point in St. Thomas we should be proud of that. All these people in the community have put a lot of effort into making these things happen, now it’s time to enjoy it and celebrate it.
“We have a cool trail system around the city. A lot of new developments have trails built into them. The Whistlestop Trail goes downtown, there’s a bit of an east-west corridor as well.
“I think that would be the one thing for St. Thomas to work on over the coming years is to have a micro-transit network to make all the transitions from different neighbourhoods and from different parts of the city as soon as possible.
“Because a lot of people in the city get around on bikes and scooters and skateboards. There should be a way to help get them around easily and safely.”
It is sightseeing on a whole different level. A cool way of sightseeing is, I am sure, how Maddie would describe it.
“The first time we went on one was actually in Oslo, Norway,” she explained. “They have a scooter-share program and I realized it was a quick and fun way to see all the sites in the city without having to spread it out over multiple days and walking.
“And then we tried it in local cities like Hamilton and Waterloo and looked at how it worked there.”
I asked her to elaborate on the situation in Norway’s capital city.
“In Oslo, they have really great trail systems and bike lanes there, it is a huge mode of transit. It was super seamless and flawless to ride around on their trails. So we wanted to start translating that to here.”
So Maddie, what was it like to take that first scooter ride along a downtown trail and experience that seed of an idea play out in real-time?
“It was super exciting to see it come to life so quickly. It’s definitely my favourite way to get around now.”
For information on the tours visit here and this is a summary of the two tour options with all tours geared to those 13 years of age and older.
Morning Tour @ 10 a.m.: Perfect for those with limited time, this will be a 1-1.5-hour tour travelling through our historical downtown. Finishing off the tour, you will have free admission and unlimited time to experience and enjoy our museum ($30.00) tax included.
Afternoon Tour @ 1 p.m.: This 2-hour tour covers the must-see murals in the heart of the city and includes a 30-minute snack stop at From the Vines, where you will receive a snack-size charcuterie box and a refreshment. At the end of your tour, you will have free admission to the museum ($45.00) tax included.
STILL WITH THE RAILWAY MUSEUM
Exactly two years ago, we talked at length with St. Thomas homebuilder Doug Tarry about his proposed residential development on land currently owned by the railway museum.
He is proposing to purchase eight acres of railway land immediately west of the museum at $300,000 per acre for a low-rise residential development that would front onto a new street to be built off Ross Street and north of Jonas Street.
At the time, Tarry could only advise, “We’re talking apartment units and we don’t have a design done yet because we obviously haven’t bought the property yet.
“But we’re also wanting to bring our expertise to the table to help with the museum revitalization.”
That could include fundraising and assisting with access to available dollars to make the museum more sustainable, added Tarry.
“We see it as a sustainability hub that could be built right into our downtown.
“It’s also part of our intent to create a community park type of setting. Like a walkability park. To really, really limit the impact of parking vehicles.
“And we’re already planning on it being electrified. All our buildings are electric and not gas.”
On Aug. 24, the city’s committee of adjustment held a public meeting via Zoom to consider the application by Tarry to sever the 3.23 hectares “for the purpose of assembling lands for future residential development purposes.”
Tarry would retain a lot with 12.8 metres of frontage on Wellington Street and an area of 3.19 hectares which would contain the Elgin County Railway Museum.
There were concerns and objections raised by members of the museum community relating to maintaining rail connections at the site, however, both members of the committee of adjustment voted in favour of the application.
As was noted by the committee chairperson, this application to legally sever the land is only the first step in a very lengthy process before work can proceed on the proposed project.
In our discussion with Tarry two years ago, he referred to the purchase of land as a lifeline to the museum.
“It’s an opportunity to move forward into the next 100 years. It would be such a shame to lose that building.”
Related posts:
Setting the switch to the appropriate track forward for the Elgin County Railway Museum
COMPENSATION CLARITY
The question of salaries for members of council will be reviewed again on Tuesday (Sept 5) as we see a return to the normal schedule of meetings.
City manager Sandra Datars Bere has prepared a detailed report outlining the current practices and policies.
Under the current bylaw approved in June 2019, “Each member of council shall be paid an annual remuneration including an annual taxable car allowance, increased annually in accordance with the Consumers Price Index (CPI) and a monthly stipend related to the use of personal telephones for the performance of their duties as a member.”
Most importantly, “All council members including the mayor acknowledge that “the annual remuneration paid by the City of St. Thomas is intended to be an all-encompassing remuneration for all council work, and the work of the various boards, committees and corporations that individual members be appointed to by council.”
This refers back to a time when members of council received compensation – in some instances a quite substantial amount as was the case with the old St. Thomas Energy/Ascent board which included members of council.
Under the current policy, “Where a member of council receives a remuneration from any board, committee or corporation as a result of being a council appointee to that board, committee or corporation, upon receipt of quarterly attendance records from the related board, committee or corporation, the city shall adjust (reduce) the member’s stipend payment by the equivalent amount.”
Datars Bere notes, “While deduction of these additional payments is required, it is more generally the practice that payments are surrendered to the city as opposed to stipends being reduced.”
In summary, “the remuneration paid to the council members is an inclusive/all-encompassing allotment and that no additional funds or compensation is to be provided for meetings, including attendance or travel.”
The basic salary for members of council is $25,837 with a vehicle allowance of $1,146 in addition to health and dental benefits.
The phone allowance is $660.
The mayor’s salary is $68,918 with an annual vehicle allowance of $5,730.
THE INSIDE STORY OF THE MARATHON OF HOPE
In April of 1980, Terry Fox set out from St. John’s Newfoundland to run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research.
The initial response to the Marathon of Hope was slow to materialize.
That began to change when the Canadian Cancer Society assigned an individual to accompany Terry to promote and drum up support as he made his way westward into Quebec and Ontario.
That someone was St. Thomas native Bill Vigars who has just released his book, Terry & Me The Inside Story of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope.
We had a lengthy conversation with Vigars late last month from his home in B.C. about the launch of his book and his role as director of public relations and fundraising for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Ontario Division back in 1980.
Previously, at the age of 18, Vigars found himself at CHLO radio in St. Thomas and that training ground proved valuable during the Marathon of Hope.
He had been a volunteer with the Cancer Society for some time and early in 1980 they were hiring an individual to undertake fundraising and public relations.
Vigars applied for the position and was successful.
We’ll let Bill pick up the story here.
“In April, Terry was on the road for three or four days and my boss came to me and said there is a kid who is going to run across Canada on one leg, do you want to see what you can do for him?
“And that’s how it started. It was meant to be, I guess.
“I talked to him on the phone when he was in Nova Scotia and I knew he was kind of bummed out because nothing was happening.”
Vigars was living in Toronto at the time and began making arrangements for when Terry entered Ontario.
“When you get to Ontario what do you want to do and he said I want to meet Bobby Orr, Darryl Sittler, I want to go to the CN Tower, I want to go to a Blue Jays game and I want to meet Trudeau.
“So, I said call me back tomorrow and I’ll see what I can do.
“I got on the phone and when he called back the next day, I was able to say Okay the Blue Jays are on the CN Tower is on, Sittler is going to meet you, Bobby Orr is going to be in Europe but he’ll come and find you somewhere down the road and I can’t find Trudeau, but we did track him down.
“What I was trying to do was make it to Ontario and then it will work.”
The book is chock-full of wonderful insights and it didn’t take long for Vigars to ensure Terry Fox was a household name across the country.
It’s a fascinating behind-the-scenes accounting of this iconic Canadian who, unfortunately, had to cut his Marathon of Hope short in Thunder Bay.
Vigars will appear at Lockwood Books this coming Friday (Sept. 8) from 1 to 3 p.m. for a book signing. Terry & Me is now in stock at Lockwood Books, 488 Talbot Street in St. Thomas.
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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.
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