The Mumpsimus Blog

Duncan's pushes back on patios

21 June 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Pointless legislation, Election 2010, downtown-BIA, Collingwood's municipal m...

Duncan's Cafe has launched a series of colour newspaper ads in response to the unpopular but determined efforts for five members of council to force restaurants to move their patios to the curbside. Here are three so...

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Tags: Collingwood's Municipal Madness, downtown, patios, council 2 Comments

The real way buskers play around the world

18 June 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Music and ukuleles, downtown-BIA, Collingwood's municipal m..., Collingwood life

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM"]http: //www.youtube.c...h?v=Us-TVg40ExM[/url]
None of those buskers would be allowed to play on Collingwood's streets, because they use...

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Tags: patios, downtown, buskers, Collingwood's Municipal Madness, council 7 Comments

Patio issue defused - for now

02 June 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Pointless legislation, downtown-BIA, Collingwood's municipal m...

The patio at Duncan's restaurant can stay where it is - for now. The councillors who wanted to repeal the old patio bylaw decided at the last moment to defer the motion (moved by Councillor Jeffrey, seconded by Councillor Labelle). Had it passed, it would have made all downtown patios illegal until (or if) a new patio bylaw comes into...

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Tags: patios, BIA, downtown, Collingwood's Municipal Madness 11 Comments

Toronto: patios, buskers and an animated downtown

30 May 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Social values, Pointless legislation, Election 2010, downtown-BIA, Collingwood's municipal m..., Collingwood life

I just returned from a few days in Toronto, attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) annual convention. Picked up a lot of good ideas (especially around open government and open data) and information, which I'll post at a later point. What I wanted to write about here is how the host city handles its downtown and its patios,...

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Tags: buskers, downtown, patios, Toronto, Collingwood Municipal Madness 0 Comments

Downtown slowly reopening, farmers' market returns, patio causes headaches

22 May 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Collingwood life, Collingwood's municipal m..., downtown-BIA, Pointless legislation

Construction proceeds apace downtown. Susan and I walked downtown (with Sophie) early Saturday to see how the newly-re-opened first block looked, do a little local shopping, and to gander at the farmers' market on its first open weekend (and buy a few odds and ends there, and downtown, too).*...

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Tags: Collingwood Municipal Madness, patios, downtown, council, closed for business 4 Comments

Newspaper story confusing about patio move

06 May 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Pointless legislation, downtown-BIA, Collingwood's municipal m..., Collingwood life

I've been getting some calls about the headline story in today's Collingwood Connection. Seems to some people the opening is murky about who voted for what. Unless you were there, it may not be very clear. The newspaper reported:

[quote]It appears patios in...

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Tags: Collingwood Municipal Madness, mayor, patios, downtown, BIA, newspaper 11 Comments

Despite widespread opposition, patios get moved to the curbside

20 April 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Social values, downtown-BIA, Collingwood's municipal m...

Despite all the problems, costs and concerns raised over the past year, the patios are moving to the curbside.*

Council voted 5-4 last night no to defer any changes to the proposed move. Councillors...

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Tags: patios, Collingwood Municipal Madness, downtown, BIA, no consultation, closed for business 13 Comments

Downtown patios, again

09 March 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick

An impassioned presentation on the benefits of moving the downtown restaurant patios to the curbside, last night, failed to move me. I still think it's a bad idea and I haven't heard any comments from the restaurant owners...

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