Peterborough Blogs
Demand For Services Surge Causes Shortfall For Salvation Army; Monetary and Other Donations Sought
/The Salvation Army’s Peterborough Christmas Assistance program claims they are already facing shortfalls due to a surge in demand for their services, with several weeks left of their campaign announced on Wednesday.
The CHristmas Kettle Campaign began outside Lansdowne Place’s food court on Nov. 16. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SALVATION ARMY PETERBOROUGH TEMPLE.
The non-profit began registering families and individuals two weeks ago and has signed up about 2,000 applicants.
“We're seeing more community service and general applicants,” said Billi Balment, Salvation Army community family services supervisor. “In the past two years, there's been an increase in single people seeking help in the latter half of the program.”
Meeting needs this year has been challenging due to near-full bookings and dwindling resources and funds according to Balment.
“We have a plan for the expected influx but public support is crucial this year more than ever,” she said.
Families visiting The Salvation Army Toy Shop have shown great interest in practical items like hats, mittens, toys and puzzles as stated in a press release.
“We ran out of mittens last Thursday. I bought 200 more, and they were gone by Friday,” Balment said.
Monetary donations continue to come in for the non-profit organization however The Salvation Army says they have slowed compared to the initial surge during the Hope For All Seasons Christmas Appeal. The organization is seeking donations of mittens, games, puzzles, toys for ages nine to 13 and teen toiletry sets.
“There's still time to help,” Balment added. “We have the Christmas parade this weekend where food and toy donations can be made, with volunteers from Country 105 and Move 99.7 and Chemong Home Hardware on hand to collect them and bring them to the church on Saturday.”
Monetary donations can be mailed to 219 Simcoe St., Peterborough, ON, K9H 2H6 or made in person and at kettles across the city. Donations by phone can be made by calling 705-742-4391, ext. 257. Toy and mitten donations are accepted at the church doors on Simcoe Street.
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41-Year-Old Peterborough Man Charged With Robbery and Damaging a Boiler Room
/A 41-year-old Peterborough man is facing a robbery and mischief charge from an incident Tuesday evening.
Photo by David Tuan Bui.
At roughly 8:45 p.m., officers were called to the Reid Street and Brock Street area about an unwanted male in a secure building. Officers learned the boiler room of the building had been damaged and that the suspect had forced his way into an apartment, pushed the tenant to ground and took off with some items.
Officers located a man matching the description given to police in the Hunter Street and Downie Street area. The suspect was taken into custody without incident.
The man was arrested and charged with:
Robbery with Violence
Mischief Over $5000
The accused is being held in custody and will appear in court Wednesday.
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Runner's Life Seeking Skaters To Make World's Longest Conga Line At Peterborough Lift Lock
/Runner’s Life Ltd is calling all skaters in the area to create the world’s longest Conga line along the Lift Lock canal on Feb. 4.
File Photo.
The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. Skaters of all skill levels are invited to participate. For every skater participating, a dollar will be donated to ComPassion Project.
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Voice of Business: Businesses to Pick Up the $3 Million Tab For Appearance of Tax Savings
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Increasing the tax ratio for commercial and industrial properties does not save money, increase revenue, or reduce taxes — it merely shifts who pays more taxes.
Yet, this move is being touted by the City of Peterborough’s finance committee as savings as part of its strategy to get the all-inclusive tax rate increase down from 9.59 per cent to 7.38 per cent. The recommendation will increase the ratio of what commercial and industrial property owners pay from 1.5 times that of residential taxpayers to 1.65, shifting $3 million in taxation to local businesses.
What’s especially frustrating is that this decision appears to have been made on a whim – without consultation with the business community or connection to any particular economic plan. The original staff recommendation in the draft budget was to leave the tax ratio as-is.
Decisions around tax policy should have strategic goals and involve consultations. Fourteen years ago, the council of the day worked with industry associations and businesses themselves to come up with a strategy to increase economic growth in our community. The result was a target commercial and industrial tax ratio of 1.5. Getting there took a decade with gradual decreases in the ratio and included regular input from the business community. The result played a role in the rapid development of employment lands in the city to the point that we now have very few spaces for business to move and grow into.
Local businesses are already paying much higher taxes than residents and we aren’t pushing for anything besides the status quo, which is an established competitive benchmark.
Recognizing that businesses already pay 1.5 times the rate of residents, our recommendation is that the City work to expand our employment lands. We’ve been talking about this issue for the better part of 20 years with little progress and now we’re at a critical tipping point with local industry. I’ve talked with two local manufacturers in the last two weeks who are local success stories and are outgrowing their facilities. We have nowhere for them to expand to and we may lose them in the near future. We also have businesses interested in setting up in the region but we have no suitable properties to offer.
Let’s generate more tax revenue from the business community by expanding our commercial and industrial tax base! As an added bonus, businesses typically use fewer services than residents despite their higher tax rate. It’s a win-win for residents and the City.
Many in the business community are still struggling from a few very challenging years. It has been a tough go for many — businesses, residents, and even the municipality. Everything is getting more expensive. The reasons the City is facing a soaring budget increase — rising labour, fuel, and capital costs due to significant inflation — are the same struggles being faced by our local business community. Many businesses are also struggling to service significant debt incurred during the pandemic, which is now at much higher interest rates with repayment deadlines looming.
We applaud our elected leaders for recognizing that the proposed tax increase will be a significant burden for some in our community and are making efforts to reduce this. Many councils over the decades have faced tough decisions at budget time. There are many unpopular choices to make, which typically fall into two areas — increase taxes or reduce services. Everything proposed in the budget has value, but we elect our leaders to make the tough decisions when the time comes.
It’s an oft-repeated line from elected leaders that there is one taxpayer. Shifting $3 million in tax levy to one group of property owners and calling it savings for another does not give the impression that we are all in this together.
Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.
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City of Peterborough Announces Road Closures For 2023 Santa Claus Parade
/The City of Peterborough is putting in road closures for the 48th annual Kinsmen Santa Claus Parade which is being held in downtown Peterborough this Saturday.
File Photo.
The closures allow for both staging and the parade procession according to the City.
The following road closures will be in place starting at 4 p.m.:
Antrim Street — Aylmer Street to Water Street
Edinburgh Street — Aylmer Street to Water Street
Dublin Street — Aylmer Street to Water Street
London Street — Aylmer Street to Water Street
McDonnel Street — Aylmer Street to Water Street
Murray Street — Aylmer Street to Water Street
George Street — Parkhill Road to Brock Street
Princess Street — George Street to Park Street
Aylmer Street — Lansdowne Street to Romaine Street
The parade will travel south on George Street, starting at McDonnel Street and passing in front of City Hall at 4:45 p.m. The Parade ends at Princess Street and participants disperse from Princess Street. A rolling road closure — supervised by Peterborough Police Services — will occur along George Street during the parade.
Event volunteers will be available to remove barricades to allow for local access for residents and emergency vehicles along side streets. All road closures are expected to be over by 7:30 p.m.
No on-street parking is permitted on George Street between McDonnel Street and Princess Street starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Parking staff will be on-site to issue parking tickets and help ensure cars are relocated. Any vehicles still parked on George Street at 3 p.m. will be towed to the Reid Lot on 350 Reid St.
The City encourages anyone watching the parade to park in the King Street Parkade at 202 King St., the Simcoe parking garage at 190 Simcoe St. or municipal surface lots at the following locations:
Chambers Lot at 184 Hunter St.
Reid Lot at 350 Reid St.
Surface lot at 365 Aylmer St.
Del Crary Lot at 100 George St. N.
Downie Lot at 336 Downie St.
Parking in municipal lots and parking garages is free on weekends. Any parking fees voluntarily paid during December will be donated to Kawartha Food Share.
The City reminds residents to follow all on-street parking regulations that may be in place in the downtown area, including calendar parking where applicable. Ensure fire hydrants and driveways are not blocked.
Starting at 4 p.m., Peterborough Transit routes will detour around George Street between Parkhill Road and Brock Street.
During the rolling road closures as the parade progresses down George Street, the following routes will be detoured:
#2 Chemong
#4 Weller
#6 Sherbrooke
#22 Blue Community Buss
#23 Red Community Bus
A Peterborough Petes game at the Peterborough Memorial Centre in the evening starts at 7 p.m. With the Santa Claus Parade affecting traffic in the area, people attending the game are encouraged to plan for extra travel time when getting to the game. Paid parking at the Memorial Centre opens at 4 p.m. and the arena doors open at 6 p.m.
Drivers are reminded to obey all on-street parking restrictions including calendar parking, where applicable.
With increased vehicular and pedestrian traffic expected, everyone is reminded to leave extra time and use caution while travelling downtown on Saturday.
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Nóstimo By the Original Greek Soft-Opens New Dining Room; Grand Opening This Week
/Patrons can finally enjoy Nóstimo By The Original Greek in-house as the restaurant soft-opened its dining room on Thursday night.
Chef Shannon LeClair (left) with George Anagnostou (right) marking the soft opening of their dining room. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
The seating is two-and-a-half years in the making since opening in April 2021 and a ribbon-cutting ceremony in October of that year. The dining room can seat 32 people.
The renovation plans for the new area began in February. The storefront was closed from Nov. 19 until last Wednesday to complete all the upgrades. In addition to getting permits, the restaurant installed a wheelchair-accessible washroom, two dining room spaces and added additional decoration.
The Greek eatery is getting liquor licenses this week for the grand opening at an undisclosed date for this week according to George Anagnostou, Nóstimo co-owner.
”Since 1986, I've only had indoor dining restaurants,” he said. “I did take out and catering only because of Covid so I'm back in my glory. I love doing what I do, feeding people at a table, our table.”
With the addition of the new space, Anagnostou and his business partner, Chef Shannon LeClair, can introduce new services and dishes to their menu.
“Our menu has increased,” explained Anagnostou. “We have our originals we've had for the last 40 years but done some changes to them. We've added new creative dishes, there's fresh fish every weekend and there's going to be a rack of lamb every Friday and Saturday as well.”
The restaurant has stopped its cooking classes but is adding quarterly wine and pairing nights.
The following are the restaurant’s new business hours:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday: 11:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Thursday: 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Friday: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday: Closed
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Lakefield Foodland Giving Free Turkeys To Those In Need On Dec. 13
/Lakefield Foodland is brightening the holidays by giving away free turkeys to local needy families on Dec. 13.
SARAH BLESTOE AT LAKEFIELD FOODLAND AND ROSS GAVE AWAY TURKEYS LAST YEAR TO THOSE IN NEED ON DEC. 14 PHOTO COURTESY OF LAKEFIELD FOODLAND.
Turkeys are given away starting at 11 a.m. until supplies last at 1 Queen St. They are limited to one per family while supplies last.
“A lot of people can use a helping hand at this time of year. We want to offer our assistance to the people in Lakefield and area,” said Ross Bletsoe, Lakefield Foodland owner. “We have purchased frozen turkeys to give away to those in need. We support a lot of local charities, non-profit organizations and sports groups but this turkey giveaway lets us put our assistance right on the table for those who need it most.”
Recipients are asked to provide an address with a postal code of ‘K0L’ and identification prior to receiving a turkey.
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Peterborough Humane Society Holding Giving Tuesday Campaign For Animal Support
/Peterborough Humane Society (PHS) is asking the public for donations during Giving Tuesday to help match thousands of animals with loving families announced on Tuesday.
Giving Tuesday is a global generosity movement that takes place each year after Black Friday. Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Humane Society.
Any donations during the GivingTuesday Campaign have CanadaHelps adding an extra one per cent.
PHS wanted to highlight the story of Twyla and her puppies.
Twyla, a gentle female St. Bernard, was found wandering the streets as a stray by our Animal Control Officers in late August of this summer. She was severely emaciated and neglected; thin and dirty, she was in desperate need of immediate care. Our team swiftly took action and brought her into the Peterborough Animal Care Centre. They were shocked to find she was actively in labour.
Once safely in our care, she gave birth to seven beautiful puppies. Staff gave her babies celestial-themed names: Nova, Galileo, Astro, Celeste, Aurora, Astrid and Halle.
After giving birth, the mom was in a deplorable state and couldn’t produce enough milk for her babies. Staff quickly jumped to action to care for the new pups by bottle feeding and providing around-the-clock care for them to survive. After many weeks of intense care and supervision, the pups were ready to be alone. Volunteers and staff fostered the puppies at their homes during their growth period to give them continuous care and socialization. They went above and beyond to ensure these pups would flourish into wonderful family members.
After months of love, growth and attention, the beautiful puppies went up for adoption and each found their forever homes. Twyla remained in our care to gain weight, heal, and receive all of the enrichment and support we could provide. Once her health improved, she underwent spay surgery at our Peterborough Regional Spay/Neuter Clinic. Now, Twyla is healthy, happy and ready to find a loving home of her own.
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Peterborough Petes Protect Lead After Hot Start and Defeat the Sudbury Wolves 5-3
/The Peterborough Petes had a hot start to the game, never looked back and earned themselves a 5-3 win over the visiting Sudbury Wolves, 5-3, at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Monday night.
Photo courtesy of Kenneth Andersen and the Peterborough Petes.
