Kettle drive on track

On the Christmas charity beat...the Salvation Army is 8 thousand dollars ahead of where they were last year in their annual kettle drive. So far they have collected over 52 thousand dollars towards the 130 thousand dollar objective.

Community Foundation doles out dollars

The Thunder Bay Foundation is making it's generosity known again.   The institution's latest grant recipients are getting a total of 87 thousand dollars.   The organization has been a part of the city for almost 40 years.   It operates from the endowments of various citizens past and present.  

United Way campaign chugs along

The clock is counting down on the United Way Campaign. With just a few more weeks to go there's about another million dollars to raise to reach the 2.4 million dollar goal. Chair Wayne Fletcher says the larger donations are starting to come in as employee campaigns come to a close. Fletcher says he's confident the goal can be reached.

Neebing gets help with economic development

Neebing wants to develop new marketing strategies to attract investment and economic development. The provincial government is providing just over 5-thousand dollars to the community so they can design a marketing strategy. Thunder Bay Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro announced the funds today.

Housing Starts slowed in November

Thunder Bay is having a solid year for housing starts.  There was a slight slowdown in November, but so far this year there have been 191 single family starts.  Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's Market Analyst Warren Philp says only ten single detached units broke ground last month.  Philp says tighter resale market conditions have meant higher levels of new home construction.

Pugh, Boshcoff sit on committees

Thunder Bay's two new councillors are keeping busy by sitting on a number of community committees. Paul Pugh will take part in the District Social Services Board, Economic Development Commission,anti-racism and Waterfront and Simpson street business improvement boards. Meanwhile, Ken Boshcoff is taking part in many committees, such as the Audit committee, Lakehead Region Conservation Authority, Parking Authority, and the Hydro Recruitment Committee.

Massaro once again

Long time trustee Deborah Massaro was acclaimed as the Chair for her 4th consecutive term.  Trustee Karen Wilson was appointed as Vice Chair for the second straight term.  Massaro says she honoured to once again lead the board.

Hobbs not meeting with Premier or Ford Wednesday

Members of Thunder Bay City Council won't be travelling to Toronto today to speak with Dalton McGuinty about the Bombardier TTC contract.  Toronto Mayor Rob Ford came out of a meeting with the Premier yesterday saying he still plans to nix the streetcar contract.  Mayor Keith Hobbs says if that's the case they'll have to take more serious action.  Hobbs says they've yet to nail down a meeting with Ford, and notes he would like to invite the Toronto Mayor to tour the Bombardier plant.  Councillor Paul Pugh feels Ford is trying to influence council into thinking it's not a matter that requires their votes.

Meeting delay explained

Citizen and Councillor appointments to community boards delayed Tuesday night's council meeting by almost two hours.  Mayor Keith Hobbs campaigned on the idea of transparent council meetings and says Tuesday night's closed door meeting was warranted.  Hobbs says they needed to approve the citizens and councillors last night because the committees are starting immediately.  Hobbs says he doesn't like to make people wait and wants to see if there's something they can do to improve the flow of the meeting.  3 or more in camera sessions were held during a five hour meeting.

HAGI agreement extended

Thunder Bay City Council continues its relationship with the independent living organization HAGI. HAGI will continue to transport people with disabilities.  The new agreement with the City starts in the New Year and expires at the end of 2013.

EA report approved for Golf Links Road project

Thunder Bay City Council is now up to date on improvements proposed for Golf Links Road. Council approved the environmental assessment for the 18 million dollar project last night.  Councillor Ken Boshcoff notes the route could use less traffic lights since in the past council has said they want to improve traffic travel time. Project Manager Kathy Bemben says during the environmental assessment some area residents expressed concerns about noise levels from traffic on the improved roadway.

Deputation ends in report

The City of Thunder Bay is asking for more information on local improvement projects for Moore Avenue.  A concerned citizen was against the project and told council that the residents are paying for the work so they should get final say.  Council decided to get administration to provide a report on Moore avenue and the surrounding streets.  The rest of the local improvement projects for 2011 were approved.  Marcinyshyn is upset with the quality of previous work done to the avenue's curbs, sidewalks and gutters.

Council meeting off to rough start

Although Mayor Keith Hobbs spoke out against closed door meetings during the election campaign; Thunder Bay city council's first official meeting was delayed because of a closed session.  The meeting started almost two hours late because of  a meeting behind closed doors.  Councillor Brian McKinnon called the meeting to order around 8:15 and said they didn't want to be behind closed doors but the discussions were needed.  McKinnon says it was necessary and had to be done.

Mascot now has a name...name....name

The name of the mascot for the Ontario Special Winter Olympics is Echo.   Grade 4 Gorham and Ware student Kylii Saarinen won the "name the mascot" contest.  Officials say there were hundreds of entries.  As well games organizers say that two new sponsors came on board with donations of 5 thousand dollars each.   One was the Thunder Bay Foundation, the other was the Keg Spirit Foundation.

Ford still talks tough on nixing streetcars

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he's moving ahead with his plan that would eventually see him tear up the streetcar contract with Bombardier.  Ford met Tuesday morning with Premier McGuinty and says he's going ahead with a subway plan for the city, not the streetcars that our Bombardier plant in Thunder Bay would build. The mayor says Toronto city council doesn't have to vote to kill the plan because there was no vote to set it up in the first place.

Operation Red Nose does it's job

Operation Red Nose is proving to be a hit in Thunder Bay in it's sophomore year.   Organizer Karen Wood says so far about 100 rides have been logged by volunteers.   Wood says that's about par with last year. She says in total last year there were almost 290 rides given out.  Eight nights are left  in this years campaign.  Wood says they have over 100 volunteers helping out.

Hupka back as Catholic board chair

The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board is heading into the next year with Bob Hupka as it's chair. Hupka says the major challenge for the board will be dealing with the reality of fewer students through declining enrollment. Hupka would also like to see improved student scores on provincial tests.  Eleanor Ashe has been elected as board vice-chair. 

Special Olympics hurting for cash

Organizers of the Ontario Special Olympics are concerned.  Games Manager Julie Tilbury says some critical funding is needed for an important component of next months games, getting  the 270 thousand dollars needed to fly the athletes and coaches here. She says they're trying to secure funding from the McGuinty government.

South side restaurant robbed at knife point

Another armed robbery on the city's south side.  City Police are looking for one man after he robbed the Arthur Street Subway at Knife point just after 10:30 last night.  No one was hurt in the incident.

New Councillors sworn in

Former Mayor Ken Boshcoff is ready to work with Keith Hobbs. The new city councilor says he liked Hobb's inaugral address. Boshcoff says his goals echo the mayors; job creation and taxation. Meanwhile, Newcomer to City Council Paul Pugh is eager to work with the Mayor. Pugh says his priorities are housing, and substance abuse. Pugh was sworn in as the McKellar ward councillor.