Category: News 2023

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

Police Make Arrest in West Beach Shooting

John Draper

With help from Durham, Port Hope and Peterborough Police, Cobourg Police have arrested one “suspect” in connection with the shooting on August 16 at the West Beach encampment and have identified two other suspects.  The male arrested is 19-year-old Kersi Buakasa and he is charged with six offences including attempted murder and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.  Two other suspects have been identified: 21 year old Elijah Kerridge-Lall,  and 18 year-old Alearen Stewart, (details below). Both are known to Police, known to frequent the GTA and the Northumberland County area and they live in Durham region. Both should be considered armed. At 10:00 am today (Friday 25 August) police issued a Press release with details of this action. See… Read complete articlePolice Make Arrest in West Beach Shooting

Council Acts on Encampments

John Draper

At the regular Council meeting on Monday 21 August, a last minute addition to the Agenda was debated.  Brent Larmer worked through his vacation to write a By-Law that modified the Parks By-Law (022-2016) to essentially do two things: 1) enhance the clauses about enforcement and 2) delegate primary responsibility for looking after the homeless to the County – specifically, the county will decide if a permit should be issued for camping on Parks (or Town land). (The West Beach encampment is on Town property). Such a permit (just one) will only be issued in an emergency – that is, because there is no suitable place for campers to go.  So the Town will now enforce their Bylaws and the… Read complete articleCouncil Acts on Encampments

No visible action by Police, Town or County on Homeless

John Draper

Editor’s note: Shortly after this article was posted, the Town and County issued a statement – see update below. It’s been several days since the Town deemed the encampment by homeless people on the West Beach to be illegal and they decided to do nothing.  Since then drug dealers have tried to sell them drugs and fired shots (well, just one) causing a Police presence but still no word from any of the parties responsible.  There are several news items on Today’s Northumberland and a large number of comments by the public on this blog and the Town’s Facebook page.  I’m certain that councillors are getting deluged with emails from the Public but there’s been no reporting to the public… Read complete articleNo visible action by Police, Town or County on Homeless

Council Negotiating with Second Street Developer

John Draper

On Monday, 14 August, the Committee of the Whole meeting started with a special meeting to consider the 202 Second Street Lease Agreement.  In other words, to negotiate with the owner of the property commonly called the “Quigley lot” and now used for parking.  It was a closed session and not open to the public but at its conclusion, it was made open to the public and is now available as a video on e-scribe – see Resources below.  The open session started with a motion made by Mayor Lucas Cleveland to “allow the owners of 202 Second Street to charge for Parking for the next two weekends of August, 2023”.  Councillor Mutton seconded.  Lucas clarified that town-issued parking passes… Read complete articleCouncil Negotiating with Second Street Developer

Town Announces Situation on Homeless Camps

John Draper

On August 9, the Town removed a tent that had been erected in Victoria Park but did not immediately act on several tents on the West Beach.  Councillors received multiple complaints about these and in Today’s Northumberland, Pete Fisher reported the details on one couple living there (see Resources).  However, the Town has now reported that “Officers found that the encampment is in violation of the current Parks By-law, Nuisance By-law and Trespass to Property Act.”  But before acting, Council met on Friday in a special closed Session emergency meeting to consider legal advice – in particular to consider a recent ruling of the Ontario Superior Court in the Waterloo decision which dictates that “unless and until encampment residents are… Read complete articleTown Announces Situation on Homeless Camps

Pickleball Club asking Town to Fund Dedicated Courts

John Draper

Pickleball is getting to be very popular worldwide and now in Cobourg. The Cobourg Pickleball club had 67 members in 2021 and now has 227 members.  Currently they share 19 facilities (courts): 6 indoors at the CCC, 10 at Sinclair Park and 3 at Peter Delanty Park.  But shared courts are not optimum and the club wants dedicated courts – and they’ve chosen Sinclair Park.  They believe they can do the conversion (to dedicated) for $250,000 for 10 courts but Town staff report that the cost will be more like $733K for 6 courts and $1,070K for 12 courts.  Although it does not have to be done all at once, that’s a big difference.  Further, staff do not seem convinced… Read complete articlePickleball Club asking Town to Fund Dedicated Courts