Ontwreckdiver
Contributor
I just got an email saying that the city of Kingston is evicting the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes. They have been ordered to vacate the premises by November 2007 and dispose of the icebreaker Alexander Henry.
Here's the email
Marine Museum of Kingston evicted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Museum was built by volunteer divers and now faces eviction by the City of Kingston, There is an online petition as well.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/marinemuseum/
Evicting Kingstons heritage
Why is the city turfing out model engineers and Marine Museum?
David More
Opinion Columns - Monday, January 15, 2007 Updated @ 11:36:54 PM
Evictions are trendy. Recently, the Whig-Standard published a piece about the eviction of the Society of Model Engineers by the City of Kingston. Volunteers from that society operated a workshop at the Pump House Steam Museum on Ontario Street, where they refurbished and maintained the equipment of the museum, free of charge. The article did not indicate how the city would continue maintaining the equipment.
Another pending eviction from the same property has not yet hit the news. The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes has also received an eviction notice from the City of Kingston. By November 2007, it has to vacate its premises and dispose of the icebreaker Alexander Henry.
Curiously, no one knows why in either case except city administrators. The valuable waterfront property these volunteer-based museums occupy belongs to the federal Department of Public Works. In other words, it actually belongs to us, the citizens of Canada. The City of Kingston has the responsibility of managing these assets for our national government.
But in the face of questions from the model engineers and the Marine Museum, the lips of city bureaucrats remain firmly sealed. Neither will our national minister for heritage and culture or our national minister of public works speak.
Nor can our MP, Peter Milliken, Speaker of Parliament, find out anything, he says. Curious indeed in a modern western democracy. Could be that its a matter of national security; is the property required for live-firing exercises, maybe?
Curiouser yet, the Whig also recently reported that the federal Department of Public Works will sell off 7.5 square kilometres of water lots early this year. A water lot is the bit of land underwater and the air above it adjacent to shoreline property. The owner of a water lot has the right to erect marine docks or other port structures above the water (with their supporting structures in the land under the water). The water lots in question stretch from Belle Island through downtown Kingston to Lake Ontario Park.
The water lots in front of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, over to West Street in front of the Pump House Steam Museum, are adjacent to the disintegrating remains of the only deep-water dock left in Kingston and the ancient, unique drydock and gate of the Marine Museum. The latter have been officially designated as national historic sites.
So, now, Im curious. Why is the city evicting responsible, civic-minded, long-term tenants from these historic waterfront properties?
I am not against development ... not until, that is, it threatens my heritage as a proud Canadian. Both of these museums are recognized officially as having historical value, not just for Kingstonians but for all Canadians. Indeed, there are millions of people around the world who might argue we have a duty to treasure some of these things forever.
Ten valiant little Canadian warships called corvettes were built at the Marine Museum site. Their unsung crews helped beat the U-boats (German submarines) and win the Second World Wars Battle of the Atlantic. Losing that battle might well have allowed Hitler to win the war. Wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill wrote that U-boats were the only Nazi weapon that ever frightened him.
There are some other water lots for sale where unfettered development could trash the value of adjacent waterfront property and our grandchildrens legacy. The Royal Military College and Fort Henry, for instance, face each other across Navy Bay water lots. That is where a long-vanished royal dockyard constructed warships to prevent the United States from liberating Canadians from Britain during the War of 1812.
The point is, we have the right to clear, specific answers about these evictions and the sale of our property. As a Canadian citizen and part-owner, Im demanding that my elected representatives and their employees permanently protect any water lots of historical significance from development that is destructive to our heritage. And since we already own them, its simply outrageous to ask us to repurchase them to make this happen. We have billions in federal budget surpluses; raising more cash from the sale of these priceless lots is just ridiculous (if that is the plan). Why wont anyone say?
Is anyone else concerned? If so, contact your MP and your city councillors, and write to the minister of public works and the minister of heritage and culture. We enjoy a free and democratic country. A letter to your elected federal representatives also is free; it doesnt even require a stamp. If we care at all about our countrys history, wed better exercise our right to know and our responsibility to act. Its little enough, and no one else in the world is going to do it for us.
David More, a former member of the Whig-Standards Community Editorial Board, is a member of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes and the Wolfe Island Historical Society.
Here's the email
Marine Museum of Kingston evicted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Museum was built by volunteer divers and now faces eviction by the City of Kingston, There is an online petition as well.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/marinemuseum/
Evicting Kingstons heritage
Why is the city turfing out model engineers and Marine Museum?
David More
Opinion Columns - Monday, January 15, 2007 Updated @ 11:36:54 PM
Evictions are trendy. Recently, the Whig-Standard published a piece about the eviction of the Society of Model Engineers by the City of Kingston. Volunteers from that society operated a workshop at the Pump House Steam Museum on Ontario Street, where they refurbished and maintained the equipment of the museum, free of charge. The article did not indicate how the city would continue maintaining the equipment.
Another pending eviction from the same property has not yet hit the news. The Marine Museum of the Great Lakes has also received an eviction notice from the City of Kingston. By November 2007, it has to vacate its premises and dispose of the icebreaker Alexander Henry.
Curiously, no one knows why in either case except city administrators. The valuable waterfront property these volunteer-based museums occupy belongs to the federal Department of Public Works. In other words, it actually belongs to us, the citizens of Canada. The City of Kingston has the responsibility of managing these assets for our national government.
But in the face of questions from the model engineers and the Marine Museum, the lips of city bureaucrats remain firmly sealed. Neither will our national minister for heritage and culture or our national minister of public works speak.
Nor can our MP, Peter Milliken, Speaker of Parliament, find out anything, he says. Curious indeed in a modern western democracy. Could be that its a matter of national security; is the property required for live-firing exercises, maybe?
Curiouser yet, the Whig also recently reported that the federal Department of Public Works will sell off 7.5 square kilometres of water lots early this year. A water lot is the bit of land underwater and the air above it adjacent to shoreline property. The owner of a water lot has the right to erect marine docks or other port structures above the water (with their supporting structures in the land under the water). The water lots in question stretch from Belle Island through downtown Kingston to Lake Ontario Park.
The water lots in front of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, over to West Street in front of the Pump House Steam Museum, are adjacent to the disintegrating remains of the only deep-water dock left in Kingston and the ancient, unique drydock and gate of the Marine Museum. The latter have been officially designated as national historic sites.
So, now, Im curious. Why is the city evicting responsible, civic-minded, long-term tenants from these historic waterfront properties?
I am not against development ... not until, that is, it threatens my heritage as a proud Canadian. Both of these museums are recognized officially as having historical value, not just for Kingstonians but for all Canadians. Indeed, there are millions of people around the world who might argue we have a duty to treasure some of these things forever.
Ten valiant little Canadian warships called corvettes were built at the Marine Museum site. Their unsung crews helped beat the U-boats (German submarines) and win the Second World Wars Battle of the Atlantic. Losing that battle might well have allowed Hitler to win the war. Wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill wrote that U-boats were the only Nazi weapon that ever frightened him.
There are some other water lots for sale where unfettered development could trash the value of adjacent waterfront property and our grandchildrens legacy. The Royal Military College and Fort Henry, for instance, face each other across Navy Bay water lots. That is where a long-vanished royal dockyard constructed warships to prevent the United States from liberating Canadians from Britain during the War of 1812.
The point is, we have the right to clear, specific answers about these evictions and the sale of our property. As a Canadian citizen and part-owner, Im demanding that my elected representatives and their employees permanently protect any water lots of historical significance from development that is destructive to our heritage. And since we already own them, its simply outrageous to ask us to repurchase them to make this happen. We have billions in federal budget surpluses; raising more cash from the sale of these priceless lots is just ridiculous (if that is the plan). Why wont anyone say?
Is anyone else concerned? If so, contact your MP and your city councillors, and write to the minister of public works and the minister of heritage and culture. We enjoy a free and democratic country. A letter to your elected federal representatives also is free; it doesnt even require a stamp. If we care at all about our countrys history, wed better exercise our right to know and our responsibility to act. Its little enough, and no one else in the world is going to do it for us.
David More, a former member of the Whig-Standards Community Editorial Board, is a member of the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes and the Wolfe Island Historical Society.
