Kingston News, October 4, 2017

KP Tours to Continue – City Council

Tours of Kingston Penitentiary will continue next year.

Kingston City council has approved an agreement with the Correctional Service to continue the tours.

Kingston Penitentiary tours this summer hosted 94 thousand visitors, generated $3.7 million dollars in revenue and created a $1.6 million dollar profit.

The profit is split between the United Way, St. Lawrence Parks Commission and Tourism Kingston.

Tours continue until October 28th and will resume in the spring.

Council Shorts

Kingston City Council has agreed to spend $800,000 to establish charging stations for electric vehicles.

The money will be used to install 29 charging stations at municipally owned facilities in Kingston.  There will be free access to the charging stations for two years.

City Council has also agreed to extend the patio season in Kingston.  The warm weather this fall prompted councillors to agree to extend the season from October 31st to November 30th…for this year only.

Clothing Store Closing

A men’s clothing store that has operated in Kingston for 42 years is closing.

Gary Poupore has announced he will be retiring in mid-December.

His store, Cunningham and Poupore Men’s Clothing on Brock Street will be closing.  Poupore says he hasn’t been able to find a buyer and he doesn’t own the building where the store is located.

He is selling off his stock and says he’s looking forward to retirement.

United Way KFLA – Campaign Update

The United Way Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington is one third of the way to its goal of raising $3,501,000.

The campaign thermometer is at $1,149,072.

The campaign ends on November 30th.

Today…the city of Kingston is hosting a Pie Eating Contest in Springer Market Square to raise money for the United Way…participants pay $20 to take part.  The contest takes place between noon and 1:30 this afternoon.

Mayors Innovation Challenge

Kingston’s mayor is challenging Queen’s, RMC and St. Lawrence students to submit proposals to the Mayors Innovation Challenge.

Mayor Bryan Paterson says the challenge is open to teams of current and recently graduated students.  The winning team will get $10,000 to implement their idea and each team member will get a four month paid internship with the city to make their idea a reality.

Proposals are due by January 22nd and the winner will be chosen from the top six ideas during a pitch competition on February 9th.

OPP – Livestock on the Loose

The goat that was running free in Kingston and was killed on the 401 is just one of several cases of loose animals in eastern Ontario.

The OPP in Leeds County – east of Kingston is asking animal owners to keep their livestock under control after a number of incidents.

On Monday…a herd of goats escaped their pens while officers were settling a complaint about wandering bulls attempting to meet with another person’s heifers…and a pony is still on the loose.  Officers also had to corral a herd of cattle that had wondered onto a road last week.