Quote:
Originally Posted by Truenorth00
The PS may have issues, but the reality is that the world of work has changed and whatever balance is found isn't likely to be 100% in the office anymore. It's not just the PS, I don't know a single office worker where WFH is lower than 40%. And going forward, I know of several companies that are actually downsizing their real estate portfolio. I expect the PS will also get there eventually when they figure out Office 2.0.
Relying on the Public Service to keep downtown vibrant is dumb. The PS doesn't exist to make downtown Ottawa vibrant. And indeed, that fixation is partly why Ottawa has struggled with making downtown vibrant.
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Exactly, this is what the gaping whole of our downtown has become. It's why our downtown would "die" after 6pm everyday. It's why Ottawa for a long time and still is at times called "boring". The downtown isn't designed to be a downtown with eat work play in mind, it was: "office space for workers" then call it a day. If anything, this task force needs to innovate and create reasons to come downtown instead of being forced back into an office.
And I highly disagree with this threads abundance of forcing workers back into the office to revitalize our downtown. Many teams and many offices have worked just as efficiently or more efficiently remotely. Just because some haven't, doesn't mean that's the fault of the whole system. We need to not live in the past, and this narrative of forcing people back into a physical office to fix our downtown problem isn't the reason we are in this mess, it's because the downtown isn't properly designed with mixed use. Do you hear about these problems from other cities that are bigger or the same size like it is with Ottawa? Not so much.
It's backwards and archaic to think workers need to be forced back into the office to create a false image of "working". That bullshit time argument is just saying one type is preferred. How is bullshit time at the water cooler better than making a coffee at home? Because one has the fallacy of being in the office? Allowing remote work to stay or having a hybrid model isn't the problem, it's not having reasons to go downtown and having a interconnected city that has us here. Business travel and creating business rationales for in person meetings can still happen under a hybrid or remote work model. We had a lack of effective public transportation and most in this forum push for mixed use with densification throughout our city. Lots with the wrong mentality, and the city won't be able to grow properly if we can't adapt to a future where employees aren't tied to a physical office full time. Completion of Stage 3, Via Rail's HFR, LeBreton, densification and district efforts, as well as revitalization efforts across downtown will allow the city to get to where it needs to be, not "but what about PS?! Are they really working?!".