Category: News 2022

Comparing this Election with 2018

John Draper

Municipal elections are held every four years and a lot changes in four years so I thought it would be useful to review the issues in the 2018 election.  Did Council follow up?  Are they the same concerns? No surprise, homelessness was an issue but allowing Cannabis stores was hardly mentioned.  I identified 7 other issues and asked Candidates about them.  Some things got resolved or died.  I have not heard any discussion on expansion of boat slips into the West Harbour, buying the Park Theatre or an open Q & A forum at Council meetings (more detail below).  But Tourism was being debated and Holdco’s transparency was criticized.  The candidates were different but of particular interest is what the… Read complete articleComparing this Election with 2018

Concert Band of Cobourg

John Draper

The Concert Band of Cobourg is celebrating their 180th anniversary this year with a video featuring their history and relationship with the Town of Cobourg.  The video does a good job and includes many interesting historical photos. Their Directors of Music Roland G. White from 1970 to 2000 and Paul Storms since then are mentioned but there is no mention of other notable individual band members.  Even long time Drum Major Tom MacMillan is not mentioned. (More below).  Another omission is the spin-off of the New Ventures Band in 2014 which, if I remember correctly,  was envisioned as a way to groom new players for the aging Concert Band.  Perhaps the omissions are because it would be impossible to mention… Read complete articleConcert Band of Cobourg

Debates by Candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor

John Draper

One of the ways voters get to evaluate candidates in any election is when they debate.  Cogeco has interviewed Candidates and that’s good (see Resources below) but better is if candidates battle each other in a debate.  The Chamber of Commerce had a Meet the Candidates event where participants could ask their questions but the result was not recorded and available to the public.  Sustainable Cobourg will have an event on October 14 but it’s focused on one aspect – sustainability.  But the best format is head to head debates with candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor and that’s what Cogeco has now provided.  On October 6, Cogeco taped debates and showed them on their Community Channel (see Resources for… Read complete articleDebates by Candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor

Tourism in Cobourg

John Draper

One of the issues that people in Cobourg sometimes debate is whether we want Tourists and if so, do they actually help Cobourg’s economy or not.  In 2018, Cobourg hired a contract person, Bryan Mercer, to help increase Tourism – one of his accomplishments was to set up the web site “Engage Cobourg” and another was to get some Tourism metrics (see below).  Increasing Tourism was a strategy initiated by Dean Hustwick, the previous Director of Community Services but since 2018, there has been little follow up. The latest Strategic Plan barely mentions Tourism – “Consider Arts Culture and Tourism Division” gets relegated to “OK to defer” status.  Further, significantly increased parking fees were initiated to help control beach crowds… Read complete articleTourism in Cobourg

Transition to All Electric Vehicles

John Draper

On 12 October 2021, Council approved the formation of an Ad Hoc Committee to look at how the Town could transition to zero emission vehicles.  It would be a sub-committee of the Transportation Advisory Committee. It took until 16 May 2022 for the terms of reference to be approved and then the committee presented their report to Council on 3 October 2022. Chair Randy Curtis presented a summary of the 50 page report including recommendations.  The committee looked at hybrids, hydrogen powered and battery electric vehicles (BEV) and decided on BEVs. The committee’s decision was based on cost and lifetime greenhouse gas emissions. The report also addresses many of the concerns about BEVs such as recycling batteries, resource limitations and impact on the… Read complete articleTransition to All Electric Vehicles

Interviews with Candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor

John Draper

The regular Council meeting on October 3 will be the last for the current council and the last currently scheduled for this year so there will be little news from meetings for a while.  But of course the upcoming Municipal election is news and, as well as this News Blog, other local media have been providing good coverage.  One often overlooked source of news is Your TV, the Cogeco local channel (700 HD).  Not everyone has Cogeco TV or thinks to look online, but Cogeco does a great job producing news videos and as well as showing them on TV, they are also available on the Internet.  Host Mark Johnston has interviewed candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Port… Read complete articleInterviews with Candidates for Mayor and Deputy Mayor

Affordable Housing Promises by Candidates for Mayor

John Draper

One of the issues in this election is what to do about affordable housing.  County Council is responsible for providing affordable housing and Mayors from each municipality are County Councillors so it seems that the affordable housing promises by candidates for Mayor are relevant. Since this is a blog, it’s web based so a review of online statements seems appropriate.  Cobourg’s Candidates for Mayor are incumbent John Henderson and local businessman Lucas Cleveland so I have extracted their positions on this issue from their Web sites and where available, other Social Media.  I emailed both candidates offering to publish their response but I have received no response. Note that affordable housing is a very separate issue from Homelessness although it’s… Read complete articleAffordable Housing Promises by Candidates for Mayor

Town has Purchased Surplus School Land

John Draper

When the two high Schools in Cobourg amalgamated, the land for a playing field in the West End of Town was no longer being used. (See below for more detail on location). It was therefore likely that the School Board would eventually sell the land but there is a process that they must follow that means that 15 or more entities – including the Town of Cobourg – must be notified first. They did that in 2021 (see the Timeline below) although prior to that they formalized the right-of-way provided for the Boardwalk. Negotiations between the Town (Council) and School board were held in closed session to ensure confidential negotiations.  On September 20, 2022, the School board accepted the Town’s… Read complete articleTown has Purchased Surplus School Land

News and Decisions coming to Council

John Draper

As previously reported, the CoW Council meeting on Monday 26 will have a long Agenda.  This is the fourth article (post) on this meeting – see Resources below for a list of earlier articles. Apart from the five items which are already the subject of my reports, I count four more items of interest coming before Council as well as a number of routine items (mostly Heritage Permits but also some new policies).  1) Keith Hearst, recently hired Grant and Policy Writer, provides a report on applications made and approved in 2022; 2) If approved, the development at the corner of Albert and Division will proceed – but it’s controversial;  3) A use has been chosen for the empty Memorial… Read complete articleNews and Decisions coming to Council

End of Year Staff Reports – Part 3

John Draper

At the year’s final Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting next Monday (26 Sept), Council will be asked to approve an usually large number of items.  Previously posted were highlights plus a report on the Harbour repairs but there are more items.  Staff reported on progress with three reports: The Service Delivery Report; the 2022 Organizational Review and the Strategic Plan.  In addition there are four policy reviews and a report on the Town’s grant applications.  The Agenda also includes a number of other items that need to be made public plus the usual Heritage Permits and other less significant, but still important, matters. (Watch for a report on these in Part 4 – yes, there are a lot of… Read complete articleEnd of Year Staff Reports – Part 3