DBIA Featured Post: Circus

One of the great things about downtown Peterborough is that it houses the most unique shops in the area, and there are so many of them. Hardly anything is cookie cutter, and that is exactly what makes the neighborhood work. Another example of a shop that embodies this unique feeling is Circus, newly located at 382 George St N.

Previously located on Aylmer St, just on the outskirts of downtown, Circus made its big move at the end of July in 2013 and hasn’t looked back. Chris Norgan owned the original shop, and has since been joined by Steve Francis to form a partnership that works incredibly well for the both of them. With Chris’s wealth of experience in the industry and Steve’s expansive small business knowledge, they have combined their visions to create a great working relationship.

Circus is anything but a traditional shop. It focuses on art, rare historic furniture, and accent home décor pieces that you won’t find anywhere else! Just one step inside this unique store, and you’ll discover this immediately. Chris’s keen eye for exclusive pieces and buying contacts located in big cities like New York and Philadelphia are allowing him to bring in items you literally won’t find anywhere else.

Circus is like an anti-IKEA; it has an old-school fashion feel to it, regularly showcasing pieces produced from the 1920s to the 1950s. Their chairs, tables, dressers, hutches and cupboards aren’t of your everyday run of the mill variety. Vintage is key, and Chris and Steve both know this. They are constantly bringing in carefully selected new lines to display and put their names behind each and every one.

The store has an undeniable upscale vibe to it. Its location and layout with a great second floor allow Steve and Chris to set the shop up in an incredible way that enhances the products look and feel. You could literally spend hours walking through it, checking out the incredible selection. They know this is the kind of stuff you would expect to find in a big city and are happy to be able to supply it to our community. They also take great pride in the fact they are a very green reuse recycle store.

The men are very happy to have been able to relocate to the city’s downtown core, and have made it a point to continue to be involved in the community. They happily donate to the community and have been proud sponsors of the YMCA in the past. More recently, they have also been the setting of book readings by Peterborough’s own Jeff Macklin.

They invite you to come down and discover Circus—it's something you might not have known existed in our great downtown!

For more on Circus (188 Hunter St W), go to:
Website: CircusPeterborough.com
Facebook: CircusTrip
Twitter: @Circusshop

For more on Downtown Peterborough and the Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), click here.

—By Aaron Elliott

Check Out The Deets On Peterborough Renovates Program

From a City release....

The Peterborough Renovates Program provides financial assistance for low to moderate income homeowners in the City and County of Peterborough for necessary home repairs and accessibility upgrades.

Some types of building repairs that may be eligible under this program include heating systems, windows, doors, roofs, septic systems and wells.

Launched in June 2012, this program provides funding to qualified applicants in the form of forgivable loans and/or grants.

Applications will be accepted until fall 2014, and will be processed as funding is available. Funds have been provided by the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario.

For information about whether you may qualify, please contact Wigwamen Non-Profit Residential Corporation at 705-876-7010 or prp@wigwamen.com.

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City Of Peterborough Offering Home Ownership Assistance Loans

From a City of Peterborough press release:

There is help for moderate-income, renter households to realize the dream of owning their own home.

The City of Peterborough is offering home ownership assistance loans to eligible applicants in the City and County of Peterborough. The loan will be repayable if the house is sold within twenty (20) years. Any loans, which are repaid, will go into a revolving fund to help other households purchase a home in the future.

Since 2008, the Canada-Ontario Home Ownership program has been successful in assisting 55 renters achieve their dream of owning a home in this area.

The 2013 program will assist approximately 15 households to purchase a new or resale home in the City and County of Peterborough priced at $240,000 or below. The Agreement of Purchase and Sale must be executed after April 2, 2013 and have a minimum of 30 days notice of the closing date. Homebuyers who are 18 years of age and older, earning a gross annual household income of $69,800 or less, currently renting, do not currently own a home and are pre-approved for a mortgage may be eligible. Application packages are now available from the Housing Division at City Hall.

Susan Bacque, Manager, Housing Division with the City of Peterborough, is excited about this program saying, “This is the third time we have been able to offer assistance for the purchase of an affordable home. The range of Housing programs available to City and County residents is broad, addressing the entire housing continuum – from people who are homeless, to low income renter households, to those renters who, with a little assistance, can become successful home owners”.

The City and County support this program as a way to assist moderate-income renter households who are able to carry a mortgage but have not been able to save a full down payment.

For further information please contact: Susan Bacque, Manager, Housing Division City of Peterborough 500 George Street North, Peterborough ON K9H 3R9, 705-742-7777 ext 1492, Toll-free 1-855-738-3755 Ext 1492, email: sbacque@peterborough.ca

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Naked Truth Campaign Begins To Bring Awareness To Affordable Housing Shortage In City

Naked Truth Teaser ShotA new campaign, "The Naked Truth About The Affordable Housing Shortage in Peterborough", has begun.

Some of the stats from a teaser press release that went out:

Naked Truth #1: At 1,500 families, Peterborough has one of the longest waiting lists for affordable housing.

Naked Truth #2: 25% of Peterborough tenants are paying more than half of their income on rent. In some cases, people are paying up to 80 percent of their income on rent.

Naked truth #3: More than half of Peterborough renter households can't afford a one-bedroom apartment.

According to the release, "there is hope and one group of Peterborough women are taking matters into their own hands."

Follow @PtboCalndrGirls on Twitter and "Like" Peterborough Calendar Girls on Facebook for updates in the coming weeks and to help spread the word about the Naked Truth campaign, which officially kicks off early October.

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Here's A Letter Sent To Us From A Woman Whose Sisters Could Soon Be Homeless In Peterborough

The letter is unedited. Here it is in its entirety...

Back in December the furnace stopped working in the apartment my 2 sisters rent. One sister has a part time job that she struggles to get hours at, and was recently laid off from the second job she had. The other sister is on assistance as she has a disorder that doesn't allow her to work.

They told the landlord about the furnace and he did not fix the problem. At Christmas time it was 13 degrees in that apartment in the morning on a good day. Due to the landlord not fixing the furnace, they had to spend the little money they had between them for the month on space heaters and bills and did not feel obligated to pay the rent, since the Landlord Tenant Act states the landlord must provide certain vital services and the provisioning for heat is one.

When the hydro bills for December and January came in, as you can imagine, they were large, too large for 2 young struggling girls. They were unable to pay the bills on time, didn't know they could call and make payment arrangements, and the hydro was cut off.

When my younger sister called her assistance worker, she was told they couldn't help her because the bills were in my working sisters name. They gave her a number to call the Housing Resource Centre. So, my working sister called them and had to leave a message. They returned her call later that afternoon and asked her some questions about her situation and her work situation. As soon as she told them how much money she had made in the last 4 weeks, which was around 260.00 they told her she did not make enough money for them to be able to assist her?!?! To out astonishment she was TOO POOR to receive help from the people we were told could help her with emergency funding.

My sisters are in the process of filing a T2 abatement of rent and moving out of that apartment. My working sister was forced to file for assistance, she is not happy about it either. The hydro has been re-connected now and they are leaving.

My concern is, how was she too poor to receive help in her situation? She works and contributes to this community as much as possible. She certainly still has to pay taxes that go towards these community programs right? Never has any run-ins with the law....how? Why?

Why was she literally forced to file for assistance? Left with no other options or people who would help those girls for a month to figure out the situation? It makes me very disappointed in this Community.

She is working hard to find more work and to get out of a bad situation, it would have been nice for the Housing Resource Centre to not turn their backs on her.

Thanks for listening, please help me make people aware of this horrible situation.

*Also, just so you know, Welfare only pays my sick sister 595.00 a month. If you think about that, that is supposed to cover rent/housing, heat/hydro, and food/hygene items for one person each month. Welfare will only allow 368.00 each month for payment towards rent, that leaves 227 a month to pay for heat (enbridge), hydro (PUC) and buy groceries. When the heat and hydro average payments are factored in, she received $2.90 a day to spend on food/hygene. Is it just me or does anyone see a problem here?? Welfare told her she needs to find a more affordable apartment....anyone have an apartment she can rent for less than $200 a month?

—Samantha Payne

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The Habitat For Humanity Build On Jane Street Is Starting to Take Shape

Here is the background story on the Jane Street build.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

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PtboPics: Another Habitat For Humanity Build Gets Underway

The official groundbreaking ceremony for Habitat for Humanity's upcoming builds on Jane Street in Peterborough took place Friday afternoon. These two homes will be built in part by Kenner Collegiate's new Senior Youth Build Program, and Habitat will also be offering many Women Build days in the fall due to the huge success of the program from their most recent build on Towerhill Road.  If you are interested in volunteering, click here for info.

 

Sandra and her three daughters Estefany, Michelle and Nicole are ready to begin the build for their home

Eager to be homeowners, Nyssa and Dennis with their children Madalyn and Caleb

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

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Tom Phillips On Peterborough's Astonishing Record Of Success In Lacrosse By Our Homegrown Players

Photo: Evan Holt

Last Friday I had the pleasure of *reuniting with many of my very accomplished lacrosse friends for the celebration of the area’s first Minto Cup, in 1961. Several members of that team turned out for the Merit Precision Juniors’ last game of the season, and the events to recognize the 1961 team’s accomplishment.

On Saturday a larger group of junior lacrosse alumni got together for golf and dinner. It was an opportunity to catch up with old friends, but more importantly, it was a time to celebrate an astonishing record of success by homegrown Peterborough players at the very highest levels of the game.

Since the 1961 Minto Cup win, Peterborough Juniors have won the Cup 12 times—the most of any other lacrosse community in the country. Along with the 13 Mann Cups won by the Seniors’ (the first being in 1951), and a national championship in a short-lived semi-professional league in 1969, Peterborough has 26 national lacrosse championships in 60 years. More astonishingly, the vast majority of the players on these 26 teams are Peterborough born-and-raised.

However, it is not the fact that we are all from Peterborough that has bound us together so strongly over the years; it is the winning tradition that has. Even the youngest of the alumni attending the weekend’s homecoming events could recite the accomplishments of the oldest players there. It is in the mutual and often unspoken respect for success at the highest levels in the game that is the greatest reward that comes from being involved in lacrosse in Peterborough.

It is one thing to win a national championship in any sport in a big-city arena filled with adoring fans; it is quite another to win a national championship at home, alongside your life-long peers and in front of a crowd of people who you have a personal connection with in one form or another.

Like the storied professional franchises in hockey and baseball—the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Yankees—it is not enough to just make the team. The only measure of success is in reaching the ultimate goal. Every year without a Minto or Mann Cup won by Peterborough is considered a disappointing year by our lacrosse community. It is the winning tradition as it is carried and told by those who have experienced it that sets the tone for every season.

As is so often the case in Canadian culture, where success is seen as less important than participation, lacrosse in Peterborough has never received the degree of respect that matches its success. Thankfully, the real success for those involved is more intimate than public. It comes in self-gratification in being the very best at what you are passionate about, and the ability to share that success with those who understand it best.

Photo: Stewart Stick

The Juniors’ have begun the playoffs with a better team than they have had in a few years, and the Seniors’ seem destined to defend the Mann Cup in the West this September. With these teams, new chapters in the history of Peterborough lacrosse will be written, and no one will be more proud of them should they bring the Cups home than those who most cherish our winning tradition.

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*Tom Phillips, a Peterborough native, was a trainer with the 1972 and 1973 Minto Cup teams (that was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2010), and involved with several other championship teams. He is currently a member of the Board of the Peterborough Merit Precision Junior ‘A’ Lakers.

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[Contributed by PtboCanada's Tom Phillips Ph. D.]

[Editor's Note: This is Tom's third column for PtboCanada.com. He is Economist & Sustainability Director - Greater Ptbo Innovation Cluster. Click here to read his first column for us on Peterborough's "Creative Class", and here to read his second column "Growing Peterborough From 'The Inside-Out'"]

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City Of Peterborough "Envisioning Peterborough's Future" Questionnaire

The City of Peterborough has an online questionnaire for "Envisioning Peterborough's Future," and are asking for feedback on how you would like Peterborough to look over the next 10 to 20 years. Peterborough has a Official Plan Review, which is a long-term comprehensive framework for land use decision-making in our community.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Evan Holt]

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Peterborough Landlord's House Ruined By Tenant

[chextvDOTcom]

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