Tag: Society

Cobourg’s Ten Thousand Villages to Stay Open

John Draper

The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is a Christian organization dedicated to Social causes – or as they put it “working for peace and justice”.  In Canada in 1972, they started the Ten Thousand Villages chain of stores selling “Fair Trade” goods.  Fair Trade means that the people who make the goods in the stores, generally in third world countries, get paid fairly and sustainably.  (More on this below).  But unfortunately, in the last few years, MCC have found it financially impossible to continue their stores.  In 2018 they closed nine stores and on Tuesday January 21, they announced the closure of the remaining 10 company stores while leaving the twelve “board” stores to make their own decision.  “Board” stores are… Read complete articleCobourg’s Ten Thousand Villages to Stay Open

Council Chooses Community Grants for 2020

John Draper

As part of a long budget review session, Council today selected who would get community grants from the 2020 budget.  The budget for grants was limited to $50,000 but $143K was requested.  The total budget review meeting was scheduled to take at least from 10:00 pm to 5:00 pm but over-ran and will continue on Friday at 10:00 am (look for follow-up reports about this tomorrow or later). In advance of the meeting, Councillor Adam Bureau had worked with deputy mayor Suzanne Séguin to come up with a list of recipients and he went through these one by one.  Other councillors wanted additions and changes – decisions for four of them were deferred to the end of the review and… Read complete articleCouncil Chooses Community Grants for 2020

Merry Christmas from Cobourg News Blog

John Draper

Once again we come to the Holiday Season with Christmas as the central attraction – whether you are Christian or not.  For everyone it’s a time where we get together with family and/or friends and forget the troubles of the world – so I won’t be reporting on any Town events in this Post.  But I would like to thank everyone who has participated in the forum provided here and a special thanks to those who see me around town and take the time to let me know that they appreciate my work. As you know, I don’t operate this “blog” as a business but instead as a service.  As such, I am quite happy to recommend others in Cobourg… Read complete articleMerry Christmas from Cobourg News Blog

Holiday Hours – 2019

John Draper

This time of year is definitely a Holiday season – all stores (with few exceptions) are closed for both Christmas day and New Year’s Day, most businesses are closed for those days, the schools are closed for 2 weeks and even the Mall Rainbow Cinema is closed for Christmas day.  But hours on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and Boxing day vary.  If you are not sure, you should get your shopping for food and essentials done before Christmas Eve.  You can search the Internet or phone around to get hours, but I have done that for you.  The table below lists most stores plus Entertainment venues in Cobourg.  The Internet is not affected by holidays – links are attached… Read complete articleHoliday Hours – 2019

Seniors’ Programs moving from Market Building

John Draper

Currently, there are five seniors’ programs that operate out of the Market Building (see list below) but effective January 6 they will operate at the Cobourg Community Centre (CCC) at the same times.  Staff are working with members currently using the Market Building to assist with transfer of supplies, card tables etc.  There will also be a “Welcome Reception” on December 19 at 10 am at the CCC. The reason given is that when the CCC was originally built in 2011, “the intention was to house all seniors’ programs in this new state of the art facility. While a few programs have remained at the Market Building, during our 2020 budget deliberations it has been decided to move those programs… Read complete articleSeniors’ Programs moving from Market Building

Affordable Housing CIP Public Meeting

John Draper

Towns are not legally permitted to financially support private (that is, for profit) companies unless they are meeting a  community need AND it’s covered by a “Community Improvement Plan” (CIP).  So far in Cobourg, we have two CIPs: the Tannery District CIP and the Downtown Vitalization CIP.  On December 5, a third CIP project was launched with an open house.  Held in the Citizen’s Forum at Victoria Hall, more than 30 people came to learn about the new Plan for Affordable and Rental Housing and provide feedback to the consultants hired to develop the plan.  The intent is to define ways to assist the recently released Northumberland County Affordable Housing Strategy (AHS) as well as promoting sustainable, accessible economic development. … Read complete articleAffordable Housing CIP Public Meeting

Cobourg and Social Services

John Draper

The County has prime responsibility for providing social services and that includes affordable housing.  At Monday’s Council meeting, Christine Pacini of SHS Consulting presented a report on the County’s Affordable Housing strategy as it affected Cobourg.  She provided definitions of what is considered affordable and how incentives can help. She briefly mentioned the County’s current project on Elgin Street (see link below) and supported the Town’s plan to provide incentives via a Town Wide Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for affordable housing.  This will be launched at a public meeting on December 5 – details below.  At the same meeting, Kristina Nairn of the Haliburton, Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit (HKPR) asked that Council consider being certified as a “living… Read complete articleCobourg and Social Services

Banning Bottled Water

John Draper

In March 2019, Petra Hartwig and Gigi Ludorf-Weaver (see photo below) made a presentation to Council expressing concerns about the environmental impact of the sale of bottled water. Their concerns seemed to include the exorbitant profits made from corporations selling Municipal water, the quality of the water being sold and the environmental impact. However, there was little mention of the proliferation of empty plastic water bottles. (See the report below on their presentation in March for more on their concerns).  Staff was asked to report back and they came up with some recommendations which council endorsed.  Basically, it was decided that subject to input from the public, the Town will phase out the sale of bottled water at Municipal facilities… Read complete articleBanning Bottled Water