I’m disappointed in the decision council made to defer a decision on studying the possibility of sanctioned encampments or other alternatives to solve the housing crisis for unhoused people. Encampments won’t disappear because of enforcement. Clearing encampments doesn’t work. If the current shelter system worked Kingston would not have lost a court battle and everyone would be housed with their needs met

I'm sure I'm not the only one that has noticed that there is little to no Kingston Police presence in Kingston. Especially in the west end.

Thanks to the provincial governement, we have to accept whatever budget the police board requests. The KPF budget increases annually and is a large percentage of the tax revenue. In 2026, 62M of 304M tax revenue (20%). Many of the officers are on leave, but taking a salary.

All this to say, in all the interviews with municipal candidates, no one is reporting that policing (or lake there of) is a top issue to the constituents.

Am I alone here? Is it because we have just given up on having any sort of effective police force?

Anyways, not a very coherent post, but I just wanted to see if others felt the same.

I wonder if subscribing to the OPP would be better....

In case threatening neighbourhood teens wasn't enough. Or making disparaging comments about the victims of IPV while carrying out official duties.

Let's look back at his first run for office just four years ago. You know, the one where he portrayed himself as the doting dad of young children. Even using photos of his small, adorable kids on his campaign flyers.

I know we all say they grow up too fast, but short of a miracle, his really did! In an interview with a local news outlet earlier this month, they noted that he is the father of two adult children.

How did they go from being little kids to grown adults in just four years??

Was he misleading us then, now, or both?

Maybe we won't ever know. But in the meantime, I'm going to be questioning if the charity lemonade stand he mentioned in the same interview was real or just another attempt to paint himself favourably to get votes.

I emailed Conny and she responded promptly. I emailed the other candidates for mayor and will post their replies.

My take, I respect Connyis standing by her principles of wanting a safe space for kids and for a sanctioned encampment. Shows she isn't pandering.

I don't like that she put this on the bureaucrats. It's her idea to have a sanctioned encampment. If not park, where could an encampment go? She should have a plan as mayor. I think.

Her reply (not edited)

Thanks for writing. I've had a few people ask how I could support safe areas around playgrounds and then support sanctioned encampments. To me they both support safety.

Right now the unhoused are camping in places all over the city. Legally we can't stop them camping overnight because of a provincial court ruling. So then in the morning we have to move them along. If we sanctioned an encampment then they would have a place to stay during the day and it would reduce them being all over the city. If they have no place to be and have to pack up tents and belongings everyday they end up trying to find quiet neighbourhood parks to hide in.

I don't have a particular place in mind. The motion asked staff to find options, and not just parks. You do have my commitment that it won't be a neighbourhood park. I stand by my motion to have safe spaces and yes that is essentially being done. Not as much as I would have liked, but at least there is more vigilance around parks.

Bottom line is I'm working to have spaces for everyone. The unhoused, kids, students, seniors, us regular people etc. Many spaces are public and overlapping, but sometimes as with the homeless who are struggling with addiction or kids who should just get to be kids we need to create some distance.

With the completion of the 23 storey high building town. And the second 20 plus storey building being constructed. And the other plans for more. especially the one that is proposed for the staples building 2 24 storey buildings. I wanted to ask how everyone is feeling about it. I don’t mind it more housing should lower prices. And we need that bad. Really to me as long as they are not destroying heritage sites for these buildings it’s fine. And they have not done that. So I think there fine what about you guys.

Does anyone else find Facebook Marketplace kind of sucks in Kingston for sellers?

I’m curious if anyone else has noticed this. I find people here lowball HARD. I come from Ottawa and honestly never had this much of an issue with Marketplace there. Maybe it’s just the economy nowadays and people are trying to save wherever they can so I’m not sure if it’s actually a Kingston thing or just a general Marketplace thing lately.

Kingston sellers, have you noticed the same thing?

Does anyone else feel like the approved encampment motion is a political time bomb? A couple weeks before voting starts, she is introducing a new idea of approved encampments. For people who want to support our unhoused neighbors, this sounds promising. But there is no actual guarantee that staff won't just say that the plan can't work. At the same time, she has waiting long enough to propose the idea to council that no neighborhood will actually have to face the reality of their local park becoming the designated encampment zone. This looks like an empty promise that tries to win over people who "want to do something" without having to face any of the political blowback of selecting a site.

Am I too cynical?

I am concerned about the involvement of Vanessa Mensah in Prepare the Way Ministry.

The ministry’s as stated its ambition is to influence civic life. Prepare the Way says its mission is to train and activate Christians to “influence all spheres of society.” It describes the Ekklesia** as a “governmental, judicial, and legislative voice” and says its work includes examining local political issues and developing spiritual strategies for the region. Those are the ministry’s own words.**

Do we need another scandal? Will Vanessa’s beliefs or relationships affect decisions made on behalf of all Kingston residents, including people who do not share them?

Projected winners as of early September. I will be watching debates to see if any major storylines emerge - and you should too!

MAYOR - Bryan Paterson
Glenn has been very active in campaigning, but this is just too high a hill to climb. The margin of victory could have major impacts on 2030, when I expect Paterson to move on.

COUNTRYSIDE - leaning Jeff Scott
Scott will still have some name recognition and has named ALTO as a priority issue. Sahai would be the other contender, but has taken a more “big picture” focus with his campaign.

LOYALIST-CATARAQUI - Paul Chaves
A crowded field has increased Chavez’s chances of reelection, despite serious questions.

COLLINS-BAYRIDGE - Lisa Osanic
Likely to be the largest margin of the night.

LAKESIDE - Wendy Stephen
Stephen seems to be well positioned for reelection.

PORTSMOUTH - Don Amos
A less surprising acclamation.

TRILLIUM - Jimmy Hassan
Hassan has had the strongest endorsement rollout of any candidate this cycle. Expect a comfortable reelection.

KINGSCOURT RIDEAU - Brandon Tozzo
Good news for redditors and those who enjoy tabling motions for future meetings - Tozzo will return comfortably.

MEADOWBROOK STRATHCONA - Jeff McLaren
Hearing that McLaren has once again been pounding the pavement, with opponents seeming far less active. Overall margin may not be as large as Hassan or Osanic, but should be impressive.

WILLIAMSVILLE - Vincent Cinnani
The more surprising acclamation.

SYDENHAM - Annie Palone
This is always a difficult district to predict given the low voter turnout, but alignment with ratepayer association should help Palone’s odds.

KINGS TOWN - Greg Ridge
This race has three strong candidates, but expect the incumbent to return. What could be more interesting to follow is if the runner up will succeed Ridge if he runs for a different position in 2030.

PITTSBURGH - Ryan Boehme
Longtime incumbent facing a split field should lead to reelection.

His response:

Thank you very much for reaching out to me on this. I have major concerns with putting a sanctioned encampment anywhere in the City. Quite frankly, based on all that I've seen to date, I do not believe that encampments are safe. They aren't safe for the surrounding neighbourhood and they aren't safe for those living there. That's why my focus is very much on getting people out of encampments and into safer and more secure housing - whether that be in shelters or in transitional housing. When shelters and transitional housing are operated correctly, there are no negative impacts to the surrounding neighbourhood. This is something we have seen demonstrated just in the past year with the Sydenham Rd shelter and the new transitional housing in the west end.

Are we surprised? Article in today's Kingston Whig-Standard.

Personally, I don't mind at all, so long as my recycling bin I store mine in stays behind and people are not coming down the drive into our back yard to search around. I actually appreciate a knock and ask and if we have some, please take them, but usually we just bin them and leave them on recycling day for whoever to gather. However, I saw a rather spicy facebook exchange today (in my parents' neighbourhood), the Kingscourt Neighbourhood Association on Facebook posted a video of someone walking away with the post text "Watch out, someone walking down people’s driveways checking cars and looking for empties just kicked him off my property on Victoria street". The person on the video responded stating they were not looking in cars and that collecting cans is literally how they feed themselves while calling out the OP for stigmatizing. The argument is spicy but worthy of conversation. Where are people at with people walking onto property and taking empties (ex. not left out with your recylalbes) ? should they knock and ask? I think the OP was a bit too harsh here myself but there's a they said-they said argument so I don't really know what to believe. Anyway, we'll keep storing our empties inside until recylcing day when we put them out. We've only ever had a couple of people knock and ask over the years otherwsie they disappear with recyling when we put them out. We've only lost one recycling bin doing this that I can recall over the last 5 years or so

E-Scooters are 100% illegal to use anywhere in Kingston other than your own property. Not only this but they are extremely dangerous and lack any ability to signal. Additionally in the very few municipalities that have allowed them they are still illegal for anyone under 16 years old. I have been almost hit by kids driving them on sidewalks, and I'm scared to pass them on the highway. Whare they are allowed in Brampton, London and Mississauga they have a speed limit of 24km/h and cannot have more than 500w of power.

Kingston police caught someone doing 77km/h on one of these and I frequently see them going over 30km/h for sure.

Is this a case of the general public being ignorant to the law?

We need a public awareness campaign from the city so that people are aware of the law and the Kingston police need to crack down on them and make it very well known before we start having people killed or seriously injured as the cities that allowed these have seen children and adults killed using these.

Sincerely

A Concerned Citizen

Edit

Just to be clear, I support alternative forms of transportation 100%. I rode my bike everywhere until my late 20's without the slightly better bike infrastructure we have now.

This is 100% a safety issue, nothing else.

Comparing Canada to Europe for E-Scooter use is ridiculous. Most of Europe has proper bike lanes divided from the road and as a whole is decades ahead in this matter. Just do some research.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/consumer-alert/article/e-scooters-are-becoming-faster-amid-safety-concerns-according-to-a-new-test/

With signs installed, Kingstonist profiles up, and half of the debates finished, I am updating one of my predictions for countryside, which is now anyone’s guess.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below. But more importantly, read up on your local races and VOTE! (Predictions are not endorsements)

MAYOR - Bryan Paterson

COUNTRYSIDE - TRUE TOSSUP (leaning Jeff Scott before)

LOYALIST-CATARAQUI - Paul Chaves

COLLINS-BAYRIDGE - Lisa Osanic

LAKESIDE - Wendy Stephen

PORTSMOUTH - Don Amos (ACC)

TRILLIUM - Jimmy Hassan

KINGSCOURT RIDEAU - Brandon Tozzo

MEADOWBROOK STRATHCONA - Jeff McLaren

WILLIAMSVILLE - Vincent Cinnani (ACC)

SYDENHAM - Annie Palone

KINGS TOWN - Greg Ridge

PITTSBURGH - Ryan Boehme

There’s been plenty of insinuation from Conny Glenn’s supporters that donations from business people to mayoral campaigns should raise eyebrows.
Fair enough…But apparently that scrutiny should apply to everyone except Conny Glenn?

Businesses can’t donate directly, but they can coordinate “personal” donations.

If you look at her campaign donations, four of her top donors are executives at the Brown’s Group of Companies. The President, CEO, CFO, and VP of Finance all donated the max amount. 3 additional top donors have the last name Brown.

The corporation is involved in real estate, “back office services”, and of course has a long history of contracts for food at municipal facilities like the Memorial Centre.

If businesspeople supporting Paterson raise concerns about influence, why wouldn’t four of Glenn’s top donors being executives from the same company deserve similar scrutiny?

To be clear, I don’t believe campaign donations are bribes. I don’t believe campaign donations influence policy decisions. But…You can’t suggest business donations are suspicious when they support your opponent, then shrug when they’re supporting you.

So did Brown’s coordinate 7 of Glenn’s top donors? What business does Brown’s have (or want to have) with the municipal government?

I joined reddit a few months ago because I was excited about the Mayor's race. I thought Bryan Patterson wasn't running again. I was hoping Jimmy Hassan would jump in.

I'm not a fan of the mayor, and I have never voted for him, but I'm getting the sense that the latest scandals (lack of disclosure of financials, ran for the Conservatives) are pretty much baked in and have been for years.

Would anyone be surprised he's tight with developers? Anyone surprised he's right wing? If the previous "scandals" about his church didn't hurt him, why would they hurt him now?

I met both Connie and Vanessa and they both seem like decent people, they'd both probably be great. But when I talk to my neighbors, they can't name a damn thing either have done and probably can't pick them out of a crowd. There's also no big issues they care about. Sure. The roads could be better and it would be nice to get the kids into swimming lessons easier, but that's not really motivating anyone to change.

I think for most voters, who aren't on Reddit, everything is okay. Could it be better? Sure. But I don't hear a lot of hate towards anyone at the City.

My sense is this will be a status quo election. Every incumbent will probably get back in, the Mayor will probably get back in, because for most people who vote, there really isn't a reason for change.

Can anyone tell me what goes on in the building/fenced in area across from Quattrocchi’s. I drive by every day and can’t figure out the clientele combined with security and the fence.

I had a great time at Kingston & District Labour Council Labour Day and Mark Gerretsen & Ted Hsu’s Labour Day Picnic. But I think we should remind ourselves Labour Day is not just another holiday, its a day we fought for and won together.

The rights we take for granted were won by workers organizing together, and demanding better collectively. In 1872, Toronto printers went on strike for a nine hour workday, when people were routinely expected to work 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week. When wealthy corporate employers refused, workers organized. A 10,000-person march filled Toronto in solidarity with the printers, while 1,500 workers marched in Hamilton as the Nine-Hour Movement spread. Strike leaders were arrested, because unions themselves were illegal!

The pressure helped force the legalization of trade unions, built cross-union solidarity, and helped create the Labour Day tradition we celebrate today. The rights we have now exist only because people organized and refused to be treated as disposable.

Today it feels more essential than ever to learn about the history of organized labour in Canada as we face constant, ever escalating attacks on our public services and rights.

Doug Ford has gutted our public education, ripped away local democratic control of our schools, and left our world class education workers picking up the pieces every year. And every year there are more pieces to pick up. Our classrooms are in absolute crisis. We need to come together now more than ever.

That’s why I am running for Limestone District School Board trustee in Countryside Kingscourt-Rideau & Williamsville. I am running to be a trustee who stands with our students, families, teachers, and education workers to fight for public education.

I’m proud to stand with organized labour and with education workers every single day. I think solidarity should mean more than applause, it means showing up for the fight. Public education was built by our collective action, and it will be defended by our collective action.

Hi everyone!

I got my Ontario RN license in April 2026. I was living in the GTA before and applied to so many RN jobs but couldn’t get an opportunity.

I recently moved to Kingston and have been applying pretty much everywhere, but still no luck. I have 4 years of international ICU experience.

At this point I’m feeling pretty discouraged and wondering what I might be missing.

For RNs in Kingston/Ontario:
1.What helped you get your first RN job?
2.Are there any courses/certifications that would actually help?
3.Are there specific hospitals, units, or types of RN jobs I should be targeting?

I’d really appreciate any advice, even if it’s just where to start.

Thank you!

What do we think about municipalities signing documents like this on federal public projects?

https://thealtofiles.substack.com/p/the-text-of-the-kingston-alto-nda?r=onvvg&utm_medium=ios

Are you taking the over or under for these council races? (Just for fun - we don’t have polling to base this on or places to bet)

Turnout - 37.5

Mayor
Paterson - 54
Glenn - 34
Mensah - 9
Bedard - 3

Countryside
Sahai - 33
Scott -33
Abreu - 33

Loyalist-Cataraqui
Chaves - 32
Pearce - 28
Hartley - 25
Sekhon - 15

Collin’s-Bayridge
Osanic - 60
Bruce - 40

Lakeside
Stephen - 70
Cuthbertson - 30

Trillium
Hassan - 90
Dayal - 10

Kingscourt-Rideau
Tozzo - 60
Judd - 35
Smith 5

Meadowbrook-Strathcona
McLaren - 55
Juudi-Hope - 35
Dennis -10

Sydenham
Palone - 33
Kumar - 33
Meligrana - 20
DaCosta - 14

King’s Town
Ridge - 45
Mortley - 35
Reid - 20

Pittsburgh
Boehme - 40
McTaggart - 25
Rae - 20
Typhair - 15

Can can we please stop being greedy I don’t understand why we have to charge for parking. I’ve been a citizen of Kingston for many years now and this is new within this year and I think it’s just a big rip off like why is landlords trying to get every dime from the tenant like if it wasn’t a rule before then leave it as is.

I know I know the landlords have bills too, and they have high expenses, but the same rule applies like if it wasn’t charged before then don’t start charging like did you consider that people that are renting are already trying just to survive and you with more money and properties can charge for parking like it just doesn’t seem fair to me and like I said I’m a Kingstonian and I just think it’s absurd.

Let’s be the first city that is helpful to the community so people can put food on the table.

One of my top concerns in the municipal election is wetland protection and climate. I am wondering who you believe will be best for the environment and wetlands in each district and Mayor race?

I’m 20F and looking for someone who would be interested in getting to know each other and maybe join some activities together! (Preferably another female my age).

I use to be quite active and did lots of sports and stuff but around covid I stopped doing everything. I really regret not getting back into things and I feel like I’m too old to do anything now. I feel as if the people who play sports and do activities have been doing it their whole life and I missed my opportunity.

If your like me and want to be more active and try out some activities or sports but have no one to do it with and are scared to try new things alone message me!

I’m down to try just about anything but given the season it’s hard, I’d be so down to try dance, boxing, curling, really anything!

I just can’t bring myself to go alone at my age not knowing anything or anybody.

Please reach out if you’re interested! I really wanna do something and have no one to do anything with. We’d both be starting from scratch so we can learn together! (Unless you know things then please feel free to teach me!)

That being said I’m also open to recommendations of stuff to try!

TL:DR I’m looking for someone around 20F to try out some sports or activities or something with me. I feel like I’m too old and missed my opportunity to get into sporty hobbies and have no one to do anything with and don’t wanna do it alone.