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.
Category Archives: active transportation
St. Thomas-Elgin has developed a rapid response system for supporting unhoused veterans . . . a system that can work for other vulnerable populations.
St. Thomas-Elgin has reached a significant milestone in the fight against veterans’ homelessness.
In a brief ceremony prior to Tuesday’s city council meeting (April 11), it was announced St. Thomas-Elgin becomes the second community in Canada to achieve functional zero veteran homelessness.
London was the first city in Canada to be recognized.
The goal was achieved in February of this year and Danielle Neilson, the city’s social housing and homelessness prevention supervisor explains why this is a priority.
“It is part of a federal initiative to end homelessness for all veterans across Canada. And they have put money on the table to be able to do that.
“What happens then is Built for Zero works with Canadian communities to establish a system that is set up to immediately prioritize veterans who are identified in the homeless population and assist them with obtaining housing and then housing stability to ensure that they are anchored into their home.”
St. Thomas-Elgin joined Built for Zero Canada – a national movement of over 40 communities working to end chronic and veteran homelessness – in 2021.
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She could go in and go nuts on them, but to what end?
The notion, upon first hearing it, is almost absurd. Nearly four years ago, City Scope referred to it as entirely counter-intuitive. Let an absentee owner off the hook and reach out to the community instead for their help and support.
But, that is exactly the approach lawyer Elena Dempsey was proposing in June of 2014 to turn things around at Walnut Manor — an independent supportive living home operated by Niagara Supportive Living in Welland.
Well, a lengthy conversation this past Wednesday (Jan. 3) with the lawyer at Elgin-Oxford Legal Clinic in St. Thomas confirmed Dempsey is just as passionate.
She had visited the group home at 57 Walnut Street just before Christmas to drop off gifts for the 18 or so residents and found the facility just as dreary and depressing as ever. The food, appalling not appealing. Continue reading
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Silently pointing the way atop St. Thomas Elevated Park
If you think all is quiet on the St. Thomas Elevated Park front, all you have to do is look up to see nothing could be further from the truth.
The first of two large sculptures crafted by area artist and blacksmith Scott McKay was positioned in place this week, high above Sunset Drive in readiness for this year’s picnic on Aug. 27.
Entitled Fear Not The Wind, the artwork is an over-size, functional weathervane.
“Because it’s a windy environment up there, the artist came up with the idea of using that wind to make the sculpture move,” explained Serge Lavoie, president of On Track St. Thomas. “So, a big, overgrown weather vane was the answer. You go to old-fashioned gardens and they put in weather vanes or sun dials and he came up with a weather vane for this garden and I think it’s a cool idea.” Continue reading
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Slim pickin’s in 2011 for city’s Sunshine Club
An initial scan of the public sector salary disclosure for city hall employees seems to indicate restraint was in order in 2011.
A total of 39 city employees are ensconced in the Sunshine Club — those earning in excess of $100,000 — unchanged from 2010.
Topping the list is police chief Bill Lynch at $150, 976, but that’s a decrease of almost $7,000 from his previous salary reporting.
A close second is the city’s new CAO/clerk, Wendell Graves, checking in at $146,217. As city clerk only in 2010, Graves earned $126,338.
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Promoting healthy lifestyle choices for St. Thomas
She’s a master’s student of local economic development and a former resident of St. Thomas who has issued a challenge to the city to embrace alternative modes of transportation.
Tara Smedbol, now a London resident, contacted us recently with two simple ways in which St. Thomas can increase its livability for residents. The first focuses on developing cycling infrastructure and the other is to increase transit options.
This is not a matter of recreational infrastructure, Smedbol asserts, but instead it would increase the options and abilities for residents to be mobile and connected to the city.
“The key to a vibrant city with a vibrant downtown,” she points out, “is activity and movement of people.” She continues: “One tactic to increase activity on the streets is by encouraging walking and bicycling in the downtown core and other areas of the city.
“It is self-explanatory that as someone drives a car less (maybe even giving up a car in favour of other modes of transportation, if they are able to change their commuting patterns) and thus decrease the costs directly associated to owning a car, they increase their disposable income.”
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Make St. Thomas a bicycle friendly community
Thanks to Ald. Lori Baldwin-Sands for passing along the current Share the Road Cycling Coalition newsletter.
It’s timely in that it outlines The Active Communities Pledge – an initiative to increase the visibility of active transportation issues in the upcoming municipal elections.
Here is a relevant excerpt:
“With just under month before the October 25th municipal election we ask that you do what you can to engage your colleagues – and your candidates – where you live in the discussion about how to ensure that cycling is a part of the vibrant debates which are taking place in communities across Ontario.
Your first step should be to ask your local candidates to sign the Active Community Pledge on our website – all the information you need to get going follows this message. The Pledge is already up and running here
