While the economic news this spring and summer has been dominated by site preparation work for the Volkswagen/PowerCo EV battery plant in St. Thomas, YXU-1 is back in the news.
You would be correct in pointing out when was YXU-1 ever in the news.
Perhaps you know it better as the Amazon fulfillment centre located on the site of the former Ford Canada St. Thomas Assembly Plant, which closed in 2011 after 44 years of production.
YXU by the way is the three-letter identifying code for London International Airport, even though the plant is situated in Southwold Township.
The facility was expected to begin operations early this year and then it was suggested a 2024 opening may be more in line.
Well, this week Amazon Canada announced the centre north of Talbotville will open on Oct. 1.
Hiring for the two-million-square-foot facility will begin in September.
Category Archives: drugs
Sprawling encampment offered“zero opportunity for moving out of homelessness” – St. Thomas Police Chief Marc Roskamp
More information is trickling out concerning what prompted the dismantling of a large homeless encampment on the site of the former Victor Dana plant located behind Memorial Arena.
City police responded to a violent assault Tuesday morning at the encampment.
“The person was taken to hospital with serious injuries,” advised St. Thomas Police Service corporate communication coordinator Samantha Wakefield.
“They are still in hospital and their status has been upgraded, they are improving. The magnitude of the assault required they be taken to hospital.”
Wednesday morning the city, with support from other community services, began dismantling a fortified structure on the large tract of land east of the Port Stanley Terminal Rail tracks.
Share this:
‘Our smaller communities are not immune to these issues, but certainly, sometimes we are more aware than larger centres because we are so connected to our community’ – St. Thomas Police Insp. Steve Bogart on organized crime
If there ever was any doubt that organized crime is infiltrating small-town Ontario, it was evident Wednesday morning in London.
At a media conference at the headquarters of the London Police Service, the results of a joint force criminal investigation were on display.
An investigation that began last year in Aylmer resulted in the arrest of four members of Outlaw Motorcycle Groups and eight associates.
The joint force initiative involved police services in St. Thomas, Aylmer and Strathroy-Caradoc with the assistance of the OPP and London Police Services.
In total 52 charges were laid in the drug trafficking investigation.
Aylmer Deputy Police Chief Kyle Johnstone says the addition of a criminal investigator last year to the ranks of the service helped move the investigation along.
Share this:
Safe consumption sites: ‘This is a very complex issue that requires solutions that consider many aspects of support’ – St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston
Exactly three months ago Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) warned the rate of opioid-related harms has been on an upward trend in St. Thomas over the past several years.
In 2021, the rate of opioid-related St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital emergency department visits was 126.1 per 100,000 population as compared to 114.0 per 100,000 province-wide.
That same year, the rate of opioid-related hospitalizations in St. Thomas was 72.4 per 100,000 population, far above the provincial average of 16.3 per 100,000.
Those alarming numbers prompted the health unit to undertake a study into the feasibility of drug treatment and consumption services in the region.
This study (undertaken between January and March of this year) defines feasibility as a combination of community support, political buy-in, and the likelihood of people with lived or living experience of substance use (PWLE) using these services in the health unit’s region.
Share this:
As Woody Guthrie sang, ‘This land is your land, this land is my land’
It’s a tale of two municipalities and their respective leaders.
St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston is ecstatic.
Central Elgin Mayor Andrew Sloan, on the other hand, is a lot more guarded.
Their differing reactions are in response to an announcement on Wednesday (Feb. 23) the province is introducing legislation to attract new investment to the 800-acre parcel of land east of Highbury Avenue assembled by the city last summer.
Oops, let’s correct that because the release from the province refers to 1,500 acres of land.
We’ll sort that out as we go.
The original 800 acres are located in St. Thomas and Central Elgin and have been identified as one of the most invest-ready mega sites in Ontario.
However, with the land divided between two municipalities with different permitting requirements, potential investors could face red tape and delays from unnecessary duplication.
And so the province has stepped in. We’re unsure if that was at the city’s request but we’ll try to sort that one out as we go as well.
Share this:
The 40 housing units in Project Tiny Hope ‘will make a significant difference in our community however there is much more work to be done’
In December of 2021, the partners involved in Project Tiny Hope – YWCA St. Thomas-Elgin, Doug Tarry Homes and Sanctuary Homes – requested $3 million in funding from the city for the imaginative project at 21 Kains Street.
What will the affordable housing look like?
“The creation of new YWCA rental units will be inclusive to diverse populations from all walks of life,” advised Lindsay Rice, YWCA executive director in the support case for the undertaking released in December of 2022.
It is to be “A mix of one, two and three-bedroom rental units will accommodate adults, youth and families.
“Each tiny home will be equipped with a full kitchen, bathroom, laundry, private bedrooms and living room providing dignity and comfort.”
Just over a year after the release of the project information, city council will return to the $3 million funding request at Monday’s (Feb. 13) council meeting.
At that time, Heather Sheridan, director of St. Thomas Elgin Social Services, recommends council approve the request in principle, “contingent on a successful outcome from the Rapid Housing Initiative application process and the provincial contribution request.”
Share this:
Mayor Joe Preston is starting to feel ‘very comfortable’ about the prospect of a regional transit pilot project for St. Thomas
The Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference wrapped up Tuesday in Toronto. The city sent a delegation to the event with Mayor Joe Preston, Coun. Gary Clarke and city manager Sandra Datars Bere in attendance.
The city’s delegation had confirmed meetings with the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of the Attorney General.
We’ll deal with the former off the top as it was to address regional transit and accessible transit options, priorities for the city with the opening of the Amazon facility and the Maple Leaf Foods processing plant this year.
In a conversation with Preston following the conference, he indicated he felt “very comfortable” with the time spent with Associate Minister of Transportation Stan Cho.
Sitting in on the discussion was Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack.
Preston zeroed in on the city’s pilot project which would see some form of transit between St. Thomas and the regional hub in the south end of London at White Oaks Mall.
Share this:
Estimated meter readings are water torture for some St. Thomas customers
How’s that water bill of yours? Are you going to have to dip into your savings or line of credit to pay the latest bill?
Some city residents have received much higher bills than normal and we contacted Jim Hogan, president and CEO of Entegrus. The city of St. Thomas contracts out meter reading to the utility who, we find out, subcontracts it to a third party.
According to Hogan, the bills have been estimated readings only for several months and those estimates do not necessarily jive with actual usage.
“It’s kind of a catch-up and a balancing between some of the estimates may be a little high and some were a little low and we’re working hard to get out there to do the actual reads, to verify the actual reads.”
The money collected is then paid to the city on a contractual basis.
According to the formal agreement between the city and Ascent/St. Thomas Energy signed in April 2014, St. Thomas Energy “will pay to the municipality the water and wastewater charges billed to the customers by the end of the month following the date of invoicing.”
Share this:
‘It’s not always about drugs . . . It’s about losing that job’ – St. Thomas municipal candidate Rose Gibson
She has yet to win a seat on city council and yet no candidate in the St. Thomas municipal election has more campaign experience than Rose Gibson.
This is her sixth run for the roses and, on that alone, you have to respect her tenacity.
In 2018 she finished 10th in a 19-candidate field, less than 500 votes away from knocking Jim Herbert out of the running.
Her first outing was in 2000 and she returned to the fray in 2003, 2010 and 2014. Of note, each time she secured more votes than in her previous attempt.
And that vote differential four years ago is the driving force in this campaign, advised Gibson.
“I have a good group of people who really believe in me. I think the voters last time believed in me.
“You know there is an area that you learn where you made your mistakes and I realize that.
