General Update/Rumour thread [Archive] - Page 47

kevinbottawa

Dec 7, 2015, 2:22 AM

Crumbling heritage school may be replaced with four-storey apartment building

Joanne Laucius
Published on: December 6, 2015 | Last Updated: December 6, 2015 6:00 PM EST

The decades-long saga of a derelict Lowertown school may be coming to a close.

But some people in the neighbourhood aren’t happy with the proposed solution, even if city heritage planners argue that a new four-storey apartment building across from the old St. Brigid’s church will “re-animate this corner for the first time since the school was closed decades ago.”

A report to the city’ heritage subcommittee has recommended that the city approve a number of measures that have to be taken to allow for the construction of the new building at the corner of Murray Street and Cumberland Avenue.

The former Our Lady’s School, where Lowertown’s anglophone Catholic girls were educated, has been boarded up and scrawled with graffiti for years. The proposal would leave two walls of the 1904 school standing as a facade for the new building. Because the two-storey school had a high basement and high ceilings, the new four-storey building would appear to be only one storey higher than the original school.

“By incorporating the walls of the former school and developing a new residential use into the subject property, the corner of Cumberland and Murray Streets will make a positive contribution to the cultural landscape of this sector of the heritage conservation area, instead of featuring a vacant building with no function,” said the city report.

The derelict school has been a long-running problem for the city. Last year, the city won a legal battle with landlord Claude Lauzon, who owns the crumbling school. Lauzon was ordered to stabilize and protect the west and south walls, and foundations of the school under the direction of a structural engineer as well as securing the rest of the site and removing barricades to allow sidewalks to be open. He was also ordered to pay $140,000 in legal costs and expenses.

https://postmediaottawacitizen2.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/caption-renderings-for-a-new-four-storey-apartment-building1.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all

The proposal would clean up a corner that has been an eyesore for decades. But some say the plan will also leave a tear in the fabric of the heritage district.

David Jeanes, president of Heritage Ottawa, says the crumbling school has been “the poster child for demolition by neglect.”

But he is also concerned about another element of the proposal, which demands that a modest 1870s double worker’s cottage be demolished to make way for the project. The report says the planning department “regrets” the loss of the cottage. While the city isn’t happy with tearing down the cottage, it sees new building as a compromise, he said. Tearing down 281-283 Cumberland St. would extend the “developable” area of the street.

But the point of having a heritage district is to leave as much of the urban fabric as possible intact. And that includes the cottage, said Jeanes.

“It’s not in bad condition. It contributes to the nature of the neighbourhood. You need to look at the buildings as a group,” he said.

“You could progressively lose a lot of heritage if you don’t draw the line.”

Liz MacKenzie, co-chair of the heritage committee of the Lowertown Community Association, says the school looks better since the walls have been stabilized and the graffiti has been cleaned up. But she said its windows have been left open for years, contributing to the damage.

She is also opposed to demolishing the cottage. Research shows the building was inhabited in the latter part of the 19th century by three francophone widows who survived by running small businesses. The story is part of the district’s history, said MacKenzie. “It’s a testament to women entrepreneurs in Centretown.”

The city’s built heritage subcommittee is to vote on the proposal Thursday. If approved, it will move to planning committee in January.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/crumbling-heritage-school-may-be-replaced-with-four-storey-apartment-building

Speedy Gonzales

Dec 9, 2015, 7:27 PM

Here are some renderings of the Place Bell renovation from the hoarding. Looks very nice. Loving the retail spaces.

Just don't look up

rocketphish

Dec 11, 2015, 12:40 AM

Eugene Haslam sells Ottawa's iconic Zaphod nightclub

By Aedan Helmer, Ottawa Sun
First posted: Thursday, December 10, 2015 11:17 AM EST | Updated: Thursday, December 10, 2015 05:44 PM EST

"So long, and thanks for all the fish."

In the end, it was only fitting that longtime impresario Eugene Haslam signed off on his life's latest chapter with a wisecrack from the author who inspired its inception.

The venerable music promoter -- who lifted the name of his Zaphod Beeblebrox bar and its motto as "the nightclub at the edge of the universe" from the pages of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy -- is stepping into retirement after finalizing the sale of the iconic Byward Market club.

But unlike the novel's hyper-intelligent dolphins, who bid farewell to their keepers and vacated Earth shortly before its destruction, Zaphod's will not be razed to make way for a hyperspace bypass (just read the book...)

"If I'm exiting, I want to do it in a way that I can still leave this legacy to the city," said Haslam from his home, where he staged a partial retreat from the limelight after suffering a stroke five years ago.

Haslam, 60, is keeping the club in the family, so to speak, passing the torch to a staffer (though he won't name the new owner, nor disclose the financial terms of the sale.)

"So many times you hear about these places, like the Ottawa Folklore Centre and Mello's closing up shop, and these places have a history," said Haslam. "It's a legacy."

Besides, Haslam acknowledges, "I'm not a young pup any more."

"For a time, I was seen as the face of live music in Ottawa, helping musicians and bands in town, or coming through town. But it's good to pass the torch of Zaphod's to someone who cares about it and is willing to step up," he said. "Staff have been running the place (in his absence) and they know how to run it ... For me, it's time to step away a bit."

When Haslam announced last year he was stepping back and looking for a buyer, there was an outpouring of gratitude from patrons and performers alike, matched only by the deluge of support he's seen since the sale was completed.

But this is far from the end of the road for Haslam, who equates his departure to a hit TV show going out in its prime.

"Sometimes things stick around a bit too long," said Haslam. "But you look at Seinfeld, that show went out at its zenith, but (Jerry) Seinfeld is still around. He's still doing his thing, just in a different way."

Haslam hopes he can continue to do his thing.

"Maybe I can use my skill set, but at a more cerebral level," he said, rhyming off a few of the national institutes, regulatory agencies and lobby groups that have their headquarters in the capital, like the Canada Council for the Arts or the CRTC.

"I'm a free agent now!"

His tenure as owner will officially end on Jan. 31, 2016, and in a statement posted Wednesday on his Facebook page, Haslam asked Ottawans to show new ownership the same "strong support (to) continue the legacy of our past 26+ years."

Haslam, who said he will take a break to "enjoy life" (as well as, presumably, the universe and everything...), signed off with one last nugget of wisdom from his favourite author.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."

MUSICAL TIMELINE

1986-87 - Eugene Haslam opens The Underground, on the corner of Rideau and Friel St. "That's where the foundation of my journey was. It was a community of like-minded souls."

The club shuttered after a year, and Haslam returned to his old job as a banker.

1989 - "Months turned to years" in the bank, said Haslam, and so he returned to the club scene, opening the original Zaphod Beeblebrox in the same building on Rideau and Friel. The property was sold in 1991 and the old building razed to make way for the Bell Canada building currently occupying the site.

1992 - Back at the bank, Haslam was presented with an opportunity to lease the building at 27 York St. in March. He immediately thought, "Let's reopen Zaphod's." It has remained there ever since.

1996 - With a business partner, Haslam acquired and reopened the dormant Barrymore's. After a falling out, "I had the choice between something I had built and created, or something I was just taking care of." Haslam opened a rival club next door to Barrymore's, the short-lived Zaphod's 2. After that closed down, he returned to dedicate himself solely to the original club.

MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS

The musical highlights have been many, and Haslam admits a few too many Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters may have dulled his memory, but among his all-time highlights are Ben Harper, Alanis Morissette (for her launch of Jagged Little Pill), Yo La Tengo, Alejandro Escovedo, The Proclaimers, Ashley MacIsaac, Jeff Buckley, King Cobb Steelie and, of course, The Rolling Stones.

"They were in town doing the Lansdowne Park show, and I guess the idea came up to shoot a video (for Streets of Love)," Haslam recalled.

"They wanted to do it in a small place, you know, something funky to make it look like old times.

"We got the call (from a manager) and asked if they could do it."

It was a short conversation, Haslam recalled. "Yeah, okay. We can do that," he said.

Twitter: @OttSunHelmer
http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/12/10/eugene-haslam-sells-ottawas-iconic-zaphod-nightclub

rocketphish

Dec 13, 2015, 3:18 AM

The redevelopment of Shoppers City East is well underway, with a new building almost finished on the northwest corner of the property (corner of Ogilvie Rd. and Blair Place). It resembles the Shoppers Drug Mart building from the Trinity webpage. Of course, it could also be the SDM building from the old August 2013 pre-Costco plan as well.

Trinity's website:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/734/23602619822_6af39a638d_o.jpg

From: http://www.trinity-group.com/property/shoppers-city-east

August 2013:

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5668/23343115699_602e3f8f5e_o.jpg

From: http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__9UZL39

MountainView

Dec 13, 2015, 8:56 PM

rocketphish

Dec 13, 2015, 11:11 PM

I noticed today that construction has started on the Fairfield Inn at 135 Thad Johnson Pvt beside the current Hilton Garden Inn by the Ottawa Airport.

It will be an eight storey 235 guest room hotel.

Cool. Let's get a thread started on that:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=220149

rocketphish

Dec 16, 2015, 4:07 AM

The Queensway Towers at 200 Isabella St. were being demolished as I drove past this morning. However, I haven't seen any plans for this site?

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.4093497,-75.6905875,3a,50y,174.27h,88.27t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1scobTGsCUjifmwdHgpqa0Qw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DcobTGsCUjifmwdHgpqa0Qw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D109.66626%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

phil235

Dec 16, 2015, 2:53 PM

rocketphish

Dec 16, 2015, 7:19 PM

I saw that too. I couldn't tell - are they coming down, or just being re-clad?

They had ripped half-way into it by this morning... it's definitely coming down.

Proof Sheet

Dec 16, 2015, 9:41 PM

rocketphish

Dec 18, 2015, 6:11 PM

Gatineau shoreline tells Canada's story and should be a National Historic Site

Randy Boswell, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 18, 2015 | Last Updated: December 18, 2015 11:16 AM EST

In terms of world history, we typically think of Canada’s capital as a young city in a relatively new country, a nation poised to celebrate just its 150th birthday in 2017. Compared to Quebec City, say, which marked its 400th anniversary in 2008, or 2,000-year-old London, England, Ottawa-Gatineau has seemed like a babe in the woods, a pioneer lumber village founded barely 200 years ago in the midst of the Ottawa Valley’s white pine forest.

But a new, old story about the history of the place has recently come into focus, and it speaks to the great antiquity and significance of the prehistoric human presence around the confluence of the Ottawa, Gatineau and Rideau rivers. Perhaps, if the tendency towards forgetting Canada’s aboriginal past had not been such a prominent feature of national storytelling in our history, this story would have become well known much sooner.

The story also shines a spotlight on a prominent piece of land in the capital that should be designated a National Historic Site — not only because new research proves it was profoundly important in the aboriginal history of the Ottawa Valley, but also because its uses and transformation over the centuries, including the 21st, tell the story of Canada like few other places in the country.

The place in question, situated on the Gatineau shore directly across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill, became known in the 19th century as “Hull Landing.” Today, it encompasses the site of the Canadian Museum of History and adjacent riverside properties owned by the National Capital Commission.

We now know, after more than a century of uncertainty, that there was once a large, complex and ancient indigenous burial ground there, at the very centre of what became Canada’s capital city.

We also know that this sacred site — so close to the thundering waterfall that punctuated the landscape for millennia before lumber mills and hydro dams obscured its magnificence — began receiving the remains of the dead some 5,000 years ago. That’s several lifetimes before the oldest and most renowned of the Great Pyramids of Egypt entombed the Pharaoh Khufu, circa 2,560 BC.

This site is only now understood to have been used by countless generations of First Peoples over thousands of years. It held evidence of at least three distinct burial practices (communal, cremation and individual, including a purported “chief of gigantic stature”), attesting to its continued and evolving use over a great span of time.

The newly confirmed location of this cemetery, a natural canoe landing that marked one end of a well-worn portage route around Chaudière Falls, only deepens the symbolic significance of that great cataract, an enduringly important spiritual site for First Nations and a natural wonder seen as second only to Niagara Falls by early European explorers.

The full story of this ancient burying ground has only emerged with the recent discovery of a few long-overlooked 19th-century newspaper articles, including ones published in the Ottawa Citizen and Toronto’s Globe in July 1860.

But the place where the burial ground existed for millennia has a rich history quite apart from that ancient use. Just as this shoreline locale had served for so long as a key carrying place for aboriginal travellers, it provided contact-era explorers — almost certainly including Samuel de Champlain in 1613, on his way to and from meeting the great Algonquin chief Tessouat farther up the Valley — a stopping point to rest, camp and portage around the turbulent Chaudière.

During the early 1800s, when fledgling Bytown (future Ottawa) and older Wrightstown (future Hull, later Gatineau) were growing up around the headlocks of the Rideau Canal, the old portage site on the opposite shore — then owned by the region’s original settler, Philemon Wright — became the north-side terminus of a ferry connecting the two communities, as well as Upper and Lower Canada.

It was home, as well, to precursors of today’s thriving Ottawa-Gatineau tourism industry, boasting an inn (Bédard’s Hotel) and public house (King’s Tavern) in the mid-1800s. Then came a steamship dock, where passengers from Montreal and around the world disembarked when visiting the country’s new capital.

During the era when the Ottawa antiquarian Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt twice investigated the burial ground (in 1843 and 1860), the place he knew as Hull Landing was being exploited as a supply of sand for major public works projects.

While workers were excavating sand there in 1843 to build the nearby Union Suspension Bridge — the first permanent link between English and French Canada, a span of which still exists today — Van Cortlandt was alerted to a common grave containing about 20 sets of ancient human remains.

And it was in the summer of 1860 — when Hull Landing sand was being used for mortar to bind the stone blocks of the new Parliament Buildings — that Van Cortland was again called upon to collect prehistoric human bones being churned up by a work crew. This fact is the basis of a chilling possibility: that fragments of the skeletal remains encountered by those workers remain encased in some of the outer walls of East Block and West Block.

Around the same time, additional traces of aboriginal activity — pottery shards, arrow heads, tools — were being unearthed at Hull Landing.

As the industrial era took hold in the burgeoning capital, the landing was taken over by a major sawmill operation and then a sprawling pulp-mill complex — the famous E.B. Eddy paper plant — that symbolized the strength of Ottawa-Hull’s economy but also the degradation of its once-pristine environment.

After more than a century as a hub of industry, this riverside property was purchased by the federal government in 1972. It was then cleared of its unsightly pulp-and-paper trappings, save a single “digester” tower that stands today as a relic of Ottawa-Gatineau’s industrial heritage.

That tower now looms over the latest occupant of the old burial ground and boat landing: astoundingly, given the storied past of this patch of earth, the Canadian Museum of History.

It’s a coincidence almost too bizarre to believe, but Canada’s No. 1 cultural tourist attraction — a showcase of aboriginal heritage and a nationally important centre for archaeological scholarship, including a major research collection of human remains — is now located on the same stretch of Ottawa River shoreline where ancient aboriginals buried their dead 3,000 years before the birth of Christ.

In May 1983, after this parcel of land had been named the site of Canada’s new history museum, then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau (wearing a buckskin jacket and eagle feather to honour the fur-trade voyageurs) paddled from the foot of Parliament Hill to old Hull Landing to launch archaeological work.

No one knew, at that time, that experts were digging into the site of a 5,000-year-old indigenous burial ground. The archaeologists found only the stone remnants of a 19th-century lumber mill and other traces of life from that relatively recent time.

Something else the museum builders didn’t know: the bones and other objects Van Cortlandt had dug up at Hull Landing would go on to play cameo roles in Ottawa’s quest to become Canada’s capital, in the very origins of Canada’s first public museums, and in the earliest inklings of unease about disturbing aboriginal burial grounds — a 19th-century disquietude that foreshadowed today’s repatriation movement.

Today, the land encompassing this rediscovered burial place — a tiny portion of the region’s vast, unceded Algonquin territory — is controlled by the national institution most concerned with showcasing our collective past and the federal agency responsible for preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of Ottawa-Gatineau.

It’s hard to imagine a more advantageous scenario for the proper commemoration of an ancient archaeological site, one older than the Great Pyramid of Giza, in the heart of Canada’s capital.

A National Historic Site? At the very least.

But perhaps it warrants even more attention as part of the ambitious riverfront redevelopment now unfolding in the capital’s urban core. Nearby, Windmill Development’s real estate megaproject around the Chaudière Falls — named Zibi, the Algonquin word for river — promises to honour the region’s First Peoples, past and present. It has also deeply divided Ottawa-area aboriginal groups, some of which favour the creation of a sprawling indigenous spiritual, cultural and political complex encompassing Victoria Island, the Chaudière Falls and adjacent isles.

Meanwhile, the NCC continues its efforts to “animate” the capital’s shoreline lands, including LeBreton Flats and parts of old Hull Landing. And the Canadian Museum of History, its ongoing $25-million rebranding and reconstruction hailed as the country’s flagship project for the upcoming 150th birthday bash, is poised to unveil its reimagined Canadian History Hall in 2017.

Could these projects not somehow embrace the story of the lost-and-found burial site and the ancient culture that once thrived between the Falls and the Gatineau River delta?

As it happens, an industrial property immediately west of the museum — a portion of which was likely part of the ancient burial ground — is now also owned by the NCC. It’s due to be reclaimed as a national ceremonial space when the lease of the present occupant — the Kruger paper company — expires in 2028.

Perhaps at that location, which also offers a commanding view of Canada’s national legislature across the river, there is room for a more expansive commemoration of the country’s ancient indigenous heritage, or for other projects celebrating this century’s cultural and political renaissance of Aboriginal Canada — right where the very earliest inhabitants of the future capital, in their own Valley of the Kings, left an indelible mark on the land.

Randy Boswell is a professor of journalism at Carleton University. Boswell and Jean-Luc Pilon, an archaeologist at the Canadian Museum of History and adjunct professor at Carleton, have published two co-authored studies about the ancient aboriginal burial ground in the latest issue of the Canadian Journal of Archaeology.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/randy-boswell-gatineau-shoreline-tells-canadas-story-and-should-be-a-national-historic-site

rocketphish

Dec 20, 2015, 10:13 PM

All Saints Anglican Church sold for community use

Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 20, 2015 | Last Updated: December 20, 2015 4:12 PM EST

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2015/12/118345-all-saints-anglican-church-at-the-intersection-of-cha.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all&w=700

The historic All Saints Anglican Church in Sandy Hill has been sold, and will gradually be developed as a mixed-use building for meetings, weddings and neighbourhood-scale businesses.

The Gothic Revival church on Laurier Avenue between Chapel Street and Blackburn Avenue was listed for sale at $1.7 million. The purchase price hasn’t been disclosed.

Completed in 1900, it was the site of the state funeral of Sir Robert Borden in 1937.

Leanne Moussa, one of the organizers of the drive to purchase and redevelop the building, says its link with past prime ministers is going to remain part of its future.

She says the plans include an interpretive centre for Prime Ministers’ Row, the historic strip along Laurier Avenue East that includes Laurier House itself, across from the church.

Plans also include: Multi-faith worship, weddings and a conference centre with catering in the building. The buyers want to offer a new location to TAN Coffee, which recently closed its Sandy Hill location after a lease expired.

The Anglican Diocese said in an anouncement that the investors buying the property are “a group who are committed to preserving public space and working with the community for the adaptive re-use of the Church and development of the surrounding property.”

It adds that “the adjacent church hall — commonly referred to as Bate Hall after the family who built the Church — will for the time being continue to serve as a community resource space. Mixed-use development that responds to community needs is planned for the site.”

Moussa and others formed a community group called Save The Saints to find a new use for the site.

For now, there won’t be changes to the outside of the church, though there will be renovations inside. For one thing, the pews are going to come out to create a large open space for meetings.

“In the longer term, there is some space for development out on the corner of Blackburn and Laurier,” she said.

This could involve commercial space downstairs, such as a bakery and a coffee shop. “Basically we’re looking for tenants that meet the needs of local residents.”

The plan is for office space upstairs, “hopefully targeting NGOs.”

tspears@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/all-saints-anglican-church-sold-for-community-use

DubberDom

Jan 4, 2016, 4:39 PM

waterloowarrior

Jan 5, 2016, 9:30 PM

Committee of Adjustment agendas now online
http://app05.ottawa.ca/sirepub/agendaminutes/index_en.aspx

Boxster

Jan 12, 2016, 9:12 PM

Good article on boring Ottawa.:rolleyes:

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cohen-ottawa-is-the-worst-capital-city-in-the-g7

acottawa

Jan 12, 2016, 9:25 PM

Good article on boring Ottawa.:rolleyes:

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cohen-ottawa-is-the-worst-capital-city-in-the-g7

I think he makes several good points, but it seems a little ridiculous to compare Ottawa to other G7 capitals. It has a fraction of the population of any other G7 capital (Greater Tokyo has more people than Canada) and was never the capital of a large empire (where other G7 capitals picked up many of their goodies).

Also, if he thinks Ottawa infrastructure is slow I assume he has never been to Rome or London.

zzptichka

Jan 12, 2016, 11:06 PM

Good article on boring Ottawa.:rolleyes:

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cohen-ottawa-is-the-worst-capital-city-in-the-g7

What can be more boring than Airport parkway widening though?

rocketphish

Jan 13, 2016, 12:42 AM

Major restoration of National War Memorial set to begin this spring

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: January 12, 2016 | Last Updated: January 12, 2016 6:40 PM EST

Public Works and Government Services Canada is in a race against the clock to complete a major restoration of the National War Memorial before sesquicentennial celebrations in 2017.

The restoration of the 77-year-old landmark, expected to cost more than $5 million, will take an estimated 36 weeks to complete. The work won’t start until spring, with the goal of completing it by late fall or early winter.

Because most of the work can’t be done during the winter months, the timetable is unforgivingly tight. But the motivation for meeting it is high: otherwise, the work would spill over into the spring of 2017, when a well-scrubbed Ottawa will host a national celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday.

In a letter of interest posted Tuesday on the government’s tendering website, Public Works invited firms interested in bidding on the contract to submit their qualifications by Feb. 2. Only pre-qualified bidders will be eligible to bid on the contract.

The memorial in Confederation Square, inaugurated in 1939 by King George VI, needs significant work, including the repair or replacement of elements of the site podium, cleaning and re-waxing the bronze elements, cleaning, repairing and re-pointing its masonry and installing waterproofing.

Among other things, it involves:

Preserving, maintaining and protecting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, added in 2000;
Cleaning the stone of the cenotaph memorial, repairing or replacing local damage and repointing all the joints;
Demolishing and removing all of the existing concrete slab, excavating through the top layer of the existing concrete and constructing a new reinforced concrete slab with a waterproofing membrane;
Replacing or repairing all existing podium pavers and removing staining.

The work comes with its share of challenges, Public Works observed in its letter of invitation. Heritage considerations are important “in order to ensure that the commemorative integrity of the site is conserved and that the heritage designation of the site is maintained,” it says.

Most of the restoration, including the replacement of the concrete slab, pavers, statues and landscaping, cannot take place during the winter months.

The site – an important venue for ceremonial activities – is bounded by important thoroughfares for commuters and tourists, the department notes. “Access during construction could require rerouting traffic.”

Even the ownership structure poses a challenge: Public Works, the National Capital Commission and Parks Canada all share ownership of the site. As a result, “there are an increased level of approvals involved with the design and implementation of this project,” the letter of interest says.

The upcoming work follows a smaller project in 2014 that filled in an existing crawl space with unshrinkable concrete to reinforce the 21.5-metre cenotaph. It required the closure of sidewalks but did not disrupt the flow of traffic.

dbutler@postmedia.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/major-restoration-of-national-war-memorial-set-to-begin-this-spring

bikegypsy

Jan 13, 2016, 5:13 AM

Good article on boring Ottawa.:rolleyes:

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cohen-ottawa-is-the-worst-capital-city-in-the-g7

Let's not forget that Canada also wins first, second AND third place for most boring nation of the G7.

McC

Jan 13, 2016, 12:45 PM

Cohen is a windbag in need of a good editor.
It cannot produce better, more reasonable restaurants.
What, pray tell, is a "reasonable" restaurant? And if we're so middling and milquetoast, isn't that just what all of our "best" restaurants would be?

Ottawa needs to be bolder and faster and do more with the water front, he says, but hey, stop and rethink a bold proposal to do something with the waterfront at Chaudiere! He does that sort of thing all the time, the same thing is the cause of and solution to problems depending on his personal prefernces. No more talk on thing x (that I like) but for god's sake stop and talk about thing y that I don't like (Zibi, Communism Memorial, etc). Build light rail because other cities do, it doesn't matter where it goes or how it works, then wonder, 'hey how come we always build second rate stuff?'

Hack.

Chris-R

Jan 13, 2016, 2:24 PM

Cohen is a windbag in need of a good editor.

He needs to move. Following his long trail of whiny and angst-ridden op-ed pieces, he's never liked it here, and it's unclear if he ever will. If some of these criticisms were levelled by near anybody else, there might be some validity. His entire career oeuvre seems to be the product of him having a great time at Expo '67, which has left him unable to see as good anything else. Absent any Centennial-era fervor and budget, he employs the normal lazy attempt (that gets levelled at Toronto with reckless abandon) of drawing hazy handwavy tourist-image comparisons to much larger, older, or wealthier cities.

He's like that friend who just got back from a weekend in New York.

Uhuniau

Jan 13, 2016, 4:26 PM

Good article on boring Ottawa.:rolleyes:

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cohen-ottawa-is-the-worst-capital-city-in-the-g7

It actually says a lot more about Boring Andrew Cohen. He used to have a point, but he's kinda bludgeoned it to death. And for frick's sake, "green space"? COME ON.

daud

Jan 14, 2016, 2:34 PM

It actually says a lot more about Boring Andrew Cohen. He used to have a point, but he's kinda bludgeoned it to death. And for frick's sake, "green space"? COME ON.

I think the examples he cites are not the best examples of the point he was making. yes, Ottawa is probably at the bottom of the G7 capitals, but those are some big competition-London, Washington, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Rome.

He was on CFRA this morning and his point was essentially-Ottawa is pleasant but it is by no means great. He cited some better examples, no new museum in over 10 years and we had a great opportunity with Science and Tech-we renovated the bakery warehouse.

The thing that concerns me most with the Airport parkway is that a deferral of this magnitude should have been communicated to the Councillors. They expect to be kept abreast of changes and can hardly be expected to read the complete budget file-especially if it gets changed/edited. It seems to me someone kept that info from them on purpose-councillors voted for the budget without even knowing about this. That is explicit deceptive and subversive behaviour and municipal governments should not be doing this This deferral should have been up for debate and projects prioritized.

I'm all for pay as you go-but what are we going ahead with and what are we deferring and who decides? Apparently council doesn't get to...

phil235

Jan 14, 2016, 8:07 PM

I think the examples he cites are not the best examples of the point he was making. yes, Ottawa is probably at the bottom of the G7 capitals, but those are some big competition-London, Washington, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Rome.

He was on CFRA this morning and his point was essentially-Ottawa is pleasant but it is by no means great. He cited some better examples, no new museum in over 10 years and we had a great opportunity with Science and Tech-we renovated the bakery warehouse.

Exactly. While there is no excuse for not striving to be a great city, there are only a handful of cities in the world that can match up to those ones.

The point about the Airport Parkway is not very well thought out. There is considerable opposition to that plan on the basis that they are widening a suburban artery to facilitate car commuting, only to dump those commuters onto Bronson, which is very much over capacity and has all sorts of problems. It's not as simple as saying that widening the Parkway is good urban planning that we are delaying, as that really isn't the case. Though on lack of a transit alternative, he has a point.

Uhuniau

Jan 14, 2016, 8:48 PM

Exactly. While there is no excuse for not striving to be a great city, there are only a handful of cities in the world that can match up to those ones.

Zackly.

And most of those other cities are either thousands of years old (Rome, London, Paris) or many hundreds at least (Tokyo, Berlin); former Imperial capitals (Rome, London, Paris, lesserly Tokyo and Berlin; Washington arguably still is); or the metropolis of the country (Rome, London, Paris, Tokyo, Berlin).

Ottawa is quite exceptional as a G7 capital: young, not an imperial capital, not the country's largest metropolitan area. It's a bit like comparing Sacramento to Boston among US state capitals.

And Ottawa's faults, and boy there are lots - like any city, really - are not going to be fixed by widening roads or building more stupid pointless "green space".

Uhuniau

Jan 14, 2016, 9:56 PM

Paul Wells smacks Cohen down pretty good:

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/world-class-whine-why-ottawas-haters-are-wrong/

Proof Sheet

Jan 14, 2016, 10:12 PM

Paul Wells smacks Cohen down pretty good:

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/world-class-whine-why-ottawas-haters-are-wrong/

Cohen reminds me of the type of debbie downer people I run into who do nothing but complain but do nothing to solve the problem. The type of people who complain about politicians yet never vote as 'they are all the same as one another'.

daud

Jan 14, 2016, 11:28 PM

Cohen reminds me of the type of debbie downer people I run into who do nothing but complain but do nothing to solve the problem. The type of people who complain about politicians yet never vote as 'they are all the same as one another'.

Epic Burn by Paul Wells.

However, I do think Cohen is hitting on something; though his article wasn't the best piece of work.

On CFRA this AM, he even went as far to say Ottawa is pleasant, not great, which I would agree with. Complaining about Ottawa is very much an Ottawa thing to do, so I would say he's very well indoctrinated into the city psyche.

I believe Ottawa is moving forward, but it is still lagging other canadian cities like Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto in growth, entertainment and development. I love it here, but I fully acknowledge, this is a nice place to live. Not a hugely impactful or exciting capital, but a pleasant place and at times it can inspire.

J.OT13

Jan 15, 2016, 2:07 AM

Ottawa has potential. We could one day be a Grand G7 capital that rivals them all.

I was stuck in traffic on the Chaudière Bridge yesterday just before 5 p.m. and I was amazed on how awesome the area looks. The big cool old 1919 green trusses, the abandoned factories, soon to be restored and opened to the public, the hydro electric plant, the Falls, MY GOD those are mind blowing. And looking towards Hull, Terrace de la Chaudière towers, even the new one on Eddy. You could really see the layers of history in a big, long established city.

I rarely drive on that bridge, let alone in traffic, but yesterday, I really had the chance to appreciate the area like never before.

This morning, around 7-7:30, I drove from Hull to Ottawa by the Alexandra Bridge, and again, a true marvel. Then driving down Mackenzie Avenue looking at the Connaught Building and the snow on top of the Château Laurier. Old Union Station. All I could think was how this city was built to be viewed in winter.

Crossing the Plaza Bridge to Wellington, looking down Elgin, the line of historic contrast; the War Memorial, the 1800s office buildings, the post office, the High Commission, couple stunning new office buildings, Lord Elgin, and Place Bell. Hands down the best face of the CBD.

Finally the Federal Precinct on Wellington. Monumental office buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century.

Last two days have really given me a new perspective.

On a related note, looks like they are re-building the long demolished canopy on the Wellington building. Working on the Steel Frame as of this morning.

Here is a picture of the original:

http://fgmda.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Met-Life-Bldg-Wellington-Entrance-1927.jpg
http://fgmda.com/en/the-wellington-building/

Amazing Ottawa in Winter:

http://www.macleans.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/13639244001_4306770221001_FINAL-RideauSkate-1920x1080.jpg
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/world-class-whine-why-ottawas-haters-are-wrong/

bikegypsy

Jan 15, 2016, 5:49 AM

The effort applied in hating Ottawa is staggering and this entire bashing thing is getting so old. Yes, it's not extremely exciting, but nor is Canada, and I think that Ottawa has yet to reach its friction point, which will happen before the 2m mark. Meanwhile, this city is developing a buoyant foodie and cultural scene. It's not Paris or Berlin, but it doesn't need to be. If there's one positive thing resulting from all the hating is that it makes Ottawa continuously evaluate and doubt itself. It's the Woody Allen of cities, which paradoxically, makes its more interesting. So can someone please explain to me why people put so much effort in hating? When I dislike something, I just ignore it and put my attention somewhere else.

Acajack

Jan 15, 2016, 11:22 AM

Paul Wells smacks Cohen down pretty good:

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/world-class-whine-why-ottawas-haters-are-wrong/

Paul Wells is so good.

daud

Jan 15, 2016, 2:52 PM

Acajack

Jan 18, 2016, 3:49 PM

So this latest article by Andrew Cohen got me thinking about a discussion I had with two Franco-Ontarian friends of mine over the holidays.

The three of us went to high school together in a small town outside Ottawa.

One of them now lives in central Ottawa. He works for the public service as does his wife.

The other lives in France in a pretty nice city that's about one-third the size of Ottawa. He makes tons of money and lives in the central part of the city in what is basically a single family home. He can walk to the "centre-ville" in about 15 minutes. He's lived the expat life for a bit in Canada (in Ottawa and Montreal, notably) and he's also lived in Canada. His wife is an anglo who doesn't speak much French (or anything else) and she doesn't work outside the home. As he's out of town a lot for work their social life revolves around hers so all of their friends are Anglosphere expats from Canada, US, UK, Australia, etc. Their kids also go to a private school full of expat kids.

Anyway, the expat friend is now starting to think about making his next move.

These two friends are closer to each other than they are to me, and so the guy who lives in Ottawa wants his buddy back in town so much of the evening was him making a pitch to his buddy about how great Ottawa is.

It was all very interesting to watch. My expat friend was once a pretty feisty proud Canadian type, and a big fan of Ottawa in general. He didn't grow up in the city but he did go to Ottawa U and it's always been "his city" in his mind.

But strangely enough I found him quite skeptical of many of the "plus" points for Ottawa that our friend was putting forward.

For example, when the Ottawan mentioned that Ottawa was a bigger city with more stuff than where he lived now in France, he replied to the contrary that in his mind it had more "urban qualities" than Ottawa does, in spite of its smaller size.

My expat friend actually really really likes Montreal as an option in Canada, but they've already lived there and his wife isn't too keen on going there again. I think she has her sights set on a truly anglo place or a very "anglo friendly" place like Amsterdam or somewhere in Scandinavia.

My bet is that they'll end up somewhere in the U.S. Maybe Boston or D.C. Or somewhere on the west coast of the U.S.

In the end our Ottawan friend kind of gave up, and his last points were basically "well, you know, Ottawa works for me..."

acottawa

Jan 18, 2016, 4:07 PM

What struck me about the latest Cohen article (I assume rocketphish will post) is his prescription for a better Ottawa: "creating museums in edgy buildings, recovering its riverfront, encouraging public art, innovating in mass transit, being original" describes Ottawa 30-40 years ago where urban renewal efforts were directed at museums (many of which are perfectly useful and not really in need of replacing), riverfront was "recovered" (i.e. stripped of buildings and railways and planted with sod), much public art was built and put all over the city and mass transit was "innovative" (in Ottawa's case, by building a BRT in an environment where other cities were building LRT or light metro).

The thing is, these things are have led to Ottawa's greatest faults. The edgy museums look nice on postcards but are totally disconnected from the urban fabric of the city and sterile after 5 pm. The "recovered" waterfront is sterile and Cohen doesn't want anyone to live there and doesn't want anything to happen at all unless all first nations groups agree (a sharp contrast to waterfronts in other G7 capitals that Cohen loves so much). There's lots of public art, much of it is uninteresting (the spider notwithstanding). Ottawa's "innovative" and experimental approach to public transit proved a failure and many (thought certainly not all) of the issues are being addressed at high cost and significant disruption.

Acajack

Jan 18, 2016, 4:15 PM

McC

Jan 18, 2016, 4:24 PM

The other lives in France in a pretty nice city that's about one-third the size of Ottawa. He makes tons of money and lives in the central part of the city in what is basically a single family home. He can walk to the "centre-ville" in about 15 minutes.

I find the French cities in that 200-500K size range (Tours, Angers, Rouen, Rennes, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Montpelier...) to be pretty "Goldilocks" for day-to-day quality of life -- they're big enough to sustain most of the amenities you might want (week-long and year-round, which can be an issue in smaller French towns). But they're small enough that everything is within a short walk or bike or tram ride (or on the sweet Metro system, in the case of Rennes)... And if you need the big city, you might be 1-3-hour train ride to Paris.

In a Bizzaro World where the Holt-Bennett Plan was actually implemented, Ottawa might look and feel a lot like one those cities. It would have had a much stronger core to offset some of the centrifugal forces of the post-War boom. A better base (or frame) to build and improve on than we have today, after a hundred years of picking mostly only the low hanging fruit from a dozen or more different (frequently-incompatible) plans for the Capital.

Acajack

Jan 18, 2016, 4:27 PM

I find the French cities in that 200-500K size range (Tours, Angers, Rouen, Rennes, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Montpelier...) to be pretty "Goldilocks" for day-to-day quality of life -- they're big enough to sustain most of the amenities you might want (week-long and year-round, which can be an issue in smaller French towns). But they're small enough that everything is within a short walk or bike or tram ride (or on the sweet Metro system, in the case of Rennes)... And if you need the big city, you might be 1-3-hour train ride to Paris.

In a Bizzaro World where the Holt-Bennett Plan was actually implemented, Ottawa might look and feel a lot like one those cities. It would have had a much stronger core to offset some of the centrifugal forces of the post-War boom. A better base (or frame) to build and improve on than we have today, after a hundred years of picking mostly only the low hanging fruit from a dozen or more different (frequently-incompatible) plans for the Capital.

Not surprisingly, you've named where he lives in your list!

McC

Jan 18, 2016, 4:34 PM

;)

rocketphish

Jan 18, 2016, 5:52 PM

What struck me about the latest Cohen article (I assume rocketphish will post)...

I can if you'd like :)

Haters gonna hate, but little reason for optimism about Ottawa

Andrew Cohen, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: January 16, 2016 | Last Updated: January 17, 2016 8:05 PM EST

My, my. Utter some discouraging words about Ottawa and you’re “a whiner”, “a hater”, and “a basher.”

Actually, since I wrote a column Tuesday calling Ottawa the worst capital in the G7 – lamenting its lack of ambition and absence of imagination, reflected in shoddy planning, administrative lassitude and somnolent politicians – the harpies have descended.

They live mostly on Twitter, a sad platform for screamers who cannot sustain an argument beyond 140 characters.

“Why do you live here?” one asks, as if to say: “Love it or leave it!”

In my inbox, though, response has been overwhelmingly favourable. Readers think the Sparks Street Mall is desolate in a cold capital. They find the Byward Market dirty and dangerous. They want a new concert hall.

They are annoyed by the “water feature” at disappointing Lansdowne Park (my apologies for elevating it to a “wading pool”) which, one writes, “closely resembles a massive high-end open air urinal designed by … Ayn Rand’s fascist architect in The Fountainhead.”

Said another reader: “It is a sad state of affairs when the nicest building in Ottawa of the last ten years is Dymon Storage on Carling Avenue.”

In the Citizen, a cheerful Randall Denley argues that things are looking up. He cites a prospective collaboration between the new central library and Library and Archives Canada, and a coming decision on the future of LeBreton Flats.

Well, perhaps. But given Ottawa’s glacial decision-making, there is little reason for optimism.

Denley likes the Zibi development, which is opposed by ten of 11 local aboriginal bands. Its thoughtful critics include architect Douglas Cardinal and writer John Ralston Saul.

In fact, Zibi’s wall of condominiums on the Ottawa River tells us, again, how this city – at different levels of government – continues to make planning mistakes.

My friend Paul Wells – for whom I have great respect – notes that I have raised these questions before, in much the same language. I have. Re-cycling is the highest form of intellectual environmentalism – particularly in a city that goes for silver and ends with bronze. The atrocities keep coming. I keep writing. Sorry.

Once upon a time, Wells gently called me “a gifted complainer”. Now I am a whinger of “awesome pettiness,” guilty, it seems, of lèse-majesté in speaking ill of Ottawa.

He overreaches. I know that Bilbao is not the capital of Spain; I said simply that Lansdowne Park is a missed opportunity to rebrand ourselves with something spectacular as the Guggenheim Museum did Bilbao. I did not say the NAC is a “Stalinist detention centre”, which Wells calls poor taste, given what went on inside such places. I said the brutalist NAC looks like one, which is why it is getting a new facade. This is called humour.

Like Wells, I applaud the NAC’s leadership and programs, though I confess I do not leap to my feet as patrons do after every – every – performance. Alas, Ottawa remains the standing ovation capital of the world – or at least of the G7.

Wells is wrong again in his argument on recovered green spaces, by which I mean brownfields turned into parkland, like the High Line in New York. But, hey, he calculates that the Gatineau Park is 105 times the size of Central Park and 172 times Berlin’s Tiergarten! Wonderful, except they’re in the heart of those cities and Gatineau Park is not.

More broadly, Wells argues that Ottawa’s detractors pine for an Ottawa that looks like Paris or Rome. I’d be happy with an Ottawa that feels like Canada, as a kicking city of 1 million with an idea of itself. Ottawa need not look like leading world capitals, but it could act like them – creating museums in edgy buildings, recovering its riverfront, encouraging public art, innovating in mass transit, being original.

Personally, I have beaten my little drum for a new central library for 15 years, cheered the elections of Councilor Tobi Nussbaum and MP Catherine McKenna and called for a civic revolution in leadership. Now I hope that our new federal government brings a new a spirit of opportunity to our pleasant but reliably sleepy capital.

Andrew Cohen is author of Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History. Email: andrewzcohen@yahoo.ca

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cohen-haters-gonna-hate-but-little-reason-for-optimism-about-ottawa

Acajack

Jan 18, 2016, 6:05 PM

Mr. Cohen is a professor of journalism which makes his decision to continue to indirectly engage with his detractors by posting a second op-ed piece on the same topic only a few days after the first one a surprising one.

Generally speaking, in journalism when you publish an opinion piece you let what you said stand for itself and let the discussion flow from there.

It's extremely rare to have a journalist post a follow-up opinion text to further explain himself.

daud

Jan 18, 2016, 6:55 PM

These guys are having 2 different conversations.

One is saying Ottawa is a lame G7 capital. The others are responding with Ottawa is a great tier 2 city.

They're both right.

MountainView

Jan 18, 2016, 7:42 PM

1overcosc

Jan 18, 2016, 9:23 PM

^ That's an awesome proposal.

There's continuous streetwalls on every street, retail frontage all over the internal streets, minimization of surface parking, and overall a very comfortable pedestrian experience not just internally but on Cyrville and Labelle as well!

Will be a great way of getting some use of Cyrville station--which is probably the least used transit station in all of Ottawa right now--and goes a long way to making that whole area less hostile and more urban. Walk up access to Cyrville station from the neighbourhoods to the north is a much more comfortable experience with this built.

Density wise it masses most of the tall buildings internally and closer to the station, both pluses. Even the farthest building from the station is only a 5 minute walk away, so Cyrville station will be the main access point for the entire area.

Plus as what is probably the first TOD proposal for the eastern leg of the Confederation Line, it helps set the tone for future proposals as well.

This is a major step up for office park development in Ottawa.

EDIT: Also, notice the green roofs everywhere. This office park will have very low, possibly zero or even negative, net carbon emissions. With cap and trade about to come online, this gives the builder a financial advantage over other office parks.

McC

Jan 18, 2016, 9:26 PM

Big bonus for the folk in Place des Gouverneurs, bringing some "there" there, without obscuring their (pretty good) views downtown.

acottawa

Jan 18, 2016, 9:46 PM

1overcosc

Jan 18, 2016, 10:19 PM

Looks like a good proposal, but two things seem odd:
The Condos are in the middle of the campus, which may be interesting during the day but it means residents will have to walk through a deserted office park to get anywhere during the evenings or weekends.
Also, would be nice to see retail or restaurants or a starbucks facing the street to make the area a little less desolate.

The blueprints put retail frontage on basically every building on basically every street--both interal and Cyrville/Labelle--so things like restaurants and cafes will show up and significantly liven up Cyrville.

As for placing the condos in the middle, that is the one thing about this project that I'm not happy about, but I can see residential towers isolated from the major roads being a plus to renters/buyers among the Ottawa types.

Proof Sheet

Jan 18, 2016, 10:52 PM

These guys are having 2 different conversations.

One is saying Ottawa is a lame G7 capital. The others are responding with Ottawa is a great tier 2 city.

They're both right.

'Denley likes the Zibi development, which is opposed by ten of 11 local aboriginal bands. Its thoughtful critics include architect Douglas Cardinal and writer John Ralston Saul'

The fact that John Ralston Saul doesn't like the Zibi development would be a selling feature for me to like the Zibi development.

Bartman..on this webforum summarized perfectly my feelings on John Ralston Saul

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/10/assorted-links-10.html

I'm sure Bartman and I would concur on our thoughts on Conrad Black and Piers Morgan.:cheers::cheers::cheers:

kevinbottawa

Jan 18, 2016, 11:08 PM

Here's a little something I wrote for Apt613 about this whole greatness of Ottawa debate.

Ottawa’s potential greatness lies in its creativity

There has been a lot of debate lately about whether or not Ottawa is a great city. On one side of the coin you have Andrew Cohen with his usual (http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cohen-ottawa-is-the-worst-capital-city-in-the-g7) Ottawa-bashing pieces (http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/cohen-haters-gonna-hate-but-little-reason-for-optimism-about-ottawa), while on the other side you have Paul Wells of Maclean’s who doesn’t share (http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/world-class-whine-why-ottawas-haters-are-wrong/) Cohen’s views on the city.

After calling Toronto home for the first 29 years of my life, the past six years in Ottawa have frankly been the best years of my life. Without my familiar surroundings, I found myself, my creativity and a sense of purpose in Ottawa. I never picked up a camera until I moved here. Unlike other people, I didn’t see what Ottawa lacked as a setback; I saw it as an opportunity to create something and fill gaps.

Ottawa became my blank canvas. Those of us from big cities know how hard it is to actually make a significant contribution to the growth and identity of a large metropolitan centre. Ottawa is the perfect size in population, urbanism and economics, and is at the perfect place in its growth, for anyone willing to do the work to make a significant contribution.

That opportunity and sense of fulfillment is something you seldom get in larger cities that are further along on the growth curve. I find larger cities tend to breed a consumer mentality. Cities like Ottawa can actually breed a culture of creativity and entrepreneurship because if you want something to happen here you often have to do it yourself.

When I moved here the thing that bothered me the most was how small of a media market we were for a capital city. I’d say, “Ottawa should have a bigger media voice.” That’s why I co-founded SHIFTER Magazine (http://www.shiftermagazine.com/how-tos). We have great cultural blogs and websites like Apartment613, Couch Assassin (http://couchassassin.com/) and Ottawa Showbox (http://www.ottawashowbox.com/), but not many that connected Ottawa creatives to audiences outside of the city. Through our motto, “Create your world” we encourage people that if they want to see change, the solution isn’t to complain, it’s to create something.

I admit when I first moved here it felt like a sleepy small town in need of a serious wake up call. But that has changed. I once flocked to Toronto and Montreal for shopping and other more cosmopolitan experiences, but more and more I find myself not envying these cities. And with major projects like LRT, Lebreton Flats, the Zibi waterfront project, Art Courts redevelopment, the Rideau Centre expansion, and a new downtown library branch (a potential partnership with Library and Archives Canada), Ottawa is in for a drastic big city makeover.

So in this debate I side with Paul Wells in disagreeing with Cohen. A lot of the change we’ve wanted to see has either happened, is happening or will happen soon.

Now there are two areas where Ottawa is admittedly lacking; the first is cultural relevance, both nationally and internationally. There are no West Wing-like political dramas or NCIS-like federal crime dramas set in the capital like in the United States. There aren’t many, if any, significant films, TV series or novels set in Ottawa. Many celebrities who are from Ottawa don’t really care to admit they’re from here. Some even say they’re from Toronto (not naming any names).

When it comes to tech companies, while we are a great place to start a tech company and do R&D, the companies that have cultural relevance, like Facebook and Google, have chosen Waterloo over Ottawa. Bluesfest is a world-class music festival, but hasn’t seemed to capture people’s imaginations the way the much younger Osheaga has.

Cultural relevance increases your ability to attract talent, investment, and tourists. Look down Highway 401 and see how Drake alone has made Toronto more of a destination for both athletes or tourists. This makes you ask the question, “Why does Ottawa struggle to export things of major cultural relevance?” Our greatest exports right now are the Ottawa Senators, Shopify and federal politics. Justin Trudeau, in all his hotness, is making Ottawa a little bit more sexy south of the border.

The other area in which we need to grow is in the maturity of our creative industries, like music, film and fashion. In order to grow our creative industries we need to borrow from our approach in growing our technology sector. Invest Ottawa has identified key tech clusters, like aerospace, software and cleantech, and has given business development managers the responsibility of supporting the growth of these clusters, and, I’m sure, has growth targets affixed to these clusters.

Why not have our arts strategy be based on a similar model, where we identify key creative clusters where Ottawa either has competitive advantages, high growth potential or that are a part of our cultural identity, like music, craft brewing, festivals, visual arts, and fashion, and focus our energy and resources on growing, promoting and exporting them? Perhaps like Invest Ottawa, this cluster based strategy could go a long way in connecting the arts to investment.

I love monuments and big projects, but Ottawa’s greatness isn’t just about things created with bricks and mortar. Our greatness will depend on what we’re able to create with our minds and talents. If we can consistently create at a high level and learn to export the things we create, this creative capital will help us to shed our reputation as a ho-hum political capital.

Kevin Bourne is co-founder and editor of SHIFTER Magazine (http://www.shiftermagazine.com/), an online magazine for creatives and aspiring cultural influencers. He is also a former blogger at Reinventing Ottawa (http://reinventingottawa.blogspot.ca).

http://apt613.ca/ottawas-potential-greatness-lies-in-its-creativity/

LeadingEdgeBoomer

Jan 18, 2016, 11:46 PM

Here is another rebuttal of the Cohen article by InvestOttawa's Bruce Lazebany that I kind of like. It appears in Ottawa Business Journal online.

Ottawa is an excellent G7 capital
OBJ ContributorPublished on January 15, 2016
1t
Recently Ottawa Citizen columnist Andrew Cohen espoused that “Ottawa is the Worst G7 Capital”. I and thousands of others have a different view.

by Bruce Lazenby

I love Ottawa and I am excited about our future. Here are some of the reasons why:

GLOBAL ECONOMIC PLAYER

In 2015, Ottawa was named the most business-friendly, mid-sized city in North AND South America by the Financial Times. It’s the largest regional rankings published by the magazine and is an intensively competitive field.

Our dynamic tech sector is on fire with Ottawa software companies (Halogen, Kinaxis and Shopify) raising more money in the public markets than every other city in Canada combined over the last five years. Branham Group’s latest list of the top 250 technology companies in Canada concluded that Ottawa was home to more headquartered companies than Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and more than three times Waterloo. Our tech companies are closing in on record employment but with more diverse sectors and more diverse geography across the city. They are attracting young, exciting and dynamic new talent to our city.

The Airports Council International says Ottawa has the best airport in Canada and third in the world; the other G7 capitals are nowhere to be found in their rankings. Our Convention Centre was crowned number two in the world by the International Association of Convention Centres; again the other G7 capitals were noticeably absent.

Ottawa also shines when it comes to sustainability. Corporate Knights magazine rated Ottawa the most sustainable city in Canada and third in all of North America. None of the other G7 cities, save for Washington DC, even cracked the top twenty.

Looking forward, we will be opening a world-class Innovation Centre this year and the redevelopment of Lebreton Flats is well on its way, with more great things on the horizon as Mr Cohen acknowledges.

A SMART CITY WITH HIGH QUALITY OF LIFE

Canada has the most educated workforce in the world and Ottawa has the most educated workforce the Canada. The Martin Prosperity Institute rated Ottawa-Gatineau first in their search for the world’s top Creative Class. We beat out 61 other cities. According to Mercer, we ranked third in North America for quality of living and Today’s Parent says we are the second best place in the country to raise a family.

Compared to our G7 counterparts, commuting to work is a pleasure. Driving in Paris or Rome can be a full-time job in itself. You can get across our great city by car in just twenty minutes. Hop on a train in London or Tokyo and be prepared for a nose to nose two-hour ride. Contrast that to Ottawa, where an express bus can get you from the quiet suburbs to a bustling core in nearly forty minutes and this is before the LRT is finished.

And when it comes to the cost of living, Ottawa is not only the least expensive G7 capital by leaps and bounds but it’s also the most affordable major city in Canada.

FUN FOUND AT EVERY CORNER

Culture is everywhere in the capital. Start by touring one of our 44 museums or art galleries, or take in a festival that celebrates music, theatre, sports or different ethnic backgrounds. Ottawa hosts over ninety events a year, so you’ll be sure to find one you like.

Our bike paths are an incredible way to see the city. Clocking in at 600 km, we are on par with Paris and Berlin. Tokyo has less than nine kilometers. Our green assets don’t stop there. The area is home to seven ski resorts and over 430 km of cross-country ski trails. If the water calls your name, the Ottawa River is home to seven sailing clubs and is one of the top white-water rafting spots in the world. And for the daring, rent a built-to-race eight-cylinder Mustang and take a spin on Canada’s longest private race track topping out at well over 200 km/hr. I did and I’ll never forget it.

Mr. Cohen clearly doesn’t get invited to the foodie hangouts where some of the newest thirty something tech millionaires in Ottawa are hanging out, sharing tips of their successes with new startups and some of the 120,000 post-secondary students that are excited about their role in the city’s future.

And finally 2017 is around the corner and Ottawa is taking the lead in celebrating our country’s 150th birthday.

WORLD CLASS POTENTIAL

Add everything up and I believe you have the makings of a world-class city. Ottawa may lack a history of culture and municipal development that span over thousands of years, compared to its G7 counterparts; Yet, the nation’s capital has its own distinct assets and we are just scratching the surface of our potential. Don’t forget that the new Ottawa is barely fifteen years old (since amalgamation). Prior to this, our municipalities were more competitive than collaborative, so I think we are doing pretty well for a teenager.

Mr. Cohen and I seem to be looking at Ottawa through completely different lenses. Neither he nor I were born here, however, we both chose to live here. And we both want the same outcome: to make Ottawa the best place to work, play and grow.

At Invest Ottawa, we have the bold vision he’s asking for, so I invite him to roll up his sleeves and work with us to achieve it. In my experience, city building is way more fun and rewarding than city bashing

waterloowarrior

Jan 20, 2016, 8:08 PM

Apple coming to 411 Legget in Kanata Research Park
http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2016-01-20/article-4410051/Apple-to-open-facility-in-Kanata%2C-sources-say/1

Acajack

Jan 20, 2016, 8:12 PM

Here is another rebuttal of the Cohen article by InvestOttawa's Bruce Lazebany that I kind of like. It appears in Ottawa Business Journal online.

I really though Mr. Lazenby was a better James Bond than people gave him credit for.

Norman Bates

Jan 20, 2016, 8:49 PM

I really though Mr. Lazenby was a better James Bond than people gave him credit for.

Wel he was the first gay bond. And the first Australian bond. We have a blonde bond now. Wonder what the future will bring us?

FFX-ME

Jan 20, 2016, 9:05 PM

http://theqcc.ca/wp-content/gallery/locations/aerial-with-logos.jpg

This image really puts into perspective how awful of a choice the LRT station locations are. There is nothing around the station.

...I know it was convenient and cheap to run it on the transitway but it really should have gone further north.

J.OT13

Jan 20, 2016, 9:20 PM

Nice enough proposal for the area, but wasn't the City envisioning 30+ storey towers around the old east end stations? Not that I care. I think that buildings that tall only belong at Lees and Hurdman. I would limit Tremblay to 15 floors, St-Laurent to 12 (maybe 18-24 on the Federal Land south of the Queensway), 8 at Cyrville and maybe 14 at Blair.

Cre47

Jan 20, 2016, 10:58 PM

The buildings at Cyrville and Cummings are occupied by DND which assuming will move with the rest of the others (25 Nicholas, 400 Cumberland, 66 Slater, 222 Nepean, 285/295 Conventry, Alta Vista/Smyth Campus, Star Top, etc.) to the new DND Carling Campus.

The warehouse is occupied by Canex which is the retail store of DND

YOWflier

Jan 21, 2016, 2:53 PM

If true, another boon for the Ottawa high tech. sector, which has been experiencing a quiet but significant resurgence.

http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2016-01-20/article-4410051/Apple-to-open-facility-in-Kanata%2C-sources-say/1

Apple to open facility in Kanata, sources say

Apple has leased space at a Kanata office complex in preparation for setting up a facility in the National Capital Region, several sources have confirmed to OBJ.

Although the California-based tech giant has yet to publicly announce it is establishing a presence in Ottawa, sources say they believe the 22,100-square-foot suite at 411 Legget Dr. in the Kanata Research Park will be devoted to research and development.

The space is located in the G. Best Building, which is owned by KRP Properties. The building’s main tenant is now DragonWave, but KRP’s website lists a 22,099.74-square-foot space at suite 300 as “currently vacant.”

KRP describes the property as a “full-floor office suite with executive boardroom, meeting rooms, several offices, server room, lunchroom, showers, private balconies and lab space.” The building’s director of leasing did not respond to a request for comment.

The world’s largest technology company by total assets and its second-largest mobile phone manufacturer, Apple generated revenues of more than $233 billion US in 2015.

The company has been boosting its R&D spending in recent years, investing more than $8 billion in research and development in fiscal 2015 alone – a 34 per cent increase over the previous year. In the past 12 months, Apple has opened or planned new research facilities in Cambridge, England, and Yokohama, Japan.

Business analysts have been speculating for some time that the tech colossus known for its personal computers, smartphones, tablets and devices such as the Apple Watch is branching out into the automotive sector.

Last fall, appleinsider.com reported rumours that the company was developing an electric vehicle, noting it had begun poaching high-profile automotive engineers. Sources told the website Apple was also considering construction of a new development centre in San Jose that could be used to assemble vehicles.

Ottawa already has a major presence in the automotive software sector. Kanata is home to BlackBerry’s automotive division, QNX Software Systems, which recently unveiled a slate of new software for the rapidly evolving driverless car market.

nortey35

Jan 21, 2016, 3:59 PM

It is definitely true. This has been in the works since the summer. I am surprised it took this long for something to appear in the media. I believe it should be around 70 engineers with plans to grow up to 100 (source: Apple hiring manager).
I am mostly excited about the role Ottawa will be playing in the automated/driver-less cars industry. Maybe Google might try to come next :)?

If true, another boon for the Ottawa high tech. sector, which has been experiencing a quiet but significant resurgence.

http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2016-01-20/article-4410051/Apple-to-open-facility-in-Kanata%2C-sources-say/1

YOWflier

Jan 21, 2016, 4:04 PM

#BREAKING: Ottawa gets Red Bull Crashed Ice final in March, 2017. Ice cross downhill, the fastest sport on skates, near Chateau Laurier.

Check out @CFRAOttawa's Tweet: https://twitter.com/CFRAOttawa/status/690201362638991361?s=09

YOWflier

Jan 21, 2016, 4:08 PM

It is definitely true. This has been in the works since the summer. I am surprised it took this long for something to appear in the media. I believe it should be around 70 engineers with plans to grow up to 100 (source: Apple hiring manager).
I am mostly excited about the role Ottawa will be playing in the automated/driver-less cars industry. Maybe Google might try to come next :)?Thanks for the info. These types of developments tend to catalyze others, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the competition (Google, whoever) eventually make a similar move.

rocketphish

Jan 21, 2016, 6:02 PM

Preparations underway for new Westboro festival

by Craig Lord, OBJ
Published on January 20, 2016

It’s official: a new festival is coming to the streets of Westboro this spring.

The Westboro Village BIA has selected a festival proposal to replace Westfest, one that they hope will reflect the priorities that customers and members highlighted during their rebranding over the past year.

Aboriginal Experiences, Arts & Culture, the non-profit group behind the annual Summer Solstice festival, was chosen from a shortlist of three proposals submitted when the BIA put out its request in September.

Though the group has a decade of experience, working on the new project in Westboro represents a departure from previous events aimed at promoting Aboriginal artists and cultural education.

“I love thinking of new ways to engage people and learn more about our culture and a sense of community,” says Trina Mather-Simard, president and general manager of Aboriginal Experiences. “We’ve always enjoyed that festival aspect, being able to do and try new things to have people interact and engage. That’s what was really enticing to me about the RFP.”

The name and branding for the festival will come from the BIA’s first partner for the new endeavour, 50 Strategy and Creative – the same company that helped the WBIA with its recent rebrand.

“The relationship just makes sense for us to continue,” says Mary Thorne, executive director of the Westboro Village BIA. “They understand us. They will understand what the festival image should look like.”

Though plans are far from finalized, Ms. Thorne says she is excited about the possibilities. A main stage with headliners and a community stage for local talent are on the list, live culinary demonstrations, shows promoting active living, fashion, and maybe even a gospel choir.

“What our festival will reflect is what our customers told us. They have told us that we are dynamic, exciting, we are healthy, we are outdoor living, we are active, we are hip,” says Ms. Thorne.

The festival will take place June 10-12, one week after Westfest runs at its new location in Laroche Park. It is estimated the new festival will cost $100K; a savings of $25K from last year’s Westfest.

“We’re very anxious to see this event happen. We promised it to our community, and we’re going to deliver it,” says Ms. Thorne.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/2016-01-20/article-4410340/Preparations-underway-for-new-Westboro-festival/1

rocketphish

Jan 21, 2016, 6:12 PM

Vanier BIA reveals design contest finalists for tiny streetside parks

by Haley Ritchie, OBJ
Published on January 21, 2016

Tiny funky parks and patios the size of parking spaces could soon be appearing in Ottawa streets – and the Quartier Vanier BIA wants them first.

“It’s a public space that contains elements of seating, shading, bike parking, games tables – it’s a reimagined parking space,” said Jamie Kwong, executive director of the BIA.

“Rather than one car being there, multiple people can use that space,” she said.

Residents in Vanier can vote for their preferred parklet design on Thursday at 135 Barrette St. and the BIA will then submit the application to the city.

City council approved the idea in September after looking at successful models in Seattle, San Francisco and Toronto.

The city is accepting applications until Feb. 15. If all goes well Ms. Kwong is hoping construction on a Vanier parklet would begin in April.

The five concept designs (https://www.facebook.com/QuartierVanierBIA/photos/pcb.10153235481886987/10153235481211987/?type=3&theater) came from a partnership with Carleton University’s Azrieli architecture school.

The mock-ups show people relaxing and talking on colourful structures that incorporate seating. Ms. Kwong said the public spaces could also host artists and events.

“Each of the designs have their own strength and uniqueness,” said Ms. Kwong. “The community is asked to vote on which one they’d like to see.”

The application process is complex and has many strict requirements. Parklets cannot be placed in a lane that carries moving traffic – they can only be put in dedicated parking lanes.

Parklets also can’t be located too close to existing restaurant patios but require proximity to walking traffic and businesses. They also need to be able to be removed and stored during winter months.

The BIA is dedicating upwards of $20,000 towards the project, which will allow one parklet to be built on Beechwood Avenue in front of Arturo’s Italian restaurant.

Ms. Kwong said people shouldn’t be surprised something so trendy is coming to Vanier first.

“We’ve been the underdog of the city,” she said. “People subscribe to those easy misconceptions, but tomorrow we’re be blasting that away. We have so many great attributes in Vanier.”

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/1937084_10153235481211987_7261122445751179375_n.jpg?oh=b40f8e5e2c4bba165292280b90456a54&oe=573BFE6A

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/12565372_10153235481251987_4474718251542880570_n.jpg?oh=b391fb4aa95847dffeb9aad8d07bd06f&oe=5732F0BA

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlf1/v/t1.0-9/12376417_10153235481126987_6843706454601267442_n.jpg?oh=5c5885a20b775316b86b15362db70b14&oe=56FDA48E

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/12418107_10153235481206987_3492207935454340955_n.jpg?oh=d0f6919d6d76ccd3161ddc67cf27aeee&oe=574542A1

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/12549049_10153235481281987_7952645721251376763_n.jpg?oh=3ef3cd7361250a7bd1f0ef4d4be81d63&oe=5746777F

http://www.obj.ca/Local/2016-01-21/article-4411332/Vanier-BIA-reveals-design-contest-finalists-for-tiny-streetside-parks/1

rocketphish

Jan 21, 2016, 6:13 PM

:previous: Interesting focus on Vanier and the residents in Vanier in this article, given that the proposed location of the "parklet" isn't in Vanier (though it is within the boundaries of the Vanier BIA). Do they not think that the residents of New Edinburgh, Lindenlea and Rockcliffe might want a say in this?

rocketphish

Jan 21, 2016, 6:19 PM

Hintonburg study envisions a neighbourhood utopia on Armstrong
An Armstrong Street of the future could have it all: space for bikes and pedestrians, boutiques and cafes and affordable living, according to a new study.

By: Emma Jackson
Metro, Published on Wed Jan 20 2016

Picture Armstrong Street in Hintonburg: its narrow sidewalks, empty lots, crumbling buildings and sporadic infill.

Now imagine, instead, Armstrong remade into a bustling avenue, where cyclists, pedestrians and drivers vie for room amid planters and benches, and small businesses thrive in an affordable residential community.

Four McGill University students have done just that.

The urban planning graduate students worked with the Wellington West BIA and Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper last fall to assess Armstrong’s strengths and weaknesses and host an open house for residents.

The study comes on the heels of zoning changes the city implemented last year, which rezoned a handful of properties on and around Armstrong to make way for small businesses like pizza joints, cafes and boutiques.

But Leiper convinced the planning committee at the time to hold off on the changes until the community could develop a greater vision for the street.

The new student report is a “conversation starter” in that process, Leiper said.

He still wants to host more public consultations starting in April, and plans to bring a complete community vision to planning committee by September.

This early work makes three recommendations.

First, that the city should turn Armstrong into a “shared street” that would bury hydro lines, prioritize sustainable transportation and reduce speeds to 10 km/h for everyone. The European concept nixes sidewalks and cycle tracks in favour of a transit free-for-all among benches, trees and planters.

“You would have to go slowly because there are so many things on the road,” said study co-author Joshua Adams.

That would create foot traffic to support the study’s other recommendations, which suggest expanding small-scale commercial allowances if the initial rezoning goes well, and offering a rent subsidy for start-ups through the BIA.

The study also encourages developing on the many empty lots along the strip. If developers agreed to bury parking, they could get an extra storey above ground, the authors suggested.

BIA director Zach Dayler said his group is “pursuing that idea of incubator space” but it remains to be seen if the study’s recommendations jive with community sentiment.

“Obviously they need to be consulted way more widely,” Dayler said.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2016/01/20/hintonburg-study-sees-transformed-street.html

Boxster

Jan 21, 2016, 7:57 PM

The NCC staff look likes ass holes on this one!

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/saudis-to-break-ground-on-douglas-cardinal-designed-embassy-addition

Work will begin this spring on a Douglas Cardinal-designed Grand Hall that will add some “sparkle” to the controversial Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Sussex Drive.

The National Capital Commission gave its approval this week to the glass-and-stone structure with its ‘Arabasque geometries.’ The addition will be built on the north side of the embassy, atop an existing parking ramp, and will be entirely contained within the embassy’s security wall.

The imposing, bunker-like embassy at the corner of Sussex Drive and Boteler Street has been a lightning rod for controversy since the NCC first sold the land to the Saudis in 1978 for $900,000. Work on the $25-million structure didn’t begin until 1998 and it wasn’t until 2005 — after a two-year halt on construction caused by strained diplomatic relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia — that the embassy officially opened.

The NCC’s approval this week for the Grand Hall came despite a dispute in which the Saudis began construction for security upgrades without bothering to get the required OK from the NCC, which has the final say on changes to the building’s external appearance. In May 2014, the NCC retroactively approved the upgrades figuring the work was already so far along and a stop-work order would have left the site in a mess.

Although the Grand Hall addition will project beyond the 15-metre setback set out in the 1998 design guidelines, NCC consultants concluded the design “would provide a welcome animation or ‘sparkle’ along Sussex Drive.”

The Grand Hall gives the embassy a public meeting space, which it lacks, and will include a kitchen, lobby, washrooms and extra office and storage space.

Norman Bates

Jan 21, 2016, 8:54 PM

It is definitely true. This has been in the works since the summer. I am surprised it took this long for something to appear in the media. I believe it should be around 70 engineers with plans to grow up to 100 (source: Apple hiring manager).
I am mostly excited about the role Ottawa will be playing in the automated/driver-less cars industry. Maybe Google might try to come next :)?

Apple used to have a presence in north Kanata back in the '90s. I remember talking to their office there on the telephone.

Urbanarchit

Jan 21, 2016, 9:22 PM

Passed by this walking home. It's located at Parkdale and Wellington (https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.4008405,-75.7289545,3a,75y,133.83h,94.09t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZkwarNv9Nl03bF_94If_zA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1).

http://i.imgur.com/RC2samn.jpg

1overcosc

Jan 21, 2016, 10:03 PM

Apple coming is a nice boost to the Kanata North tech area which hasn't seen good times lately.

rocketphish

Jan 21, 2016, 11:49 PM

rocketphish

Jan 22, 2016, 1:17 AM

NOWINYOW

Jan 22, 2016, 1:25 AM

Vanier BIA reveals design contest finalists for tiny streetside parks

I love the designs. However, I can see them becoming shelters for homeless. Not that the homeless don't deserve to sit/lay down and rest...but that's hardly the original intentions.

rocketphish

Jan 22, 2016, 1:48 AM

Mayor has no concerns about partnering with Red Bull

Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: January 21, 2016 | Last Updated: January 21, 2016 8:31 PM EST

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, once the province’s minister of health promotion back in 2005, says he had no hesitation in partnering with an energy drink company to bring a “blockbuster” event to the city for Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations.

On Thursday, Watson announced that Red Bull Crashed Ice would be coming to Ottawa in March 2017. The heart-pounding races on an ice track with vertical drops and tight turns will be staged at the Ottawa locks between the Château Laurier and Majors Hill Park.

Crashed Ice will be a big draw, with an expected economic impact of more than $10 million. And the thrills-and-spills exhilaration of the sport is a perfect marketing match for an energy drink company whose own packaging declares that Red Bull is “appreciated worldwide by top athletes, students, busy professionals and travelers on long journeys.”

But did Watson have any reservations about partnering with Red Bull, given that the health effects of energy drinks have been under scrutiny recently? In October 2014, for example, a European study for the World Health Organization said the risks of heavy energy drink consumption among young people “have largely gone unaddressed and are poised to become a significant public health problem in the future.”

“It’s an acceptable product under Health Canada standards in Canada. We’re happy to have their expertise and support,” said Watson, who had a can of Red Bull in front of him during the press conference, which featured iced bowls full of free cans of the product and a giant inflatable Red Bull arch.

“So I have no concerns about that at all. And I’m a former minister of health promotion. I would tell you if I did.”

The city had been approaching Red Bull for some time to see if the company was interested in a 2017 partnership, said Watson.

“Red Bull is a corporation that has decided to put a lot of money and resources into extreme sporting activities, which promotes physical activity. We’re very happy to have them as a partner.”

Crashed Ice sports director Christian Papillon, a former ice cross racer himself, had a glass of water in front of him during the press conference Thursday.

He also defended the sponsorship. “Without them, the sport wouldn’t be at the level it is now,” said Papillon, who sometimes drinks Red Bull.

“It’s so tasty and so good.”

Energy drinks are not available in most city facilities, which have a pouring rights agreement with Coca-Cola for cold beverages. Under the contract, Coca-Cola owned energy drinks are an excluded product. However, independent food concession operators that are not yet covered by the agreement may sell energy drinks.

In December, a Coca-Cola machine installed at city hall that dispensed free Cokes to those who gave the machine a hug raised the ire of the city’s health unit after the machine attracted a lineup of high school students.

The machines are circulated where Coca-Cola has pouring rights. Ottawa’s five-year agreement with the company brings in about $250,000 a year.

“You’re pretty much pouring sugar in,” said Sherry Nigro, Ottawa Public Health’s manager of health promotion.

jlaucius@postmedia.com

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/city-hall-blog-mayor-has-no-concerns-about-partnering-with-red-bull

Baigle

Jan 23, 2016, 12:54 AM

http://m.obj.ca/Real-Estate/2016-01-20/article-4410280/RioCan-unveils-Silver-City-redevelopment-plan/1

Silver city redevelopment plan. Seems like they decided to replace those random big box stores in the back that always seems to be changing or dead.

Should be interesting with the Costco area redevelopment and light rail going there.

Mr.Flintstone

Jan 23, 2016, 2:51 AM

Not really sure which thread to post this in or if it has been discussed before but I found it interesting.

The idea is to redevelop the area bounded by Labelle / Cyrville / LRT line into an office park. I believe there are two existing buildings and a warehouse looking building. I am not super familiar with the area. Anyways, from what I gather online they are currently leasing what they call Phase 4 and 5 - a five and three floor office buildings.

Link to their website (http://theqcc.ca/)

Some renderings and plans:

http://theqcc.ca/wp-content/gallery/phase5/phase-5-site.jpg

http://theqcc.ca/wp-content/gallery/siteplan/1-birdview-north-1.jpg

http://theqcc.ca/wp-content/gallery/locations/aerial-with-logos.jpg

More images available on their website. Here is their brochure with all the info (http://theqcc.ca/brochure.pdf) (18 pages)

Cheers!

http://m.obj.ca/Real-Estate/2016-01-20/article-4410280/RioCan-unveils-Silver-City-redevelopment-plan/1

Silver city redevelopment plan. Seems like they decided to replace those random big box stores in the back that always seems to be changing or dead.

Should be interesting with the Costco area redevelopment and light rail going there.

Really liking these proposal

Apple coming is a nice boost to the Kanata North tech area which hasn't seen good times lately.

Acording to this article

http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2016-01-15/article-4405209/Investors-bullish-on-Ottawa-tech-scene%0D%0A/1

Ottawa tech seem to be doing well.

1overcosc

Jan 23, 2016, 7:37 AM

http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2016-01-15/article-4405209/Investors-bullish-on-Ottawa-tech-scene%0D%0A/1

Ottawa tech seem to be doing well.

Ottawa's tech in general has been doing quite well for years now, but Kanata North specifically has not been. A lot more of the growth in the tech industry has been happening elsewhere, mainly in the downtown core, as part of a continent-wide trend of high tech employment abandoning office parks and moving to downtowns to attract millennials.

Suburban employment gets a bad wrap, but it's still a good thing for a city to have provided it's easy to access by transit (which Kanata North will be once the March Road transitway goes in). And Kanata North is actually not half bad for a suburban office park cluster.

Mr.Flintstone

Jan 23, 2016, 4:26 PM

Ottawa's tech in general has been doing quite well for years now, but Kanata North specifically has not been. A lot more of the growth in the tech industry has been happening elsewhere, mainly in the downtown core, as part of a continent-wide trend of high tech employment abandoning office parks and moving to downtowns to attract millennials.

Suburban employment gets a bad wrap, but it's still a good thing for a city to have provided it's easy to access by transit (which Kanata North will be once the March Road transitway goes in). And Kanata North is actually not half bad for a suburban office park cluster.

Ah I see. Personally, I'm all for anything that helps with intensification. I wish we could ban all new development outside the greenbelt.

Uhuniau

Jan 25, 2016, 5:10 AM

Really liking these proposal

Ugh. Garbage street-level presence.

MoreTrains

Jan 25, 2016, 3:12 PM

i wish we could ban all new development outside the greenbelt.

amen!

rocketphish

Jan 26, 2016, 6:20 PM

City of Ottawa faces biggest urban overhaul in a half century
'Combination of public and private investment that we've never really seen in the history of our city': mayor

By Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press
Posted: Jan 26, 2016 8:54 AM ET Last Updated: Jan 26, 2016 12:48 PM ET

Canadian cities are no strangers to boneheaded urban planning decisions — the Gardiner Expressway blocking access to Toronto's waterfront, Montreal's crumbling Turcot interchange, space-sucking viaducts in Vancouver.

But imagine hiding a magnificent waterfall in your downtown core. Take a bow, Ottawa.

"I would think across the country that most people don't even know what the Chaudiere Falls are," said Ken Gray, publisher of the popular city blog The Bulldog.

The falls, where a whitewater tempest of the Ottawa River cascades over terraced rocks, has been dammed for hydroelectrity and is also blocked by dozens of empty buildings left over from the lumber and pulp and paper era.

"In its day, before they dammed it and did various things to it, it was an incredibly impressive waterfall, almost a cross between rapids and waterfall."

Zibi development

Now, however, there's finally a plan to pull back the industrial curtains — part of a long-awaited urban renewal in a capital that's not had a serious update since Canada turned 100.

By itself, the "Zibi" development is compelling — residential and commercial buildings on 15 hectares of prime real estate, with the hydroelectric turbines buried underground to create new public viewing space for the falls.

But it's just one of several major projects that will change the look of Ottawa over the next 10 to 15 years.

There's a light-rail system planned, with underground stations downtown; a new city art gallery and central library; a fancy new glass entrance and atrium for the National Arts Centre; and maybe even a new downtown hockey arena.

It follows Lansdowne Park, a seven-hectare entertainment district beside the Rideau Canal that's home to a renovated football stadium, and the tulip-shaped, glass-fronted convention centre in the heart of downtown.

'Investment that we've never really seen'

"With the exception of the investment of the PanAm games in Toronto, on a per-capita basis, our city is going to see more dollars into renewal projects than any other city in the country," Mayor Jim Watson said in an interview.

"It's a combination of public and private investment that we've never really seen in the history of our city to this extent."

At the Zibi project, which straddles the Ontario and Quebec sides of the river, developer Rodney Wilts walks with purpose through a labyrinth of musty, rusty old buildings, the wood-block floor so blackened by time it looks like brick.

He opens a door to a 14-metre high space, as long as one-and-a-half football fields, that once housed Domtar's main paper machine. In another room, out a smudged window, Wilts points out a mini-waterfall tumbling into a natural rock basin — the so-called "Devil's Hole," another natural wonder obscured by industrial buildup.

Some indigenous leaders say the area, considered sacred by the Algonquins, should be returned to the First Nations and protected. Wilts argues the company has consulted with First Nations, including putting out a call for aboriginal tradespeople. It has won some support within that community.

The development has also earned the endorsement of the "One Planet Community" network, built on a model of zero carbon, zero waste, and integration into the natural surroundings, said Wilts, a partner with Windmill Developments.

"Finally people will be able to come here, see the falls, get close to the falls, for the first time in living memory for anyone."

LeBreton Flats

Not far away is LeBreton Flats, a nondescript, scrubby area that served as a working-class residential area with some light industrial sites before it was bought by the federal government and razed in the 1960s.

After that, nothing happened for half a century. Until today.

The National Capital Commission will unveil the details of two bids vying to develop the land — both promising to build a new NHL arena. The existing home of the Ottawa Senators, the Canadian Tire Centre, is 27 kilometres from Parliament Hill.

Commission CEO Mark Kristmanson sees LeBreton as part of the "transformative" changes in the wider area just west of Parliament Hill, which includes the Zibi development and new pathways connecting islands in the Ottawa River.

"I would say in 10 years, it will be a city that's turned back towards its waterways from a long century of being turned away from it," Kristmanson said in an interview.

"And that's an important goal for us and for the municipalities as well, because it's a great natural asset for the capital that's not fully realized."

Integrated train station

The city's 1950 urban design plan took the railway out of the city centre, banishing the train station to an area far from downtown. Waterfront land created a "green belt" around the city, only to be cleaved by car-clogged parkways.

The changes will largely improve on — or reverse entirely — those elements of post-war, car-centric thinking.

The train station will be integrated into the light-rail system to make getting downtown even faster. Greenspace near the waterfronts will be made more accessible, and density will be built back up at LeBreton Flats.

There's a buzz of construction activity around Parliament Hill, too. Several major buildings are being renovated — fitting, since the precinct was a full-on construction site when it opened for business 150 years ago.

The 10-year plan to renovate Centre Block, beginning in 2018, has set off a cascade of other projects across the precinct. The West Block is being retrofitted to accommodate the House of Commons. MPs will sit inside a courtyard with a glass roof. The pink Potsdam stone over the windows has a new pop.

A new underground visitor's entrance will change Parliament Hill's exterior look. And the former downtown train station, now called the Government Conference Centre, will become the Senate's new home.

"The precinct hasn't really undergone ... a transformation as extensive as this probably since the buildings were originally built in the 1800s," said Ezio DiMillio, director general of major Crown projects for the Public Works department.

"It is a significant volume of work. There's a complexity about it."

Lack of vision, imagination

Does it all mean Ottawa is about to come alive, and perhaps even meet the nebulous definition of "world class"? Depends who you ask.

Earlier this month, Ottawa Citizen columnist and author Andrew Cohen came to the provocative conclusion that, "for its lack of ambition and absence of imagination, Ottawa is the worst capital in the G7."

The Bulldog's Gray, agrees the city has suffered from a lack of urban planning vision and imagination, allowing itself to be led around by developers.

"This is a tourist town ... and it would be wonderful for people from (elsewhere) to come here and go, 'Wow, is that ever a great idea; boy, are they leading the pack in Ottawa,"' said Gray.

"Unfortunately, they're not going to see that. If you're looking for innovation in this country, Ottawa's probably not the place to go."

Wilts sees the next decade differently.

"I think Ottawa's is going to have all the best parts it has now," he said, "but with a little more exciting urbanity — a few more places you can go on the water to have a drink, a few more plazas where festivals and music events and arts events can occur and happen.

"All of those things are starting to come."

© The Canadian Press, 2016
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-urban-renewal-1.3419947

McC

Jan 27, 2016, 11:42 AM

MoreTrains

Jan 27, 2016, 3:20 PM

"served as a working-class residential area with some light industrial sites before it was bought by the federal government and razed in the 1960s."
Yeah, just some light industrial sites, nothing so stinky or dirty that would require hundreds of millions of dollars of remediation to the entire area...

Light industrial in that it was processing wood and not oil. Doesnt meant that it would be any cleaner, just the scale of industrial use.

rocketphish

Jan 31, 2016, 11:27 PM

Vanier BIA unveils winning parklet design
Glebe also vying for pilot streetside spot

By Alex Robinson
Ottawa East News, Jan 29, 2016

http://media.zuza.com/d/7/d77ee93c-497f-4042-8c6b-8a5875caba18/12549049_10153235481281987_7952645721251376763_n___Gallery.jpg

The Quartier Vanier BIA has unveiled the winning design for a streetside parklet it wants to bring to Beechwood Avenue.

BIA members and Vanier residents chose a water garden proposal from five different options in a vote at the group’s annual general meeting on Jan. 21.

The water garden, which was designed by Carleton University students, has a canopy that collects water and disperses it into a self-watered planting system.

“It’s a very architecturally interesting design,” said Jamie Kwong, the executive director of the BIA.

“It’s an all-encompassing structure.”

The city requested proposals for a pilot streetside spots last fall. Streetside spots are parking spaces in front of businesses that are repurposed as either a parklet, patio or vending stall.

These kinds of projects have already started popping up in American cities such as San Francisco and Seattle.

‘A PUBLIC LIVING ROOM’

The BIA chose the parklet option and approached Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism to come up with potential designs. Kwong said the BIA was in search of a parklet that could serve as a “public living room,” where people would enjoy spending time in Vanier.

“It’s a place where people can sit, get a meal, wait for a bus and see the action on the street,” said Johan Voordouw, a professor from Carleton University, who oversaw the students who worked in the project.

“This is about community engagement.”

In addition to having the self-watering system, the water garden’s canopy will provide shelter from rain and will provide somewhere for people to sit and relax, students said.

If approved by the city, the water garden will fill up a parking space in front of Arturo’s restaurant at 49 Beechwood Ave. The location was chosen as it had to be on a street with a speed limit of 50 kilometres or less and at a spot where parking was allowed at all times, so that it would not block moving traffic.

It also had to be in front of a business that did not already have a ground floor outdoor patio, which was one of the city’s requirements.

The BIA has budgeted $20,000 for the parklet.

If the city approves the Vanier BIA’s proposal in March, it hopes to have it built this spring.

The four remaining designs that did not get selected have been submitted to the Glebe Community Association, which is applying to have its own pilot parklet.

The city will be accepting applications until Feb. 15.

Alex Robinson is a reporter with the Ottawa East News. He can be reached at alex.robinson@metroland.com .

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-story/6255656-vanier-bia-unveils-winning-parklet-design/

rocketphish

Jan 31, 2016, 11:28 PM

:previous: Funny... it also looks like the cheapest design.

Kitchissippi

Feb 1, 2016, 12:04 AM

Shouldn't that roof be sloped the other way so the excess water in torrential rain drips on to the street not the other half of the deck?

zzptichka

Feb 1, 2016, 1:26 AM

So much fuss about one little parklet?
Wonder why is BIA paying for it and not the restaurant itself? Or they plan to move it around?

Uhuniau

Feb 1, 2016, 2:14 PM

Dominion-Chalmers United Church faces uncertain financial future

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/dominion-chalmers-united-congregation-1.3427755

Capital Shaun

Feb 1, 2016, 9:11 PM

http://media.zuza.com/d/7/d77ee93c-497f-4042-8c6b-8a5875caba18/12549049_10153235481281987_7952645721251376763_n___Gallery.jpg

Is there room for bikes to go around it or are cyclists getting squeezed into the remaining travel lane? (This stretch of Beechwood sucks for cycling. I got hit near this spot a few years ago.)

Vanier

Feb 1, 2016, 10:34 PM

So much fuss about one little parklet?
Wonder why is BIA paying for it and not the restaurant itself? Or they plan to move it around?

They plan on moving it around. What I don't like about this initial parklet is that it is being initiated on Beechwood rather than other areas of Vanier. Why is the BIA further gentrifying a neighbourhood that doesn't require it? I can think of other areas of Vanier that could use a boost (cough, Montreal road, cough).

MoreTrains

Feb 2, 2016, 3:24 PM

Is there room for bikes to go around it or are cyclists getting squeezed into the remaining travel lane? (This stretch of Beechwood sucks for cycling. I got hit near this spot a few years ago.)

Well, I mean, technically you are supposed to bike in the travel lane... so its not really squeezing you anywhere. Just saying.

monkeybongo

Feb 2, 2016, 8:06 PM

Well, I mean, technically you are supposed to bike in the travel lane... so its not really squeezing you anywhere. Just saying.

Technically yes, but tell that to the car drivers. Just saying. :)

My biggest biking fear, putting my life in the hands of a teenager who is texting their friends while driving and all that separates me from death is about 1 foot of space and 2 seconds of distraction.

Buggys

Feb 3, 2016, 12:19 AM

Sounds like the only appropriate places tonput these parkettes is along stretches with an actual bike lane. That painting of a biker in the middle of a regular lane doesn't add any value of significance.

rocketphish

Feb 3, 2016, 2:25 AM

Ottawa 2017 seeks company for multimedia show with 'wow' factor

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: January 29, 2016 | Last Updated: January 29, 2016 1:32 PM EST

Dreamlike, atmospheric projections could be coming to Ottawa in 2017 as part of the city’s plan to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation.

The Ottawa 2017 Bureau is looking to hire a company to produce large-scale multimedia productions, according to a recent posting on the Merx online tendering site.

The not-for-profit organization created to plan and deliver events to mark the sesquicentennial is looking for artistic teams to submit proposals by Feb. 3 for the concept, design, production and implementation of multimedia events at various unnamed locations.

Three shortlisted teams will each be given a bit of money to develop and present their visions using storyboards, 3D renderings or animated videos that demonstrate their “creative talents.” Teams also have to provide technical and operational specifics that demonstrate how they would pull off the production.

The estimated budget for the project is about $3 million, according to the Merx posting, and that’s intended to covers the costs of artistic design and production, equipment purchases, installation, show operation and removal.

What exactly the teams would do hasn’t been completely hammered out just yet. In various locations, they would be tasked with putting on a futuristic and immersive multimedia show using the latest interactive gadgetry, including projections, LED displays, audio and lighting.

The posting includes a link to a YouTube video from a 2011 arts festival in New York City in which images, words and people appear to float across the surface of a bridge as though it’s a giant canvas. Hundreds of people can be seen standing or lying down on the ground to watch the dynamic visual show.

Ottawa 2017 hopes that whatever is ultimately produced has a memorable storyline, reaches a target audience of 500,000 spectators over the course of the year and creates a “WOW factor and buzz that will inspire conversation and encourage visitors to recommend the event and/or return for multiple visits,” the Merx posting says.

Projections on buildings are already part of the Ottawa 2017 plans. The Canadian Videogame Awards will be handed out here in November 2017. In addition to the gala celebrations at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, there will be a national championship for gamers. Semifinals and final matches will be projected in monumental proportions onto buildings across the city.

The Merx posting says a contract will be awarded in March. Creative concepts are to be completed by the end of August, equipment would be installed next June, after which public shows would begin.

mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottawa-2017-seeks-company-for-multimedia-show-with-wow-factor

acottawa

Feb 4, 2016, 6:25 PM

Paul Wells has another pro-Ottawa article.

http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/how-ottawa-got-its-groove-on-seriously/

rocketphish

Feb 6, 2016, 3:06 PM

Sparks may fly over proposed new high-voltage line for South Nepean

Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 5, 2016 | Last Updated: February 5, 2016 7:09 PM EST

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2015/04/10984373.jpg?quality=55&strip=all&w=750

The Crown corporation that wants to build a new high-voltage power line to meet demand in fast-growing South Nepean says it won’t hold public consultations before the line is approved because there’s not enough time — and no alternatives to the project.

The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) wants to build a 230-kilovolt transmission line somewhere in the city’s south end, and has told a local advisory committee it needs to get started with approval soon, without any public consultation.

The South Nepean area is in need of a new high-voltage transmission line by 2022 or it will face a “less reliable” electricity supply, says the Crown corporation that runs Ontario’s electricity grid.

It may need a new corridor for at least some of the line. The IESO hasn’t furnished any maps or information about the proposed line’s location, but it would serve the area growing south from Barrhaven and Longfields.

There’s no official cost estimate yet, but one of its advisors suggests it could cost Hydro Ottawa customers about $75 million.

The IESO says it doesn’t plan any public consultation about whether to proceed, “due to the lack of feasible alternatives.” It says it’s too late to reduce south Nepean’s demand.

Consultation would come later, during an environment assessment over which route to take and other details — but not over whether new transmission is a good idea in the first place.

“We’re a long way from the lights flickering,” an IESO spokeswoman said Friday. But she said an increased supply of power is necessary to provide backup when there’s a breakdown somewhere in the system.

South Nepean’s growth has pushed the area’s demand for electricity past the design capacity of its three local distribution substations. But the area has been drawing surplus power from the rest of Ottawa.

https://postmediaottawacitizen2.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/0206-power-transmission.jpg?quality=55&strip=all

Bill Eggertson, a member of the local advisory committee, likens this to running too many extension cords. He says IESO has warned that this makeshift method won’t work as south Nepean demand rises, and other Ottawa neighbourhoods no longer have a surplus to share.

He also argues that Ottawa is at a crossroads. If the city ever plans to get serious about climate change, renewable energy and geothermal power, he says now’s the time to pursue those rather than always looking for more electricity from big generating stations.

The proposal came in a plan tabled with the local advisory committee in January (http://www.ieso.ca/Documents/Regional-Planning/Greater_Ottawa/Ottawa-20160112-Presentation.pdf).

“The majority of growth is south of Strandherd (Drive). It’s going to be Nepean’s town centre. It’s a lot of development,” Eggertson said.

“With this new development they are going to be snookered.” And not included in the IESO growth forecast is a potential pumping station for Energy East, he said.

The new high-voltage line would end at a transformer station which sends out smaller lines to neighbourhoods. Eggertson suggests this station might be built at the urban area’s extreme southern edge, reducing the amount of urban development affected by the corridor.

He said his advisory group IESO has asked about a route, but has been told there isn’t one yet. Part of the route could run through existing corridors but “there will be some area that is a new corridor,” he said.

“Somebody is going to be somewhere near a corridor,” he said. For now this affects developers who are planning homes and commercial development in the south end.

“It’s going to upset some people. If we knew where the route was, we’d know who is going to be really upset. But without the houses being built there (today), nobody is upset yet,” he said.

He also says that IESO’s experts told the local group that a similar project recently cost $77 million, and that if this new transmission serves only Ottawa then it would all be charged to Hydro Ottawa customers.

With expected shortages five to six years away, that pushes IESO to the limit of how fast it can get approval and build the lines, he said.

Meanwhile IESO’s documents suggest that the rest of Ottawa will need an even bigger new supply of electricity — another 100 MW in addition to the 60 MW planned now for south Nepean — by 2032. That’s called Phase 2 of the plan.

The IESO says it will brief City of Ottawa staff this month, before finalizing the plans. Then it will hold a “public webinar” for everyone else in the spring. While IESO does the planning at this stage, the work would likely be undertaken by Hydro One and Hydro Ottawa.

Some studies have suggested that living near high-voltage lines raises the risk of cancer. Residents of the Bridlewood neighbourhood of Kanata fought Ontario Hydro’s decision to run a 500-kilovolt power line through their community in the late 1980s.

tspears@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/sparks-may-fly-over-proposed-new-high-voltage-line-for-south-nepean