General Update/Rumour thread

[passwordisnt123]

Chipotle isn't bad at all. But, as a burrito aficionado who has one about once a week, I think other similar places like Mucho Burrito and Burrito Gringo in Ottawa and Burrito Boyz in Toronto are all superior in pretty much every way to Chipotle.

[cr872190]

Chipotle isn't bad at all. But, as a burrito aficionado who has one about once a week, I think other similar places like Mucho Burrito and Burrito Gringo in Ottawa and Burrito Boyz in Toronto are all superior in pretty much every way to Chipotle.

WHaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. That is literally the EXACT opposite of not only my own opinion but literally everyone I know that has ever had Chipotle and then had the unfortunate experience of Mucho Burrito or Burrito Gringo.

[OTSkyline]

I've had Chipotle once and it was ok.. I've had Mucho Burrito many times and have always found it excellent.

[passwordisnt123]

WHaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. That is literally the EXACT opposite of not only my own opinion but literally everyone I know that has ever had Chipotle and then had the unfortunate experience of Mucho Burrito or Burrito Gringo.

I can't speak to your network of friends. But looking around this forum it sounds to me like there are lots of people who share my feelings.

[silvergate]

WHaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. That is literally the EXACT opposite of not only my own opinion but literally everyone I know that has ever had Chipotle and then had the unfortunate experience of Mucho Burrito or Burrito Gringo.

That's almost as bad as the Everyone I know voted for Bernie, how'd he lose??? people

[Harley613]

Mmmm Chipotle, how I crave thee!

[Radster]

I like Mucho Burrito and Burrito Gringo quite a bit, but you can't deny these two are just minnows compared to Chipotle, so its about time we have a fresh option in Ottawa.

As for the debate regarding which one is better, I think all one needs to do is check Tripadvisor or Zomato (ex.Urbanspoon) for some hard stats.

Chipotle averages higher ratings than Mucho Burrito or Burrito Gringo. :tup:

[rocketphish]

East Feast aims to draw people to Beechwood area

By Michelle Nash Baker
Ottawa East News, Sept 2 2016

Who doesn’t want to go to a feast? Even better, how about an East Feast?

Thanks to one Vanier entrepreneur, the backing of his community association and the help of his area city councillors, the first annual Beechwood East Feast will celebrate food and fun on Sept. 10.

Chris Penton is a man of many hats – he manages the weekly summer farmers’ market, the Beechwood Market at St. Charles Church, he is the president of the Vanier Community Association and he also has a day job – but the idea of creating a festival on Beechwood has always been something he has wanted to do.

So Penton has put on another community hat and began organizing the festival this summer after he was approached by Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Tobi Nussbaum – a former Beechwood advocate.

“I told him about my idea for a festival and he loved it,” Penton said.

The intention, Penton added, is for businesses who participate to promote themselves, and in turn bring city visitors back again and again to the street.

Penton said Nussbaum’s office has helped him with the festival, as well as he worked with fellow Beechwood Avenue councillor, Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury, to help with the city-side of organizing a festival.

Both councillors are also sponsors of the event.

The street festival will close Beechwood Avenue from St. Charles Street to Marier Avenue starting at 5 p.m. and will reopen after 10 p.m.

Activities will include sports with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa, colouring with Ottawa in Colour, live painting with artists from the New Edinburgh Studio Tour, aerial antics with aerial silk dancers, Madonna yoga with Natalie Holst and Market Mobile.

Local food businesses and restaurants will also participate including Clocktower Brew Pub., Harvest Honey, Bez Gluten Free, Bicycle Craft Brewery, Maison Baguettes and Baccanalle – Caribbean.

Folkrum Ottawa Community Music will be providing the entertainment that will include Gareth Pearson, Mack and Ben and Nile Groove.

The Vanier Community Association is hosting the event, but Penton said all four Beechwood-area community associaitons – the New Edinburgh Alliance, the Lindenlea Community Association, Manor Park Community Association and Rockcliffe Park Residents Association, have offered support and encouragement for the event.

BRING PEOPLE TO BEECHWOOD

It was six years ago that a fire decimated a group of businesses between the Vanier Parkway and McKay Street. Since then, it’s been a waiting game to get the missing retail back. Currently under construction, a Minto building, Minto Beechwood will offer street-front retail.

But even before the fire, Beechwood suffered a loss of retail, which many residents say was the anchor needed in the area to draw shoppers and liveliness to the street.

The business was Mountain Equipment Co-op and it left the area in 2000. In it’s wake, adovcates for Beechwood Avenue have long said the area needs that anchor business for the street to truly rise and shine.

Fleury said he doesn’t think the loss of MEC is affecting the street.

“MEC was a draw but now we have individual businesses that do the same thing,” Fleury said.

Naming off restaurants and businesses, Fleury said little needs to change and the area is only going to continue to improve.

Fleury added the Beechwood East Feast is showcasing what area-residents already know – Beechwood is a really good area.

Penton said he’s wanted the area to host a festival that could draw the five communities as well as the rest of the city to the area, to highlight Beechwood Avenue.

“This is about building up the east-end, and this festival is exciting – it showcases all that Beechwood Avenue is,” Penton said.

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-story/6837202-east-feast-aims-to-draw-people-to-beechwood-area/

[Uhuniau]

east feast aims to draw people to beechwood area

by michelle nash baker
ottawa east news, sept 2 2016

the street festival will close beechwood avenue from st. Charles street to marier avenue starting at 5 p.m. And will reopen after 10 p.m.

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-story/6837202-east-feast-aims-to-draw-people-to-beechwood-area/



can. We. Stop. Closing. Transit. Streets. For. Stupid. Festivals?

[Uhuniau]

Noticed: the vacant lot on Beechwood at Jolliet (owned by a foreign government?) is now chain-link-fenced.

[phil235]

can. We. Stop. Closing. Transit. Streets. For. Stupid. Festivals?

How often do we do this?


You must really not be keen on Montreal closing Ste. Catherine E. for the entire summer then.

[Acajack]

How often do we do this?


You must really not be keen on Montreal closing Ste. Catherine E. for the entire summer then.

I was gonna say... he'd die if he lived in Montreal! :haha:

[Uhuniau]

How often do we do this?

Any is too many. There are lots of other streets. Hold street parties and festivals on those streets, not transit routes.

You must really not be keen on Montreal closing Ste. Catherine E. for the entire summer then.

I have no idea; do mainline buses run on it?

If it is closed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for months on end, then at least a transit customer has some predictability over a long period of time, and the transit utility has time to fix its inevitable errors.

As practiced in Ottawa, it is really frigging annoying and inconvenient, though, to head off on an excursion to Bank Street or Wellington West, or wherever, only to find (a) the damn street is closed for some stupid festival; (b) the bus-stop closures have begun earlier than expected or last later than scheduled; (c) point-of-departure information on alternative service is missing or incomplete; (d) the temporary stops provided are insufficient in number and inconveniently located; (e) drivers often don't even know where they are supposed to be diverting; or (f) any combination of (a) through (e) above.

This is a constant occurrence with the never-ending parade of, well, parades and festivals and other nonsense that keep shutting down main central bus routes. The city would never get away with it in Orleans; why downtown?

There are lots of streets that don't have transit service on them. Hold your festivals on those streets.

Enough.

[Uhuniau]

How often do we do this?

Too often.

Remember, the same OC Transpo that insists on taking measures that have no demonstrable positive impact on on-time performance (stoptimization, routumcision, etc.), will gladly accede to requests to close streets, thereby causing transit diversions which DO negatively impact that same precious on-time performance, and on weekends when frequencies are already often low to begin with.

So far this year, I find (and know I'm missing a few) the following, showing the routes forced onto detour:

September 10: Beechwood EastFest (1, 5, 7)
September 9-11: Chinatown Night Market (2)
September 5: Labour Day Parade (5, 14)
September 4: Latin American Parade (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 18)
August 21: Pride Parade (1, 2, 7, 14)
August 20: Pride Run (159)
August 9: (India) Independence Day parade (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 18)
July 23: National Triathlon Championships (5, 185)
June 17-19: Italian Week (14, 85, 101)
June 17-18: GlowFair (1, 2, 7, 9, 12)
July 9: Kittiwake Street Festival (162) <<< The only purely-suburban closure in the past year?
June 11: St. Anthony Feast (85)
June 10: Britannia Beach Run and Ottawa River Triathlon (87, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97)
June 2: Ride for Dad (1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 18, 87)
May 28-29: Race Weekend (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 85, 86, 101, 176; 159 cancelled entirely)
May 27-29: Madonna Della Risurrezione (86C)
May 14: Space Odyssey (101)
May 12: March for Life (basically every route downtown)
May 8: CycloFest (85)
April 10: Minto Run for Reach (5)
March 19: St. Patrick’s Day Parade (Bank Street routes)

Don't Remember Date But Is In Spring: Vanier Sugar Bush event (all weekend disruption on Peres-Blancs, route 5)
June 24-ish: Francophone/St-Jean event, Richelieu-Vanier area (5)



Enough.

[phil235]

Too often.

Remember, the same OC Transpo that insists on taking measures that have no demonstrable positive impact on on-time performance (stoptimization, routumcision, etc.), will gladly accede to requests to close streets, thereby causing transit diversions which DO negatively impact that same precious on-time performance, and on weekends when frequencies are already often low to begin with.

So far this year, I find (and know I'm missing a few) the following, showing the routes forced onto detour:

September 10: Beechwood EastFest (1, 5, 7)
September 9-11: Chinatown Night Market (2)
September 5: Labour Day Parade (5, 14)
September 4: Latin American Parade (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 18)
August 21: Pride Parade (1, 2, 7, 14)
August 20: Pride Run (159)
August 9: (India) Independence Day parade (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 18)
July 23: National Triathlon Championships (5, 185)
June 17-19: Italian Week (14, 85, 101)
June 17-18: GlowFair (1, 2, 7, 9, 12)
July 9: Kittiwake Street Festival (162) <<< The only purely-suburban closure in the past year?
June 11: St. Anthony Feast (85)
June 10: Britannia Beach Run and Ottawa River Triathlon (87, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97)
June 2: Ride for Dad (1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 18, 87)
May 28-29: Race Weekend (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 85, 86, 101, 176; 159 cancelled entirely)
May 27-29: Madonna Della Risurrezione (86C)
May 14: Space Odyssey (101)
May 12: March for Life (basically every route downtown)
May 8: CycloFest (85)
April 10: Minto Run for Reach (5)
March 19: St. Patrick’s Day Parade (Bank Street routes)


Enough.

I've got to say that I have never heard of a couple of those. We have a Space Odessey that closes streets?

In terms of the runs and parades, it's pretty hard to have those at all unless you close some main streets. To me the value that those events bring to the city outweighs the inconvenience of the temporary closures by a big margin.

Others like Cyclofest, Italian Week and Glow Fair are events put on by the BIAs on those streets. To hold them on other streets would kind of defeat the purpose of the event.

I can't really speak to the way OC Transpo handles the closures, as I tend to walk or bike to those types of events. Presumably there is a way to limit the impact on transit in most cases, but I'm not overly confident that OC Transpo will find it.

[zzptichka]

Thousands people having fun, or
A hundred people whose Saturday evening commute becoming 3 minutes longer once a year (half of those actually riding a bus to that event)

Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions...

[Uhuniau]

In terms of the runs and parades, it's pretty hard to have those at all unless you close some main streets.

All the more reason to be very judicious in approving such requests to begin with.

Others like Cyclofest, Italian Week and Glow Fair are events put on by the BIAs on those streets. To hold them on other streets would kind of defeat the purpose of the event.

If they can't be held on non-transit streets, then they need to be re-thought.

I can't really speak to the way OC Transpo handles the closures, as I tend to walk or bike to those types of events. Presumably there is a way to limit the impact on transit in most cases, but I'm not overly confident that OC Transpo will find it.

They won't. It is the rare service disruption in which OC Transpo provides quality alternative service, and quality supply of information to customers, before and during the detours.

They need to just stop rubber-stamping so many requests for detours.

[Uhuniau]

Thousands people having fun, or
A hundred people whose Saturday evening commute becoming 3 minutes longer once a year (half of those actually riding a bus to that event)

Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions...

A hundred? um, no. Over the course of the detours there are thousands of customers (including those headed to those events) whose stops are closed, walks are lengthened unduly, time is wasted, and schedules are delayed, and for way more than "3 minutes". Remember: there are up- and down-stream impacts from these closures, esp. when, as is way too often the case, the alternative service is poorly designed. (Not event-related, but cf. the recent detour of Bank southbound buses onto O'Connor, which was not physically capable of handling such detours; it took weeks of a mess for OC Transpo to finally provide alternative service to its original alternative.)

At very least, applications should be made public before they are rubber-stamped, but good luck getting that kind of accountability out of OC Transpo or the increasingly secretive and paranoid city council under mayor Jim "In Camera" Watson.

[YOWflier]

This is why we can't have nice things.

[zzptichka]

A hundred? um, no. Over the course of the detours there are thousands of customers (including those headed to those events) whose stops are closed, walks are lengthened unduly, time is wasted, and schedules are delayed, and for way more than "3 minutes". Remember: there are up- and down-stream impacts from these closures, esp. when, as is way too often the case, the alternative service is poorly designed. (Not event-related, but cf. the recent detour of Bank southbound buses onto O'Connor, which was not physically capable of handling such detours; it took weeks of a mess for OC Transpo to finally provide alternative service to its original alternative.)

At very least, applications should be made public before they are rubber-stamped, but good luck getting that kind of accountability out of OC Transpo or the increasingly secretive and paranoid city council under mayor Jim "In Camera" Watson.

You should file your objection and if it's valid and irresolvable, the festival will be canceled.
Could be too late this year I'm afraid, but you should be able to get them next time! Please keep us posted on your progress.

http://i.imgur.com/91sn32Q.jpg

[Uhuniau]

You should file your objection and if it's valid and irresolvable, the festival will be canceled.
Could be too late this year I'm afraid, but you should be able to get them next time! Please keep us posted on your progress.

http://i.imgur.com/91sn32Q.jpg

How did you get my picture?

[Uhuniau]

This is why we can't have nice things.

Reliable, dependable, predictable local transit in the city core is a nice thing. I really wouldn't mind having it some day.

[singing]
Some day my bus will come,
Some day my bus will come!

[AndyMEng]

Any is too many. There are lots of other streets. Hold street parties and festivals on those streets, not transit routes.



I have no idea; do mainline buses run on it?

If it is closed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for months on end, then at least a transit customer has some predictability over a long period of time, and the transit utility has time to fix its inevitable errors.

As practiced in Ottawa, it is really frigging annoying and inconvenient, though, to head off on an excursion to Bank Street or Wellington West, or wherever, only to find (a) the damn street is closed for some stupid festival; (b) the bus-stop closures have begun earlier than expected or last later than scheduled; (c) point-of-departure information on alternative service is missing or incomplete; (d) the temporary stops provided are insufficient in number and inconveniently located; (e) drivers often don't even know where they are supposed to be diverting; or (f) any combination of (a) through (e) above.

This is a constant occurrence with the never-ending parade of, well, parades and festivals and other nonsense that keep shutting down main central bus routes. The city would never get away with it in Orleans; why downtown?

There are lots of streets that don't have transit service on them. Hold your festivals on those streets.

Enough.

LOL!!

WHY are you going down to Bank/Somerset/Richmond/etc if NOT for these festivals??

I highly suggest you get off the bus to experience these street festivals. I've had tons of fun this year going to almost two dozen street fairs/closures/festivals/walkabouts. Instead of being a curmudgeon, go have fun.

Although, based on the sounds of things, you don't usually get off the bus... http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Uhuniau]

LOL!!

WHY are you going down to Bank/Somerset/Richmond/etc if NOT for these festivals??

Sometimes it's because I have other errands that I am doing on those streets...

Although, based on the sounds of things, you don't usually get off the bus...

... and some other times, it's because I'm en route from point A to B, but passing via a route that's been detoured for some "open street" nonsense.

[Mugwumper]

LOL!!

WHY are you going down to Bank/Somerset/Richmond/etc if NOT for these festivals??

I highly suggest you get off the bus to experience these street festivals. I've had tons of fun this year going to almost two dozen street fairs/closures/festivals/walkabouts. Instead of being a curmudgeon, go have fun.

Although, based on the sounds of things, you don't usually get off the bus... http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I wish they'd add buses to the routes/days when the most popular ones are happening. Tried to get a bus on Bank near Albert really early to go to the Glebe garage sale back in the Spring, but no luck. The buses were all packed, too packed to stop, even at 8am. I'm wishing for too much, though, probably.

[Uhuniau]

I wish they'd add buses to the routes/days when the most popular ones are happening. Tried to get a bus on Bank near Albert really early to go to the Glebe garage sale back in the Spring, but no luck. The buses were all packed, too packed to stop, even at 8am. I'm wishing for too much, though, probably.

Perennial issue. Constant entreaties to OC Transpo to fix the Glebe Garage Sale problem go unaddressed.

They. Simply. Do. Not. Care.

[rocketphish]

Court says ByWard Market condo board can block parking bid over security concerns

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: September 11, 2016 | Last Updated: September 11, 2016 5:52 PM EDT

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2016/09/ottawa-07-08-03-160-st-georges-photo-by-bruno-schlumberger.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all&w=700

Living in the ByWard Market has its benefits: ready access to bars and eateries, proximity to the National Gallery of Canada, living a short stroll from Parliament Hill.

But it also comes with a higher-than-usual crime rate and a large transient population, which tends to make residents more security conscious than most.

A case newly settled by Ontario’s Court of Appeal underscores that tension.

A commercial owner in the Place St. George condominium at 160 George St. approached the condo board in 2012 with a plan to convert about 30 existing monthly parking spaces to 24/7 pay-and-display hourly parking.

The board balked. “That was not in keeping with the security and safety posture that we maintain, so we said no,” said Gordon Diamond, the condo board president.

That refusal ultimately sparked a two-year legal battle that culminated in a Court of Appeal for Ontario decision that has overturned a lower court judgment, ruling that the board’s position was reasonable and shouldn’t be interfered with.

The Citizen sought comment from the lawyer for the numbered company, Nadia Authier, but she did not respond to messages.

The numbered company has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the decision, but its only recourse is to seek leave to appeal from the Supreme Court of Canada, which rejects the vast majority of leave applications.

Prior to the appeal court decision, said Christy Allen, the condo board’s lawyer, it wasn’t clear whether condominium board decisions were entitled to deference by the courts.

But the appeal court decision makes it clear for the first time that they are, as long as boards follow a proper and reasonable process, Allen said.

In this case, the St. George condo board didn’t outright reject the parking conversion plan. But for its plan to work, the numbered company needed the board to approve changes to the condo’s common elements to facilitate public access to the garage.

The board said it would only approve the needed changes if the company agreed to hire a full-time security guard, which it refused to do without offsetting concessions from the condo board.

Under the company’s proposal, access to the garage would be through an automatic door and a pedestrian door leading to the parking level. “That’s not what we have in mind at all for the security of our residents,” Diamond said.

At present, the garage is open only to residents of the condo and monthly parkers. The 29-year-old condominium has 117 residential units, with commercial shops and offices on its first two floors.

Part of the board’s concern was the presence of a large transient population in the area. The condo is directly across the street from the Salvation Army Booth Centre, noted Diamond, a retired CEO and general manager of OC Transpo.

“There are transients in the Market who go from the Ottawa Mission to the Salvation Army and on to the Shepherds of Good Hope,” Diamond said. “Some of that activity is less than desirable sometimes.”

The board was also worried about “activity at night and partiers coming back from the pubs at 2 in the morning,” he said.

The same week in July that the appeal court heard the case, there were two stabbings in the Market — something the judges in Toronto were well aware of, Allen said.

The ByWard Market is a vibrant place, Diamond said. “We’re happy to be here, because there’s so many great pluses.” Aggressive panhandling was a problem in the past, but has since abated, he said.

Still, the residents of Place St. George are vigilant and take precautions, Diamond said. The building has 24-hour security and closed-circuit cameras keep a watchful eye. “We are vigilant and conduct our business in an appropriate manner, and that gives everybody comfort.”

dbutler@postmedia.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/court-says-byward-market-condo-board-can-block-parking-bid-over-security-concerns

[YOWflier]

1) Amazon opens Ottawa tech office with ambitious hiring plans

http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2016-09-14/article-4640898/Amazon-opens-Ottawa-tech-office-with-ambitious-hiring-plans/1

2) Fairmont Château Laurier plans major expansion

http://www.cfra.com/news/2016/09/14/fairmont-chteau-laurier-plans-major-expansion

[1overcosc]

1) Amazon opens Ottawa tech office with ambitious hiring plans

http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2016-09-14/article-4640898/Amazon-opens-Ottawa-tech-office-with-ambitious-hiring-plans/1


That's a pretty big get, but not surprising. All the major American tech firms are expanding in Canada right now thanks to lower labour costs and the low value of the dollar.

[kevinbottawa]

1) Amazon opens Ottawa tech office with ambitious hiring plans

http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2016-09-14/article-4640898/Amazon-opens-Ottawa-tech-office-with-ambitious-hiring-plans/1

2) Fairmont Château Laurier plans major expansion

http://www.cfra.com/news/2016/09/14/fairmont-chteau-laurier-plans-major-expansion

This is good. A few years ago it seemed we never got the "cool" and relevant tech companies; they were all going to Waterloo. Now we have Amazon and Apple. Hopefully they're visible and become a part of the city instead of being covert about their Ottawa presence like Apple.

[1overcosc]

Amazon is barely visible.

I can't even find any information about where their office is going to be, although I'm pretty sure its downtown somewhere; as I heard about it being mentioned once in the context of Centretown's sudden emergence as a tech hub in the past year.

The urbanization of the tech industry is directly connected to the arrival of these "cool" companies. For these companies the economics are completely different and there's a huge advantage to downtown locations, in contrast to older tech giants whose land needs consigned them to the outer suburbs.

[Uhuniau]

Amazon is barely visible.

I can't even find any information about where their office is going to be, although I'm pretty sure its downtown somewhere; as I heard about it being mentioned once in the context of Centretown's sudden emergence as a tech hub in the past year.

The urbanization of the tech industry is directly connected to the arrival of these "cool" companies. For these companies the economics are completely different and there's a huge advantage to downtown locations, in contrast to older tech giants whose land needs consigned them to the outer suburbs.

Those "land needs" were utterly artificial: these were mostly office workers, not manufacturing that might demand more horizontal space.

Almost everyone I knew in the tech industry during the boom years lived downtown and had to drive to god-awful "office parks". It was quite an impressive mismatch between how the companies thought people lived, versus how they actually lived. 20-something software engineers like to live downtown; who would have known?!??!

[acottawa]

Those "land needs" were utterly artificial: these were mostly office workers, not manufacturing that might demand more horizontal space.

Almost everyone I knew in the tech industry during the boom years lived downtown and had to drive to god-awful "office parks". It was quite an impressive mismatch between how the companies thought people lived, versus how they actually lived. 20-something software engineers like to live downtown; who would have known?!??!

I believe it is a strategy to encourage employees to work longer hours.

[phil235]

Amazon is barely visible.

I can't even find any information about where their office is going to be, although I'm pretty sure its downtown somewhere; as I heard about it being mentioned once in the context of Centretown's sudden emergence as a tech hub in the past year.

The urbanization of the tech industry is directly connected to the arrival of these "cool" companies. For these companies the economics are completely different and there's a huge advantage to downtown locations, in contrast to older tech giants whose land needs consigned them to the outer suburbs.

Amazon is building a massive headquarters in downtown Seattle. It would make sense that they would be looking at an urban office here.

[Marcus CLS]

Posted on site Committee of adjustment notice to severe parcel from westerly rental apartment tower for a future residential development. Site is surface parking Lot used by the existing rental tower. Site is directly across from future Capitol Hall.

[1overcosc]

Those "land needs" were utterly artificial: these were mostly office workers, not manufacturing that might demand more horizontal space.

Not necessarily. Many of the tech giants of the past, like IBM and Nortel, didn't really have the means to be downtown.

In the past, tech companies were these giant entities that had thousands of employees on site, including their own legal departments, accounting departments, marketing departments etc. Plus they needed to have vast numbers of servers to run their products. This meant they needed plentiful land, essentially requiring them to have a large "corporate campus" type layout which was very difficult to accommodate in traditional downtowns.

Nowadays, it doesn't work like that anymore. Legal, accounting, and marketing functions are often contracted out, meaning far fewer people are actually working directly for a single tech company than in the past. Plus, thanks to the rise of cloud computing, server farms aren't generally on site either, because companies just rent space from a data centre provider halfway across the world instead. These two things combined mean that tech companies don't need to have a "corporate campus" anymore.. a billion dollar software company can make do with five floors of an office tower.

(There are some companies that still do have large land requirements, such as Ciena, for example.)

Almost everyone I knew in the tech industry during the boom years lived downtown and had to drive to god-awful "office parks". It was quite an impressive mismatch between how the companies thought people lived, versus how they actually lived. 20-something software engineers like to live downtown; who would have known?!??!

Hence why a growing number of tech companies all over North America are choosing downtown offices. This trend is arriving a little late in Ottawa, though. There's a surprising number of companies that open downtown offices in every city they expand to.. except Ottawa, where they choose Kanata. I suspect it's because so much of the tech industry is based in Kanata that there's good synergies from being out there. Nonetheless, even in Ottawa, tech is urbanizing.

[Uhuniau]

I see there's a development proposal sign thingy at Temporary Park on the east end of Rideau, opposite Wallis House.

Cue the green-space fetishists and assorted Maude Flanderses.

[rocketphish]

Nussbaum scheduled to speak at transportation conference in Seattle

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: September 14, 2016 | Last Updated: September 14, 2016 6:07 PM EDT

Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Tobi Nussbaum is apparently becoming a coveted speaker outside of Ottawa.

He’s off to Seattle later this month to speak at the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ “Designing Cities” conference. He’ll be sharing his insights during a session called Paving the Way for Safe Streets: The Role of Political Leadership.

Nussbaum’s recent trip to Quebec City for a planning conference, at which he was a speaker, attracted some attention because some at city hall didn’t like how he cast some city initiatives in a negative light, based solely on a slide presentation. On Tuesday he was forced to defend the presentation at planning committee, which received a report on his attendance at the conference. Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley particularly didn’t like that an example from his ward was used in Nussbaum’s slide presentation.

Nussbaum said he wasn’t speaking on behalf of the city, was presenting his own views and acknowledged his responsibility as a politician to make changes.

With the amount of scrutiny on his Quebec City trip, I had to ask him about Seattle.

Nussbaum said he was asked to speak at the transportation conference by organizers. He’ll use his office budget for the trip. He said he found a return flight for $400 and he’s staying at a friend’s place. Since he’s a speaker, he’ll get a reduced rate for conference registration.

He doesn’t have a presentation prepared yet.

Nussbaum said he’s particularly keen on planning and transportation issues, which he addressed often on his election campaign.

“I’m fulfilling my promise to residents to work hard to see what future improvements we can make,” Nussbaum said.

Conferences, he said, provide chances to share information.

Councillors can use their office budgets to attend conferences. Nussbaum said the Quebec City and Seattle conferences are the only two he’s attending this year.

It’s not uncommon for council members to go on trips. They go to conferences for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. They go on economic missions. Usually they report back to council (in fact, they’re required to if they use city money for the conference). For example, transit chair Stephen Blais has sent a report to the transit commission this week about his experience at the Canadian Urban Transit Association last May.

Nussbaum said the transportation committee can expect a report on his experience at the conference in Seattle. I’m sure councillors will be eager to see his presentation.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/city-hall-blog-nussbaum-scheduled-to-speak-at-transportation-conference-in-seattle

[SkeggsEggs]

Not sure if there is a 2017 topic anywhere, but there will be some sort of cauldron/flame thing at city hall next year: https://www.google.ca/amp/ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/birthday-flame-to-be-lit-at-ottawa-city-hall-for-2017/amp

[rocketphish]

Glitzy convention centre opening near airport won't compete with EY Centre, says manager

Paula McCooey, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: September 27, 2016 | Last Updated: September 27, 2016 8:30 PM EDT

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2016/09/0928-icc.jpg?quality=55&strip=all&w=700

A glitzy $20-million convention centre opening next month near the airport won’t conflict with the nearby EY Centre, says the property’s manager.

A media tour Tuesday through the Infinity Convention Centre (http://infinityconventioncentre.com/) on Gibford Drive near Hunt Club Road revealed an opulent 5,000-square-foot foyer with gleaming marble floors, a 23-foot LED water wall and a glamorous curved crystal chandelier.

The wedding and corporate events venue features a 15,000-square-foot ballroom that can be split into three spaces and accommodate more than 1,000 guests. Some of the highlights include audio visual capability with seven built-in, 200-inch high definition screens and projectors.

The city already has several prominent events venues, including the relatively new Shaw Centre downtown and the nearby EY Centre, just off the Airport Parkway.

When asked if there is enough demand for more of these venues — especially for one so close physically to the EY Centre — Infinity manager Anu Sohal says their facility doesn’t compete with those centres, so much as complement them.

“The EY Centre deals with more of the larger shows, whereas we are a different size and feel,” said Sohal. “We would work really well with the EY Centre. For example, for the upcoming food and wine festival, the festival is there but we are holding the VIP tasting alley. So I really see us working together on a lot of events.”

The centre was designed by local architect Robert Woodman and is owned by the Sohal family, comprising of brothers Sonny and TJ, their wives Kiran and Anu, and entrepreneur Anand Aggarwal, the recipient of the city’s 2014 Immigrant Entrepreneur Award for a residential development in Manor Park.

The family also owns the hotels surrounding the new venue, including the Holiday Inn Express and Hampton Inn by Hilton.

Market research expert Barry Nabatian said the number of tourists and delegates coming to Ottawa has increased in recent years. And with a majority government committed to spending, he said there is confidence in the business community, which translates into more people travelling to Ottawa for business for short-term stays.

“A lot of business people like to be as close to the airport as possible,” said Nabatian. “A lot of the time there’s congestion to get to the downtown area, and if they are not going to stay overnight, there’s no point in going downtown to enjoy what the downtown offers. So (Infinity) really doesn’t compete with the Shaw Centre or the hotels downtown … the size is rather small and for actual meetings, between 50 and 500 people. And there is demand for that type of thing near airports.”

Weddings and corporate events are already booked this year and throughout 2017. During the tour, Infinity’s executive chef Jason Peters provided samples of his gourmet farm-to-table offerings, which will be served at Infinity’s grand opening gala on Oct. 13.

pmccooey@postmedia.com

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2016/09/guests-get-a-tour-as-the-new-20m-infinity-convention-centre.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all&w=700

[Radster]

Breaking News!!!

Steam train returning to Wakefield!

The Wakefield steam train is coming back to La Pêche. A major reshuffle of the train’s management will see the steam train returned to Wakefield; either as a stationary museum piece or if an operator is found, a running tourist train.

“We’ve got the train back,” La Pêche councillor Claude Giroux told the Low Down at CCFO press conference Sept. 28.

CCFO President Louise Boudrias announced she would be stepping down from the board and La Pêche Mayor Robert Bussiére would now take a seat on the board, as well as other prominent players from La Pêche.


http://www.lowdownonline.com/wakefield-steam-train-heading-back-to-la-peche/

[Harley613]

Breaking News!!!

Steam train returning to Wakefield!

The Wakefield steam train is coming back to La Pêche. A major reshuffle of the train’s management will see the steam train returned to Wakefield; either as a stationary museum piece or if an operator is found, a running tourist train.

“We’ve got the train back,” La Pêche councillor Claude Giroux told the Low Down at CCFO press conference Sept. 28.

CCFO President Louise Boudrias announced she would be stepping down from the board and La Pêche Mayor Robert Bussiére would now take a seat on the board, as well as other prominent players from La Pêche.


http://www.lowdownonline.com/wakefield-steam-train-heading-back-to-la-peche/

We are so frickin' excited about this! It's happening!

[rocketphish]

Feds ban new embassies along Ottawa’s Sussex Drive after RCMP warn of possible ‘violent events’

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press 10.10.2016

OTTAWA — The federal government is forbidding the construction of new embassies on Ottawa’s Sussex Drive following a stark RCMP assessment of the potential for “violent events” in the high-profile neighbourhood.

Countries with missions already on the well-known boulevard include the United States, France, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

It is also home to Rideau Hall, where the Governor General lives, as well as the prime minister’s residence at 24 Sussex. Justin Trudeau and his family are living in a house on the Rideau Hall grounds while federal officials consider badly needed renovations at 24 Sussex.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion was advised of the ban on new embassies in January by Daniel Jean, then his deputy minister, records released under the Access to Information Act show. Jean has since been named national security adviser to the prime minister.

“A recently concluded RCMP security assessment advises against any additional foreign embassies being located along Sussex Drive,” says Jean’s memo to Dion. “As a result, the department will no longer be approving requests by diplomatic missions to acquire land in the affected zone.”

Canada requires foreign states to obtain its consent before buying property for use as diplomatic chancery offices or official residences.

In 2015 the RCMP began a detailed assessment, at the request of Global Affairs Canada, of how construction of new embassies on vacant lots along Sussex Drive would affect the security of nearby Canadian and foreign facilities.

The Mounties looked at “risks associated with violent events likely affecting Canadian and foreign interests,” but not scenarios involving espionage or protection of critical infrastructure, such as power grids and water systems, says a letter to Global Affairs from RCMP Chief Supt. Rosemary Abbruzzese.

“In summary, and after considering a number of factors, the RCMP concludes and recommends that the only appropriate risk response is risk avoidance by not allowing any additional foreign missions to be located on Sussex Drive.”

Global Affairs is aware of only a few available properties within the affected zone, said spokesman Michael O’Shaughnessy.

Among them is 50 Sussex Dr., formerly known as the Canada and the World Pavilion — a stylish building overlooking the Ottawa River that intended to highlight the international achievements of Canadians.

An embassy on the cliff that slopes down to the river is difficult to secure, said Chris Mathers, a former RCMP officer who now works as a crime and risk consultant. “It’s pretty steep but it’s not so steep that you couldn’t climb up,” he said.

The Mounties might also be concerned that a large truck bomb would damage more than one embassy, and therefore spreading out the missions increases security, he added.

“I think it’s the right move. We don’t need to cluster them all in one place.”

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/national/feds+embassies+along+ottawa+sussex+drive+after+rcmp+warn/12269223/story.html

[rocketphish]

National War Memorial renovations to be completed Nov. 4

Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: October 21, 2016 | Last Updated: October 21, 2016 5:50 PM EDT

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2016/10/workers-install-scaffolding-around-the-national-war-memorial.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all&w=600

The refurbished National War Memorial will be unwrapped on Nov. 4, one week before the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies.

Public Services and Procurement Canada confirmed Friday that the renovation work is on time and the memorial will be ready for the Nov. 11 ceremony.

The memorial and surrounding square on Elgin Street has been fenced off since early April when workers began a seven-month, $3.2-million project to fix damaged concrete slabs and paving on the 77-year-old cenotaph. The work is the second phase of renovations that began in 2014 when the monument was closed to the public for months while workers did $3 million worth of repairs to the concrete and reinforcing steel in a crawl space underneath.

The National War Memorial was officially dedicated in 1939 by King George VI and was to commemorate Canadian sacrifice in the First World War. It has since been rededicated to include the Second World War, Korea and the war in Afghanistan.

bcrawford@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/getBAC

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/national-war-memorial-renovations-to-be-completed-nov-4

[rocketphish]

Feds’ Workplace 2.0 office modernization ‘a disaster’

Peter Kovessy, OBJ
Published on October 20, 2016

The federal government’s office space modernization program is a “disaster,” according to its top real estate executive, who also suggested he was cool towards continuing to own, rather than lease, some properties.

Kevin Radford, an assistant deputy minister at Public Services and Procurement Canada, made his remarks Wednesday during a wide-ranging presentation at the Ottawa Real Estate Forum.

In 2011, the department – then known as Public Works and Government Services Canada – began implementing a program called “Workplace 2.0,” rethinking how and where public servants work.

Mr. Radford said too much emphasis was placed on reducing the real estate footprint of civil servants without sufficient attention to integrating workplace technology into the revamped offices.

“Workplace 2.0 is a disaster,” he said. “We (are) measuring ourselves on how well we are doing at consolidating and shrinking space.”

According to the government, the average federal employee used 18.4 square metres in 2012-13, which is the most recent fiscal year for which records are published. That’s down from 21.6 square metres per employee in 2006, according to an auditor general report.

The goal of Workplace 2.0 is to create “Workplaces of the Future” that encourage more collaboration between employees, offer greater flexibility and allow bureaucrats to make better use of technology such as videoconferencing.

It directly affects the private sector, specifically those firms that supply the federal government with office furniture, architectural services and leased office space.

Old cubicles were to be replaced with shared and collaborative spaces, as well as work stations with lower panels aimed at encouraging interaction, increasing natural light and improving air circulation.

However, Mr. Radford said steps were missed during the rollout, such as ensuring bureaucrats could wirelessly access the Internet in shared work areas.

“How can we be going to various buildings and changing the furniture around and not ensuring that modern technology (such as) basic, secure access to Wi-Fi is available?” he asked. “There has been no integration of the workplace strategy with technology,” added Mr. Radford, who worked for the federal IT agency Shared Services Canada before moving to the real property branch.

Darren Fleming, a vice-president at brokerage firm Cresa Ottawa, said the blunt assessment by Mr. Radford was “jaw-dropping” but consistent with the anecdotes he’s heard from consultants working with the federal government.

“If I’m a mobile worker and am supposed to collaborate, I still need my e-mail and the ability to work off my computer. There wasn’t that hand-in-hand investment in technology,” he said.

Mr. Fleming told OBJ that there have been other issues related to denser offices, such as the loss of privacy and strain on common areas such as washrooms.

During his speech, Mr. Radford also outlined a vision for dramatically rethinking where in the National Capital Region civil servants work.

In recent years, the federal government has been reducing its presence in Ottawa’s central business district and looking for opportunities to relocate to other areas close to mass transit, such as the Ottawa Train Yards.

However, Mr. Radford said he’d like to go further and allow bureaucrats to work closer to home.

He described his experience driving from his Gatineau office to Wednesday morning’s forum in Ottawa.

“We sat on a bridge for half an hour (surrounded by cars) with Quebec licence plates … Most of them were public servants,” Mr. Radford said. “It’s nonsensical to me how much productivity was lost on that bridge.”

His vision includes federal office hubs scattered throughout the National Capital Region. Employees could choose where they wanted to work and use an electronic registration system to reserve a workstation.

In the meantime, Mr. Radford said he’s received the green light from the federal privacy commissioner to collect the first half of bureaucrats’ postal codes to better understand where employees working in certain buildings live.

He also questioned the wisdom of the federal government owning its own office buildings, especially given the challenges in accurately predicting future demand.

Government figures show that slightly more than half of government space in the National Capital Region is owned by the Crown, rather than leased. Much of that government-owned inventory is old and in poor condition.

Any shift towards leasing more space would create significantly more business for private-sector landlords.

“I was thrilled to hear (Mr. Radford) say that they they really shouldn’t own buildings, that they should be leasing buildings,” said Bernie Myers, vice-president for eastern Canada at Morguard, during a later panel discussion. Morguard is one of the federal government’s largest local landlords.

“They have a tremendous inventory of (older) buildings that if (the private sector) owned, they probably wouldn’t lease.”

http://www.obj.ca/Real-Estate/Non-residential/2016-10-20/article-4668053/-Feds%26rsquo%3B-Workplace-2.0-office-modernization-%26lsquo%3Ba-disaster%26rsquo%3B/1

[acottawa]

"Ottawa needs a geography museum"
said no one, ever

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/new-tenant-canada-world-pavilion-geography-exploration-1.3815965

[rocketphish]

"Ottawa needs a geography museum"
said no one, ever

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/new-tenant-canada-world-pavilion-geography-exploration-1.3815965

Is it April 1st today?

[1overcosc]

Workplace 2.0 hasn't been **that** horrible. It's been bungled up, sure, but it's a step in the right direction, towards private sector norms.

The new trend in private sector offices is what's called an open-concept office. No offices, no cubicles.. just a single giant room with long desks that employees share. It offers a dramatically reduced square footage per employee and fosters a collaborative environment. The federal government is slowly moving towards that model--the new Bank of Canada building will have much of its office space in this format--but the bureaucracy is always aversive to change.

[kwoldtimer]

"Ottawa needs a geography museum"
said no one, ever

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/new-tenant-canada-world-pavilion-geography-exploration-1.3815965

Glad to see they found a use for the building.

[rocketphish]

Storied Sussex address to become 2017 pavilion, home of Royal Canadian Geographical Society

Megan Gillis, Postmedia
Published on: October 24, 2016 | Last Updated: October 24, 2016 8:22 PM EDT

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2016/10/the-royal-canadian-geographical-society-has-announced-that-t-e1477354173523.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all&w=600

A long-vacant building with a landmark address and a spectacular view of the confluence of the Ottawa and Rideau rivers will get new life as the home of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Canada’s Centre for Geography and Exploration at 50 Sussex Dr. will open as a Confederation Pavilion featuring two as-yet unannounced exhibitions for Canada’s 150th birthday celebration in 2017.

It will then open as the geographical society’s headquarters in April 2018.

“We are hoping that this will be a long-term, permanent home for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society,” said its honorary president, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.

He was on hand for the ceremonial signing of the five-year, extendable lease between the society, which is paying undisclosed market rent, and the National Capital Commission.

“Does it get any better than this?” Trebek said, gesturing toward the commanding view of the rivers once navigated by First Nations paddlers and charted by European explorers.

Its address on the most prestigious boulevard in the capital, says, “I’m important,” he said.

Trebek, who quipped that he began his remarks in French to prove he still could after 40 years of living in Los Angeles, joked that he’d like to build himself an adjacent apartment so he’d have “a place of my own with a fantastic view” during visits to Ottawa.

“For the past 87 years, the society has fulfilled its mission of celebrating Canada — not only its physical geography but its human geography, as well,” Trebek said, pointing to work backing expeditions and research, reaching young people through 18,000 teachers and publishing the third most widely read magazine in the country.

“There is still much to discover on our planet, in this vast country of ours, in our oceans, in the polar regions. I know that the RCGA, along with similar societies around the world, will continue to be an important part of those discoveries.

“Use your imagination,” he said of the building empty for a decade, adding that by July 1, 2017, there will be exhibits “celebrating our great country.”

Society CEO John Geiger said that the new headquarters will rank with the landmark homes of the Royal Geographical Society in London and the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C.

It will feature two exhibition spaces and a 210-seat auditorium to serve as a venue for lectures, film screenings and conferences while celebrating the physical and human geography of Canada, with an emphasis on the geography of the capital region.

It will use “immersive” technology to provide visitors with a compelling experience, Geiger said.

Mark Kristmanson, CEO of the NCC, said there was “real enthusiasm and real excitement” when board members talked about working with the geographical society to repurpose the building. It was part of a plan to bring to life the 10 or so “most interesting but most underused properties” for 2017 and beyond.

The modernist stone-and-glass structure at 50 Sussex was built in 2000 and opened the following year as the Canada and the World Pavilion, which aimed to highlight the international achievements of Canada and Canadians. It closed in 2005.

But the site has a long and storied history, Kristmanson said. Samuel de Champlain is thought to have named Rideau Falls as he explored the Ottawa River in 1613. Once home to saw mills, then a centre of scientific research and the founding home of the National Film Board, the site is “a place with a long history of innovation.”

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/storied-sussex-address-to-become-2017-pavilion-home-of-royal-canadian-geographical-society

[passwordisnt123]

Almost everybody I talk to in government who hasn't worked in Workplace 2.0 is excited about it.

Almost everybody I talk to in government who has worked in Workplace 2.0 isn't impressed with it.

Yes, Workplace 2.0 has allowed the government to fit more people into a smaller space and that's a good thing. There is simply no need for these massive filing cabinets that used to take up a huge amount of space in everyone's cubicles. Those are all but mercifully gone now.

But there are big problems too. It's distracting as hell because you overhear everybody's phone conversations all the live long day since there's no divider. Despite what they say, you also can't do any videoconferencing calls without reserving a boardroom because you'll distract absolutely everybody around you for the same reasons. And the common work spaces are woefully underutilized because, as the article points out, almost no government office buildings have WiFi.

I also think there are more fundamental problems with it. In many ways, the government's work isn't at all like the work done in Silicon Valley where this workspace arrangement was pioneered. For starters, even relatively low-level bureaucrats regularly work with protected and highly sensitive information and there are federal regulations on how that information is to be managed and secured. Secondly, while we do have to attend frequent meetings, most of our work is not collaborative in the same way that a team developing a new app together would be collaborative.

But I think one of the big unmentioned reasons why this was pushed—besides reducing the government's footprint—was that it helped create a kind of a modern Panopticon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon).

From Wikipedia:

The Panopticon is a type of institutional building designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. The concept of the design is to allow all (pan-) inmates of an institution to be observed (-opticon) by a single watchman without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched. Although it is physically impossible for the single watchman to observe all cells at once, the fact that the inmates cannot know when they are being watched means that all inmates must act as though they are watched at all times, effectively controlling their own behaviour constantly.

[acottawa]

The other difference from a tech company is workplace 2.0 came with none of the perks that a tech company would have so it resembles a 1950s or 1960s office setup more than it resembles a tech company.

[rocketphish]

The other difference from a tech company is workplace 2.0 came with none of the perks that a tech company would have so it resembles a 1950s or 1960s office setup more than it resembles a tech company.

At least it has a cool old "warehouse vibe"...

http://pix.avaxnews.com/avaxnews/ba/15/000015ba_medium.jpeg

[rocketphish]

City planning committee OKs affordable housing application, new Barrhaven farmers' market

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: October 25, 2016 | Last Updated: October 25, 2016 12:07 PM EDT

The planning committee proved Tuesday it can get a lot done in little time.

In less than 40 minutes, the committee said “yes” to more condos for Hintonburg, as well as separate proposals to buy surplus federal land to build affordable housing and start a new farmer’s market in south Ottawa.

New land for $1

With council’s blessing, the city will apply to buy a piece of vacant federal land between the Glebe and Little Italy to build new social housing units.

The property at 289 Carling Ave., located just west of Bronson Avenue on the northeast side of Bell Street, has been used as a surface parking lot since the 1960s, but staff say the land is suitable for a five- or six-storey building comprised of 45 to 55 bachelor apartments.

The federal government will sell the surplus land to the city for $1. The land would then be transferred, again for $1, to a housing provider selected by the city, which would ultimately develop the site. The city would contribute about $7 million to the initiative.

The building’s eventual height and size, as well as the developer and prospective occupants all remain unknown at this point as the housing services branch is only at the first step — getting approval to file an application to the federal government.

<snip>

mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/city-planning-committee-oks-affordable-housing-application-new-barrhaven-farmers-market

[Kitchissippi]

I bet the people in charge of implementing Workplace 2.0 all have separate offices :D

How managers see it:
http://www.collinsonbourke.com.au/images/infslides/items/full_90_Bourke_Rd_Office_Lev2_PRINT.jpg

How workers see it:
http://denpubs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2012/08/09/cows_own_row_WEB_t670.jpg

[passwordisnt123]

Ha. I like that. I'd make just one subtle change to your depiction:

How management sells it to their workers and the general public:
http://www.collinsonbourke.com.au/images/infslides/items/full_90_Bourke_Rd_Office_Lev2_PRINT.jpg

How workers see it:
http://denpubs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2012/08/09/cows_own_row_WEB_t670.jpg

How management actually sees it:
http://denpubs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2012/08/09/cows_own_row_WEB_t670.jpg

[1overcosc]

The other difference from a tech company is workplace 2.0 came with none of the perks that a tech company would have so it resembles a 1950s or 1960s office setup more than it resembles a tech company.

This is true. Open-concept offices work well in tandem with other modern innovations, but the government has moved way too slowly on these other innovations.

In some areas the government is even moving backwards. Under Harper there was a push for stricter office dress codes under the guise of "professionalism".. this is the complete opposite of the rest of the office world where the overwhelming trend has been towards casual dress.

Unionization also makes implementing many of the tech sector's perks difficult. For example, a common practice now in tech companies is to provide employees with free coffee and free snacks throughout the day. This is quite cost effective because it is a far cheaper way to make your employees happy than giving them a raise. For $500 a year per head you can have free snacks and free drinks for everyone; and it will provide a morale and productivity boost comparable to a $2000 a year raise. Problem is, the unionization model makes tinkering with compensation quite difficult.

[YOWflier]

http://www.financialpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=business.financialpost.com/fp-tech-desk/apple-inc-is-developing-its-car-operating-system-in-ottawa-using-former-blackberry-ltd-developers-sources&pubdate=2016-10-25

Apple Inc is developing its car operating system in Ottawa, using former BlackBerry Ltd engineers: sources

...

Apple has dozens of software engineers in Canada building a car operating system, a rare move for a company that often houses research and development projects close to its Cupertino, California headquarters, according to people familiar with the matter.

...

[1overcosc]

It's quite something that Apple opened their office quite literally a hop skip and a jump away from QNX. It's very clear where they're getting their employees from, lol.

[McC]

In some areas the government is even moving backwards. Under Harper there was a push for stricter office dress codes under the guise of "professionalism".. this is the complete opposite of the rest of the office world where the overwhelming trend has been towards casual dress.
...
For $500 a year per head you can have free snacks and free drinks for everyone; and it will provide a morale and productivity boost comparable to a $2000 a year raise.

I'm a fan of professionals dressing professionally no matter which colour's team is in charge. Dress for the job one wants, and don't be surprised if others make assumptions based on the way one chooses to present oneself.

But I also prefer monetary to in-kind compensation and perks and deciding for myself how to dispose of the extra cash, so I guess I'm pretty old school.

[YOWflier]

I'm a fan of professionals dressing professionally no matter which colour's team is in charge. Dress for the job one wants, and don't be surprised if others make assumptions based on the way one chooses to present oneself.

But I also prefer monetary to in-kind compensation and perks and deciding for myself how to dispose of the extra cash, so I guess I'm pretty old school.Agree with this. Old school or not, you're much less likely to be taken seriously by coworkers, management, clients, and suppliers if you are poorly put together.

[Uhuniau]

I have worked with enough dress-to-impressers over the years to know that they are, in general terms, stupid, incompetent, overcompensating douchewagons.

[1overcosc]

At many of the "new-style" tech companies in Ottawa, like Shopify and Klipfolio, wearing casual clothing to work is part of the company culture. You'll look weird and out of touch if you come in wearing a dress shirt and a tie.

I dress casually whenever I go into the office. Often in the summer I'll wear cargo shorts and a polo shirt. I find that it actually makes people open up to me and thus makes collaboration easier. A useful thing in my job half of which involves meetings with other teams.

[YOWflier]

Generally, I think the following items should be prohibited in the workplace (speaking about men's dress now):

Sneakers
Sandals, especially when worn with socks
Shorts, no matter how "nice"
Shirts with no collar
Ball caps
Denim, unless very dark

Some exceptions may be appropriate depending on the overall getup.

[HighwayStar]

Generally, I think the following items should be prohibited in the workplace (speaking about men's dress now):

Sneakers
Sandals, especially when worn with socks
Shorts, no matter how "nice"
Shirts with no collar
Ball caps
Denim, unless very dark

Some exceptions may be appropriate depending on the overall getup.

I'm having trouble reconciling this opinion with barely there professional attire of your avitar 😳 😉

[MarkR]

Storied Sussex address to become 2017 pavilion, home of Royal Canadian Geographical Society

Megan Gillis, Postmedia
Published on: October 24, 2016 | Last Updated: October 24, 2016 8:22 PM EDT

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2016/10/the-royal-canadian-geographical-society-has-announced-that-t-e1477354173523.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all&w=600

[/url]

(rest snipped)

This building has been another fabulous example of the NCC's ineptitude. They spent $6 million to build it, and it closed only four years later! (http://nccwatch.org/tombstones/worldpavilion.htm) It has now been vacant for a decade and lord knows how much they are going to have to spend (from what I've read elsewhere) to take care of mold and other issues.

[TheGoods]

Generally, I think the following items should be prohibited in the workplace (speaking about men's dress now):

Sneakers
Sandals, especially when worn with socks
Shorts, no matter how "nice"
Shirts with no collar
Ball caps
Denim, unless very dark

Some exceptions may be appropriate depending on the overall getup.

I agree with your list with the exception of denim (maybe this is the exception part). If your work environment is business casual or allow business casual on a Friday, and then denim, no matter what the colour, is ok. There are no real dress codes were I work but I will wear jeans with a blazer, a shirt with a collar and nice shoes on a Friday.

[YOWflier]

I'm having trouble reconciling this opinion with barely there professional attire of your avitar 😳 😉Ha! Well, I did mention men's dress. As for Melissa, well, she can do little wrong in my mind.

[YOWflier]

I agree with your list with the exception of denim (maybe this is the exception part). If your work environment is business casual or allow business casual on a Friday, and then denim, no matter what the colour, is ok. There are no real dress codes were I work but I will wear jeans with a blazer, a shirt with a collar and nice shoes on a Friday.Yeah, denim is a tricky one. Lots of lighter denim can look nice and be appropriate too. It just sort of "depends". As you described it the blazer (and shoes) elevates the overall getup nicely.

I worked at a place where all denim was strictly forbidden, so perhaps I've been brainwashed a bit much.

[1overcosc]

These sorts of strict dress rules are now considered outdated and they're dying off. There's a very strong generation gap in this for male office workers; most men in their 40s and 50s dress up at work but most men in their 20s and 30s don't.

One problem with strict dress codes is financial. Abiding by these strict clothing rules can be prohibitively expensive for lower paid employees (like receptionists), or for people who are just entering the workforce for the first time. In fact, the inability to afford nice clothing has actually been identified as one of the barriers to workforce re-entry for social assistance recipients.

[acottawa]

It depends what your job is. If your job is to fix computers or sort the mail or fill out tps reports then wear all the shorts you want. If your job is to persuade people then you best be wearing pants.

[YOWflier]

I don't buy the expense argument. Nice clothing does not have to mean expensive clothing. Winners, Marshalls, Sears, Walmart, Mark's, even grocery stores offer very affordable, and attractive clothing.

[HighwayStar]

I don't buy the expense argument. Nice clothing does not have to mean expensive clothing. Winners, Marshalls, Sears, Walmart, Mark's, even grocery stores offer very affordable, and attractive clothing.

Most of my dress clothes are from Costco....

[TheGoods]

I don't buy the expense argument. Nice clothing does not have to mean expensive clothing. Winners, Marshalls, Sears, Walmart, Mark's, even grocery stores offer very affordable, and attractive clothing.
Totally agree and that is just an excuse. Actually, jeans are more expensive then dress pants and I have seem dress pants and dress shirts at the mentioned stores for $20 each. With the way that the clothing market is changing, most of the stores are decently priced, anyone can get a reasonable priced Khakis, dress pants, women skirts and shirts at H&M, Forever 21, Joe Fresh and even stores like Giant Tiger.

[ars]

Wow, some extremely outdated ideas about workplace dress in this thread :yuck:

For what it's worth, some of the most valuable corporations on this planet have a casual dress code and it hasn't hurt them one bit in getting business :)

There's no reason why a computer programmer who only has to interact with his or her coworkers should have to dress up like they're about to go into an executive meeting.

Agree with this. Old school or not, you're much less likely to be taken seriously by coworkers, management, clients, and suppliers if you are poorly put together.

What if the coworkers, management, clients and suppliers all have the same dress code? What if they simply don't care about what the individual they're meeting with is dressed like and care more about the product they're offering(which is how the high tech industry works).

Heck, even a lot of Fortune 500 CEOs, when they are giving keynotes or presentations, dress up semi casual(collared shirt with jeans), it definitely hasn't hurt them or the companies they work for, and actually makes them more relatable to the average person.

Also, this trend against a formal and semi formal dress code has nothing to do with the cost of clothing, it has all to do with wearing what makes you comfortable while doing your job.

[acottawa]

Those CEOs dress for their audience. When Mark Zuckerberg speaks at a university campus he wears a tshirt. When he meets government officials in China he wears a suit.

I think what people are complaining about is people who dress out of context (i.e. show up at a government office dressed like they never bothered to get changed after the gym or the nightclub or like they don't want to get changed before their tee time).

[Marcus CLS]

Posted on the development application Web site. Zoning amendment and Site plan control. 24 story rental Apartment tower to be placed in between the two office towers and connected to the Adelaide apartments. The existing Adelaide building to have an additional floor added . Since this is a rental project I imagine it should start quickly once approved by the city.

Present zoning is 15 stories. Given it is right next to the Queensway I do not see why this should not get approved.

[rocketphish]

Posted on the development application Web site. Zoning amendment and Site plan control. 24 story rental Apartment tower to be placed in between the two office towers and connected to the Adelaide apartments. The existing Adelaide building to have an additional floor added . Since this is a rental project I imagine it should start quickly once approved by the city.

Present zoning is 15 stories. Given it is right next to the Queensway I do not see why this should not get approved.

Well spotted. I've started a thread for this project over here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=225628

[rocketphish]

How you can help StatCan test crowdsourcing in mapping Ottawa's buildings

Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: November 14, 2016 | Last Updated: November 14, 2016 8:45 PM EST

http://wpmedia.ottawacitizen.com/2016/11/graphic-for-1115-crowdsource.jpeg?quality=55&strip=all&w=600

Canada’s national statistics agency is testing the power of crowdsourcing through an unusual project that aims to map Ottawa’s buildings.

As part of its pilot project, Statistics Canada is asking people who live in Ottawa-Gatineau to contribute information about local buildings to an open source map. The project was launched online last month.

“We’re going to see whether crowdsourcing can be used as an additional tool of data collection,” said Alessandro Alasia, chief of the Data Exploration and Integration Lab at Statistics Canada. “We’re in an exploratory phase. At this point, it’s not going to replace any of our traditional surveying.”

Statistics Canada has partnered with a popular open source platform, OpenStreetMap, to map the location and physical attributes of both public and private buildings in Ottawa-Gatineau. Among other things, the agency wants to know the size of each building, whether it’s residential or commercial and what kind of stores or shops it holds.

Statistics Canada officials will assess the reliability of the open source information as part of the two-year pilot project.

The idea grew out of the Big Ideas conference, an initiative designed to encourage innovation within the statistics agency. Alasia’s idea was one of those awarded project funding. “The potential is vast — and that’s why there’s a lot of curiosity about this project,” he said.

Alasia said the database could feed information into a future national building registry or into other Statistics Canada reports. All of the data collected will remain accessible to the public and could prove helpful to a developer or entrepreneur, for instance, in search of a neighbourhood underserved by restaurants or grocery stores.

The database could also prove useful in a crisis.

Open source mapping has been successfully deployed after natural disasters in Haiti and Nepal.

When an earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, thousands of trapped victims sent out pleas for help by text, Facebook and Twitter. Online volunteers around the world pitched in to help by mapping their locations; they produced digital “crisis maps” to guide relief workers to people in need.

During last year’s devastating earthquake in Nepal, crisis maps — developed on OpenStreetMap with the help of satellite images, GPS devices and people on the ground — were able to pinpoint broken bridges, collapsed buildings and stranded populations.

Founded in 2004, OpenStreetMap has been called the Wikipedia of mapping because its platform allows anyone to update and edit online maps. It boasts more than two million volunteer mapmakers worldwide and is supported by a not-for-profit foundation based in Sutton Coldfield, England. The open source platform has also proved to be an important tool for mapping remote parts of Africa and Asia.

Alasia said the challenge for Statistics Canada is to understand whether the platform can produce the kind of complete, high quality data on which the agency can rely.

Already, about 200 people have signed up for updates on the open source project.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/statcan-wants-your-help-to-test-the-power-of-crowdsourcing-in-ottawa

[1overcosc]

Stats Can revised metropolitan area boundaries to account for changes in commuting patterns in the 2016 census.

As a result of today's change, North Grenville Township (which contains Kemptville) has been officially added to Ottawa's CMA, becoming the third Ontario municipality besides Ottawa to be included (the other two are Clarence-Rockland and Russell Township).

On the Quebec side, Thurso, Lochaber, and Lochaber-Partie-Ouest have also been added.

In total, the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area has officially gained 20,000 additional people from these additions.

[Harley613]

Stats Can revised metropolitan area boundaries to account for changes in commuting patterns in the 2016 census.

As a result of today's change, North Grenville Township (which contains Kemptville) has been officially added to Ottawa's CMA, becoming the third Ontario municipality besides Ottawa to be included (the other two are Clarence-Rockland and Russell Township).

On the Quebec side, Thurso, Lochaber, and Lochaber-Partie-Ouest have also been added.

In total, the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area has officially gained 20,000 additional people from these additions.

Interesting. in 2011 the population was 1,451,000 and change. Any guesses what the 2016 tally will be? 1,600,000 maybe?

[HighwayStar]

Interesting. in 2011 the population was 1,451,000 and change. Any guesses what the 2016 tally will be? 1,600,000 maybe?

Where do you get that figure?

In 2015, Stats Can put it at 1,332,000...

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo05a-eng.htm

[Luker]

Where do you get that figure?

In 2015, Stats Can put it at 1,332,000...

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo05a-eng.htm



Calgary (Alta.)
1,307.5 1,357.8 1,406.0 1,439.8

Edmonton (Alta.)
1,241.8 1,286.0 1,331.6 1,363.3


Is this right? Has Calgarys and Edmontons growth really been so dramatic? I would have thought the opposite following the 2013 collapse of oil..?

I suppose all the labourers have returned home to the big city?

[OTSkyline]

Yeah, those figures look about right. There has been real growth in the west and in Alberta for years and both Calgary and Edmonton have now passed Ottawa in terms of population. :(

I'm guessing it must look something like this by now;
Calgary: 1.5M
Edmonton: 1.45M
Ottawa: 1.4M

[J.OT13]

Wow, 4th to 6th in four years.

[Acajack]

The higher figure might come from the NCC's figure for the NCR, which is always higher than the CMA.

[Harley613]

The higher figure might come from the NCC's figure for the NCR, which is always higher than the CMA.

I guess that's the number i was talking about.

[citydwlr]

Apparently the old World of Maps location in Hintonburg (1235 Wellington Street West (https://www.google.ca/maps/place/1235+Wellington+St+W,+Ottawa,+ON+K1Y+3A3/@45.3997473,-75.7319192,3a,75y,297.18h,89.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVHM1OIpWwG49MUD07BTUeA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x4cce043d68b8fedd:0x6e5eb08bd5d7d27d!8m2!3d45.3997547!4d-75.7319365!6m1!1e1)) has finally been leased:


Leased! Looks like former World of Maps is getting a new tenant. #hintonburg (https://twitter.com/hashtag/hintonburg?src=hash) #ottawa (https://twitter.com/hashtag/ottawa?src=hash) @JLeiper (https://twitter.com/JLeiper)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cw1GnbpXAAANY3W.jpg

Nov 9, 2016

[Source (https://twitter.com/SRobillard2010/status/796370369888260096)]

A quick search turned up a PDF advertisement about a franchise opportunity at this address for Second Cup (http://dxwx7wlnpbc9u.cloudfront.net/s3/franchising/SecondCup-Franchise-Opportunities1.pdf); though, I'm not sure how old this is. If true, I would imagine that it would be done in the new café format (http://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/second-cup-redesign)).

[dhottawa729]

I keep hearing rumors about a recent rezoning to permit a 15-story highrise development just south of the 417 east of the O-Train, but have seen no evidence of it anywhere online, not even DevApps. Does anyone have any factual information on this because all that seems to exist is word of mouth. If so, should it have it's own thread?

[passwordisnt123]

I keep hearing rumors about a recent rezoning to permit a 15-story highrise development just south of the 417 east of the O-Train, but have seen no evidence of it anywhere online, not even DevApps. Does anyone have any factual information on this because all that seems to exist is word of mouth. If so, should it have it's own thread?

The 17 Aberdeen Street proposal is just south of the Queensway and east of the O-Train. It's 23 storeys. Is that what you're thinking of?

Thread is here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=225628

[citydwlr]

Came across a new Boutique Hotel that will open in Ottawa in the new year (Winter 2017) called "The Metcalfe":


Coming to #Ottawa (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ottawa?src=hash), Winter 2017 ... #meettheMet (https://twitter.com/hashtag/meettheMet?src=hash)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cy7rfwUWIAAza_x.jpg

[Source: @MetcalfeHotel (https://twitter.com/MetcalfeHotel/status/805840318314795010)]

Also on their Twitter page (https://twitter.com/MetcalfeHotel), their header image shows a rendering of what I assume to be the lobby:

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_banners/802231653351522304/1480960830/1500x500

UPDATE: I can't find an address for this project, but is it possible that this could be a scaled-down version of the proposed redevelopment (http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/developer-agrees-to-pay-200000-to-include-hotel-in-metcalfe-street-tower) of the Medical Arts building (180 Metcalfe)?

[kevinbottawa]

Looks great, like something in New York.

[phil235]

Came across a new Boutique Hotel that will open in Ottawa in the new year (Winter 2017) called "The Metcalfe":


[Source: @MetcalfeHotel (https://twitter.com/MetcalfeHotel/status/805840318314795010)]

Also on their Twitter page (https://twitter.com/MetcalfeHotel), their header image shows a rendering of what I assume to be the lobby:

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_banners/802231653351522304/1480960830/1500x500

UPDATE: I can't find an address for this project, but is it possible that this could be a scaled-down version of the proposed redevelopment (http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/developer-agrees-to-pay-200000-to-include-hotel-in-metcalfe-street-tower) of the Medical Arts building (180 Metcalfe)?

Perhaps this?

Hotel Indigo Ottawa will be closed for renovations from December 23rd, 2016 reopening on January 9th, 2017. Please call our toll free number at 1-877-660-8550 for reservations or email us at reservations@ottawadowntownhotel.com for any other inquiries.
We look forward to sharing the transformation with you!

[citydwlr]

Perhaps this?

Hotel Indigo Ottawa will be closed for renovations from December 23rd, 2016 reopening on January 9th, 2017. Please call our toll free number at 1-877-660-8550 for reservations or email us at reservations@ottawadowntownhotel.com for any other inquiries.
We look forward to sharing the transformation with you!

Nice find! You might be right. If true, it's a shame the Indigo brand is leaving Ottawa. But the new hotel, if it looks like what's in the render, looks pretty good, and different for Ottawa.

[phil235]

Nice find! You might be right. If true, it's a shame the Indigo brand is leaving Ottawa. But the new hotel, if it looks like what's in the render, looks pretty good, and different for Ottawa.

It does look nice, although I thought that they did a pretty good job renovating for the Indigo, and that wasn't long ago. I could be wrong, but I think most Indigos are newer hotels in suburban areas. Maybe we'll see another one show up in the outskirts.

[MichelKazan]

Perhaps this?

Hotel Indigo Ottawa will be closed for renovations from December 23rd, 2016 reopening on January 9th, 2017. Please call our toll free number at 1-877-660-8550 for reservations or email us at reservations@ottawadowntownhotel.com for any other inquiries.
We look forward to sharing the transformation with you!

Based on the renderings and that staircase in the background right, I could totally see this being a redevelopment of the Hotel Indigo.

[canabiz]

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/person-hurt-in-hintonburg-shooting

Any idea what this Vibe place is about? Nightclub? Coffee shops that a lot of gangbangers like to hang out? Underground/after hours rave place?

I drive by this corner fairly regularly on the way to see my folks in Chinatown but wasn't aware there seems to be an issue with this place until now.

[IntoTheCore]

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/person-hurt-in-hintonburg-shooting

Any idea what this Vibe place is about? Nightclub? Coffee shops that a lot of gangbangers like to hang out? Underground/after hours rave place?

I drive by this corner fairly regularly on the way to see my folks in Chinatown but wasn't aware there seems to be an issue with this place until now.

From a 2013 article (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/man-shot-twice-outside-of-somerset-street-bar-1.1702543):

Jeff Leiper, head of the Hintonburg Community Association, told CBC News the business had to agree to a number of conditions before it was allowed to move to his neighbourhood.

"We had anticipated problems," he said.

Under terms of their licence, the bar was required to have two security guards on hand from 9 p.m. to close Sunday to Thursday.

They were required to have three guards on hand, who couldn't be doing any other job such as serving, from 9 p.m. until close on Friday and Saturday.

Leiper said the bar also had to have security cameras with footage that would be stored for 30 days and could be viewed by police.

[dhottawa729]

The 17 Aberdeen Street proposal is just south of the Queensway and east of the O-Train. It's 23 storeys. Is that what you're thinking of?


No, the property is 18-30 Young Street (between Preston and the Trillium Line). I keep hearing rumors that a residential highrise is in the works.

[rocketphish]

Infrastructure levy could fill financial cracks in city repair list

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 7, 2016 | Last Updated: December 7, 2016 5:32 PM EST

Council might need to consider bringing back an infrastructure levy to fix the city’s roads, sewers and buildings.

The transportation committee, which oversees departments in charge of the road, cycling and sidewalk network, heard Tuesday that there just isn’t enough money to make all the needed repairs.

Coun. Keith Egli, chair of the committee, wasn’t ready to say if he would support an infrastructure levy.

“I think we need to have all the information,” Egli said after the meeting.

Other councillors noted deteriorating conditions of roads and questioned staff about the city’s priorities in 2017.

Coun. Diane Deans said local roads aren’t getting enough attention, an observation that was confirmed by staff.

“That’s certainly where we have the biggest gap at this point,” Alain Gonthier, the head of asset management, said during the meeting.

Gonthier said the number of complaints about vibration caused by heavy traffic on deteriorating roads has been increasing.

After the meeting, Deans said that an infrastructure levy should be part of council’s discussion on funding asset repairs.

“I wouldn’t rule it out at this point,” Deans said.

In 2017, the city will release an updated long-range financial plan, which is the playbook on how to pay for necessary infrastructure work.

The current long-range financial plan, which was released in 2012, suggested the city in 2016 would need to consider options, including an infrastructure levy, if permanent funding from the upper-tier governments isn’t in place.

The city receives funding from the federal and provincial government on a “sporadic basis,” according to city treasurer Marian Simulik, and typically the money is earmarked for projects in the transportation master plan, such as LRT and new roads.

“The city is encouraged that the new federal programs have included renewal works but, so far, these programs are not permanent,” Simulik said.

The city last had an infrastructure levy when Larry O’Brien was mayor, but it petered out toward the end of his term when property tax pressures became too burdensome for council.

Voters elected Mayor Jim Watson in 2010 on a promise to cap tax increases at 2.5 per cent, and returned him to office in 2014 on a two-per-cent tax pledge, so there has been little room for discussion at council about an additional levy.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the National Capital Heavy Construction Association has been the unofficial watchdog for municipal infrastructure repairs. Association members benefit from the city’s maintenance spending.

On Tuesday, the association credited the city for increasing spending on road projects, invoking Leonard Cohen by suggesting this is the city’s “Hallelujah” moment.

Deans, skeptical of the association’s praise, and remembering a bit of Cohen’s lyrics, said a softer “and broken Hallelujah might be more appropriate.”

Dale Harley, the association’s executive advisor and a former Osgoode municipal councillor, said the city should start turning its attention to how it will pay for maintenance. The association in the past has pushed the city to have an infrastructure levy.

“We put it on hold when they came up with the mayor’s two per cent (tax increase cap),” Harley said.

But now, the city is clearly short on cash for repairing assets, he said.

The transportation committee unanimously approved the transportation budget for 2017. The city intends to repave roads in 56 locations, renew sidewalks and curbs at 20 locations and fix buildings at 16 sites. Council will vote on the city’s 2017 budget next Wednesday.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/infrastructure-levy-could-fill-financial-cracks-in-city-repair-list