The announcement from the city seemed harmless enough.
Canda Day celebrations this year will culminate in a spectacular fireworks display.
However, the light-up-the-sky show will take place at 1Password Park and not the traditional venue in Pinafore Park.
We asked Mayor Joe Preston what prompted the change in location.
He noted 1Password Park “has three accesses, a lot more parking and it gives us the ability to put on a better fireworks show.”
A reference, no doubt, to the tighter confines at Pinafore and the proximity of neighbouring homes.
Preston continued, “In discussions with the Kinsmen, who help us with the fireworks and also help us with Canada Day, we thought IPassword would be a great thing to try.”
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Preventing the community from ever getting into this homelessness bottleneck again
In November of last year, Danielle Neilson reminded city council that the solution to homelessness is housing and housing with supports.
Neilson is the city’s Homelessness Prevention and Housing Programs Coordinator and at that meeting of council, she presented a thorough overview of the homeless situation in St. Thomas, including an analysis of unsheltered homelessness.
She observed, “. . . this is not only the result of increased demands on our emergency shelter beds, some of my firsthand experiences with people living unsheltered in St. Thomas revealed other factors as well.
“Such as needing lower barrier supports that are matched more appropriately to someone’s mental health or addiction challenges that may result in unpredictable behaviours.
“Having personal belongings or accumulating personal belongings at a rate that exceeds the shelter’s ability to store them.
“Having a complete desire to live unsheltered, even when housing options are available.
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Lots of red ink, but rest assured nothing will be written off
With municipal councils in St. Thomas and Chatham-Kent having approved the merger of St. Thomas Energy and Entegrus, all that is required is the go-ahead from the Ontario Energy Board (OEB), likely to happen late this year with a target merger date of Jan. 1, 2018.
Oh, and there is that prickly matter of a not insignificant amount of long-term debt run up by Ascent Group, St. Thomas Energy’s parent – city treasurer David Aristone refers to it as bank debt – and in excess of $5 million owed the municipality for the collection of water bills dating back to at least 2014.
It’s not a subject open to much in the way of discussion by either Aristone or St. Thomas Energy acting CEO Rob Kent.
Ian's City Scope 