Author: John Draper

New By-Law for Taxis and Uber

John Draper

The Town of Cobourg currently regulates Taxis but does not explicitly include Uber, Limousines or Designated Driver services. One of the items of unfinished business on the Council’s agenda is updating the Taxi by-law to include these services and a proposed by-law which includes them will be offered to Council for approval at the next Committee of the Whole meeting on 25 September. It’s proposed to get more feedback from the Public and operators but the proposed by-law  is comprehensive and will require Uber and Designated Driver (D.D.) service drivers to be licensed with the same requirements as Taxi Drivers. Nomenclature is introduced or clearly defined (see below) and, no doubt to be in line with variable Uber fares, fares… Read complete articleNew By-Law for Taxis and Uber

Northumberland News Stops Print Edition

John Draper

In an announcement today, Metroland Media said that they have “sought bankruptcy protection and will cease the print publication of its weekly community newspapers across Ontario, moving to an online-only model”.  That means that the 14 September print edition of Northumberland News was its last edition.  Distribution of flyers with the paper will also stop.  Daily newspapers like the Peterborough Examiner and the Toronto Star will continue to operate. The announcement said that “the move involves 605 layoffs, nearly two-thirds of the workforce” although there is no word on how many are affected at the Cobourg office.  Because “the Company does not have sufficient funds  … no termination or severance pay will be paid”.   Further, “according to a breakdown of… Read complete articleNorthumberland News Stops Print Edition

Update to Council on Encampment

John Draper

At the end of regular Council meetings, there is a section where Councillors report on what has been happening. At Monday’s meeting (September 11), instead of giving a report, Mayor Lucas Cleveland invited Councillors to ask any questions they wanted re the encampments happening in Cobourg. He was doing that in his role as Cobourg’s representative on County Council and this would be his report back to Council. He acknowledged that he, and other councillors, were getting deluged with emails – this last week alone he received 780. Brian Darling wanted to confirm that if an email had on the address line the Mayor and all Councillors and possibly others, that it should be the Mayor who was responsible for… Read complete articleUpdate to Council on Encampment

Restoration of Mural

John Draper

In 2001, a mural commemorating the Cobourg to Rochester Ferry was painted by John Mitchell on the side of a building on First street – but in time it faded and was almost lost. However, Cobourg’s Historical Society and the DBIA (Downtown Business Improvement Area) came to the rescue and commissioned restoration. Last Saturday (9 September), around 50 people attended an unveiling of the fully restored mural led by Carla Jones, President of the Cobourg Historical Society. If you didn’t know, First Street is the name given to the lane on the West side of the Dutch Oven (sorry, now called “Lalies and the Dutch”). The building was originally the Allen Hardware building but now houses 8 separate Condos –… Read complete articleRestoration of Mural

Unfinished Council Business

John Draper

There has been no official tracking of “Unfinished Business” this year but there are a number of items badly overdue:  2023-2025 Strategic Plan; Governance review; Regulation of short term rentals; Taxi and Uber regulation and fares;  update to Zoning by-law. The general excuse provided is that Council has been busy with other matters like the illegal encampments and it hasn’t helped that Brent was short-staffed.  Brent has now filled the vacancy for Deputy Clerk – the new person is Kristina Lepik – but one person will take a while to make a dent in the backlog.  Meanwhile, Council is in reaction mode with no Strategic plan for guidance and no structure since the Governance issue has not been resolved. Let’s… Read complete articleUnfinished Council Business

County Acts to Evict Campers at 600 William

John Draper

At a special meeting on September 5, County Council heard detailed reports from Staff on the illegal encampment on the County property at 600 William street. The location is not a public park and houses several County departments, notably the paramedics and their ambulances.  Council heard reports from Staff that emphasized the negative impact on their staff and the work that was being done to offer services to the campers. One key point was made that the campers have a hierarchy – that is, one unnamed individual wants all communication to go through him and therefore makes it difficult to have direct communication with individuals needing help. In some cases, individuals have agreed to accept help but have then been persuaded to… Read complete articleCounty Acts to Evict Campers at 600 William

Getting News in Cobourg

John Draper

Or should it be “Getting News in the 21st century”? For a century or so, the way to get news was from a daily newspaper but newspapers are gradually going out of favour and instead there are multiple online sources. But it seems people are lazy and want all their news to come from one source – just like a newspaper was expected to have all the news. Some rely on Facebook or Google to collect all their news on one page – more on that below – and others rely on a portal like Yahoo news. But the only sure way is to look at multiple on-line sources: multiple sites and multiple newsletters. In this post, I will review… Read complete articleGetting News in Cobourg

Highly Visible Police Cars

John Draper

Should police be highly visible or blend into the background? This question applies to Police vehicles as well as to Police walking a beat and many Police Forces around the world are choosing “visible” so have painted their cars with a highly visible pattern known as Battenburg markings.  At a recent Cobourg Police Board meeting, Chief Paul VandeGraaf announced that Cobourg Police will be implementing a Pilot project for 24 months with one car using the new markings.  This will help gauge Officer and Public reaction.  Originating in research in the U.K. in the 1990’s, “the Battenburg pattern was specifically created to maximize the visibility of police vehicles; however, further studies are working to explore how it is perceived in… Read complete articleHighly Visible Police Cars