The Best Question of the Evening

It came about half way through the almost three hour meeting.

"After hearing comments and concerns from people at this meeting, and after the report of TSH, is anything going to change? Are you going to do what you planned to do anyway?"

Six possibilities were presented. One of those was to do nothing. Two, alternatives C and D, certainly were the preferences of the consultant, Totten Sims Hubicki., and alternative C was their recommendation.

Alternative C is essentially the way the intersection was described in the 2003 Downtown Action Plan.

Now, we wonder: did the city just hire TSH to confirm its choice? It definitely appears that way. Give the several constraints (the city called them "principles") that the city provided to TSH, it's not hard to see how they came up with (surprise!!!) the same plan that the city had all along!!!

At a meeting at the public library several years ago, a senior staff member told me that since the DAP had been passed by council, city staff were free to execute the plan, and council would not be asked to review any of its details or comment upon any of its contents. Essentially a blank cheque. This intersection was the subject of my inquiry, and the staff person indicated that what was in the plan was what the city would get. So there. Tough.

The response to the question? A senior staff person last night said that comments would be taken into consideration. Well, everyone knows what THAT means. We've seen it for years. "Thanks for coming, but we know best, we've made up our minds, and we're going to do what WE think is best."

This attitude is passe. Look at Canadian businesses, at Canadian cities that are progressing, growing, serving their citizens. Look at the not-for-profit sector. This attitude is the downfall of any entity that continues to hold it. Let the mayor, council and city staff be on watch: Kingstonians are not going to stand for this "my way or the highway" attitude. This is our city. It's time to consult us, with honour and integrity, and with the intention of actually listening to us. There are more "experts" in this community than there are on staff at city hall, there are others preparing to take a run for the mayor's chair, there are citizens gearing up to run for council. All are watching.

The message? Consult before you make up your mind.

Fixing A Mistake

Pretty well everyone knows by the time they become an adult, that if they don't consider all the implictions/consequences of a big decision, they'll have to live with whatever happens for the rest of their life. And, living with a wrong decision for 80 years is difficult.

Take the LVEC in downtown Kingston.

Having made a wrong decision to put it on its present location, city council is now faced with trying to make it work. And, in terms of traffic, there is no "good" solution. Actually, there's no even "acceptable" solution to the chaos that has now been created at the eastern entrance to this city.

Throughout the time leading up to initial decision-making about the LVEC's location, council and the mayor were told endlessly that downtown traffic and parking were issues that could not be resolved in a satisfactlry manner if the LVEC was put downtown.

Never mind, the mayor was determined to have it downtown, for reasons that have never been explained publicly. One day, however, Kingstonians will find out.

Consultants named IBI were hired to "study" traffic and parking, and not surprisingly, said that these two issues would not be issues. Considering the flaws in the premises on which they based their study, this is not surprizing.

When the citizens complained long and loud about traffic on the east end of the city, and the difficulty getting into and around downtown, a second consultant, Totten Sims Hubicki (TSH) was hired to determine how to make a silk purse out of this sow's ear. Tonight, they will tell us how this can be done. It will be an interesting, hot, firey meeting at Memorial Hall.

That morale is low and stress high among city employees who are tasked with carrying out a wrong decision, should be no surprise to anyone. The flack that traffic staff, accessibility staff, and project management have received is gigantic. To say nothing about discussions wiith representatives of the Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame. One has to wonder if the Frontenacs had totally positive discussions about THEIR new rink, and if they autoomatically got everything THEY wanted. Somehow, most people think so.

But, back to traffic. Vehicles speed off the LaSalle Causeway this morning, apparently the trees on the little "island" have been cut down, residents who live in the complex north of the LVEC are disgusted with the traffic, and citizens who are experts in traffic, parking and recreational facilities are betrayed.

One wonders if the mayor will attend this evening's meeting. Stay tuned.

50m Pool Expedition, November 3rd

We are looking forward to a day-trip to Montreal to visit three aquatic facilities that include a 50m pool as well as other popular features. We look forward to having council members, city staff, and volunteers who are in-the-know about aquatic facilities go on the tour. And, our thanks to Alex Pallionis for planning the trip, and teeing-up senior staff at the facilities as well as senior staff from Swim Ontario and Swim Canada. Both these organizations are fully behind endeavours to bring a new, modern aquatic facility to Kingston.

Point Claire , LaSalle and Terrebonne aquatic complexes will be on our tour. All of them are popular with citizens, and all contain flexible 50m configurations.

To think that Kingston might expand its recreational/sporting facilities to include an aquatic complex, is exciting!

Contravention of the Noise by-Law in Kingston

It is just after 8.40am. Construction on the LVEC has been going on for over an hour.

EllisDon does NOT have an exemption from the city to start work on the building, at this hour, or at any hour on the weekend. [Yes, the Project Manager said on TV that they would be working SATURDAY. When did Council pass an exemption from the noise by-law? No, a Project Manager can't just say "they are going to do it" without Council's approval.]

This is unacceptable. How much are people in the downtown supposed to put up with during the construction of this thing?

Twice this fall I have called the By-Law Enforcement Office at City Hall, and made a formal complaint about work on Sundays (actually, one of the Sundays was the Sunday of Labour Day weekend!!). Twice, I have been given the "we'll check it out" bit, or "we'll ask Ellis Don to inform their subcontractors" bit. I have received at least one email from Project Director Lanie Hurdle; she didn't really say anything in it. [I could put it here, just to prove the point!]

People have been rather nice about this, so far. [It reminds me of the Homecoming Party approach. Some on council say that enough is enough, and it's time to take drastic steps. Two others say that the chatting must go on.] Well, in my view, we have done all the "nice" talk that we can about the city's lack of enforcement of the noise by-law with respect to buildng the LVEC.

It is time for the city to get its by-law enforcement officers out on Sunday mornings, and charge EllisDon for contravening the noise by-law. And levy a fine that will make them notice.

I intend to email my Councillor, Rob Hutcheson, copy the other councilors and Project Manager Lanie Hurdle. She doesn't seem to have any influence over EllisDon.

Citizens in downtown Kingstoon deserve to be able to sleep past 7.30am on a Sunday.

The Kingston Prize 2007

There were over 200 submissions to The Kingston Prize 2007. Of those, just over 30 went to the 3 person jury. At the Opening Gala on October 5th, the jury met, saw the fabulous pieces, and celebrated the winner.
Artist Joshua Choi of Etobicoke Ontario won The Kingston Prize for "Emily," and the generous, supportive commitment of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation.
Honorable mentions were given to Miklos Legrady's "OCAD Student 2225233" and Jennifer Walton's "Self Portrait."
The Kingston Prize, Canada's National Portrait Competition, raises so many questions, chief among them is why the federal government stopped renovation of the Ottawa building that was to house a national portrait gallery. Clearly this federal government has no commitment to Canada's portrait heritage.
In fact, this federal government has as little commitment to Canada's artists, writers, and sport heritage as it is possible to imagine. Few members of these communities speak aloud of this government's commitment to "culture" for fear of being on the receiving end of the PM's wrath. The fact is, however, that Steven Harper is doing all he can to have less and less government involvement in what Canadians believe to be part of the country's "personality."

The Kingston Prize 2007

There's just one week left to see the 30 finalists in THE KINGSTON PRIZE, Canada's National Portrait Competition.
Staged at The Firehall Theatre in Ganaonoque, Ontario, The Kingston Prize 2007 is the creation of Julian and Kaaren Brown. With support of the Kingston Arts Council, the Browns and their many supporters, have brought the second exhibition and competition to life.
As testimony to their idea, work, commitment and belief in the need for and importance of Canadian artists producing portraits, the W. Garfield Weston Foundation has offered a first prize of $10,000.
Hours at 12 noon to 8pm daily. Visitors can make their favourite portrait known by entering the artist's name in the People's Choice Award, being presenteed Saturday Octoober 27th about 7pm at the gallery.
This exhibition is not to be missed!
More to come.....

Paying for Homecoming Party

The mayor of Kingston is interviewed this morning on CBC Radio. He says that negotiating with the university is still the best idea, and that eight councillors were just elected last year, and have no experience in this.
They all just came out from under a turnip leaf? Hardly.
Little of substance in his comments; same points repeated. We've heard it all before.
This council doesn't seem to be in a collaborative mood? Now THAT is a laugh. Does he mean that the previous council was more collaborative? What about the LVEC's location and process? There was NO collaboration between the city and the citizens on that. And there still isn't.

How Right He Is

Stephane Dion sure is right about this. Canadians don't want an election. He says he is commited to making Parliament work.
Well, he may be, but Steve Haprer sure isn't. He is doing everything he can to precipitate an election, and if he causes it, Canadians will show him the door. His tricks and schemes are transparent.
This PM is taking my country down a road that I and many others don't want it to go. Harper is insensitive to people who are unemployed, who are ill, who are aged, municipalities...the list goes on.
Arrogant, self-important, holier-than-thou, "I know what's best for you," all words and phrases that suit Mr Harper.
One day soon, he will get his come-uppance.

Queen's Should Pay

At last night's City Council meeting, councillors agreed that the university should pay the real cost of servicing the Homecoming Party on Aberdeen Streeet last Saturday night. This is to include police, paramedics, KGH costs. Most councillors (only the Mayor and Councillor Ed Smith voted against the resolution) felt that the time for talk is over, and Queen's must take strong steps to stop this.
With headline stories in The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail about this party, Queen's gets negative national attention.
Taxpayers do not want to pay the estimated $500,000 that this party will cost. It's time for the university to discipline its students, and to pay the costs fr the gathering.
And the police to lay more charges.

Second Speech from the Throne

This evening, the Governor General will deliver a speech crafted by the Prime Minister's office.

The PM should be aware that Canadians do not want a federal election. Ontario's citizens have had it up to their mascara with elections: two federal, one municipal, and one provincial, all since January 2006. Enough!

Not only are voters ready to enjoy an election-free period, but election workers are not in any mood to undertake that work again this fall. The PM doesn't know one chestnut about how elections are run, from the perspective of those on the ground. Not only are they costly (which he should know) but they are also wearing for workers. The PM would pay dearly in Ontario, if not other provinces, if he provokes an election. As one person said on TV last night, voters are not so naive that they will not recognize the PM's treachery; they will tell him at the polls.

That's just the practical aspect of elections.

More Aberdeen Street

Reports certainly are mixed on the Aberdeen Street party on Saturday evening/Sunday morning. Reviews oveerall seeem to be positive, if that word can be used!
Much more could be done by The Beer Store and the LCBO, however. If they sold only cans of beer in the 2-3 weeks leading up to Homecoming, things might be different. There isn't any good reason for selling bottles, and $$$ isn't a good reason.
Former VP George Hood was interviewed on the CBC just after 12 noon; he did simmer down by the end of the half hour, but he began in a rather defensive mode.
The university (and perhaps the police service) might talk to some people who aren't employed by the university, aren't students, don't live in the area, and find out what THEY think of all this. They might be surprised at what they hear. The circle of citizens consulted is too small.

The Cowardly Way

This blog is not a vehicle for anonymous bloggers to vent their opinions. Those who refuse to hide behind the shield of anonymity are welcome to comment.
If you comment anonymously, don't expect (ever, anywhere) to be taken seriously. There is a reason that newspapers refuse to publish anonymous letters. People who refuse to put their name to their opinions, should not expect anyone to listen.

Alumni Weekend, and Aberdeen Street

This is the morning after.
If reports of last night's gathering on Aberdeen Street are all like The Whig's this morning, we have legitimate reason to say that the newspaper is not contributing to a solution, but rather adding to the problem.
It's not helpful to use inflammatory language in reporting this situation. Many in the community believe that the local daily, The Whig, is not helping. Of course, a newspaper is supposed to "report the news." Just "how" it does that is the question. The headline says "the party" is just beginning, and later people "stumble" onto Aberdeen Street. Neither of these is necessary in reporting the situation.
Once again, we see the importance of more than one newspaper in a community. We saw skewed reporting all the way through the process (such as it was) related to the dreaded LVEC, and we continue to see skewed reporting on Queen's Homecoming. The Whig's monopoly is damaging to the community, and many citizens' efforts to build a positive, forward-thinking city that will attract people, business, and build tourism.
It would be great if citizens wrote to The Whig to express this commonly-held view, but we will never know if they have done this, as the newspaper decides what letters it will print, and whose views it will contain. It's no wonder that the university feels hard done-by in the paper; it is.
A sad situation.

Why Not This Way?

When looking at the (dreaded) LVEC, its placement, the troubles that have been demonstrated, one has to wonder why, if the mayor and council were determined to put it downtown, why they didn't place it on King Street, along side Food Basics, and aligned north/south. In other words, why didn't they consider placing it at running parallel to King and Ontario Streets?
Had they eliminated Barrack Street, and put it with one end near Place d'Armes, and the other end near Queen Street, they would have had far fewer prooblems, would have been able to include the amenities that would have made it attractive to a wide variety of activities, and would have ended up with something that had multiple functions.
And, the greatest error on this project because of its location and placement on one downtown block, is the blatent disregard for persons with disabilities, those with mobility issues, and those who desire to drop off their passengers. It is baffling that the province would allow a facility to be built with its money without all citizens being accommodated.
With a larger facility, they would have had meeting rooms, a large restaurent (they eliminated the 300 seat restaurent when they figured out that they needed more space for other things), more and larger athletic facilities, plenty of room for the Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame that is being squished into the facility.
Let it be said that this idea WAS suggested, but, like most of the other suggestions, was given short-shrift.
And, while we're on the short-comings of the facility, there is wide-spread opinion that the design-build method for this facility was a big mistake. Already, the city is reaping the deficiencies of this method of construction. To keep it within the financial limitations given by council, a lot of short-cuts are being taken, and items either left out or of lesser quality.
There are a lot of people who are aching to get into the site to see what REALLY is going on.!

Kingston's LVEC: there is no "good" solution

The city has "postponed" a meeting scheduled for this evening; it was to be about the intersection of Ontario Street and Place d'Armes.
Citizens and tourists entering Kingston from the east, via the LaSalle Causeway, know what a mess the eastern entrance to the city has become.
Having decided, in error, to put the LVEC on a block that is far too small, the mayor and council are now forced to sit back and watch frustrated city employees make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Not only is this block too small for such a monstrosity, the streets in the downtown are totally unsuitable for dealing with traffic coming into the city (that is, just reegular traffic). Just think: the Downtown Action Plan, approved by the previous council, identifies Ontario Street as a "scenic drive." And, staff said that the intention is to have little traffic in front of City Hall.
This obviously meeans that since there are, and always will be, only 2 lanes of traffic going off the Causeway, there will be big problems moving the estimated 2000 cars/day into town at that location.
Locals who haven't driven on Place d'Armes toward Fort Frontenac, should do that. At the moment, the (dreaded) LVEC consumes what was an entire lane of the street.
Just how in the world can the intersection of Ontario Street & Place d'Armes be configured? It's no wonder that the consultant TSH needs more time, although the intersection was drawn and included in the 2003 DAP. At that time, design of the intersection was known, according to one senior city staff member.
Residents of Frontenac Village whose backyards face Place d'Armes, are going to find traffic speeding off the causeway (that's what is currently happening, and will continue to happen), travelling closer that 20' from their windows. This is disgraceful.
The city has treated citizens who live in the area of the (dreaded) LEVC with contempt and disrespect. The city should be ashamed. There are, in fact, city employees who are ashamed and who are embarassed by what the previous council has inflicted upon the city. It is they who are charged with finding "good" solutions to something for which there ARE no "good" solutions.
The city awaits the solution to an impossible situation.

Marion Jones: this is the best column

The author of Jones' book talks about watching her as a young star and his reflections on what might have made the superb athlete resort to performance-enhancing substances.

By Ron Rapoport, Special to The Times October 9, 2007

At the 2000 U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento, Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won the first women's Olympic marathon in Los Angeles in 1984, entered a corporate box above the stadium with her two young daughters and saw Marion Jones watching the competition on the track below. The girls were fascinated by Jones, Samuelson told a publicist. Would it be possible for them to meet her?Soon Jones was fussing over them, and Samuelson, beaming, was asking me how old Jones was. Twenty-four, I said.

Jones returns Olympic medals
"Twenty-four . . . 28 . . . 32 . . . Samuelson said, grinning as she ticked off forthcoming Olympiads on her fingers. "You know, [Jones] should compete in as many Olympics as she wins medals in Sydney. Maybe she could finish her career by running the marathon.
"With the image last week of Jones standing weeping on the courthouse steps still fresh, it might be difficult to recall a time when she was all but inescapable as the symbol of the possibilities, and the joy, that could flow from a life devoted to sport. Marion in a series of Nike commercials whose punch lines ("Where's the love? Can you dig it?") became national catchphrases. Marion on billboards scowling behind Jack Nicholson-like wraparounds for Oakley Sunglasses. Marion wearing a sexy tube top in an ad for TAG Heuer watches. Marion coming out of the starting blocks in a book of photos by Annie Leibovitz. Marion in fashion shoots for Vogue. Marion on the cover of Time and Newsweek at the same time and -- I swear this is true -- in a robotic diagram superimposed over her picture on the cover of Scientific American.
How she got to that point might also seem a little hazy now. Jones, whose nine state sprint and long jump championships and basketball prowess make her possibly the finest high school athlete, male or female, California has ever produced. Jones, who as a freshman was the starting point guard on North Carolina's NCAA championship basketball team. Jones, who in 1998 compiled the most astonishing season in the history of track and field, competing in 38 events on five continents and winning 37 of them. She emerged from that odyssey ranked No. 1 in the world at 100 and 200 meters and in the long jump, and I had seen enough.
Write a book with me, I'd asked her. I'll hang around next season and we'll get it out before the Olympics. Fine, she said. Let's do it.We talked about drugs at length and about the perception that her sport is full of cheats, many with Olympic medals in their drawers. She took it very personally, she said. It made every top track and field athlete a suspect, which wasn't fair. "All I can do is continue to be clean and to be around people who are clean," she said.
I would see those words plucked from the book and thrown back at her many times in the years to come.In the last few days, it has been said that Jones' admission of doping is a tragedy for her sport, and although that is certainly true it is also quite embarrassing.
The woman who finished second at 100 meters in Sydney, Katerina Thanou, was banished from the 2004 Olympics in her native Greece one day before the opening ceremony after failing to show up for a drug test. She came up with a cock-and-bull story nobody believed about a motorcycle accident, and her coach was later caught possessing large amount of steroids.
So the International Olympic Committee finds itself in the uncomfortable position of stripping a gold medal from one drug cheat and giving it to another.
But Jones' fall from grace is a tragedy for her too, particularly -- and here is where I go outside and start baying at the moon -- because it was so unnecessary. Jones says her coach, Trevor Graham, first gave her steroids in 1999.
But BALCO chief Victor Conte, whose interview in 2004 with ESPN the Magazine offered the first credible charges against her, says he didn't begin providing them until a year later, six weeks before the Olympics. He didn't even meet Jones, Conte says, until after the Games had begun. Whatever the case, there is no evidence that Jones took drugs until long after she had established herself as by far the finest female track athlete in the world.After the 100-meter final in Sydney, Sports Illustrated ran a picture of the race. Or rather, two pictures on facing pages. The page on the right showed Jones dashing toward the finish line. The one on the left showed the other runners almost comically far behind. Her victory in the 200 a few days later was by the largest margin in 40 years and her 1,600-meter relay leg turned a close race into a U.S. rout.
How many yards would you have won those races by if you hadn't taken drugs? I want to yell at her. What was the point? Why did she do it? One hypothesis, a favorite of amateur psychologists everywhere, is the bad-man theory. She put her faith in a manipulative husband/boyfriend/coach/trainer/lawyer/advisor, take your pick. It all goes back to her father deserting the family when she was very young and her search for a surrogate. I don't buy it for a minute.
Jones is a strong, determined, intelligent woman who took charge of every aspect of her career. Did she listen to bad advice? Certainly. Was she Trilby to some evil Svengali? Certainly not.But all right then, why? I think it was her determination to do something nobody else had done. I think it was those five gold medals she wanted to win.I think she and Graham looked at the Olympic schedule and saw that in a period of 10 days she would have to run three races at 100 meters, three at 200 meters, compete twice in the long jump, run heats in the 400- and 1,600-meter relays and then run the relay finals less than two hours apart. I think they decided she would need help. I think they bought into the widespread notion among athletes that steroids would help her recovery time.
And that is the real tragedy. If Jones had settled for less -- the sprints, say, and the shorter relay -- she would have ended up with so much more. Evelyn Ashford won an Olympic gold medal when she was 35 years old. Merlene Ottey ran in the Olympics when she was 40. Gail Devers beat an Olympic champion in an indoor race this year at age 41. Jones, who should now be in training for her third Olympics, retired a week to the day before her 32nd birthday.Look at her standing on the courthouse steps. Listen to her admission of guilt, to her apology, to how heartfelt her words are, to how perfectly her sentences are constructed. She is not reading from a script. She never does. I have seen her do this dozens of times -- to stadiums full of people, to clusters of adoring little girls and admiring men and women young and old, to news conferences before laughing reporters who are putty in her hands.She is as good at this as she was at running, and she could have made a life out of it -- traveling the world as a goodwill ambassador for track and field, returning to the Olympics as a television commentator and honored guest, speaking as a powerful advocate for women's sports, inspiring youngsters wherever she went. Instead, she's going to prison.Jones says those of us who admired and believed in her have a right to feel angry and betrayed, and I suppose I do, a little. Mostly, though, I just feel sad. Sad that smiling golden girl who was cheered on tracks all over the world has made such a mess of things. Sad she traded her future for two bronze medals.

Ron Rapoport was a sportswriter for The Times and a sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Los Angeles Daily News. He has written a number of books, including"See How She Runs: Marion Jones and the Making of a Champion."

Reprinted from the LA Times, October 9, 2007