East Edition

KITCHENER’S ORIGINAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

kitchenercitizen.com Circulation 30,000 • Volume 6, Issue 3 • Thursday, July 3, 2014

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BY CARRIE DEBRONE

The former Notre Dame school property in Kitch-

ener’s Rosemount neighbour-hood has a new developer in-terested in building on it.

About 150 people attended a meeting June 11 to hear rep-resentatives from Options for Homes, a non-profit develop-ment corporation, ask local residents for their ideas about how they think the property should be developed.

The six-acre site at 142 Rosemount Ave. in Kitchener, formerly housed Notre Dame Catholic School. The school was closed in June 2010. Op-tions for Homes representa-tives told the crowd that the separate school board sold the land to developer Jorge Cotez Jr. for $4-million. Cotez Jr. de-molished the school in 2012 to make way for a planned 49-unit subdivision that in-cluded single family and semi-detached homes.

According to Options for Homes architect Jim Fryett, the deal with Cotez Jr. fell through and the land is now owned by a local consortium. Options for Homes is inter-ested in developing the land and has an option to purchase the property – an option that will remain valid until 2015.

Options for Homes is cur-rently the only developer in-terested in building on the lot.

Options for Homes was founded in 1993 by Michel Labbé, who remains president and CEO. A social entrepre-

neur, Labbé believes home ownership should be avail-able to everyone and to help achieve this his non-profit company offers buyers down payment loans, with the stip-ulation that they live in the condo they purchase until the loan is paid off.

If the development process started soon, company repre-sentatives said they expect it would take about two years to gain approval and for market-ing to begin, with hopes that construction could start in 2017. They estimated the cost of the condos would be be-tween $185,000 and $350,000, depending on their size.

“Don’t confuse us with low cost housing or subsidized housing, We’re not. We build high quality, cost-effective homes,” said Jan Ciuciura, head of Options for Homes Waterloo Region adding that the homes include many green and environmentally-friendly features and are constructed in partnership with several local builders including Ab-erdeen Homes, Cook Homes and East Forest Homes.

Kitchener councillor Scott Davey told the crowd Options for Homes has not yet submit-ted any site plans for develop-ment to the city.

“Regardless of what hap-pens, this property will be de-veloped,” he told residents.

“I am encouraged by this developer. From the get go they wanted to meet with the neighbours,” Davey said.

Ciuciura said that over 90 per cent of the condos his

company has built are owned by the people who live in them, unlike most other con-do developments in this area where over half are owned by investors who then rent out their units.

He said the condos most suited to the Rosemount parcel of land would appeal to older people wanting to downsize or to first time buy-ers who grew up in the local area and want to remain there.

He explained that some of the developments his com-pany has constructed are mid-rise style condos (four or five storeys) with underground parking and an elevator, while others are similar to stacked townhouses, two storeys high with smaller condo units on the bottom and larger ones on the top storey. The representa-tives said the developer is only interested in building condo-miniums, not rental units.

“We can build bachelors to larger condo suites depending on what is needed and wanted in the neighbourhood,” Ciuci-ura said.

Fryett explained the proper-ty would have to be rezoned, a development plan submitted to the city, and drainage, traf-fic and environmental studies done, before any kind of de-velopment could be consid-ered, but he said his company wanted to meet with neigh-bours to see what kind of de-velopment they would like to see there.

“We could have insisted on whatever kind of devel-opment we chose and not

had this meeting and gone through the process that most developers use. They just go to the city and ram the project through, never asking any of the neighbours anything. But we’d rather not do that,” Ci-uciura said.

The decision to meet with neighbours pleased some at the meeting.

“Which developer would you rather have? Someone who comes here and asks us

what we want or someone who doesn’t ask?” said resi-dent Mark Dunbar.

“You have to work with a good developer,” he said.

Others at the meeting were unsure, saying they believe the development would com-promise the community and change the character of the mostly single family home area, cause traffic problems and not encourage new fami-

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Hopping Good TimeCousins Jaxon Niereisel, 4, and Lily Wright 6, race each other in potato sacks at the 3rd annual Tremaine Park family BBQ on June 28. Residents enjoyed playing games with their neighbours, while watching planes from the Waterloo Air Show soar overhead. They also collected donations for The Food Bank of Waterloo Region.

2 • JULY 3, 2014 • KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION)

BY CARRIE DEBRONE

For 10 years, the Welcome Home Refugee Housing

Community in Kitchener has helped refugees fleeing danger-ous home countries, with short-term housing and emotional and spiritual support when they arrive in Canada.

To celebrate Welcome

Home’s success, local artist Pa-mela Rojas was hired to cre-ate a mural on the side wall of the centre’s building at 260 King Street East in Kitchener (above the former Morning Glory Café).

Titled, ‘Stories of New Begin-nings,’ the mural, depicts the experiences offered to refugees through Welcome Homes’ ten-year history. It was unveiled

with a ribbon cutting, tours of the facility and a reception on June 16, which coincided with World Refugee Day. It shows people of many different cul-tural backgrounds enjoying learning English, reading, camping, meeting other people in the community and playing music.

The colourful, $18,000 mural, which reaches about 21 feet up the side of the building and is 67 feet long, was painted over the last few months with the help of 145 volunteers.

“The market neigbourhood has had its challenges and we wanted to brighten up the neighbourhood. We wanted to give back to this community,” said Sharon Schmidt, director of the Welcome Home Refu-gee Community.

Schmidt explained that Wel-come Home, which receives no direct government funding, is supported by local churches and private donations. Its two apartments and seven single

rooms have housed 194 refu-gees in the last ten years. The centre provides short-term housing (up to a year) in the space it rents from Ray of Hope, which owns the building.

“The world is full of heart-ache. We can pray for peace but we can also love refugees and help them when they come here,” Schmidt said in the mu-ral dedication ceremony, add-ing, “We provide a place to

come home to.” “When refugees come here

they don’t know a soul and of-ten they’ve been through trau-ma and tragedy. They can come here and feel like they have hope and be with people who care about them. We welcome them with friendship and allow them to make community con-nections.”

Kitchener councillor Dan Glenn-Graham said the city wants to be a place that will welcome refugees, and said that according to the latest Vi-tal Signs report, the city is not as welcoming a place as it could be adding that the work of Wel-come Home and the new mural will help change that.

“This mural has a special meaning – spiritual and emo-tional,” he said.

“Art is a powerful and friend-ly tool,” said Rojas, who added that she hopes the mural will engage people and be educa-tional, especially for youth.

Funds for the project were donated by the The Meeting House, Mennonite Savings and Credit Union, The Kitch-ener and Waterloo Community Foundation, United Way KW, KW AWEsome Foundation, Home Depot Canada Foun-dation, Ray of Hope, Lowe’s Canada, Battlefield Equipment Rentals and Elevation.

For more information on Welcome Home visit www.welcomhomekw.ca or call 519-568-8696.

Mural depicts help, experiences offered to refugees by Kitchener’s Welcome Home

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A new mural titled, ”Stories of New Beginnings,” depicting the experiences offered to refugees through Kitchener’s Welcome Homes’ ten-year history, was unveiled with a ribbon cutting,

tours of the facility and a reception on June 16. The event coincided with World Refugee Day.

Sharon Schmidt, director of the Welcome Home Refugee

Community (left) and mural artist Pamela Rojas.

The mural was completed with the help of 145 volunteers.

KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION) • JULY 3, 2014 • 3

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BY HELEN HALL

Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro doesn’t want its customers

to be in the dark - when they are in the dark - any more.

The utility is purchasing an Outage Management System (OMS) this year to make sure customers are kept up-to-date with information when their power is out. It has also made improvements to its communi-cations department.

“We realized we were not doing a good enough job,” explained Wilf Meston, Vice-President of Customer Ser-vices with Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro. “And we realized the expectations of our customers are changing rapidly.”

An OMS collects power outage data and transfers the information to a live map lo-cated on the utility’s website. The outage map is updated regularly, marking areas where

the power is out, whether a crew has been dispatched for repair, and the estimated time when repairs will be complet-ed. Customers can use their smart phones to check the out-age map.

Meston expects the capital cost of the system will be be-tween $300,000 and $400,000. “It is likely that this will be a multi-year project, where we implement the required func-tionality in stages over a 2-3 year period.”

“I’m quite excited about it,” Meston said. “It will change the game for us.”

Meston said this system is already being used in other cities, including Ottawa. The Hydro Ottawa outage map is updated every 15 minutes. Ar-eas where the power is out are marked in red.

In addition to purchasing an OMS, Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro has improved its com-

munication department by hiring a communications spe-cialist, and adding a Twitter ac-count.

Meston said they are also looking into a sign-up service where customers will receive ongoing information during an outage by email, tweet or text.

Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro launched its Twitter account May 1 and now has over 400 followers. Meston said the utility appreciated the input it received from its followers during a power outage that has occurred since that date.

“Someone even sent us a photo of the tree on the (hydro) line,” he said.

Meston said last year was a bad one for storms with “un-precedented damage.”

“And the ice storm was the icing on the cake,” he said.

While they still need to im-prove, Meston thinks the util-ity did better during the De-cember 22 ice storm, answering 2,000 phone calls in the first 24

hours. Many people answer-ing the phones were from the management team, who came in during the off hours.

“It’s been a quiet summer,” Meston said. “I’d like it to stay that way.”

Outage Management System will help Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro customers stay informed during power failures

4 • JULY 3, 2014 • KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION)

By Shelley ByerS

Diamond decorations grace a table and sparkle

on a black and white photograph taken 60 years ago of 27 young, eager, new nursing graduates.

Kitchener’s St. Mary’s Hos-pital School of Nursing class of 1954 gathered June 2 to commemorate friendships that were forever stitched together with trust, courage, and the act of learning together.

The former classmates cele-brated their Diamond Jubilee at the country home of Pat Weber, near Conestoga. Stories were passed around the dining room table like the scrumptious carrot cake made especially for the occasion.

Their monthly gatherings after graduation (affectionately called ‘mental health days’) changed to yearly visits as families and careers grew. They still remain a highlight.

“We bonded in nursing school,” said Weber.

“We were a great support to each other. That’s why we’re all

still together.”Entering nursing school on

September 3, 1951, all in their early 20’s, theirs would be the largest class to that date. Living in close quarters, in what is now the administration building of the hospital, gave the women a sense of family under the watchful eyes of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

“We owe a lot of credit to the nuns,” said Ruth Kelly.

“We left home and the nuns took over where our parents left off.”

Sister Paula Schnurr gave them words of wisdom on February 6, 1952, the day of their capping ceremony. Receiving their caps with a ribbon signifying their school of training as well as crisp, white bibs marked the first leg of their three-year program.

The first class in the history of the school to have this ceremony attended by members of the community, it took place on the day the King of England died.

As the students were about to receive their nursing caps,

the former nurses remembered Sister Paula advising them saying, “Now girls, I don’t want you to remember this as the day the King died, but as the day that the Queen began her reign.”

Sue Bradford remembers her class as the most musical. With a little prompting, the ladies lift their voices to once again sing The Bells of St. Mary’s. As the notes drift off, they share their thoughts on three years together in residence. They remain a family who helped to lay the foundation of a hospital now rated as one of the best in the province and their pride in their work shines through.

Sister Joan O’Sullivan, then known to her students as Sister Celestine, was their first teacher at the nursing school.

“We were her first class. She loved us and we loved her too,” said Betty Bauman.

“We learned together.” Sister Joan attended the class’s annual

gatherings until the year before her passing in 2013.

As the women reminisce about their adventures in nursing school, Pat’s daughter, Ann, creates cards for those who were unable to join them. She is dressed in her mother’s training uniform. The ladies each recall how the tight, plastic waistband and cuffs felt on hot summer days before air conditioning.

From the beginning, the young girls trained on the floors remembering that they stood when a doctor entered the room and opened the door for him/her when he left, even when balancing a tray of meds in their hands.

“We were taught to respect all people – period,” said Pat.

“We were to treat the patient in the bed as our mother or grandfather, or our little brother.”

When not working or in class, the girls spent many of their off

hours together. The real giggles begin as they remember having to sneak back into the residence after playing basketball at St. Mary’s High School and the fun they had sun bathing on the roof of the residence with airplanes from the Waterloo Wellington Airport flying overhead.

They weren’t allowed to leave the residence wearing pants and under no circumstances were they to shake hands with their boyfriends.

“Can you imagine?” they chime.

Ann sums up their friendship as the afternoon comes to an end.

“Never have I seen this type of friendship that can last all of these years. It’s a testament to you, the program and the experiences you had when you were at St. Mary’s.”

Shelley Byers is the daughter of Edna Byers one of the graduates of the class of 1954.

Page 4 l Kitchener Citizen - West Edition l July 3, 2014

The Belles of St. Mary’s Hospital

The graduating 1954 St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing class. From left: front, Marie Esbaugh, Joyce Siemon, Joan McGarry, Edna Wittig (my mom), Wilma Waechter, Ruth Schmidt, Bernadette Fischer, Connie Glady, Paula Hergott, Betty Snider, middle, Mary Wunder, Peggy Rothaermel, Jean Bye, Shirley Brohman, Betty Konig, Eleanor Roche, Pat Mackay, Helen O’Reilly, Joan Snyder, Merlene Seip, back, Jean Voll, Yvonne (Bonnie) Berlet, Esther Roth, Susan Neu, Lorraine Maloney, Grace Thur, Pat King

The 1954 St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing class celebrated 60 years of friendship on June 2. The former classmates, now many in their 80s, still get together once a year. From left: front, (sitting) Ruth Kelly, Pat Weber, second row, Joan Ditner, Joan Milne, Jean Goodwin, Peggy Heuss, Betty Bauman, third row, Merlene Sparry, Sue Bradford, Grace Moyer, back, Eleanor Smith, Mary Cardillo. Photo by Shelley Byers

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The Belles of St. Mary’sBY SHELLEY BYERS

Diamond decorations grace a table and sparkle

on a black and white photo-graph taken 60 years ago of 27 young, eager, new nursing graduates.

Kitchener’s St. Mary’s Hos-pital School of Nursing class of 1954 gathered June 2 to commemorate friendships that were forever stitched to-gether with trust, courage, and the act of learning together.

The former classmates cel-ebrated their Diamond Ju-bilee at the country home of Pat Weber, near Conestoga. Stories were passed around the dining room table like the

scrumptious carrot cake made especially for the occasion.

Their monthly gatherings after graduation (affection-ately called ‘mental health days’) changed to yearly visits as families and careers grew. They still remain a highlight.

“We bonded in nursing school,” said Weber.

“We were a great support to each other. That’s why we’re all still together.”

Entering nursing school on September 3, 1951, all in their early 20’s, theirs would be the largest class to that date. Liv-ing in close quarters, in what is now the administration building of the hospital, gave the women a sense of family under the watchful eyes of the

Sisters of St. Joseph.“We owe a lot of credit to

the nuns,” said Ruth Kelly. “We left home and the nuns

took over where our parents left off.”

Sister Paula Schnurr gave them words of wisdom on February 6, 1952, the day of their capping ceremony. Re-ceiving their caps with a rib-bon signifying their school of training as well as crisp, white bibs marked the first leg of their three-year program.

The first class in the history of the school to have this cer-emony attended by members of the community, it took place on the day the King of England died.

As the students were about to receive their nursing caps, the former nurses remem-bered Sister Paula advising them saying, “Now girls, I don’t want you to remember this as the day the King died, but as the day that the Queen began her reign.”

Sue Bradford remembers her class as the most musi-cal. With a little prompting, the ladies lift their voices to once again sing The Bells of St. Mary’s. As the notes drift off, they share their thoughts on three years together in res-idence. They remain a family who helped to lay the founda-tion of a hospital now rated as one of the best in the province and their pride in their work shines through.

Sister Joan O’Sullivan, then known to her students as Sis-ter Celestine, was their first teacher at the nursing school.

“We were her first class. She loved us and we loved her too,” said Betty Bauman.

“We learned together.” Sis-ter Joan attended the class’s annual gatherings until the year before her passing in 2013.

The graduating 1954 St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing class. From left: front, Marie Esbaugh, Joyce Siemon, Joan Mc-Garry, Edna Wittig, Wilma Waechter, Ruth Schmidt, Bernadette Fischer, Connie Glady, Paula Hergott, Betty Snider, middle, Mary Wunder, Peggy Rothaermel, Jean Bye, Shirley Brohman, Betty Konig, Eleanor Roche, Pat Mackay, Helen O’Reilly, Joan Snyder, Merlene Seip, back, Jean Voll, Yvonne (Bonnie) Berlet, Esther Roth, Susan Neu, Lorraine Maloney, Grace Thur, Pat King

The 1954 St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing class celebrated 60 years of friendship on June 2. The former classmates, now many in their 80s, still get together once a year. From left: front, (sitting) Ruth Kelly, Pat Weber, second row, Joan Ditner, Joan Milne, Jean Goodwin, Peggy Heuss, Betty Bauman, third row, Merlene Sparry, Sue Bradford, Grace Moyer, back, Eleanor Smith, Mary Cardillo.

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AT 519-578-8228

As the women reminisce about their adventures in nursing school, Pat’s daugh-ter, Ann, creates cards for those who were unable to join them. She is dressed in her mother’s training uniform. The ladies each recall how the tight, plastic waistband and cuffs felt on hot summer days before air conditioning.

From the beginning, the young girls trained on the floors remembering that they stood when a doctor entered the room and opened the door for him/her when he left, even when balancing a tray of meds in their hands.

“We were taught to respect all people – period,” said Pat.

“We were to treat the pa-tient in the bed as our mother or grandfather, or our little brother.”

When not working or in class, the girls spent many of their off hours together. The real giggles begin as they remember having to sneak

back into the residence af-ter playing basketball at St. Mary’s High School and the fun they had sun bathing on the roof of the residence with airplanes from the Waterloo Wellington Airport flying overhead.

They weren’t allowed to leave the residence wearing pants and under no circum-stances were they to shake hands with their boyfriends.

“Can you imagine?” they chime.

Ann sums up their friend-ship as the afternoon comes to an end.

“Never have I seen this type of friendship that can last all of these years. It’s a testa-ment to you, the program and the experiences you had when you were at St. Mary’s.”

* * *

Shelley Byers is the daugh-ter of Edna Byers (Wittig) one of the graduates of the class of 1954.

KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION) • JULY 3, 2014 • 5

BY CARRIE DEBRONE

“I had a really good feeling,” said newly-elected Lib-

eral Kitchener Centre MPP Daiene Vernile, smiling as she spoke to several hundred vol-unteers and supporters at her victory party June 12.

“We have kept Kitchener Centre a Liberal riding,” she

said to a response of cheers. Kitchener Centre, long used as a bell-weather indicator of provincial election outcomes, proved to be right on again as the Ontario Liberals swept the province taking 59 ridings and winning a majority gov-ernment.

The Progressive Conserva-tives captured 27 seats and

the New Democrats took 21 seats. The Greens and inde-pendents were not elected in any provincial ridings.

Locally, Vernile took 18,459 votes (43 per cent of the vote share), beating PC Wayne Wettlaufer who had 11,546 votes, NDP Margaret John-ston with 9,761 votes, Green Ronnie Smith with 2, 462 votes and LTN Patrick Ber-nier with 557 votes.

Vernile became the Kitch-ener Centre Liberal candidate after incumbent John Milloy, who had represented the rid-ing since 2003, announced in February 2014 that he would not seek re-election.

Vernile, former broadcast journalist and host of the television show Province-wide cancelled by CTV in April 2014 after a 29-year run, praised local Liberals for run-ning a clean campaign.

“I know without a doubt the reason why we won is be-cause of the wonderful, dedi-cated passionate team in this area,” Vernile told supporters, whom she added had been total strangers to her up until

about six weeks ago.“Politics can be a force for

good,” she said, adding that although a Liberal, “I repre-sent everyone in Kitchener Centre in my heart.”

* * *PC candidate Mike Harris

was re-elected in the Kitchen-er-Conestoga riding winning 17,390 votes (36 per cent) against Liberal Wayne Wright who had 15,869 votes, NDP James Villeneuve with 10,059

votes, Green David Weber with 3,319 votes and Liber-taian David Schumm with 1,041 votes.

In the riding of Kitchener-Waterloo, NDP Catherine Fife held on to her seat with 20, 034 votes (37 per cent), defeating Liberal Jamie Burton who had 16,191 votes, PC Tracey Weiler with 14,057 votes, Green Sta-cey Danckert with 2,804 votes and Libertarian James Schulz with 468 votes.

New Frederick Imagine Cinema’s boasts a little bit of Hollywood, surround sound

and digital picture experience

Vernile wins Kitchener Centre

PETER MARTIN DECLARESThree now in the race to replace Zehr as the mayor

HUMBLED BY SUPPORTJim Wideman will not run in October

Former downtown business owner Peter Martin has

announced that he is running for mayor of Kitchener.

In 1988, Martin opened his restaurant called 20 King. He retired from the industry ear-lier this year.

“I’m grateful that the com-munity of Kitchener has sup-ported me for so many years. I’m eager to serve as Mayor in order to play a leading role in facilitating the development and growth of the city that I’m proud to call my home,” Mar-tin said in a press release.

Ward 10 councillor Dan Glenn-Graham and Ward 2 councillor Berry Vrbanovic have also declared for the may-oral race in the October 27 election. Current mayor Carl Zehr will not be running again.

Some other new candidates

have entered the race for ward councillor positions on Kitch-ener City Council. Current candidates include:

Ward 1: Incumbent Scott Dav-ey is the only declared candi-date.

Ward 2: Newcomers Dan Gra-ham, Grayson Zeilstra and Chris Letizi have declared they are running to replace Vrbanovic in this ward.

Ward 3: Incumbent John Gaz-zola is running again in Ward 3, which he has represented since 2002.

Ward 4: Two people have de-clared they will run against incumbent Yvonne Fernandes this fall, Rolf Malthaner and Wayne Buchholtz. Buchholtz is currently a trustee on the Waterloo Catholic District

School Board.

Ward 5: Newcomer Lala Ma-lik has declared.

Ward 6: Incumbent Paul Singh has declared in Ward 6.

Ward 7: Incumbent Bil Ioan-nidis is running again in Ward 7. He is being challenged by Harald Drewitz.

Ward 8: Incumbent Zyg Ja-necki is running again in this ward.

Ward 9: Steve Strohack is taking on incumbent Frank Etherington in this ward.

Ward 10: This ward is a busy one with four candidates. Sar-ah Marsh is now running to replace Glenn-Graham. Oth-er candidates include Sheryl Ann Lewis, James Howe and Adam Kochanski.

After 25 years in public of-fice, Jim Wideman is re-

tiring from local politics.He has spent 19 years as a

municipal councillor and six years as a school board trustee.

“There is never a right time to retire from public office, but after consulting with my family and close friends, I have decided that this is the right time for me. However it is still a very difficult decision,

I will miss the people and re-lationships that I have devel-oped over these many years,” he said in a statement.

Wideman said he feels “a sense of accomplishment” for his leadership role in imple-menting the Environmentally Sensitive Landscape policy that permanently protects 37,250 acres of the region’s most sensitive land, his role in bringing about the agreement

to fund the medical school, and his leadership in imple-menting the light rail transit.

“It has been a real honour and privilege to have repre-sented the citizens of Kitch-ener on regional council and to work with my colleagues and regional staff for the past 14 years. I am humbled by the support I have received,” he said.

Liberal candidate Daiene Vernile thanked her husband and children for their support during her victory speech following her election as Member of Provincial Parliament for Kitchener Centre. From left: John Matlock , Clair Matlock, Daiene Vernile, Curtis Matlock, Andrew Matlock.

BY JENNIFER BIRNSTIHL

Local film-goers are enjoying an upper-scale movie ex-perience at the rebranded Frederick Imagine Cinemas

following a major facelift by the new owners. New seating, surround sound and digital picture quality are all part of the theatre improvements.

Imagine Cinemas, a small independent movie theatre chain based in Lakeshore, Ontario, took over the theatre (formerly the Frederick Twin Cinemas) on April 1, 2014. Imagine owns three other theatres in Timmins, Leamington and Tecumseh, Ontario.

Imagine Cinemas learned about the opportunity to pur-chase the Frederick Mall theatre in early February and began investigating the demographics of the area and the history of the theatre. It quickly learned that the theatre had a very loyal following despite its aging state.

The new owners saw an opportunity to improve customer experience while maintaining a discounted price.

Imagine Cinemas wasted no time freshening up the well worn but popular budget theatre tucked away on the lower level of Kitchener’s Frederick Mall. A full-scale makeover took place during an 11-day closure in April, which included extensive renovations and cleaning, new digital signs and a freshly painted and carpeted main lobby.

One of the major improvements made during the facelift was the installation of new Dolby surround sound and digital pro-jector systems. The outdated 35mm film technology prevented the previous owner from getting the latest movies. The new system means patrons can now enjoy new release films, louder, crisper sound and a clearer picture.

The theatre also boasts new rocker seating and extra-wide rows throughout. The seats are straight out of Hollywood, originating from the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. One of Imagine Cinema’s General Manager Gina Facca’s suppliers came across the seats following a re-cent renovation at the theatre made famous by its sidewalk of star’s handprints out front, and offered them to her.

In a recent interview, Facca shared the vision for the theatre under the new ownership as ‘providing a clean theatre with outstanding customer service while keeping our pricing af-fordable and lower than the other big chain theatres.“

She added that the theatre will not run 3-D movies since many people don’t want to see them. There are no plans to increase the size of the theatre.

Imagine Cinemas remains dedicated to low ticket prices and has only increased pricing by $1 to $7.50 for adults and $6 for children on weekends. It aims to remain the best price in town – about 30 per cent lower than other multiplex movie chains in the region.

To show off the new theatre and kick off summer, Imagine Cinemas is opening its doors for a Free Movie Morning Event on Saturday July 5 at 10am. Both theatres will be showing The Lego Movie with 300 tickets being offered in advance on Eventbrite and another 150 seats available at the door that morning -- first come first served. Admission is free and there will be special pricing on concessions.

For more details about the event visit Frederick Imagine Cinemas or Bargain Hunting Momma on Facebook.

BUSINESS feature

6 • JULY 3, 2014 • KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION)

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RANTS&ravesTHE KITCHENER CITIZEN OPINION PAGE

Invitation to be a guest columnist The Kitchener Citizen invites you to share your experiences of local community as a guest columnist. Do you have a rant? A viewpoint about a local event or opinion about an important issue? Or, do you have a personal or funny story? The Kitchener Citizen is looking for writers who are willing to share their views with their neighbours in a guest column. Columns should be 400-500 words long and submissions must include your name and contact information. To submit your column by fax, email or mail, please call 578-8228. For more information contact, Carrie Debrone, editor, 578-8228.

In international comparisons, Ontario is consistently rated one of the best edu-

cation systems in the world. In a compre-hensive study by McKinsey & Company of how the most improved school systems in the world keep getting better they ranked school systems as excellent, great, good, fair or poor. Only Finland scored excellent. Ontario received a ‘great’ ranking despite spending less per student than many systems rated ‘good’ such as the United States, Sweden or Iceland.

Selected Countries:$7000-8000 per pupil$8000-9000 per pupil$9000 -10,000 per pupil$10,000 plus per pupilExcellent: FinlandGreat: Canada, SwitzerlandGood: Italy, Iceland, Sweden, US

According to the CD Howe Institute 17 of the top 29 schools in Ontario are Catholic schools. The successes of the Ontario system are clearly in part due to the contribution of Catholic schools. Yet, despite the valuable contributions of Catholic schools some people have sug-gested having separate school systems is not the right model for Ontario.

These critics propose the amalgamation of school boards as a way to save money. Yet, listening to this suggestion would ac-tually be a foolish waste of money as well as a dramatic disruption to the lives of every student in the province. The major-ity of school funding in Ontario is handed out on a per pupil basis and most of this funding flows right into the classroom to pay teachers and provide supports directly to students. This model means amalgamating school boards will not save

money unless it is used as an excuse to also cut per-pupil funding and to increase class sizes while cutting back student sup-ports. Amalgamating school systems has no prospect for real savings but immense transition costs can be expected. Expect, consultants to be hired, buildings bought and sold, salary grid changes and addi-tional middle managers. The forced amal-gamation of boards would also necessi-tate an expensive province wide review of the boundaries of every school in the province. Changing school boundaries is always a difficult process for students, staff and parents. Imagine the fear, anxi-ety and chaos that province wide bound-ary changes would cause to ripple across Ontario.

Instead of discussing changing Ontar-io’s education system we should be cel-ebrating and building upon our system’s successes. Part of this success is no doubt a result of the competition that is built into the Ontario school system. Free mar-ket proponents believe competition leads to better outcomes by forcing companies to serve their customers better than their rivals. However, markets are not perfect, and a large contingent of Canadians think that some important services should be provided by government to ensure equi-table access. In Ontario we have the best of both ideologies. Our system forces publicly funded education systems to compete with one another for students. The system is provincially regulated, fea-tures high quality unionized teachers and respectful competition for students. The United States, for years, has experiment-ed with funding mechanisms for charter schools as a way to put competition into the public education system. Ontario’s publicly funded separate school system is a model that balances competition and

publicly funded education.Despite having four separate school sys-

tems competing for students in Ontario we have found ways to cooperate to save money. This mix of cooperation and com-petition is why we can achieve great edu-cation outcomes while spending less per student. Part of this cooperation is due to government pressure for cost efficien-cies and part of it is because even when public institutions compete for ‘custom-ers’ they still serve the public good first. For example, Catholic and public school boards across the province work together to share bus costs. They have consolidat-ed routes and jointly tender to ensure the best value for money. Instead of talking about amalgamating systems, we should continue to talk about other ways we can work together to save money. Perhaps some back-of-house functions can be in-tegrated or maybe additional large pur-chases can be consolidated. The possibili-ties are endless, but the conversations will not happen in earnest if we continue to waste time debating amalgamation.

Catholic schools prioritize intellectual, social, physical and spiritual growth to develop well rounded graduates who are ready and able to contribute to the On-tario economy. This is a unique approach but a successful one. Having a publicly funded Catholic school system creates options for parents and this has helped create success for Ontario’s education system. We have a successful education system why are we wasting time debating a disruptive overhaul when we should be focused on tweaking the areas that are not working as well as they should be.

Anthony Piscitelli is a Trustee with the Wa-terloo Catholic District School Board. These opinions are his own.

I worry. You should as well.I worry when institutions charged

with governing participation in our legal system practice what seems to be reli-gious discrimination.

As a Dentist, I was required to obtain

specific training, successfully complete certification exams, and undergo further training each year to keep up to speed with the latest advances. This was all reason-able, and in the best interests of the public.

No artificial barriers were set up to ex-clude people of a particular faith. As a devout Christian, it would have offended me to learn that Sikhs or Muslims were excluded from practicing dentistry on the basis of their faith. Education of-fered in a faith-based context in no way demeans the value of that education. If the education from such an institution was lacking, its graduates would disproportionate-ly fail the certification exams. As I said, this all seems reasonable.

Why, in a free, pluralistic, and democratic society would we ex-clude someone from a profession because they received their educa-tion from a faith-based institution?

Ask the Law Society of British Columbia and our own in Ontario, whose membership has decided to discriminate against law graduates who received their education from a private, faith-based institution. They are denying graduates the

right to practise law; not due to a failing in their education or training, nor their abil-ity as lawyers, but because of the school from which they received their law degree.

The University of Victoria’s Associate Vice President Faculty Relations and Ac-ademic Administration, also a law pro-fessor, noted that “As we call for more diversity, if we are going to preserve our society as democratic and peaceful, we need to learn to cope with the divergenc-es of beliefs.” Unfortunately, she and her common sense were in the minority.

To be clear, we are not talking about a Sikh or Muslim law school – the school in question is Trinity Western University, a private faith-based university in Langley B.C. There have been no questions raised as to the quality of their program – their graduates will be penalized simply for having attended a Christian institution.

I’m proud of our government’s work promoting religious freedom around the world, but maybe we need to channel a bit more effort on the home front. If law societies are able to exclude Christians from practicing law, there is no religious freedom in Canada.

Harold AlbrechtMP, Kitchener-Conestoga

Letter to the Editor

Guest Column

Welcome to the Kitchener Citizen’s

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Page 32 l Kitchener Citizen - West Edition l May 8, 2014

Publicly funded Catholic schools create success for public schools

We need to protect religious freedom in Canada

KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION) • JULY 3, 2014 • 7

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lies to move to the area – something nearby Smithson Public School needs to en-sure its future.

Some residents noted that under provincial planning guidelines, the city is promot-ing higher density develop-ments and, given a choice, would likely favour a higher density condo project over single-family homes.

Options for Homes re-quested that a resident group be formed to work with the developer. Several volun-teers signed up to be part of the residential group at the meeting.

“You might not get all that you want, but it’s all about

give and take,” Ciuciura said.The Options for Homes

representatives said they will meet with city officials to talk about possible development options. However, as of last week, no zone change ap-plications, building permits or development plans have been filed with the city.

The company has built sev-eral condominium develop-ments including the Village at Brighton Park, 139 Brigh-ton St. in Waterloo, which was completed in 2005. Fryette said units there originally sold for $69,000 and are cur-rently worth about $179,000.

Other developments by Op-tions for Homes includes the Mountford Condominiums at Hadati Road and Mountford Drive in Guelph, Strassburg

Garden Villas in Kitchener, Riverfront in Cambridge, The Village by Main Station at Main and Danforth in To-ronto and Danforth Village in Toronto.

Notre Dame school property...from cover

It’s Your BUSINESSCANADA’S BUSINESS

BY BRUCE WHITESTONE

The first Gilded Age in the United States occurred

in the late 19th century when that nation was beginning to ascend as the world’s fore-most power, supplanting Britain. Wealth was displayed flamboyantly, and extravagant lifestyles became relatively common. Now one could argue that the United States is experiencing a re-peat of that epoch, but with less substantive recourses to sustain it.

Today there are individuals accumulating huge fortunes and placing funds in the U.S as a safe haven. In the dark days of the previous decade there was a pervasive wish to have dollars. The Federal Reserve Board offered to ex-change other nation’s curren-cies with the U.S. counterpart.

Why did the U.S. Federal government agree to that? It was concerned that a problem overseas could eventually af-fect the U.S., but in addition, it wished to sustain the privilege of being the reserve currency of the world. That would en-able the U.S. to pursue poli-cies in its own interest.

One would have assumed that the financial crisis at that time would have eroded the strength of the dollar. Banks were over-extended and many industries were in a depressed state. Then, bol-stered by the actions of the U.S monetary polices and the infusion of billons of dollars into the economy, there was a surge of confidence, and mas-sive inflows of foreign capital followed.

Throughout the world people flocked to the United States. Many with ill-gotten gains such as the oligarchs in Russia and those involved with illicit activities in Latin America, They converted their wealth to U.S. dollars. Foreigners sought the stabil-ity of the nation. It was the world’s biggest economy and its sophistication was reflect-ed in the depth of its finan-cial markets. Lavish real es-tate was purchased, in part as money laundering of illegally-acquired wealth.

In Canada, mansions sprung up in Vancouver and Toronto, and high-end retailers flour-ished. As more sought and held U.S. dollars, a reinforc-ing circle followed. A second

Gilded Age appeared on the fringes of the economy.

Initially funds were placed in U.S. Treasuries, but ap-peared later in the stock mar-ket and in questionable ven-tures.

But, all but forgotten is that the U.S. government is dys-functional. It has not had a balanced federal budget, ex-cept for a few years, in nearly a century, engendering a na-tional debt of 17 trillion dol-lars.

Its foreign trade has been in a deficit since the end of the Second World War, and the government is incapable of curbing entitlements that are bankrupting the nation. The lifestyles of the wealthy are without any real substance; the strength of the U.S. cur-rency is based on misplaced enthusiasm.

In times of crisis the U.S. dol-lar will remain paramount, but its longer term outlook is in jeopardy. Fortunately, Canada is in a much better position.

* * *Bruce Whitestone is an

economist and syndicated columnist living in the

Breslau area.

MISPLACED ENTHUSIASMPublicly funded Catholic schools create success for public schools

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8 • JUNE 5, 2014 • KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION)

Kitchener Golf and Event Centre,Fun and valuefor every age.Junior Golf Week July 7 – 13, 2014 Support juniors in golf and come out and play! Juniors play for FREE Monday - Friday during junior week with the purchase of an adult green fee. Warm up with a free medium bucket of balls on our driving range, and each junior will leave with passes to come back and play our pitch and putt course another day! *Please note, juniors must be accompanied by an adult (one junior per paid adult), and play free Monday – Friday only.For more information visit: kitchenergolf.ca/juniorweek or contact us at 519-741-2949.

July Special For All AgesFor the month of July, get your green fee, cart and $5 food voucher for $50 when you play Monday – Thursday between 11 – 3 p.m..Book your tee time at kitchenergolf.ca today!

Kids CampsRegistration is filling up fast! Week long camps for kids 6-14 run from June 30 – Aug. 29, 2014.Full and half day programs available*New this year! Extended care options from 8:30-9 a.m. and 4:30-5:30 p.m..Visit us at kitchenergolf.ca/juniorcamp to learn more or call 519-741-2949.

We are MOBILE!Book your tee time from anywhere with our new mobile website! No matter where you are, you can plan your next round, register for a clinic, book lessons, find out about events, sign up for our e-newsletter and so much more.Come visit us at kitchenergolf.ca on your tablet or smart phone today!

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BY HELEN HALL

The Williamsburg Commu-nity Association (WCA)

is putting some spring into their fitness classes this sum-mer.

Sherry Kresky of Stratford will be teaching Bouncefit Thursday nights at 7pm out-side the community centre in the Max Becker Commons.

“Bouncefit is very new for

the fitness industry,” says Kresky. Participants wear boots with a spring on the bot-tom, making it feel like jump-ing on a trampoline while do-ing the workout.

“The boots absorb 80 per-cent of the impact on the lower extremity joints in the back, knees and ankles,” Kresky said.

Kresky provides the boots for those taking the class.

They can be used inside, or outside on grass, gravel, pave-ment and sand.

“It’s a good workout but it’s also lots of fun,” Kresky said.

WCA program manager Laura Shaver first saw Kresky doing a demonstration at the Wilmot Recreation Cen-tre and was intrigued. She approached Kresky about teaching in Kitchener.

Shaver thinks the WCA is the first group to offer a Bouncefit class in Kitchener.

“I was looking for some-thing different. People are al-ways looking to try something new,” Shaver said.

Shaver said she is going to take the class and tried on a pair of the Bouncefit boots, and didn’t have any difficulty keeping her balance.

The WCA is also going to offer an opportunity to try Bouncefit for free in August before the registration for its fall programs.

Williamsburg Community Association offeringa unique workout program this summer

The 2014 Kitchener Sports Association scholarship reicipients were presented with $2,000 each towards their first year tuition at the19th Annual KSA Scholarship Awards Dinner held June 17 at the Edelweiss. From left: front, Helen Coroy (Cameron Heights) gymnastics, soccer, hockey: Holly Gojmerac (St. David’s), swimming gymnastics, basketball; and Leah Nairn (Cameron Heights) softball, soccer, hockey, ball hockey; back, Rachal Bolger (KCI) soccer, field hockey: Addison Cober (Waterloo Oxford) football, hockey softball; Quinn Turner (Sir John A. MacDonald) basketball; and Ben Fanelli (guest speaker, Kitchener Rangers Captain).

Bouncefit instructor Sherry Kresky shows the springy boots called Kangoo Jumps that are worn for the workout.

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KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION) • JULY 3, 2014 • 9

The Optimist Club of Stanley Park’s ball program wrapped up

its season June 21 with its annual hot dog day celebration at Wilson Park in Kitchener.

The year-end wrap up party pro-vides the opportunity for individual players to receive their trophies, for winning teams to be recognized and for the community to thank the many people who work together to provide the popular program including orga-nizers, umpires, coaches, managers, assistants, helpers and team sponsors.

One of the most successful sports programs for youth in the city with 50 teams and 580 players this year, the year-end celebration drew hundreds of people and included a throwing and shooting game with the Rang-ers Street Tam, face painting, police vehicles, and music by Erick Traplin. Over 1,400 free hotdogs were served

to players and volunteers.All participants received a trophy,

photo package and a set of personal-ized trading cards and 12 draw win-ners received a Canoeing the Grand tubing or canoeing package.

Championship game results:Sportco took the Senior T-Ball

championship defeating PSG Mason-ry 10 – 9. Alfran Trophies is the Senior T-Ball Consolation champion team defeating Steve Scherer GM 10 – 9.

PSB Plumbing took the Junior 3-Pitch championship beating Ca-noeing the Grand 36 – 28 in the final game, while Helmutz Interlock beat Fiddleheads 30 – 27 to take the Jr. 3-Pitch Consolation.

Mr. KW Landscaper beat Mo Tar-gosz Financial 30 -22 to take the Se-nior 3-Pitch championship, while Van-cea Financial took the Consolation title defeating Wagner Livock 28 – 24.

The Stanley Park Optimists ball program is supported by many local businesses and volunteers and would not run without the help of

these generous sponsors. This year’s teams were sponsored by the fol-lowing local businesses:

Blast Ball League sponsors: ARK Accounting, Aunty B’s Place, Bro-drecht’s Flooring, Fabutan, First Choice Haircutters, Madorin Snyder, Mayburry Electric, Natural Sports, New Look Awards, PKG Photog-raphy, PM Windows, R & S Screening, TD Bank, Team Cleeves, Total Auto Service, Zehrs Market

Junior T-Ball League sponsors: ARK Accounting, Colonial Acres Coins, Dawn’s Summer Care, Durnin Motors, First Choice Haircutters, Food Basics, Kiddies Fun Trak, Ottawa Heritage Dental, PM Windows, Speedy Auto, Strassburger, The Roadrunners, Total Auto Service, Twin City Tile, Zehrs Market

Senior T-Ball League sponsors: Alfran Trophies, Diekat Cranes, Mardian Natural Medicine, Milton’s Restaurant, Mo Targosz Financial, PSG Masonry, Sportco, Steve Scherer GM

Junior 3-Pitch League sponsors: Canoeing the Grand, Fiddleheads, Helmutz Interlock, PSG Plumbing

Senior 3-Pitch League sponsors: Car Toons Mobile DJ Service, Kitch-ener Citizen, Mo Targosz Financial, Mr. KW Landscaper, Tentworks, Vancea Financial, Wagner Livock

Banner 2014 Optimist Club ball season ends with celebration at Wilson Park

2014 ball program sponsors

Sportco took the 2014 Senior T-Ball championship. From left: front, Alex Buschert-Roy, MacEwan Cole, Kyler Birnstihl, Cole Raper, Ben Campbell, Dylan Kaufman, middle, Liam Brohman, Madison Onischke, Ashleigh Birnstihl, Emily Kraehling, Marcus Leask, back, Charlie Burdess, Coaches Kevin Birnstihl, Scot Campbell, Ryan Brohman. Absent: Colin Reid, Seth Kok.

PSG Plumbing and Heating won the 2014 Junior 3-Pitch championship. From left: front, Kalan Popp, Chloe Sauer, Quinn Jensen, Rylie Heimbecker, Cole Tiegs, middle, Natalie Burgess Alex, Sulkowski, Maxwell Tiegs, Brooke Bennett, Dongju Lee, Danielle Grominsky, back, Coaches Brenda Sauer, Kar-ol Orlowski, Andrea Sulkowski.

KW Mr Landscaper took the 2014 Senior 3-Pitch championship. From left: front, Aaron Meulenbelt, Gabriel Ouano, Dawson Telling, Connor McCormick, middle, Cece Hunt, Jackson Smallwood, Ethan Meulenbent, Nathaniel Ouano, Ashlie Slaunwhite, Spencer Daniel, Jason Reed, Taja Hunt, back, Co-arches Connor Dowling and Alex Seiling. Absent Michael Zunic.

Members of the Tentworks team enjoyed their free hotdogs provided to all 500 team members and coaches at the Stanley Park Optimist Club’s T-Ball season wrap up June 21 at Wilson Park in Kitch-ener. From left: Halley Rowden, Amanda Ducey, Michael Lafleur, Kay-Lee Ducey.

Local SPORTS

10 • JUNE 5, 2014 • KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION)

Kitchener’s Heritage Greens Lawn Bowling

Club hosted the Provinical Fours championships June 14 and 15.

The Burlington (District 5) team took the men’s division gold medal. Team members are Mark Sanford, Malcolm Whyte, Remi Canuel and Trevor Whyte.

Brad Fleming, Larry McLellan, Dave Ducklow and Chris Johnson from St. Mary’s and Mitchell (Dis-trict 4) took the men’s silver medal.

Marg Lepere, Sue Roth, Wendy Devonshire and Katherine Smith, members of the team from Niagara-on-the-Lake and Woodstock

(District 6) took the women’s division gold.

The District 12 team of Kelly McKerihen, Laura Seed, Lisa McKerihen and Shirley Ko from Willowdale and Agincourt won the wom-en’s silver medal.

The four winning teams will compete at the nationals in Winnipeg in August.

On June 20th to 22nd Kitch-ener played host to the

#KMGSA14 rep girls fast pitch tournament. Sixteen teams from across Ontario participated in the event hosted by the Kitch-ener Klassics Novice team.

Teams were split into four pools for round robin play. Each of the pools was given a catchy hash tag such as #HUSTLE #HEART #SPIRIT and #DESIRE. Teams played Friday evening and the first part of Saturday.

Once the round robin portion was completed teams then were divided into new bracket groups for a playoff format to determine

the champions of the “A” and “B” level.

Sunday’s “A” semi finals saw Six Nations Orange vs Napanee Express and Oakville Angels vs London Lightning Red. The “B” semi final matches were Halton Hawks vs Whitby Eagles and Mississauga Tigers vs Port Perry Angels.

When the final out was made Napanee Express captured the “A” gold defeating London Lightning Red 8-2. While Mis-sissauga Tigers captured “B” gold with a 9-4 win over Whitby Eagles.

The host Kitchener team

placed 4th in the #HUSTLE pool, and crossed over to beat the #SPIRIT pool’s Vaughan Vikings, before losing to the eventual champion Mississauga Tigers.

In addition to the success on the diamond the 16 teams also participated in a food drive where 33 boxes of food were col-lected along with seven cases of cereal in support of the Waterloo Region Foodbank.

The association plans to make this an annual event each June, bringing competitive female fast pitch to our community.

Kitchener’s Heritage Greens hosts Provincial Fours lawn bowling championship

A piper leads a parade of teams from across Ontario during the opening ceremonies of the Provincial Fours lawn bowling championship held June 14 and 15 at Heritage Greens Lawn Bowling Club in Kitchener.

Jim Hallman presents Kitchener Hallman Twins’ Ryan Wolfe with the win-ning trophy for the Peter Hallman Memorial Fastball Tournament held the weekend of June 21 in Kitchener. The Twins beat the Scarborough Force 3 - 2 on a run-scoring double by Jessie Taws in the bottom of the eighth inning to win the tournament.

Local SPORTS

August 18-22, 9am – 4pm (Early drop off at 8:30am and late pick up at 4:30pm offered)

For youth ages 10-16, $180 per child

Heritage Greens Lawn Bowling Club

YOUTH SUMMER CAMP

600 Heritage Drive in KitchenerRegister with Dawn McTaggart at 519-722-0889

• An introduction to the fun sport of lawn bowling

• Also includes baseball, swimming, soccer, skating and crafts

• Lunch included each day

• Parent’s night Wed. Aug. 20th• Youth interested in joining the

club’s Junior League after camp may bowl free of charge until the end of the season!

• Awards given out on the last day of camp

505 Franklin St. N. Kitchener | 519-741-2504 | inquire@spcakitchener.ca | www.spcakitchener.ca

Register online for Fall 2014SPCA Programs using WebReg!

WebReg requires your family PIN!Visit us at online.spcakitchener.cato register for your PIN!Registration still available in personat the Community Centre

Registration begins August 19th at 8:30 am

16 teams participate in Kitchener girls’ fast pitch tournament

Times have changed from the 1960s and 1970s, as we all know, but when it comes to

managing the water systems in our city and the rain and snow that falls, getting back to nature is what it’s all about.

In 2012, the City of Kitchener completed work on rehabilitating Victoria Park Lake. This summer, the city’s stormwater utility is taking steps to protect its investment in the lake by rehabilitating the channel of concrete in Filsinger Park between Westmount Road and Fischer-Hallman road, and naturalizing it. For safety reasons trails and park access will be closed, with signage placed near the project site to help trail users find their way around the project area.

“In the ‘60s and ‘70s, the idea was to get stormwater out as fast as possible, and this often involved the construction of concrete channels that moved the water quickly while minimizing erosion,” said Melissa Ryan, design and construction project manager. “Here, the sediment just flows right through to Victoria Park Lake, so naturalizing this channel will reduce the deposits of sediment in the lake. When it comes to stormwater, we want to slow it down, soak it up, keep it clean.”The concrete will be removed, and rocks and tree logs will be placed along the watercourse as a way to slow the flow and lower the elevations throughout the creek. Lots of calculations went into this work, Ryan said. “We’ll be using tree debris from the ice

storm in this project, burying it into the banks to help add protection and we will also be planting vegetation,” said Ryan, adding steps will be taken to protect infrastructure such as hydro poles and sewers, as well as private property backing onto the park. “The vegetation takes a while to grow, so the debris will help stabilize the banks until the vegetation has time to grow and mature. It’s also a bit of a good news story that can come out of the ice storm that caused so much damage to the trees across the city.”With more greenery and a winding and natural creek stream, fish will have an improved habitat and the water quality moving towards the park lake will be enhanced as a result, Ryan said. The work being done at Filsinger Park

is some of the first like it in the region. Once the project is complete, residents can expect an improved creek, improvements to wildlife habitat and a more visually appealing park.“The park that the community knows and loves will be improved as a result of this project,” said Ryan, adding the safety of residents and neighbouring communities is of utmost importance. “There will still be trails, a creek and open space areas for residents to enjoy once the work is done. Where there is a bridge crossing now, there will still be a bridge crossing when we’re done.”More information on the Filsinger Park naturalization project is found at www.kitchener.ca/filsinger n

Increasing sponsorship revenues

How do you feel about a corporate logo on a city sports field? Or, a city building named after a local

company? Or, city swimming programs, festivals and events sponsored by a private-sector business?

In a survey the city has launched, Kitchener residents and business are being asked to weigh in on the city’s

Municipal Partnership Program (MPP), and the extensive list of municipal assets that could be leveraged for new revenue-generating sponsorships.The MPP is designed to generate new, non-tax revenue for the municipality through partnerships with private sector companies, like naming rights of city facilities, sponsoring city events, program and services, and advertising on city websites and publications. These new non-tax revenues would be used to improve city programs, services and facilities to benefit the entire community.

Continued on page 3

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If you’ve got a question, need to request a service or report a problem to the City of Kitchener, it just

got even easier to get the answers and information you need – anytime, anywhere.

The next evolution of the City of Kitchener’s Customer Service Strategy has seen two new developments launched recently which focus on making it as easy as possible to interact with the city, including: the launch of the new Ping Street mobile app and the expansion to 24/7 service from the city’s contact centre.“We know that people want multiple ways to access local government staff and services, whether by phone, walk-in, email, online, or self-serve and these new developments are just some of the ways that we’re continuously improving to meet their needs, “ said Jana Miller, executive director of the city’s Chief Administrator’s Office.New mobile appLaunched July 3, the city’s newest customer service tool, PingStreet, is a

mobile app that allows users to do things such as report potholes or graffiti by taking a photo, see up-to-the minute road closures in their area, browse a calendar of events and look at their garbage and recycling schedule. The location-based app works on all smart phone devices and can be downloaded for free. “Things like social media and technology play an important role in customer service today. Most often, the first place people go for an answer is online,” added Miller. “Ping Street gives them one-touch access to a wide range of city information, services and connection points.”Contact us 24/7 at 2345Recently, the city’s centralized contact center implemented full 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week service. Manager of customer service, Jeannie Murphy, notes that the easy-to-remember phone number 519-741-2345 also helps to make it simple to reach the city. For more information or other ways to connect with Kitchener, visit www.kitchener.ca/en/contactus.asp n

KitchenerYour

The city’s publication for its residents July-August 2014

From this - to this!

Your Kitchener is published every other month to keep citizens informed on local issues and events. Questions or comments can be directed to 519-741-2345 ext. 7383 or communications@kitchener.ca. The City of Kitchener is committed to providing accessible formats. If another format would work better for you, please contact the number above.

On hot days and in heat waves, everyone is either in the water, near the water or wishing they were.

While water bodies such as pools, ponds, rivers and lakes are a source of enjoyment and excitement on hot days, they can also be dangerous for young children, new Canadians, and non-swimmers.

Did you know that 65 per cent of children under the age of five were alone near water when they drowned? Since drowning can occur very quickly, in as little as 10 seconds, and is often silent, it is essential that safety is practiced in and around the water. The City of Kitchener has revamped its swimming lessons program and will be launching it in September. Taking swimming lessons teaches crucial swim skills to children, and educates both children and parents on the importance of being safe around water wherever they go. “For the youngest children, it is crucial that a supervising adult remains within an arm’s reach of the child at all times,”

said Dave Millar, supervisor of aquatics for the City of Kitchener. “As children progress through the levels, they will be taught how important it is to swim with a buddy and how to keep themselves safe around water. In more advanced swimming levels, children will begin to learn how to rescue themselves, or others, in the water.” The new aquatics program will feature an increased focus on skills - such as building endurance in the water and understanding the importance of safe behaviour in water. The city’s four indoor pools and four outdoor pools are staffed by lifeguards. Many of these lifeguards first learned to swim through the City of Kitchener’s learn to swim program years ago. Our new program has been designed to further ease the transition into lifeguarding courses. Information on lifeguarding courses is available at any City of Kitchener pool. Here are some tips to keep you safe in, on and around the water:

• Restrict and control access to the water. Enclose backyard pools on all four sides with a fence and a self-latching, self-closing gate; drain bathtubs when not in use; empty unattended wading pools and buckets.

• Wear a lifejacket when boating. Toddlers should wear a lifejacket anytime they are near water.

• Stay within arms’ reach of young children when they are near water – in the backyard, the beach and in the bathroom.

• Go to lifeguard-supervised beaches and pools.

• Learn to swim. Enroll children in swimming lessons and in a swimming survival program such as the Lifesaving Society’s Swim to Survive.

To register for swimming lessons, or to find out more about the city’s aquatics and lifeguarding programs, please see www.kitchener.ca/pools. n

Permission to burn

You’re staring at the pile of twigs and debris left from the ice storms. They’re all piled at

the back of your property, but you’d really rather just get rid of them. Quickly. Why not just burn them?

Don’t do it. Open-air burning, where leaves, brush, or other combustible waste material are burned on private property, is not permitted in Kitchener without a permit, which is issued by the Kitchener Fire Department.Backyard recreational fire pits are permitted in Kitchener, provided they are five metres from a property line, a building or combustible materials. Fires in fire pits must be contained by a distinctive, raised, non-combustible barrier that completely surrounds the fire pit to separate it from the surrounding area.Fires are allowed between 6 -11 p.m.Neither recreational fires nor open-air burning are permitted while a fire ban or smog alert is in effect. To obtain a permit, go to www.kitchener.ca and search “open-air burning permit.” n

Fluxible thinking Kitchener will become a user

experience party disguised as a conference, as Fluxible hits town

Sept. 13-14 at the Communitech Hub and Tannery event centre.

For two days, “user experience” means workshops with names like “Data, Go Home, You’re Drunk,” “Deconstructing Delight,” “Narcissistic Products Suck” and “Rapid Ideation.” Sponsored in part by the City of Kitchener, Fluxible intersects technology, art, design and marketing, bringing it together into 10 talks and half-day workshops.

Investing in arts

Local arts and cultural organizations will have an opportunity to develop their sponsorship skills and apply for matching funds, thanks to a program offered by Business for the Arts, Canada’s only national charitable organization of business members who support the arts. Business for the Arts announced recently that Kitchener-Waterloo will receive matching incentive grants -- up to $75,000 -- and sponsorship training for 2014-2015 through artsVest™. A networking event in June brought together local arts and culture organizations, business and community leaders and with an in-depth sponsorship training workshop.“The program is designed to assist

small to medium-sized arts and culture organizations in developing new and mutually beneficial partnerships with local businesses,” said Emily Robson, arts and culture coordinator for the City of Kitchener. “It builds on the role of local businesses in investing in an authentic and vibrant arts scene.”The funding stems from Canadian Heritage, the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.“We are delighted to bring the artsVest program to these new Ontario communities for 2014-2015,” said Nichole Anderson, president and CEO of Business for the Arts. “Continuing to impact every community it enters, artsVest helps facilitate new partnerships between local businesses and arts groups, by strengthening the local economy and cultural resources.”Since the introduction of the program in Ontario in 2002 to 2013, 1,571 businesses have partnered with 465 cultural organizations through artsVest – 968 of these businesses were first-time sponsors of the arts. A total of $2.92 million in matching funds generating over $6 million in private-sector sponsorship and resulted in an influx of more than $9 million to the cultural economy. n

Swim safe, play safeIt’s grilling season. There’s always something fun happening at the Kitchener Market. Free events take place on Saturdays. For details, visit www.kitchenermarket.ca/eventsCorn Festival: Saturday, July 19, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.Discover your love for cooking at the market! Classes take place 6:30-8:30 p.m. BBQ and grilling techniques: Wednesday, July 16Wine & Art: Thursday, July 17Vegetarian options: Wednesday, July 23Japanese cuisine: Wednesday, Aug. 6Wine & Art: Thursday, Aug. 14Spanish cuisine: Wednesday, Aug. 20A taste of Italy: Wednesday, Sept. 10To register, visit www.kitchenermarket.ca/cookingclasses or email info@kitchenermarket.ca n

New waterproof bike map now available. Pop in to city hall to pick up your complimentary copy of the 2014 BikeKitchener bike map. The map includes information on bike safety, the current and proposed bike network, and locations of secure bike parking and fix-it facilities. www.bikekitchener.ca n

Cruising on King Join us on Friday, July 11 for the 24th annual Cruising on King Street, presented by Canadian Tire. Each year, hundreds of classic cars roll into Victoria Park for an annual show-and-shine. Following that, the classic cars form one of the largest classic car parades in Canada for thousands of enthusiasts lining King Street in downtown Kitchener. Live music, entertainment and sponsored booths round out an evening down memory lane. www.kitchenerevents.ca. n

Kitchener in Bloom stormwater award. Is there a home or business that you know of that you think makes Kitchener a more beautiful place to live? Kitchener in Bloom introduces a non-residential award for stormwater management. Nominate a business for efforts to beautify AND manage stormwater runoff with landscapes that feature:• Rain gardens and bioswales • Rainwater harvesting • Permeable pavingNominations are due July 9. To nominate, email kitchenerinbloom@kitchener.ca. For more information, go to www.kitchener.ca/bloom n

Food truck heavenThe Family Centre at 65 Hanson Ave.

partners with United Food Trucks, a collective of local food truck

operators, to hold a food truck rally on the last Tuesday in the month from April to Sept. 30. A share of the sales go to support the Morning Glory Café @ The Family Centre youth training program. “When we hold our food truck rallies, we are active on social media, and we also let the surrounding businesses know about it. As such, we have people coming from far and wide to get a great meal and support a good cause,” said Cameron Dearlove, program coordinator at The Family Centre. “The staff working here work hard for children and youth, and do so without seeking recognition. These events are

nice opportunities for staff to take a lunch break, connect with friends, get a great lunch, and receive some much deserved recognition for their hard work.”The city is also holding two food truck festivals this summer – the first on Saturday, July 5, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Restaurants and food trucks take over King Street for the King StrEATery Food Festival. More than 15 food trucks are participating, including West of Seoul, Fo’Cheesy, the Schmuck Truck and Smoothe Operator are part of the Days of KWAwesome street festival. The second festival is Sunday, July 27 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Outlaw Food Truck Rally will close out the

Rock and Rumble weekend, with more than 18 food trucks from around Waterloo Region, Hamilton and the GTA descending on downtown for this second annual food truck event. Under the City of Kitchener’s food truck license, food trucks can operate in identified parks and business areas across the city, and this year, in the Civic District as a pilot project. The pilot in the Civic District would permit one to three food trucks to operate on a daily basis near Centre in the Square. Food trucks would also be permitted in, subject to restrictions:• McLennan Park • Victoria Park• Huron Natural Area • Budd Park • Southwest Optimist Park • Huron Business Park on any private

property provided permission is obtained from the property owner.

Every Monday, Civic Square plays host to a food truck and live music from 12 p.m. - 2 p.m. Food trucks will also make special appearances at numerous festivals and events like Kidspark and the TD Kitchener Blues Festival. The new bylaw also allows both restaurants and local schools to hold one-off promotional events in partnership with a food truck. For more information on obtaining a license for a food truck or food truck event, contact licensing in the clerk’s office at city hall. n

Building blocks of planningOne could be forgiven for glazing

over when the words “Official Plan” and “zoning bylaw” come

up. They’re complex and difficult entities to understand, unless you’re a planner, developer or member of council.

But both the Official Plan and the in-progress comprehensive review of zoning bylaws (CRoZBy) project impact the lives of residents because they determine what your property can be used for (e.g. residential, commercial, parks) and what and where on your property you can build.

Zoning bylaws are influenced by Official Plans, transportation demand management, and the current work on the light rapid transit system. After consultation with the public, developers, planning consultants, and other stakeholders over the next three years, the outcome of the CRoZBy project will be a new zoning bylaw for the entire city. “Every property in the city belongs to a zone, which tells you what you can and cannot build,” said Natalie Goss, senior planner for the City of Kitchener. “We’re

mandated by the Planning Act to review our zoning bylaws once there is a new Official Plan. Our zoning bylaw is 20-30 years old, and now needs to reflect current regulations.”Everyone has the opportunity to provide feedback throughout the review process. The first round of feedback, to critique the existing zoning bylaw, will run until the end of August. For more information and to provide feedback please visit www.kitchener.ca/crozby. n

‘S-up this summer?

It’s summer and the kids are out of school. What to do with them? That’s where the city’s youth drop-in

programs come in. The programs run until Aug. 15, and this year the city is adding one more location at the Bridgeport Community Centre.

“The youth drop-ins are a safe and supervised place to hang out,” said Dannon Vasey, youth coordinator for the City of Kitchener. “Young people make new friends and try new activities. They begin to feel a sense of connection to the community where they live, and learn from positive role models.”

“I really love volunteering and spending time with young people at Chandler Youth Crew,” said Mohamed, 16, a past participant of the youth drop-in program Chandler Mowat Community Centre. “It brings joy to my heart and I love seeing these young people grow.”Garrick, 18, is spending his summer working as a leader with the youth drop-in at Chandler Mowat. He said a big draw of the drop-in that it’s multicultural, and everyone feels included as they connect with each other.“I like this program as it helps kids stay out of trouble,” he said. “After a few times of coming to the program, you get to know people and open up to one another like friends.”Skateboarders have lots of options, too, including permanent skateparks

at The Aud and McLennan Park. The mobile skatepark, the Doon Skatium, travels to different locations during the summer months to provide supervised opportunities for youth from across Kitchener to practice their tricks and learn new skills. For a schedule of dates and locations, go to www.kitchener.ca and search “skatium.”The Aud’s skatepark features include a concrete pad, a bowl, a double camel’s hump, a quarter pipe with a rail, a ramp with a grinding rail, a pyramid and a horizontal grinding rail. At McLennan Park, the skatepark features a street course and a concrete bowl. Both parks are unsupervised, and can be used year round, depending on weather conditions, by all ages from 9 a.m. to dusk. n

Ribfest. Lip-smacking barbequed ribs and chicken, great craft-brewed beer and live entertainment come to Victoria Park July 18-20 as the Downtown Kitchener Rib Fest and Beer Show. Bring your family or meet your friends and co-workers to savour the flavours. www.kitchenerribandbeerfest.com n

Rock and Rumble. If you like the rumble of motorcycles, or legendary rock hits, you’ll want to join us on Friday and Saturday, July 25-26. This year’s event has been expanded to a two-day festival featuring hundreds of motorcycles from across Ontario as they line King Street in front of city hall and throughout the downtown. Live bands on the main stage in Civic Square will put the rock in Rock and Rumble. www.kitchenerevents.ca n

Kidspark It’s fun. It’s free. An annual tradition in Victoria Park, Kidspark returns to offer an exciting day full of activities, inflatable games, entertainment, live children’s performers, art, crafts and more! This year, join us on Sunday, Aug. 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a day packed full of fun for the whole family. www.kitchenerevents.ca n

Kitchener Panthers. Catch a ball game in your backyard! The Kitchener Panthers, established in 1919, play out of Jack Couch Park at The Aud. Visit www.theaud.ca for their home game schedule. n

August 7 to 11 Downtown will be smoking! Did you know the TD Kitchener Blues Festival is likely North America’s largest free blues festival, attracting over 160,000 blues fans from around the world to Kitchener last year? This year fans will be treated to such legends as Buddy Guy and Percy Sledge to Beau Soleil and many, many more. All ages welcome. www.kitchenerbluesfestival.com n

sponsorship revenues continued from page 1

The development of a comprehensive Partnership Program is in the early stages. Michael May, Kitchener’s Deputy CAO of Community Services, said the potential to reinvest proceeds from the MPP is the foundation of the program.May said the survey feedback is an important step in helping to shape the program, adding it will take time to build the program to effectively identify, cost

and sell any partnership opportunities.“Fundamentally, this is a new way of doing business for the city,” May said. “It is important to note that whatever amount of revenue the city can generate through this program will be subject to market conditions and the uptake from the private sector. We know that the growth of this program, and the revenues generated from it, will take many years to achieve. This is not a cure-all for some of the city’s financial challenges, but it does have the

potential to provide us with one more source of revenue to reinvest into our community.”The survey is posted on the city’s website and runs to July 31. Hard copies are available by contacting the city at 519 741 2602 or communications@kitchener.ca. The results of the survey will be used to help create the Municipal Sponsorship Strategy and the inventory of municipal assets that will form the basis of the MPP. n

They say it’s us,but it’s not!How will you know Kitchener Utilities is at your door?

If you’re not sure, call us at 519-741-2626 or visit www.kitchenerutilities.ca for more information.

• We will let you know in advance

• We will be wearing uniforms

• We will let you know in advance

• We will be wearing uniforms

• We will let you know in advance

• We will be wearing uniforms

• We will be driving a clearly marked vehicle

• We will have photo i.d.

• We will be driving a clearly marked vehicle

• We will have photo i.d.• We will have photo i.d.

• We will be driving a clearly marked vehicle

• We will have photo i.d.

Kitchener Utilities, your community-owned, local utility you can trust!

Homeowners and business owners are saving money by applying

for stormwater credits.Learn how you can do the same by visiting

www.reepgreen.ca/rain, or by calling 519-744-9799 ext. 4

Some free RAIN Business Visits still available. Contact us for details.

We soak up rain and save.DO YOU?

reepGreen Solutions

If you

…who will?

www.kitchener.ca/election #kitchenervote

Brought to you by irresponsible people over 18.

Vote and be heard

October 272014 Municipal Election

41961511

V te and be heard

V te and be heard www.kitchener.ca/election #kitchenervote

V teand be heard

OCTOBER 27, 2014

REMEMBER!Choose the Marketplace for your event and we’ll takethe stress out of planning. From a basic room rentalto fully customized packages, the Kitchener Marketis your partner in creating an event they’ll cherish.

The Marketplace is a 2,000 sq. ft. room located in the heart of the market with a full-sized commercial

kitchen - perfect for hosting a variety of events.

For more information and to view our photo gallery, visit www.kitchenermarket.ca/rentals or call 519-741-2287.

Give them a PARTY they’ll

KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION) • JULY 3, 2014 • 15

Project honours the past, raises funds for the future

BY ROSALIND HORNE

A local organization that serves more than 5,200

seniors and adults with dis-abilities is finally realizing a 30-year dream to have its own dream kitchen.

Two years ago Community Support Connections (CSC)– Meals on Wheels and More moved to a new central loca-tion in Breslau, which also provides generous parking for volunteers.

In March, it announced a $600,000 capital campaign goal, and started renovations to a space that will become the Tender Loving Care Kitchen.

With $350,000 raised so far, CSC partnered with the Lev-ene family, to raise funds for the new kitchen while hon-ouring Leejay Levene, who passed away during a routine dental surgery in 2007.

The 2015 Leejay Levene Calendar Project, which fea-tures artwork from through-

out the aspiring architect’s young life, has the potential to raise $30.000 to equip the new kitchen.

Operating its own kitchen will enable CSC to accept charitable food donations and invite volunteers into the kitchen to help prepare home-made meals from scratch while combating the rising cost of food.

Calendars can be purchased at the CSC office at 61 Wool-wich St N, Breslau, or ordered online at www.community-supportconnections.org. Bulk purchases are available for businesses interested in sell-ing them in stores and offices, or who would like to purchase them as employee or client appreciation gifts.

Last year CSC provided more than 77,000 Meals on Wheels in the Region of Wa-terloo. It also offers free, gentle exercise classes, trans-portation to medical appoint-ments and the grocery store and other volunteer driven supports.

For more information please contact Rosalind Horne, Re-source Development Lead at 519-772-8787 x 225 or rosa-lindh@cscmow.org.

Community Support Connections has partnered with the Levene family to sell calendars to raise money to build a dream kitchen for its Meals on Wheels pro-gram. At the calendar project kick off are, from left: staff member Karla Lambe, musician Tim Louis, Leejay Levene’s mom Shirley Levene and CSC staff member Rosalind Horne.

Neighbourhood Get-together 101 Easy and Rewarding

For tips and ideas about exploring your neighbourhood large or small, and creating a

$21,000 capital improvement grant draw, contact Kitchener’s Festival of Neighbourhoods.

The basics of organizing any fun and safe gatherings are pretty much the same. Whichever activity you choose for your neighbourhood gathering, give yourself enough time to plan it and keep it manageable. No need to shoot for the moon. After all, it’s really about meeting one another, regardless of the activity.

By bringing your neighbours together just once, you help build a healthier, safer, and more fun neighbourhood for everyone year round!

Kitchener’s Festival of Neighbourhoods is a supportive program that encourages you to think of yourself as the

centre of your own small neighbourhood, and to organize an inclusive activity that brings your neighbours together.

Slice up the work pie into bite-sized tasks: to set a date

to invite everyone, to contact helpful resources and get permissions necessary, to gather supplies and/or food. In addition to the Festival contacts, www.happenate.com offers an on-line planning tool that can be used by several people at once. You might know a neighbour who would be excited about helping out. Approach

volunteers early. They help create excitement and spread the word. Don’t forget the teenagers. They’re enthusiastic helpers and they can use the experience for their school volunteer logs. How many neighbours does it take to ...- Make and deliver invitations and posters?- Get supplies, such as food, games, music, etc.?- Set up on the day of the get-together?- Clean up and return borrowed items?- Run a barbecue, organize games, or be the D.J.?

Planning ahead smooths the way, turns tasks into acomplishments, so everyone has fun! Even You.

Register your inclusive neighbourhood gathering (held between October 1st ,2013 and September 30th, 2014) with the Festival of Neighbourhoods before October 5th, 2014. Join us at the Festival Finale at Kitchener City Hall on Sunday, November 2nd, when the draw for the $21,000 neighbourhood improvement grant will be held and the winner announced.

Barbecue, potluck and games at Bianca Court, 2013

p (519) 579 3800 - f (519) 578 9185entries@festivalofneighbourhoods.ca

www.kitchener.ca/fon

Bloomin’lovely!

Are there properties in your neighbourhood that have gorgeous gardens or use environmentally friendly gardening practices?

Nominate them for a Kitchener in Bloom award. All you have to do is provide the address. Deadline for nominations is July 9.

www.kitchener.ca/bloom

16 • JULY 3, 2014 • KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION)

Community SPOTLIGHT

BY CARRIE DEBRONE

The Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, 11

Lorraine Ave. (at the corner of Lorraine Ave. and River Road) in Kitchener will celebrate its 50th anniversary this month.

Church members invite everyone to celebrate with them on Satur-day, July 26 from 1 to 6pm at a free anniversary event that will include games and children’s activi-ties, historical rooms, photo displays, music by the primary children’s choir, refreshments and remarks from local dig-nitaries and volunteers who helped build the church.

In the summer of 1920, two Mormon missionaries came to Kitchener and began holding Sunday school in the home of the late Amos Willis. A branch of the church was organized in 1923 and by 1939 it had 56 members. In 1956, the membership reached 100 and by 1964, its membership had blossomed to 227 families from Kitchener and Guelph.

Under Bishop R. J. Holland, the original chapel, construct-ed in 1964, gave local mem-bers their first church build-ing allowing them to move worship services from rented space in Smithson School on nearby Sherwood Ave in Kitchener.

The original building containing the chapel and a wing of Sunday school classrooms and offices was expanded in 1977 with a $300,000 addition that provided a new wing with a cultural hall, stage, kitchen, library and five classrooms.

To raise funds for the addition, about 30 members of the congre-gation worked from September to December 1975 as part-time secu-rity guards patrolling construction sites in the area for $2,70 an hour. They earned about $8,000 that they donated to the building fund.

Church volunteers also provided volunteer labour for the addition and gave private donations to de-fray the cost of the project. Lo-cal donations amounted to about $90,0000 and the rest of the addi-tion cost was paid from the inter-national church’s general funds.

“I get a lot of joy serving people. It brings joy to my heart, said Lo-cal Ward Bishop Andy Pockett, who leads the current 160-mem-ber congregation.

The church also has an active missionary program allowing young people to travel to different countries around the world to do volunteer work.

Currently, the local ward is host-ing missionaries Sister Christenson from Utah, and Sister Fragapane

from Germany.Both young women, who have

completed about half of their uni-versity education, decided to take a break from formal education and serve for one and a half years as missionaries.

While here, they serve as visitors to church families, work in soup or community kitchens, and have helped with yard work and paint-ing.

“’We are serving and living in the way that God wants us to, Frangapane said. Since coming to Canada last August she has served in Toronto, St. Thomas, Brampton and Kitchener and is now fluent in English.

“Its a big blessing for us. We meet so may people and learn so much,” said Christenson.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, the blessings of Christ are for everyone. Seeing how people can and have changed motivates me,” she said.

Pockett explained that one of the church’s main outreach projects is its Family History Centre. Located inside the church, it is open to any-one who wants to use it.

Family relationships are ex-tremely important part of the Mor-mon faith, as members believe that families are sacred units.

Established in 1988, the local church’s Family History Centre hosts the monthly meetings of the Waterloo Region’s Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

Run by volunteers, some of whom are church members and some who are members of the community, the centre offers visi-tors the chance to research their family history with microfiche and micro film readers, access to online

family history sites, church records, census and probate records, mili-tary records, land records, birth, marriage and death certificates and many historical maps.

Mormon churches have estab-lished 4,600 similar Family His-tory Centers around the world and coordinate their efforts with the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, which has over 2 million rolls of microfilm contain-

ing copies of original records from more than 100 countries.

The vast collection was acquired through the cooperation of gov-ernments, churches and individual record keepers all over the world and is stored in the Granite Moun-tain Records Vault outside of Salt Lake City.

Copies of these films can be or-dered for anyone’s use through the Family History Centers for about $8.

Church member Cathryn Fischer has been the Director of the Family History Centre at the local church for five years.

“It’s a very encouraging and pos-itive place to be with a peaceful at-mosphere where people can come to do their research. I love being there,” she said.

“It’s such a fantabulous out-reach,” said Renie Rumpel, who is not a member of the church but who has volunteered at the Family History Centre for 20 years.

“It’s really something that they do this. Not too many people real-ize that there’s all this stuff sitting here, waiting to be discovered,” she said.

The local centre offers records from Russia, Croatia, Jamaica, England, France, Spain and Ireland including wills, histories from every

county in England that were or-dered compiled by Queen Victoria, British military records, estate files, tax records, passenger lists prop-erty records and houses records of all Ontario marriages, births and deaths from 1869 on.

“We have people who come in and say “How do I start? Where do I start to research my family tree? We can help them,” Rumple said.

The centre’s knowledgeable staff of 11 can help you with every step of research and some volunteers are even specialists in gene-alogy from specific parts of the world. They teach people how to find re-cords and how to search properly.

Anyone can access for free all the billions of re-cords from the Mormon online familysearch.org site, which contains a portal that allows access to premium family histo-ry websites. You can also access for free the many sites now available online for searching family his-tory including ancestry.com. myheritage.com and findmypast.com.

“There are no member-ship fees. There’s no obli-gation. The church just provides this as a service

to the community,” Rumpel said. The Family History Centre is

open Tuesdays and Thursdays 9am to 4pm. Individual appointments can be arranged for Thursday eve-nings and most 2nd and 4th Satur-day mornings but are not needed during regular hours. Call 519-741-9591 if you have questions.

Mormon church to celebrate 50th anniversary July 26

Renie Rumpel, who is not a member of the church, has volunteered at the Family History Centre for 20 years.

The Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, (at the corner of Lorraine Ave. and River Road) in Kitchener will celebrate its 50th anniversary this month. Church members invite everyone to a celebration on Saturday, July 26 from 1 to 6pm. From left: front, Missionary Sister Christenson (from Utah), Missionary Sister Fragapane (from Germany), Ward Council Members Christine Meyer, Cindy Leader, back Ian Sellars, Kevin Watlers, Rob Olsen, Matt Skogstead, Andy Pockett, Chad Lipop, Kurt Moeller.

KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION) • JULY 3, 2014 • 17

Community Church Listing

St. Anthony Daniel - Catholic 29 Midland Drive, Kitchener (519) 893-6960

Pastor: Michael King Associate Pastor: Bradley Markus Masses: Sat. 5:00pm; Sun. 8:30am and 10:30am

St James’-Rosemount United 171 Sherwood Ave., Kitchener (519) 742-1002

Sunday Service: 10:30am Nursery, Sunday School, Youth Group, Wed. Night Bible study

Kitchener Gospel Temple-Pentecostal 9 Conway Dr. (at River Rd), Kitchener (519) 894-5999

Sunday Service: 10:30am Mid-week activities for all ages. www.kitchenergospel.com

Kitchener East Presbyterian 10 Zeller Drive, Kitchener (519) 748-9786

Reverend: Mark S. Richardson Sunday Service: 10:30am Nursery and Sunday School provided

Sonshine Corner, Thursdays from 9 - 11am

Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran 322 East Avenue (at Stirling), Kitchener (519) 742-5812

www.holycrosskitchener.org Sunday Service: (Sept. - June) 8:30am and 11am, (July-Aug.) 9:30am

9:45am - Sunday School, Youth & Adult Bible Classes Choirs - Stephen Ministry - Youth Group - Beginnings (0 -3 years)

Hope Lutheran 30 Shaftsbury Drive, Kitchener (519) 893-5290

Pastor: Rev. Terry Hursh Assistant Pastor: Rev. William Chuol

SUMMER SERVICE TIMES Starting June 1, 2014 Worship Service @ 10:15 am (nursery provided )

Multicultural/World service @ 12 noon

Reformation Lutheran Church 456 Krug St. (at Cambridge), Kitchener (519) 745-2561

Pastor: Neil Thomsen Worship Service: 10:00am Sunday Church School: 9:45am

Breslau Evangelical Missionary Church 102 Woolwich St., Breslau (519) 648-2712

SundayWorship Service: 9:30am Children’s Ministry - Youth Ministry - Small Groups

All are welcome! Visit us at www.bemc.ca

St. Andrew’s - Anglican 275 Mill St., Kitchener (519) 743-0911 Sunday Services: 8:00am and 10:00am

Rector: Canon Rob www.standrewsmemorial.ca

Stanley Park Community Church 9 Dreger Ave., (at Ottawa St.) Kitchener (519) 893-8186

www.stanleyparkchurch.ca Pastor: John Pearce

Sunday Service and Kid’s Church: 10:30am ALL WELCOME!

Trinity United Church 74 Frederick Street, Kitchener (519) 742-3578

www.tuckitchener.org Sunday Service: 10:00am Church School and Nursery care provided.

Sunday Hymn Sing: 10:00 a.m. (1st Sunday of month)

COMMUNITY CALENDARPHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF DOON - Thursday, July 10, 2014 12 to 1pm at Homer Watson House & Gallery, 1754 Old Mill Road, Kitchener. Part of the 2014 education-al Lunchtime Lecture series the event will feature a talk by Regional Councillor Jean Haalboom who will outline the local his-tory of Doon, the home of Homer Watson. The event will also include a question and answer period with the local historian, as well as sweet treats donated by local food suppliers. Haalboom, chair of the Heritage Planning Advisory Committee for the Region of Waterloo, has lived in Upper Doon since 1976. She will take you on a photographic history of long ago Doon to the changes that we see today, focusing predominantly on the village of Upper Doon. Bring a lunch. Admission $10 per person. Complimentary admission is offered to those who hold a valid membership. For more information, please call 519-748-4377 or visit our web-site at www.homerwatson.on.ca.BASS DERBY 2014 - 28th Annual Grand Riv-er Bass Derby. Hosted by the Optimist Club of Stanley Park July 5 and 6 (over $6,000.00 in prizes). Pre Registration @ Natural Sports, Phone 519 749 1620. Price: Adults $25, Youths $10, Juniors 4 - 8 free.COMMUNITY SUPPORT CONNEC-TIONS – Golf Social on Tuesday August 12 at Rockway Golf Course, 625 Rockway Dr, Kitchener at 11:30am BBQ lunch begins, 12:30pm Golfing begins, 7:00pm Players Dinner http://golfsocialwr.com/Formerly known as, “Twitterment”, the Golf Social is a non-traditional Golf Tournament that creates powerful conversations and lasting memories through social activities, challenges and the sharing of unique busi-ness and personal stories through social media. $110 per golfer, includes lunch and dinner.MEALS ON WHEELS EVENT - The May-or’s Souper Sampler for Meals on Wheels on Saturday, October 25 at Cambridge City Hall from 10am-2pm, 50 Dickson Street, Cambridge.CAMBRIDGE ROTARY FAMILY RIBFEST August 8 – 10 at Riverside Park encom-passing Mickler Field, including the grand-stand. The event is expected to draw about 30,000 people. In partnership, Cambridge North and Sunrise Rotaries, will present this well known event that has helped many other communities raise much need-ed funds for the local organizations to help improve the community as a whole. This fun-filled weekend event, will be targeted towards families and will feature 6 ven-dors selling barbecued ribs, with additional food and beverage vendors, craft booths, display booths and a beer tent. Local bands will provide live entertainment on the main stage throughout the event. Proceeds go to local registered charities supported by the Rotary Clubs. 24TH ANNUAL HOMER WATSON EX-HIBITION ARTIST TALK - July 19 from 1 – 3pm at Homer Watson House & Gal-lery, 1754 Old Mill Road, Kitchener. Homer Watson House & Gallery welcomes you to join us for the Artist Talk. Discover the inspirations and techniques shared by Jim Kraemer, Manish Patel, Tom Samolczyk, and Homer Watson. Llght snacks and refresh-ments. Free.Contact Information/Registra-tion: 519-748-4377 or homerwatson.on.ca3rd ANNUAL IAN HAY MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNAMENT - will be held Fri-day, August 15th at Savannah Golf Links in Cambridge, in support of The Kidney Foun-dation of Canada. Currently 4,500 Canadi-ans are waiting for a life-changing kidney transplant. Ian was one who waited. Of the 4,500 waiting for a transplant, 75% of those people are waiting for a kidney. Registration at 11:30am on Friday, August 15th at Savan-nah Golf Links, located at 1206 Cheese Fac-tory Road, Cambridge. Golfers and guests will have a chance to mix and mingle before the 1pm shotgun start. Golfers will be able to try their hand at the closest to the pin, longest drive and hole in one competition, followed by prizes, auction and a delicious steak dinner. For more information visit www.kidney.ca/ontariogolf8th ANNUAL INSPIRING WOMEN EVENT – September 18 at Bingemans,

Kitchener, 8am – 4pm featuring Erica Ehm, Kelsey Ramsden, Janet Podleski, Julie Cole and Dana Florence. Tickets $150 per per-son or $1100 able of 8. Call 519-749-6048 for details or tickets or visit inspiringwom-enevent.comHERITAGE GREENS LAWN BOWLING CLUB – located right in your neighbour-hood, 800 Heritage Drive, beside the Lyle Hallman Pool. Participaction Canada tells us to get up and get moving. Lawn bowling is an excellent sport to keep your mind and body active and a great way to socialize. Why should we have all the fun? Come on out and join us. We look forward to meet-ing you! For more information email San-dra at sandra@sandrascand.comSUNNYSIDE SENIORS’ SERVICES NEEDS VOLUNTEERS - Do you speak Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, or Hungar-ian? If so, we could use your help to visit a resident at Sunnyside. If you are interested, please contact Janice Klassen, Coordinator, Volunteers at 519-893-8494, ext. 6372 or email her at jklassen@regionofwaterloo.ca.DIVERSECITY TOASTMASTERS CLUB - Do you have trouble finding the right words when speaking to a group? Need a career boost? Want to polish your presentation skills? Toastmasters is the place for you. Learn communication, leadership and pre-sentation strategies in a friendly, supportive atmosphere. DiverseCity is a new club and

is open to all. It runs Mondays, 7 - 8:30 pm at Kitchener City Hall, the Conestoga Room. For more information contact Georgina Green, 519-743-7655 or gggreen@rogers.com.R&B JAZZ LEGEND BOZ SCAGGS TO PERFORM AT CENTRE IN THE SQUARE -The Centre In The Square presents legend-ary singer songwriter Boz Scaggs on Sun-day, September 28 at 8pm. Boz Scaggs The Memphis Tour features tracks from his new studio album Memphis, as well as favorites from the Grammy-Award winning artist’s career. With Memphis (429 Records), his first studio album in five years, Scaggs looks back musically and biographically. William Royce “Boz” Scaggs began his career in 1965 with the release of his first solo re-cording Boz. He achieved multi-platinum success with Silk Degrees featuring hits like “Lowdown”, “Lido Shuffle” and “What Can I Say”. In addition to touring extensively with his own band, Scaggs also performs along-side Donald Fagan and Michael McDonald in their band billed as The Dukes of Sep-tember. Tickets range from $50 to $90 (plus applicable fees). Tickets may be purchased online at www.centreinthesquare.com, by calling 519-578-1570 or 1-800-265-8977, or in person at the Centre In The Square Box Office (101 Queen Street North)

1335 Ottawa St. N, Kitchener519-893-6450

ottawaheritagedental.ca

Ottawa Heritage Dental

John P, Rush, B.Sc., D.D.S.John S Cameron, D.D.S.Irish Malapitan, M.Sc.. D.D.S.Gino Gizzerelli, B.Sc., Phm, D.D.S., M.Sc. (Dental Anesthesia)Pragtipal Saini, D.D.S., M.S.D.(limited to Periodontics)

New Patients Welcome

18 • JULY 3, 2014 • KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION)Page 18 l Kitchener Citizen - West Edition l July 3, 2014

notes from city hall

Office: 519-741-2784 Residence: 519-498-9056 scott.davey@kitchener.caBlog: www.scottdavey.info

As Kitchener’s finance chair,I’d like to detail my pride in

staff and council for bringing what Ibelieve to be the best budget thus

far in our term. You probably haven’theard or read much about the 2013budget because, to be frank,“KITCHENER DELIVERSRESPONSIBLE BUDGET” isn’t exactlyheadline news.

I was elected more than two yearsago on a platform of efficiency andfiscal responsibility; borne of therealization of strained taxpayers anda stagnating economy.  

With that in mind, back in May Isuggested we conduct arepresentative survey of residents to

determine affordability ofservices.  Staff implemented thesurvey with expediency and theresults came back as suspected. Itis best summarized as maintenanceof services with tax increases nogreater than inflation.

At the time of the survey, inflationwas projected to be 2-2.5 per cent;little did we know it would dropsharply in the latter half of the yearsettling at 1.4 per cent. 

Still, with significant work fromstaff and council, we managed to

bring in a budget at 1.39 per cent —the lowest increase of the tri-cities,and among the lowest in Ontario.

My pride in reaching this figurestems from the fact that it wasaccomplished without beingregressive. We made a $500,000payment to debt, dedicated$800,000 to major parks (includingKiwanis Park), $1.65 million totrails, and $320,000 to replacetrees affected by the emerald ashborer.  In short, we’re strongerfiscally and still managed to makeKitchener a little bit better. n

Office: 519-741-2779 Residence: 519-895-1569yvonne.fernandes@kitchener.ca

The final budget was ratified inJanuary, setting Kitchener’s

tax rate at 1.39 per cent. Throughpublic input, research surveys and

the interactive website, this is whatcitizens told us they could manage.No significant cuts were made toservices such as community centres,snowplowing, and grass cutting;however, one significant reductionthat council made affected our firedepartment. Their budget wasreduced by $480,000 to account forthe retirement of four firefighters;two fire prevention officers havealready retired. This reduction waspresented by senior staff as a viableoption to limit the potential increaseto the fire budget. Even after the

reduction, the overall budget for thedepartment will still go up in 2013.

I understand how the public mayperceive these cuts; I respect thework our firefighters do. It takes aspecial people to do these jobs and Iknow that the communityappreciates this essential service.The reality of the fire departmentbudget is that it has gone up 31.3per cent over the past six years dueto increases in salary, and theopening of an additional fire station. 

Salaries are often decided througharbitration. These decisions have

caused unsustainable salary levelsat the municipal level and, if theycontinue, cities could experience anunstable financial position. Citiesneed to send a clear message to theprovince that these methods are notsustainable and taxpayers don’thave limitless funds to pay theseincreases through their taxes.

Everywhere we see efforts toreduce spending, we must lead byexample at the city. Please contactme with your questions orconcerns.n

For the first time in 10 years, Ivoted in favour of the tax

budget, which resulted in anincrease of 1.39 per cent; slightlylower than the annual increase inthe inflation rate. This was

accomplished without cutting anyintegral services.

The most contentious issue wasreducing four firefighters in the firedepartment through attrition. Thisresulted in annual savings of$480,000. I supported this,requesting staff investigate ways toprovide this essential service in amanner that we can afford now andin the future. No action will be takenuntil thorough studies are carriedout, which clearly result in nocomprise to the safety of our citizensand risk to our properties.

Although the increase in taxes isat a reasonable level, I wasextremely disappointed in theincrease constituents will be facingthrough other essential services:water and sewer rates areincreasing by 4.75 per cent. I hadput forward a limiting increase ofthree per cent, but received supportfrom only three councillors. Ourutilities are in a strong financialposition and could withstand givingour consumers a slight reprieve. Inthe last 10 years, the inflation ratehas increased by about 20 per cent.

During this same period, water andsewer rates have increased 199 percent and 293 per cent respectively.

Users of our recreational serviceswill again be facing a further threeper cent increase in fees foractivities such as swimming andskating. Hydro rates are alsoincreasing and many will faceincreases over the next four yearsdue to the change in propertyassessment values. The taxincrease was reasonable, but we fellconsiderably short in other essentialservices provided to our citizens. n

The main branch of KitchenerPublic Library on Queen Street

is open during construction, and ifyou have not seen the progression ofthe new 25,000-square-foot

addition, you will be pleased with thenew space and its changes once itopens this spring. Improvements willthen begin on the original building.For more information on programsand services at all the KPL locations,check out their wonderful andinteractive website www.kpl.org.

The new underground parking atthe main branch library is open andconstruction will be completedsometime this spring on the otherparking garage to the east of thelibrary. And yes, a great public spaceis planned above these parking

garages; your input will be requestedsoon.

KW Art GalleryLooking for something creative for

you or your family to do? Take a tripto see the great exhibits at the KWArt Gallery and find out about theircool art programs there for kids,teens and adults at www.kwag.ca.Let the inner artist out to play andcheck out the wonderful art that is inyour very own backyard at Centre InThe Square!

40 km/hour school zonesLastly, I am moving that the City of

Kitchener consider a pilot program todetermine the effectiveness of areduced speed limit of 40 km/h onelementary school frontages in the2013/2014 school year.

A staff report will come to thecommunity and infrastructureservices committee on April 8. Weneed to develop a culture that sayspedestrians first, especially littleones!

Keep in touch with your great ideasor concerns at dan.glenn-graham@kitchener.ca or519-741-2786. n

Office: 519-741-2786 Residence: 519-576-3501 dan.glenn-graham@kitchener.ca

Office: 519-741-2243 Residence: 519-896-7300 berryv@kitchener.ca@berryonline

Office: 519-741-2790Residence: 519-744-0807john.gazzola@kitchener.ca

Office: 519-741-2300mayor@kitchener.ca

Family Day is only a few daysaway, so if you are stilllooking for something fun

to do on Feb. 18, I suggest checkingout Mayor Zehr’s Movie Morning, insupport of the Multiple SclerosisSociety of Canada. Doors open at 8a.m. and movies begin between8:45 and 9:15 a.m., at EmpireTheatre on Gateway Park Drive.

There are great movies to choosefrom this year, including The Lorax;Ice Age: Continental Drift;Madagascar 3: Europe’s MostWanted; Transformers: Dark Sideof the Moon and The HungerGames.

The morning is sure to offersomething for everyone! There willbe Lucky Looney draws, great doorprizes, face painting and visits fromOnkle Hans and Miss Oktoberfest.For more details on this event, visitwww.mayorsmoviemorning.com.

Although March Break is stillweeks away, it’s time to startthinking about what your childrenwill be doing with their newfoundfreedom. Will they be visiting withtheir grandparents, spending theweek at home with family, or visitingfriends?

Another great option is MarchBreak Camp at the BreithauptCentre, running from 9 a.m.-4:30p.m. daily with additional supervisedhours available. Children in JK tograde six will spend the weekplaying games both indoors andoutdoors, making new friends, andgoing for a daily swim. For moredetails and to register, visitwww.kitchener.ca, keyword search“camp.”

On April 12, I will host the annualState of the City Address. Thisbreakfast event provides anopportunity for me to share insightssurrounding the 2013 budget, theprogress and planning of citywideprojects, upcoming initiativesaffecting our community, and manyother issues affecting the citizensand businesses of Kitchener, andour entire region.

This charitable event is open to allmembers of the public, with netproceeds from ticket sales donatedto the Kitchener and WaterlooCommunity Foundation. For moreinformation on this, and past Stateof the City addresses, visitwww.kitchener.ca, keyword search“state of the city.” I hope to see youthere!

PingStreetThe City of Kitchener has made

some significant technological advances of late. I wrote of our Open

Data initiative months back, and about how rerelease of machine-readable data sets will soon benefit many residents as the private sector begins utilization. Our Open Data portal has since launched and is available at www.kitchener.ca/opendata. While Open Data is geared toward computer programmers, we’ve also launched a surprisingly useful consumer-level app for smartphones and tablets called PingStreet.

PingStreet is a powerful and intuitive tool that puts the municipality at your fingertips. Example -- you’re

walking down the street and notice a pothole on the road, a dangerous trip in the sidewalk, or perhaps some offensive graffiti. With PingStreet you could use your phone to snap a picture, and with a few touches, fire off the issue directly to the City. It even captures the GPS location of the picture for easy reference. PingStreet has numerous other functions; it informs of city events, local street closures and details of your local government. It even has street-specific details for waste collection, despite the fact waste management is

a Regional service. No more trying to remember if it’s yard-waste week!

Additional functionality will be continually added to the app. PingStreet is completely free, and available on Android (Google Play), iOS (App Store), and of course BlackBerry (BB World). Just search for “PingStreet”. To contact me on this or other issues please call me at: 519-741-2784 or email me at: scott.davey@kitchener.ca.

Happy summer everyone! I trust everyone celebrated our great country’s 147th birthday earlier this week, kicking off what promises to be a wonderful summer of KWAwesomeness! With

the kids out of school now, please drive extra carefully in residential areas as our youth are outside being active in their neighbourhoods!

SHOUT OUT TO COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS!

The last few weeks have been a great reminder of the hundreds of people who volunteer to make our community a great place to live! From the approx. 200 people who help with the Stanley Park Optimist ball programs to all of our minor soccer and hockey volunteers. And from those who recently helped with events like the Multicultural and the Summer Lights festivals or the

FireFit Canada regional competition to those who will help with things like the Kitchener Blues Festival and KW Oktoberfest in the months ahead, volunteers make a difference in the lives of our residents! A heartfelt thank-you for all you do to make this a great community to live in!

OFFICIAL PLANCouncil considered the final version

of our city’s new official plan this past Monday. Over two years in the making, this plan will help manage future growth in our community – ensuring residents continue to have a variety of housing options while focusing more of our

growth up instead of out. It will also help regulate many of the other land uses throughout our City. Thank you to all who provided input into the plan throughout the process!

FESTIVAL OF NEIGHBOURHOODSIf you don’t already have a

neighbourhood event, I encourage you to plan one this summer! By reaching out, you connect with your neighbours and help everyone in your neighbourhood feel like they belong. This makes us stronger and safer as a community, and is just a lot more fun! For more info, visit the Festival of Neighbourhoods page at www.kitchener.ca .

Kitchener jointly with the Region of Waterloo sponsors a Tax Increment Grant (TIG). This program is used as an incentive for developers to clean up contaminated Brownfield sites.

Contaminated sites can sit vacant for years resulting in low property taxes for some premium sites in our community. I have always supported this concept in the past. The new School Of Pharmacy is a good example of restoring a contaminated site. However, in that case the property was completely cleaned by the owner at no cost to our Taxpayers.

This is not always possible and for that reason incentives are required. However, I believe the program that is now in place is too generous to developers. Accordingly, I did

not support this project which was recently approved by the majority of Council. The grant relates to the former Elmsdale Utility Center owned by the City of Kitchener. The site is in the process of being sold to an out of city developer for approximately $7.5 Million. The developer is receiving a grant of $11,474,000. Of this amount, $3.7 Million comes from exemptions for Development Charges... The City will provide $3.0 Million and the Region $4.8 Million. The new owner will thus pay only a small fraction of the City and Regional taxes for about

7 years. That cost will be borne by existing taxpayers. The Province does not contribute towards this program. The grant is calculated on the increase in taxes from to-day and what they will be when the site is fully developed. In this case, a figure of $2.2 Million was used even though the property is worth in excess of $8 Million – an additional factor favouring the developer over the current taxpayers in our community.

In my opinion, the program needs to be reviewed and revised.

Hello Neighbours,Summer is finally here! Now that

exams, year-end field trips and graduations are finally behind you,

you can turn your thoughts to fun summer activities.

Council’s focus has been on the many significant decisions to be made before July’s recess. One very important project has been our new Official Plan which lays out clear guidelines for our city’s future growth. This includes the designation of areas for specified uses like multi- use nodes, cultural heritage landscapes, environmentally protected areas, manufacturing areas, as well as new and infill development.

Following on the heels of this document, is a review and update to

our zoning by-law to ensure it aligns with the new Official Plan. As we begin phase two, the project launch, issue identification and public input stage of the review, we would like to hear from you.

For many of us, zoning is not a daily concern until we see a change in our neighbourhood. Zoning specifies the permitted uses and required standards for parcels of land, providing us with a legal way to manage our land use and future development, while protecting residents from conflicting and possibly dangerous land uses in our city.

For instance, zoning might affect

your property when existing zoning is changed, reclassified, additional uses added, or permitted uses removed. You might experience these changes as an infill development changing a single dwelling to multi–residential; a changed use of the land, such as residential to institutional; or undeveloped land being developed.

I encourage you to add your voice to the Comprehensive Review of the Zoning Bylaw (CRoZBy). A survey and additional information can be found at www.kitchener.ca/crozby until the end of August.

Summer Lights Festival―This is what a successful downtown and happening city looks like! Throngs of people were on the streets as far as the eye could see, laughing and

playing, having fun tasting all sorts of interesting food and drink.

Artists were appreciated, crowds stopped their hurried pace to play games, and people met other people. I had a blast doing a summer snowball fight with cotton snowballs at Centre in the Square and downtown.

I truly loved this event in Kitchener, and I applaud the idea of building bridges with our friends in Waterloo by having a free bus shuttle. We can’t thank the organizers enough. This festival came organically from many interested partners and not the cities

of Kitchener and Waterloo! It shows you what can be done when we work together.

Kitchener Porch Party—A nod of thanks to the architects of yester-year who had the foresight to put front porches on homes. These, and residential front lawns provided the perfect stage to local artists in the Central Frederick area, and specifically, Hohner Avenue, whose residents hosted an amazing second year of 30+ acts. This is so much fun that I feel this should spread as a template to other areas. If you’re

interested in throwing a great street party that kids of all ages will remember for a long time, get your neighbours together and start planning. You must get the OK from everyone on your street in order to close it.

Kitchener Public Library―Congratulations to the Kitchener Library’s main branch on re-opening such an amazing re-invention of a library. You must visit to experience the transformation and the fabulous art!

Each year the City of Kitchener produces an annual financial report that shares the financial position of the City of Kitchener, as well as highlights of key accomplishments. Staff and council are committed to transparency and accountability and take pride in preparing a quality document that makes this information available to citizens.

The report is a financial snapshot of the previous year. It helps residents understand how money collected by the city is in turn used to provide services. The full financial statements including independent audit reports are an integral part of the overall report.

The 2013 Annual Financial Report was presented to Kitchener’s audit committee on June 30, 2014.

To learn more and download the report visit www.kitchener.ca

The community and infrastructure services committee approved a three year pilot that will see funds be made available to help support neighbourhood based projects in partnership with community groups and the United Way of Kitchener Waterloo.

The United Way has committed to matching the city’s $30,000 investment over the next three years dollar for dollar which, including the grant recipients’ portion means a total investment of $90,000 of money, volunteer time and services are going back into our neighbourhoods.

Some key details around the new grant program:

• Intended as a one-time grant.• For projects that are specific to

neighbourhood and place-based (as opposed to city-wide initiatives).

• Proposals will be accepted throughout the year (subject to availability of funding and resources).

• Grant amounts from $500-$5,000 may be requested (includes city and United Way portion) with a maximum amount of $20,000/ year being allocated to various groups.

• Proposals must demonstrate the neighbourhood support and involvement.

• Community groups must match contribution through funds, volunteer time, materials or other in-kind support.

• Support may be used for capital projects or event support.

• Proposals will be reviewed an evaluated by a committee made up of members of the safe and healthy advisory committee, city staff and the United Way of KW.

• Staff will report back to council at the end of the pilot with recommendations on the future of the program.

Subject to ratification by council on June 30, staff will finalize program details and develop a communications plan to share information on the program and how to apply with the community.

Open Book

New Grant

KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION) • JULY 3, 2014 • 19 July 3, 2014 l Kitchener Citizen - West Edition l Page 19

Ihope you have been enjoyingthe summer so far. If you are

looking for an exciting destination to

visit with your family, you may wantto check out the Huron Natural Area(HNA) located at 801 Trillium Dr. Notonly is it Kitchener’s largest park, itis also home to some significantwetlands and species. Withkilometres of trails and boardwalks,there is truly something foreveryone.

The park also offers lots ofeducational experiences, includingan upcoming presentation and walkentitled All About Bats, happeningAug. 24 from 8-10 p.m. You mustregister in advance to participate.

If bats aren’t your thing, you maybe interested in an event calledGanödagwёhda:’ dosgёhgёhö:de’ – village close by thestream, which is a chance to learnabout the rich archaeologicalheritage of the area. This is a drop-inevent on Sept. 21 from 1-4 p.m.Please visit www.kitchener.ca,keyword search “HNA” for moreinformation and to register.

Every year I look forward to theWilliamsburg Community Festival.This year the event will be takingplace on Sunday, Sept. 8 from 11-4

p.m. at Max Becker Commons.While the details are still beingfinalized, you can expect lots ofgreat games, food, activities andentertainment for the whole family.Everyone is invited and I hope to seeyou there!

I want to leave you with a finalthought on fire safety. If you have apropane BBQ, please rememberthat the canisters have a shelf life.Propane cylinders must beinspected and re-certified orreplaced every 10 years. Enjoy therest of your summer! n

notes from city hall

The beautiful weather hasbrought to light someresident concerns regarding

our newest major city park —

McLennan Park. Some key featureslike the large splash pad, dog parkand the walking trail are very wellattended. The number of peopleusing these amenities, plus somevery hot weather, has made itevident that more shaded areas andseating are needed in key areasaround the park. As this is still anewer park, trees have not reachedmaturity to provide sufficient shade,and planting more trees at this timewould not solve the issueimmediately for the same reasons.So, I have been working with our

parks staff, who are investigatingsome options.

Another inconvenience that I’msure has hampered the enjoymentof McLennan Park has been theclosure of the main bathroomfacility. This has been due to somesanitary and structural issues thatare taking longer than anticipated toaddress. As a temporary measure,portable washrooms have beenmade available. Understandably thisis not the desired alternative. I askyou for your patience until theappropriate repairs can be made.

This year, my wife and I took greatpleasure cruising the streets ofWard 6 in order to nominatedeserving properties for theKitchener in Bloom awards to beheld on Sept. 12. Many of you areproud homeowners, taking the timeto beautify your properties. I wantedto make certain that those of youwho go above and beyond would beacknowledged for your efforts inbeautifying your front yards. I amvery happy to say I was able to sendin more than 200 nominations forresidents in Ward 6. n

Iam pleased the city recentlyinstalled sharrows as a pilot

project along King Street fromMadison Avenue to Francis Street in

the downtown core, allowing cycliststo occupy an entire lane, similar to amotorist. Kitchener also has manymarked bike lanes.

In my recent travels to Chicago,Vancouver and Ottawa, I observedone-way and two-way bike lanes ondowntown streets. Some of thesebike lanes are marked with elephantfeet (extra-wide crosswalks, showingthat bikes are permitted to rideacross using the green section astheir travel lane) and are separatedby either planter boxes, collapsibleplastic bollards or raised curbs to

separate the bike riders from themotorists. I also noticed sharrows onthe curb lanes of four lane streets inChicago, which allow motorists topass any cyclists in the passing laneif they are not travelling at the speedlimit.

I have also checked out bike laneson trails and dedicated bike lanes todetermine if there are any gatesbefore approaching a publicroadway. Having biked in StanleyPark and the waterfront inVancouver and Toronto, I have yet todiscover any gates at road crossings.

In fact, Stanley Park has extensiveone-way bike trails and only one gateto separate bicyclists frompedestrians using the local beach.

Well-marked directions, bike speedlimits and separated pedestrian orbike paths are well designed asnoted on numerous park billboards.The Vancouver parks departmentalso provides an extensive BikeVancouver route map and guide.While we have made great strideswith our cycling strategy inKitchener, there is clearly room togrow. n

The summer of 2013 hasbeen terrible for weeds inKitchener. It began when

Region of Waterloo decided to

eliminate the roadside grass cuttingbudget as a cost-saving measure.The region contracts out the serviceto the city but when the moneydisappeared, the city had no choicebut to stop maintaining roadsidegrass.

Wisely, after receiving a lot ofpushback from Kitchener and othermunicipalities, the region reinstatedthe money but unfortunately, amaintenance backlog had beencreated. This backlog, combinedwith an unusually rainy spring andOntario’s pesticide ban, created the

perfect storm for weeds. Recently, I met with city staff to

see how this issue could beaddressed. It is important to notethat grass maintenance iscompleted on a three-week cycle byroutes. The trim crew performs basictrim maintenance on cul-de-sacs,park frontages and aroundplaygrounds and park furniture.Larger mowers cut the main areasof the parks. Staff have alsoinformed me that the maintenancecycles will tighten up as we return tothe drier weather of July and August.

Another solution would be to allowsome areas to be naturalized. Citystaff would work in consultation withresidents to locate appropriateareas that might be beneficial toreturn to a natural state, like valleylands and meadows.

In addition, I am in the process ofdrafting a motion to bring beforecouncil that would seek to increasethe amount of maintenanceperformed on city land. I certainlysympathize with residents who arerightly proud of our community andwant to keep it looking its best.n

Office: 519-741-2783Email:bil.ioannidis@kitchener.caTwitter: @bilioannidis

Office: 519-741-2798Email:frank.etherington@kitchener.

Got a complaint...who yougonna call? Your complaint-

buster councillor, of course.

Lately, in the hot, stickysummertime, I have been hummingthat Ghostbusters ditty whilehandling legitimate beefs aboutbass-thumping music, high weeds,geese droppings and dying trees.

And that’s why — amid complaintcalls — it’s a relief to receive positivecomments from people delightedabout a city-backed program toreintroduce rental boats to VictoriaPark.

As councillor, I have neverexperienced such a refreshing flow

of complimentary responses about acity project. It’s been great to seethe way residents have embracedthe efforts by Canoeing the Grand toreturn boats to the downtown park.

That company is also donating $1from every boat rental to a park-maintenance fund.

Everywhere I go, people tell methey like seeing boats back on thelake after a 20-year hiatus. Many ofthe comments come from residentswho remember spending enjoyablesummer weekends boating on the

lake during past decades.I recently met one resident in a

neighbourhood grocery store who,as a young man, used to rent boatsfrom the city in the park. He lovedseeing the program return andcommented that, years ago, it cost$3 to rent a boat. He’s amazed that,decades later, it’s still possible torent a boat for $5 per half hour foreach person.n

Office: 519-741-2300Email: mayor@kitchener.ca

What does yourneighbourhood mean toyou? This is the

question that is being asked ofresidents as part of the 20thanniversary of Kitchener’s Festivalof Neighbourhoods.

Typically, residents would host acommunity event and register theirevent to be entered into a randomdraw for a $10,000 capitalimprovement grant to be used intheir neighbourhood.

Since this year marks the 20thanniversary of Kitchener’s Festival ofNeighbourhoods, we thought wewould add even more excitement tothis already outstanding event andcreated the Mayor’s Challenge. It’ssimple; all you have to do is tell mewhat your neighbourhood means toyou. Maybe you want to share a storyabout the memories you have ofgrowing up in your neighbourhood,the impact that one specialneighbour made in your life, or thehistory of your entire neighbourhood.There is no right or wrong answer;just share what your communitymeans to YOU!

You can tell me about yourneighbourhood in any way that youchoose. Write a story or essay of 500words or less; draw, paint or create apicture on an 8.5x11 inch page;create an audio recording of fiveminutes or less, or film a video offive minutes or less.

Please submit your entry to SarahFitzPatrick, executive assistant to themayor, via email,sarah.fitzpatrick@kitchener.ca or bymail, 200 King St. W., Kitchener, ONN2G 4G7. Submissions must bereceived no later than 3 p.m. onSept. 30.

But now the big question – whatdo you win? Since this is the Mayor’sChallenge after all, the winner andhis/her neighbours will have theopportunity to take me on a walkingtour of your neighbourhood. You canshow me your favourite spots, chatabout topics that are of interest toyou or share your vision of how yousee your neighbourhood in thefuture.

If you have questions or needmore information, please contactJanice Ouellette at 519-741-2200x7227 orJanice.ouellette@kitchener.ca.

I look forward to reviewing all ofthe entries and will see one luckywinner this fall! n

Office: 519-741-2793 Cell: 226-748-3109 Email: paul.singh@kitchener.caTwitter: @paulsinghward6

Office: 519-741-2796 Residence: 519-57Email: zyg.janecki@kitchener.ca

Office: 519-741-2791 kelly.galloway-sealock@kitchener.caTwitter: @gallowaykelly

CITY SERVICES ARE NOW RIGHT AT YOUR FINGERTIPS – 24/7

On July 3, accessing city services

became even easier! PingStreet is a mobile app that allows users to connect with the city right from their smartphone – anytime, anywhere. Residents can access functions including: reporting potholes or graffiti by taking and sending a photo, seeing planned road closures in their area, browsing a calendar of events and looking at – or receiving alerts – for their garbage, recycling and yard waste schedule. The location-based app works on all smartphone devices and can be downloaded for free at the App Store, Blackberry World, and

Google Play. The addition of the PingStreet app

is part of the city’s larger commitment to customer service excellence. Another important piece of the plan is transforming the corporate call centre into a 24/7 operation. Have a question or concern about a City of Kitchener issue? Now you can connect with a live person day or night at: (519) 741-2345. Here at the city, we realize that your needs extend beyond the traditional workday. We also know that many of you prefer to access information online. These are just two

examples of how the city is working hard to serve you better.

NEIGHBOURHOOD STRATEGYThis January, council approved

the development of a neighbourhood strategy as a significant corporate project to begin in 2014. We need your input on how to continue to support vibrant communities! I encourage you to take a few minutes to fill out our online neighbourhood strategy survey and have your say at www.kitchener.ca, keyword search “neighbourhood strategy’.

Official PlanThe city has been updating its

Official Plan (OP) over the last few years. The purpose of the

plan is to provide guidance in land use development both in the suburban parts of the city as well as redevelopment in the inner core. At the time of writing this article, final consideration of the OP was due for Council approval on June 30. The general direction of the OP is to increase the density of urban core with more redevelopment while decelerating the growth in the suburbs. Although the development industry is the one most concerned with the OP policies and land uses, the general public should also

take a look at the land uses in your immediate area to see what the future impact may be on your property and surrounding streets. You can contact me and I’d be happy to sit down with you to discuss the plan based on my planning career background.

The Auditorium Video Score Clock

Council has also considered the proposal by the Kitchener Rangers hockey club of replacing the eleven year old video score clock over centre ice. The company that installed the clock is no longer providing any

repairs or parts. Should the clock break down, the outdated technology means it would need to be replaced anyway. The Rangers club has decided to replace the video score clock paying 75 per cent of the costs with the city paying the balance. Since the clock provides advertising income to both parties on a 75/25 split the replacement of it would be on the same 75/25 basis. The Rangers will also replace the sound system and install new ribbon board advertising. This is a huge benefit to the city at minimal cost.

On June 20, the City of Kitchener hosted the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC)

for an informational tour. An agency of the Government of Ontario, the Ontario Media Development Corporation supports the province’s creative economy by providing innovative programs, services and funding for book publishing, film and television, interactive digital media, magazine publishing and music industries. I worked directly with the city’s Arts & Culture unit to arrange this visit in order to establish a stronger connection with the agency.

While the OMDC is familiar with some of the great things happening

in our arts and technology cluster, we have never had an opportunity to provide them with an on-site showcase of our local talent, organizations and businesses. The OMDC reported that they found the visit eye opening and were very impressed with the volume and quality of cultural production taking place in Kitchener. Find out more about the OMDC at: www.omdc.on.ca

Also on June 20, Kitchener was invited to join a panel of current and aspiring “music cities” at the

prestigious North by Northeast (NXNE) festival in Toronto. Other participating cities included on the Music Cities Exchange panel were: Austin, Chicago, Hamilton, Montreal and Toronto. The City of Kitchener was pleased to be part of the international line up and it was a great opportunity for us to share our story on a larger stage. Clearly our reputation as a thriving music hub is growing! Check out the NXNE website at: www.nxne.com.

All in all, it was a great day for the city’s creative economy!

By the time you read this, Maple Leaf Foods will be six months away from closing the doors at the Courtland Avenue plant, a landmark that has

124 years of Kitchener history.Closure will happen in several

waves this summer and fall but, when we get to the shutdown in December, one glimmer of positive news is the original 1,200 people destined to lose jobs at the former Schneider’s plant will have decreased by about 500. Some maintenance workers will remain at the building to decommission the plant.

That reduction has to do with the number of retirements and volunteer departures complete with severance pay that have taken place since Maple Leaf announced the closure

and transfer of business to a modern Hamilton facility almost three years ago. It also has to do with the fact that several workers have transferred to the new facility while others have taken the opportunity to enroll in retraining courses.

From what I have observed while serving as council’s representative on a task force overseeing the closure, Maple Leaf is a caring employer that deserves credit for working hard to reduce the number of workers who will eventually be laid off.

Among actions taken by the company in these final months will

be a job-transition website and an employee job centre located near Kitchener’s downtown that will open in September to help employees find alternate jobs or participate in government retraining and educational programs.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Waterloo Region, it’s ironic that a Breslau meatpacker currently has more than 50 job vacancies because many people are avoiding that type of employment as Maple Leaf and competitors in the industry push ahead with multi-billion-dollar restructuring programs across North America.

Dear Resident, I had the wonderful opportunity to

help organize a major ward-specific event which also helped to promote a

collaborative relationship between the three neighbourhood associations. I don’t get tired of sharing about the good works that the three Ward 6 Neighborhood Associations have been doing in serving and improving our community. Please join me in thanking them for their dedicated and selfless efforts to bring this community together, in order to make this neighbourhood a safer and more enjoyable place to live

I am fortunate to enjoy a rich, responsive and involved Ward 6 community. This has been highlighted by the success of our McLennan

Park movie event, “Cinema under the Stars” over the last two years.

During my first year on council, “Cinema Under the Stars,” which began as a simple idea that I felt would bring neighbours together, has exceeded my expectations! In part because the three Ward 6 neighbourhood associations have come together and adopted this event, helped fund the event, as well as organize the event that has had an audience of 400 show up! The feedback from past attendees has been great, and a healthy donation of food items has been collected and

distributed by the House of Friendship through their Food Hamper Program.

Please mark your calendars for the 3rd Annual “Cinema Under the Stars” located on the Commons at MacLennan Park on Saturday, August 23, beginning at 6:30pm. You, your friends and family can enjoy a free family friendly movie with complimentary popcorn. Bring your own lawn chairs and blankets for added comfort. Please contact Chandler-Mowat Community Centre or Country Hills Community Centre for additional information.

Kitchener is a city on the move! It seems that there is always a festival, charity walk or ride, and numerous other events happening throughout the summer months. A few of the highlights for July include:

Cruising on King Street – On July 11 hundreds of classic cars will be rolling into downtown Kitchener. Cars will arrive at Victoria Park for the Show and Shine at 3pm, followed by the Classic Car Parade departing at 7pm. The cars will remain on show along King Street from 8-10pm.

Big Music Fest – New this year, Big Music Fest will be showcased at McLennan Park, July 11-13. The headliners for this festival include legendary rock band Aerosmith and Grammy award winning singer/songwriter Bryan Adams. Tickets are almost sold out, but not to worry, everyone can check out the free line up on Friday, July 11 from 2-10:30pm. More information on this festival can be found at www.bigmusicfest.com.

Downtown Kitchener Ribfest and Craft Beer Show – From July 18-20, Victoria Park will be alive with great food, music and craft-brewed beer. Bring your family and friends along with you so you can try something from each vendor offering up mouthwatering ribs and chicken. Admission is free but donations to The Food Bank of Waterloo Region are appreciated.

Rock and Rumble Bike Rally – On Saturday, July 26, from 1-8pm hundreds of motorcycles from across Canada and the United States will be on display in front of Kitchener City Hall. An impressive lineup of bands will keep those in attendance rockin’ all day long.

Building Waterloo Region: From Sandhills to Google Tour – As part of Building Waterloo Region, a festival celebrating the architecture of Waterloo Region, the walking tour From Sandhills to Google will explore the history and development of downtown Kitchener. Tours will take place throughout July and August. Visit www.kwag.ca/en/programs/Public_Tours.asp to register. Additional information on Building Waterloo Region can be found at www.buildingwaterlooregion.ca.

With so much to see and do in Kitchener this summer it is the perfect time to get out and explore our city. I hope to run into you at some of these great events!

ca

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20 • JULY 3, 2014 • KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION)

MarketNEWS

Visit our website for details and to register:

www.kitchenermarket.ca

CORN FESTIVAL Saturday, July 19, 3-9 p.m.Learn about the descent of corn such as the ancestral impor-tance of the grain. Enjoy live flamenco music and dancing. Feast on delicious food. Organized by Kitchener Market vendor, Pupuseria and Bakery Flor de Izote.

Cooking classes in the MarketplaceIt doesn’t matter if you know your way around the kitchen, can’t

tell a saucepan from a frying pan, or just want a fun night out - we

have a class for you! All classes are $45 unless otherwise noted.

To register: Visit www.kitchenermarket.ca/cookingclasses,

call 519-741-2287 or email info@kitchenermarket.ca

BBQ and grilling techniquesWednesday, July 16, 6:30-8:30 p.m.Heat up your barbie and get ready for some sizzling meals ideas that

you can make quickly on the grill. In this class you will learn tech-

niques for barbecuing which will make your summer dinners easy

and impressive.

Wine & ArtThursday, July 17, 6:30-8:30 p.m.Hosted by a certified Art Innovators teacher, this two-hour class will

feature hands-on instruction as you create artwork, accompanied

by wine and a platter of gourmet cheese. Project: a project with vine

charcoal and an Eiffel Tower/Paris painting using acrylics.

Vegetarian optionsWednesday, July 23, 6:30-8:30 p.m.Eating a balanced vegetarian diet can be challenging, especially

when lifestyle or dietary restrictions make options more limited. Find

ways to eat healthy, vegetarian meals that are out of the ordinary

and exciting! Even if you are simply interested in learning more

about a vegetarian diet before you take that first step, or you’re a

veteran veg-head looking for meal inspiration, come join this class

and explore the options that are available to you!

Get the MarketNEWS delivered every month to your inbox!

Sign up: kitchenermarket.ca/newsletter

This month we celebrate that glorious, golden grain – corn, and host some amazing

cooking classes too!

In Good Taste What a wonderful tine of the year! And, it gets even better when field tomatoes become avail-able.’ With such an abundance of produce, meal preparation – even for those who do not like to cook – is easy. While there are countless outstanding straw-berry desserts to be created, the simplicity of the whole raw berries, with merely something suitable to dip them in, can be equal to, or even out-rank, the most elaborate of prepared berry desserts.

STRAWBERRIES & DIPWash the berries, leave a short stem on

each, and leave the berries whole. Pile them in a glass bowl and serve them with a dip. My favourite is crème fraiche, but mascarpone (store-bought or homemade) is great, as are lightly-sweetened whipped cream, plain yo-gurt (especially the homemade version), sour cream, etc. These are addictive, so make certain you have a generous amount for family and guests.

Another super-simple concoction is sautéed rhubarb, which can be used as a topping for ice cream, pancakes, cakes, or what-you-will..

SAUTEED RHUBARBIf you have about 4 cups of diced rhubarb,

melt 3 or 4 tablespoons butter in a large skil-let over medium heat. Add the rhubarb, and sugar to taste (1/4 cup or so). Saute, stirring, just until rhubarb is tender – about five minutes. Serve warm at room temperature, or chilled.

Grilled meats or fish of virtually any kind pair well with this easily-prepared salad. But use only the best-quality Parmesan cheese.

PARSLEY-PARMESAN SALAD2 cups flat-leaf (Italian) parsley2 ounces Parmesan cheese, shaved1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice1 tablespoon olive oilcoarse sea saltfreshly-ground black pepper

In a medium-sized bowl, toss the parsley, cheese shavings, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add more lemon juice if you wish. Serve on, or with, meats that are hot off the grill.

This is an unusual salad that I like to make with asparagus. However, when the asparagus season has come and gone, you can use green beans. The salad must be served immediately after adding the egg whites.

Asparagus (or green bean) meringue1 cup chopped cooked asparagus (or green beans)½ cup extra-virgin olive oil½ cup vinegar (Balsamic preferably)kosher saltfreshly-ground black pepper6 egg whites

In a food processor or blender process the chopped vegetable, olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste, until mixture is a smooth puree. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Immediately blend the whites into the vegetable mixture, and serve without delay on a bed of lettuce.

One has to be alert in order not to miss the raspberry and blackberry season. To get the most enjoyment from them, simply place them in a serving dish and add dollops of crème fraiche. Or, pour a small amount of whipping cream, over them, and add a drizzling of maple syrup. (Or eat them out of hand before you even get them home from the farmers’ market).

Fresh cilantro leaves have such a brisk, re-freshing flavour that marries well with radishes.

CILANTRO-RADISH SALSA1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (in-cluding tender stems)4 large radishes, trimmed and chopped2 green onions, thinly sliced, including parts of the greens that are pale-green½ Jalapeno or Serrano chile, seeds removed, and finely-chopped2 tablespoons fresh lime juice1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Combine in a bowl, season with salt and freshly-ground black pepper.

Pesto alla Genovese can be made with or without pine nuts. With the price of pine nuts, you might prefer to omit them. It you add them, you will need about a tablespoon of toasted nuts, to be pounded along with the basil, the garlic and the salt.

PESTO ALLA GENOVESE2 cups freshly-picked basil leaves2 or 3 large cloves garliccoarse sea salt¼ cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese¼ cup freshly-grated Romano pecorino cheese1 cup extra virgin olive oil1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts (optional)

Treat the basil leaves gently as you tear all but the small leaves into two or three pieces. Be careful not to crush the basil, or it will be-come discoloured. Pack the leaves tightly, carefully in a mea-suring cup to measure the 2 cups required. If you are a purist get out the mortar and pestle, or a wooden bowl and a wooden spoon and pound to a paste the basil, garlic and salt. Continue pounding while gradually adding the grated cheese. When the paste is smooth (you must have patience for this), stir in the olive oil. If you are not a purist, then simply put all the ingredients in a blender container, and blend until smooth. Try it spread on a good piece of Italian bread; or use it as a sauce on pasta (thin it with some pasta cooking water), in soups (stirred in, or as a garnish) in salad dressings, as a garnish for meat and vegeta-bles, or whatever you can think of.

SIMPLE RECIPES FOR A BUSY LIFE STYLE

\

KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION) • JULY 3, 2014 • 21

Q. Now that we are officially retired my husband says we should sell our private 4000 square foot home and consider buying a condo. He wants

to downsize and says life would be much easier if we are no longer slaves to our outside yard work etc. I am not too sure about this idea. What should

I be aware of before I consider condo living? Thanks!A. Most people are de-lighted to have someone else cut the grass, shovel the snow or replace the roof. At the same time you will have no final say in the type of yard-land-scaping maintenance, the color of your roof shingles, the style of your

window coverings etc. Are you ready to compromise?

If you choose a hi-rise condo, be prepared to live in close quarters? There will be people above you, be-low and beside you. How much noise do you consider acceptable? Do you walk heavily or tend to turn your ra-dio up louder when you want to hear your favorite song? This all changes when you move into an apartment condo. You share walls and have neighbors to consider.

Size is another factor to consider when downsizing. Depending on what type of condo you choose, you may have to sell a lot of furniture.

If the condo is not equipped with individual washers and dryers you must also be will-ing to use the common area laundry room.

How do you feel about rules? You must follow all the rules that govern the Con-dominium Corporation. For example, do you have pets? Some condos have certain re-strictions on size, breed and how many. Are you a three

car family? Parking is limited so check how many spaces are available.

Condominiums consist of a board of directors elected by the owners at the Annual General Meetings. Direc-tors are volunteers who are respon-sible to manage the property. They enforce rules, hire contractors, take care of owner complaints etc. Are you willing to attend the Annual General Meetings to keep yourself up to date as to what is going on within your community?

There is a lot to be considered when moving from a private home to a condo. This lifestyle is not for every-one, but it seems to be a perfect fit for millions of condo owners across the province. Good luck!

* * *Marilyn Lincoln is a condo owner,

director and author of The Condo-minium Self Management Guide 2nd. Sen d questions to marilyncondogu-ide@hotmail.com To order a copy of her guide, send $39.95 plus $4.98 shipping and handling to The Condo Guide, 163 Thaler Ave., Suite #302, Kitchener, Ont. N2A 1R4

My husband says we should buy a condo

Peter is a licensed Sales Representative with Re/Max and has specialized in the Stanley Park Area for 27 years.

For a free home market evaluation withoutobligation, call me at 519-888-7110.

When a home is sold in Ontario the buyer must pay a land transfer tax to the province that is

about 1% of the purchase price. The City of Toronto recently got approval to charge an additional land transfer tax for people who are buying homes in Toronto. Now other municipalities are looking into charging the same tax in an effort to raise funds. We think this tax is unfair.

The Ontario Real Estate Association launched the campaign in April to demonstrate the negative economic impact of the MLTT, based on the findings of new research studies. Currently allowed only in

Toronto, this tax may spread to other regions of Ontario. As municipalities seek ways to generate local revenue, they are looking to the province to grant them the authority to charge a municipal land transfer tax on home buyers.

OREA encourages you to share the campaign message with your clients, friends and neighbours. Go to www.donttaxmydream.ca and urge provincial candidates to “say NO to another tax on Ontario home buyers”. Visit the Government Relations section of www.orea.com.

Real Estate Corner

Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT)

STYLE OF HOMES # OF SALES PRICE RANGE AVERAGE PRICE

Single Detached Home 9 Low $260,000 $331,309–3 bedroom, single garage High $392,000

Single Detached Home 6 Low $445,000 $544,167–4 bedroom, double garage High $604,900

Semi Detached 5 Low $218,000 $240,150 High $266,000

JUNE AREA SALES REPORT

Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated

Peter Schneider,Sales RepresentativeRe/Max Solid GoldRealty (II) Ltd., Brokerage180 Weber St. S., Waterloo519-888-7110 Businesswww.takemehome.ca

Clean, well cared for home near both Universities. Features include newer windows + furnace, large recreation room, large mature yard.

MLS $289,888

Clean, well cared for, 2 1/2 storey home with garage. Located close to the new LRT stop. This home has lots of charm and character. Located at the quiet end of Stirling Ave.

MLS $244,888

Totally renovated inside. You’ll be impressed with the new Kitchen + Bathroom, new flooring, fresh paint, new siding, all done in 2014, new furnace + air in 2007 + new roof in 2004.

MLS $239,888

Clean, well cared for main floor unit. Features include quality laminate flooring, fresh paint, 2 spacious bedrooms. Open concept kitchen, dinette & living room with wood fireplace.

MLS $179,000

Your NeighbourhoodInsurance Broker

o/b 1216592 ON LTD

AUTO • HOME • TENANT • COMMERCIAL • SEASONAL • TRAVEL AUTO • HOME • TENANT • COMMERCIAL • SEASONAL • TRAVEL

CALL FOR A QUOTE 519-744-4190501 Krug St., Unit 112, Kitchener (Entrance beside the bank)

www.kwbroker.ca

Tom BevenbornJessica Bevenborn

David CarneyNicole EichholzLouise EnglerLynn PerkesFred Walz

22 • JULY 3, 2014 • KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION)

PARLIAMENTARY REPORT

by Stephen WoodworthMember of Parliament Kitchener Centre

Parliament passed some important legislation

since September 2013. To-gether Members of Parlia-ment worked throughout the Parliamentary process includ-ing debates, committee and votes. I will outline some of the more significant legisla-tion in this Parliamentary Re-port.

Economic Action Plan 2014, Bill C-31, received Roy-al Assent on June 19, 2014. Bill C-31 delivers a balanced budget by 2015. Elements within the budget include connecting Canadians with available jobs and foster-ing job creation, supporting families and communities, and investing in infrastruc-ture, trade and responsible resource development.

The House of Commons passed Bill C-6, the Prohib-iting Cluster Munitions Act. The purpose of the bill is to implement Canada’s inter-national obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in order that Canada may ratify the treaty. Under Canada’s con-stitutional system, obligations contained in international treaties must be implemented in legislation passed by Par-liament. The bill will now be reviewed by the Senate.

The First Nations Election Act, Bill C-9, received royal

assent on April 11, 2014. It takes action on the Gov-ernment’s commitment to provide all Canadians with strong, accountable and trans-parent Governments. The Bill addresses long-standing issues with the current elec-tion system under the Indian Act.

Also on April 11, 2014, Bill C-14, the Not Criminally Re-sponsible Reform Act was passed. The legislation ad-dressed concerns raised by victims of crime with respect to accused persons found NCR as a result of a mental disorder. Bill C-14 requires public safety as a paramount consideration in the decision-making process related to accused persons found to be NCR.

The Government continues to be focused on enhancing Canadian trade opportunities around the world. On June 19, 2014, the Canada-Honduras Economic Growth and Pros-perity Act received Royal Assent. Bill C-20 will provide increased market access for goods with almost 98 per cent of all tariff lines becoming duty-free once the agreement is fully implemented. Key Ca-nadian sectors which will ben-efit from the Act include beef, pork, potatoes, vegetable oils and grain products, as well as a range of processed food. ...continued on page 23

I have discussed the Fair Elections Act in two previous columns and am pleased to report that it received Royal Assent on June 19, 2014. Bill C-23 protects voters from rogue calls and imperson-ation, gives law enforcement officers the ability to seek tougher penalties for existing

offences and enforces rules for voter identification more carefully.

Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act re-ceived Royal Assent on June 19 and provides the first set of comprehensive reforms since the original Citizenship Act in 1977. The Government ex-

pects that this legislation will bring the average processing time for citizenship applica-tions down to under a year. By 2015-2016, this will reduce the backlog by 80 per cent. Citi-zenship application fees will also be better aligned with the

KITCHENER CITIZEN (EAST EDITION) • JULY 3, 2014 • 23

The quaint village of Elora will be filled with beautiful

music again this summer as the Elora Festival celebrates its 35th season this year.

Launched in 1979 as the Three Centuries Festival, it has evolved into an internationally acclaimed annual music event that draws capacity crowds.

This year’s festival is slightly shorter, running from July 11 to 27, but is offering more concerts in the shorter time frame.

Patrons will enjoy inter-national calibre music, from large-scale classical works for choir and orchestra to evenings of Latin and broadway music.

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

July 11 - Opening Night Gala

HAYDN’S CREATION 7:30 pm Gambrel Barn, EloraJuly 12

Clarinetist James Campbell and The Afiara String Quartet3:00 pm Knox Presbyterian Church, EloraOut Of Africa7:30 pm Gambrel Barn, EloraSunday, July 13

Brilliant Bach! Pianist Shoshana Telner2:00 pm St. John’s Church, EloraThe Choir Of Trinity College Cambridge, England4:00 pm Gambrel Barn, EloraTuesday, July 15

Renaissance Magic And Mystery! Toronto Consort:

The Da Vinci Codex7:30 pm St. John’s Church, EloraWednesday, July 16

The Irvine Twist Trio7:30 pm Gambrel Barn, EloraThursday, July 17

Rachmaninoff’s Vespers8:00 pm St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, FergusFriday, July 18

Elora Festival Kids Camp4:00 pm Elora Public SchoolThe Judgment Of Paris With Cbc Radio’s Tom Allen7:30 pm Gambrel Barn, EloraSaturday, July 19

Canada, Fall In! The Great War Remembered In Words, Images And Song - First

Performance1:30 pm St. John’s Church, EloraCanada, Fall In! The Great War Remembered In Words, Images And Song - Second Performance4:00 pm St. John’s Church, EloraBack To Back - Richard And Lauren Margison7:30 pm Gambrel Barn, EloraSunday, July 20

The Majesty Of Purcell2:00 pm St. John’s Church, EloraThe Gryphon Trio With Robert Pomakov4:00 pm St. John’s Church, EloraWednesday, July 23

Organ Recital With Matthew Larkin5:00 pm St. John’s Church, Elora

Songs From The Stage and Silver Screen7:30 pm Gambrel Barn, EloraThursday, July 24

Latin Fusion Trio With Dancer, Ishra8:00 pm St. John’s Church, EloraFriday, July 25The Tenors - Sold Out7:30 pm Gambrel Barn, EloraSaturday, July 26

Sharron’s Big Broadway Show3:00 pm St. John’s Church, EloraLast Night Of The Proms7:30 pm Gambrel Barn, EloraSunday, July 27

The Brodsky Quartet2:00 pm Knox Presbyterian Church, EloraThe Return Of Hymn Tasting4:00 pm St. John’s Church, Elora

Elora Festival kicks off 35th season on July 11

actual cost of processing.Two bills which I am eager

to see go through the House of Commons and Senate are the Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act (Bill C-26) and the Victims Bill of Rights Act (Bill C-23). Both of these have gone through several stages in the House of Commons but have not yet received Royal Assent. The proposed Bill C-26 is intend-ed to better protect children from a range of sexual of-fences and exploitation. The

Victims Bill of Rights Act would transform the criminal justice system by creating, at the federal level, clear rights for victims of crime.

Please don’t hesitate to con-tact my office should you have any questions regarding these new pieces of legislation or others of interest to you.

Parliamentary Report...from page 22

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Happy Canada Day!

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Here’s hoping you & your family had a