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  #441  
Old Posted Apr 23, 2024, 4:09 PM
Uhuniau Uhuniau is offline
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Originally Posted by YOWetal View Post
I've never such widespread delusional beliefs as Ottawa Civil servants, real estate investors, city officials etc who think a Pierre Polievre led government is going to keep the 100,000 new millennial civil servants doing endless GBA+ analyses and be content with attrition of retiring boomers.
So many very self-made business owners in Ottawa are going to vote for Skippy, who will then eat their faces by firing all their customers.
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  #442  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2024, 8:04 PM
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I've never such widespread delusional beliefs as Ottawa Civil servants, real estate investors, city officials etc who think a Pierre Polievre led government is going to keep the 100,000 new millennial civil servants doing endless GBA+ analyses and be content with attrition of retiring boomers.
Where did I ever say I thought the Conservatives were going to form the next government? I didn't, and I'm not delusional.

The Liberals are already planning to shrink the public service through attrition. If they hold onto power - or in a coalition with the NDP - we'll get more or less the following: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...ears-1.7175515

If it's Conservatives next time - then no doubt they would accelerate it. But Polievre is a career politician, and a local one. I don't think he would have an appetite for inflicting a lot pain on his own constituents. Carleton riding has plenty of public servants living in it.

With him in charge I'd expect a major hiring freeze, extra buyouts, a trimming of contractors and temp workers etc. If the Conservatives were running with a PM candidate who was from outside the Ottawa area... I think then all bets would be off.
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  #443  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2024, 9:15 PM
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Where did I ever say I thought the Conservatives were going to form the next government? I didn't, and I'm not delusional.

The Liberals are already planning to shrink the public service through attrition. If they hold onto power - or in a coalition with the NDP - we'll get more or less the following: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...ears-1.7175515

If it's Conservatives next time - then no doubt they would accelerate it. But Polievre is a career politician, and a local one. I don't think he would have an appetite for inflicting a lot pain on his own constituents. Carleton riding has plenty of public servants living in it.

With him in charge I'd expect a major hiring freeze, extra buyouts, a trimming of contractors and temp workers etc. If the Conservatives were running with a PM candidate who was from outside the Ottawa area... I think then all bets would be off.
Well if you are counting on Pierre's love of Ottawa then good luck to you. He was anti civil servants when his career depended on Ottawa. As PM it would no longer matter, even a bit.
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  #444  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2024, 2:53 PM
Uhuniau Uhuniau is offline
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I don't think he would have an appetite for inflicting a lot pain on his own constituents. Carleton riding has plenty of public servants living in it.
Pierre Poilievre has an insatiable appetite for inflicting pain on others, including people who think he is their friend.
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  #445  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2024, 3:33 PM
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Pierre Poilievre has an insatiable appetite for inflicting pain on others, including people who think he is their friend.
Civil Servants who think he is their friend deserve their fate. Frankly small business owners or real estate investors who think so equally do.
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  #446  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2024, 3:39 PM
Uhuniau Uhuniau is offline
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Civil Servants who think he is their friend deserve their fate. Frankly small business owners or real estate investors who think so equally do.
.
Hell, his own caucus and party members are starting to clue in.
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  #447  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2024, 3:51 PM
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Hell, his own caucus and party members are starting to clue in.
I don't see evidence of that. I am speaking only about Civil Servants. Cutting 100k is overdue anyway but it's going to be a big kick to an already down Ottawa.
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  #448  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2024, 4:54 PM
Uhuniau Uhuniau is offline
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I don't see evidence of that.
You would if you were tracking which CPC MPs are abruptly announcing they aren't running again.
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  #449  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2024, 5:33 PM
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Federal Public Servants will soon need to be in the office three days a week.

https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/a...MKP7ECUILTJAY/
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  #450  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2024, 5:39 PM
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Federal Public Servants will soon need to be in the office three days a week.

https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/a...MKP7ECUILTJAY/
That is big. If it is enforced, that is.
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  #451  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2024, 6:25 PM
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That is big. If it is enforced, that is.
“The shade of paint in the lunch room gives me migraines, thus I’m unable to come into the office.”
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  #452  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2024, 6:42 PM
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Pierre Poilievre has an insatiable appetite
As seen by his attack on an unsuspecting apple.
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  #453  
Old Posted Apr 30, 2024, 9:49 PM
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Downtown restaurant owners skeptical that more civil servants will return to work in the core

Sarah MacFarlane, OBJ
April 30, 2024 4:15 PM ET


If a rumoured directive requiring federal civil servants to be in the office a minimum of three days a week comes to pass, it could be good news for downtown restaurant owners who have been scrambling to stay afloat in a downtown “ghost town.”

Many, though, remain skeptical.

Amir Rahim, owner of Grounded Kitchen, has been pivoting his business since the pandemic to accommodate the changes in Ottawa’s downtown. Grounded Kitchen on Gloucester Street was a pre-pandemic hotspot for both public- and private-sector workers in the core, but since COVID, Rahim says he has adapted, trying everything from lunch and dinner specials to new initiatives such as opening a second location on Carling Avenue that is driven by automation.

But with the news this week of a potentially stricter return-to-office mandate for civil servants, Rahim said his gut reaction is one of skepticism.

“A lot of mandates and requests have been echoed a lot over the past year. We’ve heard companies, including the feds, saying people will be back to work and haven’t seen a big difference,” Rahim told OBJ. “My gut reaction is that remote work has caused a difficulty and that this will be harder than we think. When it happens for real, I’ll know it’s working.”

Grounded on Gloucester has already seen an uptick in lunch traffic, but Rahim doesn’t attribute it entirely to the public service. Instead, most of Grounded’s customers are private-sector or Crown corporation employees, Rahim explained, as well as upper and middle management for the public service.

“I don’t know where they’re working, but they live downtown. They’re in suits, they didn’t wake up, put on a suit and come here for lunch. But all I know is they’re working and we’re full for lunch most days,” he said.

Since bringing back lunch service, Rahim said Grounded Kitchen’s earnings are comparable to those in 2019 and on track to eclipse pre-pandemic numbers by the end of this year. If there is a ramped-up return to office for public servants, he said Grounded can rely on a more varied customer base and, in turn, revive services that have taken a back seat.

For example, before the pandemic, off-site catering was responsible for 40 per cent of Grounded’s sales, said Rahim. But with fewer corporate events, business lunches and in-person gatherings, catering has decreased. Takeout service has also gone down.

“So far, we’ve been able to mitigate that with increased sales. Our numbers are the same, but it’s all in-store dining — a loonie or four quarters is still a dollar — but this could diversify that a bit,” said Rahim. “I love serving customers in the restaurant, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love it.

“But this could bring more density in the restaurant on more consistent dates, increased takeout, more catering and we could still have night business,” he added. “I can even bring back more happy hours, hopefully, for those after-work drinks.”

In the ByWard Market at The Grand Pizzeria, co-owner David Mangano says “the more people downtown, the better,” and he’s preparing for a boom in business in the next few months, though not because of federal workers.

Given his restaurant’s location, he hasn’t missed the public servants as much — indeed, in some ways, their absence from the downtown core has even been better for his business, he said.

Aside from the nearby offices of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Revenue Agency, the ByWard Market is not positioned near major government buildings, and so Mangano said The Grand does not rely on public servants.

During the summer, The Grand is supported by tourists visiting its patio and locals who come to spend a day in the Market.

“We don’t feel the pinch of people working from home as much as someone who owns a business on Sparks Street, for example, where there are a lot of people going through a hard time with so many empty government buildings,” said Mangano. “Business will improve for the summer, but that’s because of tourism.”

Since the public service has been working hybrid, Mangano said The Grand has actually seen an increase in parties of between 10 and 20 people for work-related gatherings during Market Hour, The Grand’s version of happy hour.

“They book a lunch or dinner as a face-to-face meeting and get-together to see each other in person and that increased with them working remotely post-COVID.”

Mangano said that, with the money saved by working from home, he sees remote employees more willing to dine out.

“We don’t cater to lots of offices and people who work from home have more disposable income because they’re not paying for clothes, commuting, parking, gas … So there’s a bit more disposable income and we see people come in more,” he explained. “For us, specifically, it works out to be a bit better in some ways.”

That said, Mangano says there are pros and cons to the situation and adds it’s important for the downtown core to be busy and thriving. He hopes lunch service and after-work drinks might increase at his business with a stricter return-to-office mandate — that is, he said, if it happens.

“I’m hearing they’re just not going to show up, so I’m skeptical. We say they’re going back to the office, but are they really?” he laughed. “That’s the question.”

Anish Mehra, owner of the East India Company on Somerset Street West, said he is looking forward to an increased return-to-office for the public service. He just hopes this one will stick.

“When the initial mandate happened last year, we noticed an increase in business, especially on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, because that’s when they were coming in, so we saw rushes,” explained Mehra. “But it didn’t feel like a full return because everyone had different days in the office and, since then, I think a lot of the offices have become lenient and we’ve seen a decrease, particularly at lunch.

“It seems optional, so I imagine people aren’t in office as much and we’ve seen a decrease there,” he continued. “With this new one, if it is enforced and becomes habit, there will be more plans for lunches and going out and then we’ll see the full effect.”

While Mehra said he understands the argument in favour of remote work, he hopes the desire for more social engagement will outweigh it — especially as he looks toward the revitalization of the downtown core.

“Having a vibrant and active social scene in the core takes many parts and part of that is having people in the core. Part of the business plan and expectation when you open up a business in the core is that you assume the public servants will be there,” he explained. “I know there’s been pushback, but it’s a bit of a social agreement: we will provide services and they’ll be there to take part, and the federal government has always been a big part of that.”

Since the pandemic, Mehra said the East India Company has largely recovered in sales and managed to increase the regular dinner crowd. Despite that, when he takes into account increased costs of food and labour, Mehra said federal workers in office three days per week could be the boost he needs.

“We have rebuilt our dinner and group business and our events, but the part that’s weakest is the lunch crowd,” said Mehra. “If the mandate is enforced and if people are eager to go out and support businesses, that would mean a lot to us as downtown businesses.”

As an advocate for downtown revitalization, Mehra said that having more federal workers return more often to the office is an important piece of the puzzle.

“You can’t have revitalization without people,” said Mehra. “People need that social engagement, our city needs it, and some of it takes place in the office, but it also takes place at lunch, and on the street, and in the city.

“If you create a doughnut in Ottawa, a circle of activity with a core that’s dead, you scare away tourists and visitors too and it impacts everyone,” he continued. “We need to keep people in the core so that places are open, windows aren’t boarded up, and it can thrive. Downtown needs it, and our city needs it.”

https://obj.ca/downtown-skeptical-th...s-return-core/
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  #454  
Old Posted May 1, 2024, 11:09 PM
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Government confirms more details of return-to-office plan
Department heads expected to implement 3-day hybrid mandate no later than Sept. 9

CBC News
Posted: May 01, 2024 6:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago


The federal government has released more details about its plan to bring public servants back to the office three days a week, and says it expects departments to implement the updated hybrid schedule by early September.

On its website Wednesday, the Government of Canada published a detailed directive on "prescribed presence in the workplace" for deputy heads of departments to follow.

Earlier this week, a federal government source who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter confirmed to Radio-Canada the federal government will expect public servants back in the office three days a week beginning later this year. Major public sector unions said the news came without warning or consultation.

It's a major change to the twice-a-week hybrid model that prompted some 155,000 Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members to walk off the job last year in what their union called a "watershed moment" for workers' rights.

The government now says it expects department managers who have not already implemented a minimum three-day in office requirement to do so no later than Sept. 9.

This directive will apply to all full-time, part-time, term and indeterminate employees, as well as students and casual workers, the government stated.

While it's insisting employees return to the office a minimum of 60 per cent of the time, the government says it will allow them to fulfil that on a weekly or monthly basis to allow some flexibility.

"Workplaces vary from one organization to the other. Deputy heads are to use discretion and adapt to their operational requirements," reads the website.

This directive will not apply to employees who were hired to work remotely before March 16, 2020, the government said.

Indigenous public servants "whose location is critical to their identity to work form their communities" and employees who have permission from their assistant deputy minister to work remotely more than 125 kilometres from their office location are also exempt.

The government added that "exceptional exemptions" will be made on a case-by-case basis.

The directive also states department leaders are responsible for verifying employees are following the new hybrid work model through attendance reports, IP login data or access records from turnstiles at the workplace.

The government is encouraging managers to hold conversations with employees to discuss barriers they may encounter, and to find solutions to help address those problems before implementing the new hybrid schedule.

"The employer has the exclusive management right to designate the location of work and to require employees to report to their designated workplace," reads the directive.

The government adds managers should make sure individual circumstances are considered on a case-by-case basis, keeping in mind human rights obligations and the duty to accommodate.

"Managers seeking to ensure compliance have tools available to them, including several administrative actions," the government said.

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) released a statement Wednesday in response to the government's confirmation.

"This announcement is a disaster. We are shocked at this decision which has been made in secret without consultation, and with no valid reason given," reads a statement attributed to Nathan Prier, president of CAPE.

"We will be joining our members and their colleagues in their workplaces to fight against this decision which completely ignores common sense."

Prier said the federal government has so far "offered no evidence or data" to support the claim that employees are more productive in the office.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...plan-1.7190970
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  #455  
Old Posted May 2, 2024, 3:10 PM
OTownandDown OTownandDown is offline
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Originally Posted by DTcrawler View Post
“The shade of paint in the lunch room gives me migraines, thus I’m unable to come into the office.”
"My cubicle neighbour has gas today, I have to go home with a migrane."

"There is construction 8 floors up and I heard a drill for 30 seconds. Home."

"Doctor's appointment for an hour in the neighbouring building. Not coming back in. Home."

"Computer screen at the hotelling station flickered once. Home."

"Nobody else I know is here. Gym for 4 hours then home."

lol and those are just the ones I know happen. There's probably a plethora of others.

OH

"OC Transpo. Home."

Last edited by OTownandDown; May 3, 2024 at 2:47 PM.
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  #456  
Old Posted May 2, 2024, 11:24 PM
Truenorth00 Truenorth00 is offline
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Two days a week allows for more hoteling with cubicles and a lot more for traffic downtown. 3 days a week, means many more empty days effectively. So I'm curious about the net impact on the downtown core.
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  #457  
Old Posted May 6, 2024, 1:28 PM
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Why Ottawa has an 'amazing opportunity' to rethink its urban fabric
Anger about back-to-work plan could be about 'crappy spaces,' says architect

Trevor Pritchard · CBC News
Posted: May 06, 2024 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago


What's the debate about the federal government's latest directive on working from the office really about?

Andrew Reeves says it's a question that's been on his mind lately.

"Is the pushback to coming back to the office more of a pushback [against] crappy spaces and crappy places?" asked Reeves, an architect and founder of Ottawa firm Linebox Studio, in a recent interview with CBC Ottawa News.

"Maybe it's not really about work. Maybe it's really about the experience of a city."

Reeves is one of many mulling over those sorts of questions ever since the Government of Canada updated its back-to-the-office directive last week.

As of later this year, the feds expect the vast majority of public servants will be in the office three days a week.

Any departments that haven't already implemented the three-day minimum requirement must do by Sept. 9, the directive said.

It was issued roughly one month after Premier Doug Ford was in Ottawa, calling for the federal government to get workers back in the office more frequently for the sake of the city's struggling downtown.

"They have to get people back to work," Ford said at the time. "I'm begging people to go to work for three days — not that they aren't working at home, but it really affects the downtown."

Both the back-to-work directive and the premier's plea come as Ottawa's urban core faces a spectrum of complex challenges, from vacant storefronts on Bank Street to increasingly open street drug usage on parts of Rideau Street. (Things are similar across the river in downtown Gatineau, Que.)

But mandating civil servants to spend more time in downtown office towers isn't a panacea — particularly if you ask people like Nancy Peckford who've seen their communities thrive as people spend their salaries locally.

"With those hybrid work options, more [residents] have been able to frequent local businesses, build relationships, get their gas, get their groceries," said Peckford, the mayor of North Grenville, Ont. "So we're extremely concerned."

According to census data, North Grenville grew by nine per cent to nearly 18,000 residents between 2016 and 2021.

A big part of that growth, Peckford told CBC Radio's All In A Day last week, is that the cultural embrace of hybrid work has made the community just south of Ottawa more appealing for workers in both the public and private sector.

"What I think is important is that the Government of Canada really looks at their responsibility, not to the economy of just the nation's capital, but the economies of smaller communities that surround the city of Ottawa," she said.

It's a similar situation in the west Ottawa suburb of Bells Corners, according to Christine Leadman, head of the local business improvement area.

Residents have been doing things like buying their groceries closer to home and supporting local business owners who've shared that they're struggling, Leadman said.

She doesn't think, even with the latest back-to-work directive, that things can change too much.

"I don't think you'll see a huge shift, especially when you have the government looking at unloading 50 per cent of their properties," said Leadman, referring to the $1.1-billion federal budget pledge to transform half of the government's office portfolio into housing.

"Where are [those workers] going to be, then? There won't be those buildings."

The shift in Ottawa's urban core has been happening since "well before the pandemic," Leadman said.

Contemplating its future — and tackling challenges like housing shortages and the street drug crisis — was a big focus at a recent city-building summit hosted by the Ottawa Board of Trade, she added.

"You just can't say, well, things are going back to normal, or the feds are coming back," she said.

"Because there is, certainly, a lot of pushback from the public service to say, 'Why is it on us? Why is on our backs to make sure that [downtown] businesses thrive?'"

For Reeves, COVID-19 — while highly disruptive — primarily highlighted shortcomings that already existed with Ottawa's urban fabric, particularly the geographical balance of residential and commercial developments.

Other cities Reeves has looked at, such as Berlin and Copenhagen, have better addressed that balance.

They've been able to foster what he calls "tiny towns in a major city," with amenities like schools and parks and shops all within easy walking distance.

With the sheer number of vacancies in the core, Ottawa has an "amazing opportunity" to address that imbalance and do something similar, he said.

The challenge, he said, will be getting municipal politicians — who are elected to four-year terms — to make meaningful decisions that could shift Ottawa's urban fabric for decades to come.

"I think what's happened in North America is maybe we went a little too far [with] offices being downtown and the scale of downtown. And I think there's opportunity now to recorrect that and rethink it," he said.

"Other cities have done so, and I think we're next."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...bric-1.7193524
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  #458  
Old Posted May 22, 2024, 3:37 PM
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New plan to revitalize downtown Ottawa calls for $500 million fund



A new plan to "revolutionize" downtown Ottawa over the next 10 years is calling for a $500 million investment from all levels of government and the private sector to fund initiatives to make the "downtown desirable."

The Ottawa Board of Trade released the new 'Downtown Ottawa Action Agenda' at Ottawa City Hall on Wednesday, calling for new public realm on Sparks Street and the ByWard Market, new housing, improving transit options and boosting marketing efforts "nationally and internationally" to boost economic activity and enhance downtown's image.

"The Downtown Ottawa Action Agendaaims to reimagine and rejuvenate Downtown Ottawa, making it more diverse, resilient, and vibrant for generations and challenges to come," the Ottawa Board of Trade said in a media release.

"Under the plan, Downtown Ottawa will see the addition of 40,000 new residents and the creation of 50,000 jobs by 2034, transforming the cityscape into a bustling hub of activity and innovation."

The future of downtown Ottawa has been a hot topic since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as hybrid work policies allow people to work from home instead of offices in the core. Starting in September, the federal government will require workers to be in the office a minimum of three days a week.

The new action agenda says it wants to make downtown desirable by increasing the number of residents downtown, repurposing federal buildings for new uses and "make downtown resilient."

The action plan recommends five immediate actions, including:
  • Prioritize Housing: Streamlining processes to increase downtown residency through higher density and use of public land.
  • Invest in the Future: Establishing financial mechanisms for ongoing downtown investment.
  • Address Homelessness, Addiction, and Mental Health: Implementing focused programs with multi-level government funding.
  • Improve Regional Mobility: Enhancing transit options to make downtown more accessible.
  • Position Downtown Nationally and Internationally: Marketing efforts to boost economic activity and enhance downtown's image.
  • The new Downtown Ottawa Action Agenda was developed by the Canadian Urban Institute in partnership with the city, Ottawa Tourism, Invest Ottawa, the National Capital Commission and BOMA Ottawa.

"This is more than a plan; it's a renaissance for Ottawa’s downtown," Sueling Ching, President and CEO of the Ottawa Board of Trade said in a statement.

"By fostering a live-work-play environment, we are not only boosting the local economy but also creating a culturally rich, inclusive, and accessible downtown for all to enjoy. And a capital city all Canadians can be proud of."

The report says the $500 million Capital Investment Fund will "double down on key projects" that make downtown Ottawa "better connected, unique, and emblematic of what this place means to residents, workers – to everyone." The Ottawa Board of Trade says the return on the $500 million investment is expected to be $1.3 billion a year within 10 years.

The Downtown Ottawa Action Agenda includes 16 actions and steps, under the headlines "Make downtown desirable," 'Make downtown resilient," "Make downtown robust" and "Make downtown inclusive."

The plan includes identifying and prioritizing the disposition of federal, provincial and municipal lands for affordable/supportive housing, greater residential densities in the downtown core and streamlining the approval process for new residential development to increase the number of people downtown. The federal government is urged to repurpose its buildings downtown as it looks to reduce its office footprint.

Under the "Make downtown resilient" plan, the report recommends identifying revenue sources for investment downtown and a "multi-sector" commitment for transit to boost mobility choices in the national capital region. The federal and Ontario governments are urged to provide funding to support OC Transpo and identify ways to incentivize transit and boost transit ridership during periods of low ridership.

The report also recommends prioritizing the implementation of the ByWard Market and Spark Street Public Realm plans, and identify and secure resources to invest in climate-adaptive public realm improvements.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/new-plan-t...fund-1.6896215
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  #459  
Old Posted May 22, 2024, 4:09 PM
Uhuniau Uhuniau is offline
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I like the Bored of Trade report much better than the awful task force one, but for the love of all that is holy, can people who come up with such reports maybe ask downtown transit riders what we want, instead of spouting banalities and abstractions?
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  #460  
Old Posted May 22, 2024, 4:42 PM
YOWetal YOWetal is online now
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Originally Posted by Uhuniau View Post
I like the Bored of Trade report much better than the awful task force one, but for the love of all that is holy, can people who come up with such reports maybe ask downtown transit riders what we want, instead of spouting banalities and abstractions?
I agree with your long standing grievance that the nearly downtown transit rider has been given the short stick. But... what they want is pretty much irrelevant. They aren't the customers who need to be convinced to return. We are already using the spending power we have.
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