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City Councillor Mary Rita Holland is calling for more transparency around the outcomes for individuals experiencing homelessness in Kingston after they interact with City bylaw enforcement officers. At the council meeting on Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2020, Holland will table a motion for a review of the City bylaw number 2009-76,
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The following is a submitted open letter to the Kingston City Council. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of The Kingstonist. Dear Mayor Paterson and elected councillors of the City of Kingston, I am writing to you today, a week after the forced eviction of remaining
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The City of Kingston has responded to questions regarding the forced eviction of Belle Park residents on the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. Robert Hosier, Communications Officer for the City of Kingston, provided the following responses to the Kingstonist via email. 1) At what point and by whom was
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The following is an open letter to Mayor Bryan Paterson from Councillor Jim Neill concerning the removal of items and shelters from Belle Park on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. The views and opinions expressed do not neccessarily reflect those of Kingstonist. Hello Bryan; I just came from Belle Park. So
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The City of Kingston reports that they have taken “the final steps to remove what remains of an encampment at Belle Park” this afternoon. At approximately 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Sep. 1, 2020 City Staff escorted by members of Kingston Police reportedly arrived at Belle Park with trucks and heavy
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City of Kingston CAO Lanie Hurdle said an eviction notice issued to campers at Belle Park on Tuesday Jul. 28 was a mistake. The notice indicated campers had two hours to remove themselves and their property from the park. “The intent today was to verbally ask campers that are on
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The City’s Integrated Care Hub at Artillery Park opened on a part-time schedule on Monday, Jul. 20, 2020. Originally announced as a 24/7 drop-in centre opening this week, the hub appears to have launched with a soft opening, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily, and closed for one hour
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The following is a letter to the editor. The views and opinions expressed in this letter do not necessarily reflect those of Kingstonist. While 200 people gathered in Belle Park on the evening of Tuesday, July 7, 2020 with music and speeches in support of the rights of Belle Park residents
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The meeting of Kingston City Council on Tuesday, Jul. 7, 2020 immediately got down to business, first tackling the deadline for the bylaw exemption allowing for the homeless encampment at Belle Park to remain. In fact, that’s almost all Council was able to accomplish of the full agenda that lay
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Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) Public Health and the City of Kingston facilitated a mobile health and services clinic at the Belle Park homeless encampment on Tuesday, Jun. 23, 2020. A registered nurse and doctor from public health offered COVID-19 and sexually transmitted infection (STI) tests, as well as
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Kingston City Council sat for meeting 18-2020 (agenda) on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, sitting in its virtual format. Though council had a variety of topics on the agenda, the focus of the meeting clearly circled around the ongoing homeless camp at Belle Park. The meeting opened with a delegation, who
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A new encampment with many needs I received my first tip about the Belle Park encampment approximately three weeks ago from a resident of Kingston’s Inner Harbour. I had not driven past the outer Montreal Street park for many months, at least since the start of the pandemic in early
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