Trillium Line Upgrades & Extension (Stage 2) [Greenboro to Airport/Limebank] | U/C

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I also think the fight against sprawl is wrong headed. We are trying to force everybody to live the same lifestyle.

How are we doing that?

[lrt's friend]

There is more than one kind of sprawl. One that limits the spread of the city and one that chokes the life out of neighbouring communities

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

How are we doing that?

There is the general impression that everybody should live in a downtown condo

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I tend to think most of the reasoning is political - Orleans is a swing riding while Ottawa South and Nepean Carleton are not.

Ottawa South is a swing riding. It is always a target-pickup or target-hold for the fed/prov Tories and Liberals.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

There is the general impression that everybody should live in a downtown condo

If anything, the general impression is still that everyone should live in a single-family home with a big garage on a cul-de-sac in the suburbs, because that's the kind of development that the city rubber-stamps most frequently.

If you don't want to live in a downtown condo... don't. Pretty simple solution to that imaginary problem.

On the suburban end of things, by all means, approve new single-family housing developments, but we need to stop letting our land-use and physical plant dictate that those single-family suburban developments will never, ever, ever, change or evolve to meet future economic and social pressures like pre-war neighbourhoods have, and do.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Ottawa South is a swing riding. It is always a target-pickup or target-hold for the fed/prov Tories and Liberals.

It has voted liberal in every federal election since 1988 by a margin of at least 10% and voted liberal in every provincial election since 1987, by a margin of at least 10%.

It is a safe liberal riding.

[FFX-ME]

If we want to limit sprawl we need to start allowing developments inside the greenbelt. The inner city is 100% full as it is. This is a great opportunity to create transit-oriented neighbourhoods by allowing ONLY the development in side the greenbelt along the LRT corridors.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

It has voted liberal in every federal election since 1988 by a margin of at least 10% and voted liberal in every provincial election since 1987, by a margin of at least 10%.

It is a safe liberal riding.

Not according to Liberals.

The federal margin was less than 10% in 2004 and 2006, and just slightly above it in 2011. Provincially, it was tight in 1999 and the 2013 by-election.

It is HEAVILY targetted for pickup by the federal and provincial Tories every time it is contested, and HEAVILY targetted for defence by the Liberals.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by FFX-ME

If we want to limit sprawl we need to start allowing developments inside the greenbelt. The inner city is 100% full as it is. This is a great opportunity to create transit-oriented neighbourhoods by allowing ONLY the development in side the greenbelt along the LRT corridors.

The inner city is nowhere near full, but yes, pave the Greenbelt - IF you can do so without just creating more spral.

If we really want to limit sprawl, we'd demand better new suburban development (we don't) and stop acceding to NIMBYism that prevents better urban redevelopment in the core (we do.)

That way the precious, precious Brownbelt could be preserved, and future generations won't be saddled with the already-unsustainable, and worsening, costs of keeping up post-war suburbs. The life-cycle replacement costs in suburban areas is going to put an undue strain on public finances in this country as this century progresses, if anti-urban, pro-sprawl mindsets, among developers, cities, and the public alike, don't change, and fast.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Not according to Liberals.

The federal margin was less than 10% in 2004 and 2006, and just slightly above it in 2011. Provincially, it was tight in 1999 and the 2013 by-election.

It is HEAVILY targetted for pickup by the federal and provincial Tories every time it is contested, and HEAVILY targetted for defence by the Liberals.

I have never heard the term "swing riding" used to describe a riding that voted for the same party federally and provincially for 30 years. I certainly think if the Tories thought it was winnable they would try to do better than Al Gullon. 2004 and 2006 were 8 and 9 point margins.

[acottawa]

I would agree inside-the-greenbelt is nowhere near full. There are lots of brownfield and greenfield sites, plus lots of low density commercial and industrial sites that could be re-developed plus lots of infill potential. For those who don't like high rise living there are many duplex, townhouse and stacked townhouse developments available inside the greenbelt.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I have never heard the term "swing riding" used to describe a riding that voted for the same party federally and provincially for 30 years. I certainly think if the Tories thought it was winnable they would try to do better than Al Gullon. 2004 and 2006 were 8 and 9 point margins.

8- and 9-point margins might be considered safe in the U.S., but they aren't here.

Yes, the Tories have had candidate issues in that riding... But I can guarantee you, 100%, that both the fedprov Tories and the fedprov Liberals go into almost every electoral event assuming that it'll be tight, and in the past decade they've been right.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I would agree inside-the-greenbelt is nowhere near full. There are lots of brownfield and greenfield sites, plus lots of low density commercial and industrial sites that could be re-developed plus lots of infill potential. For those who don't like high rise living there are many duplex, townhouse and stacked townhouse developments available inside the greenbelt.

Very much so. The entire population of Kanata, Stittsville, Barrhaven, Riverside South, and Orleans could probably fit inside the Greenbelt if land was better used.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

There is the general impression that everybody should live in a downtown condo

As a transplanted Torontonian, when I moved to Ottawa in 2006, I was shocked by how few condo options there were for a city of its size. Forget large condos. Not even much low-rise to choose from. Ottawa is so suburban inside the greenbelt.

I find it odd that people talk about Kanata and Orleans as suburban, when I'd argue a solid 80% of what's inside the greenbelt has very suburban built form.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

The life-cycle replacement costs in suburban areas is going to put an undue strain on public finances in this country as this century progresses, if anti-urban, pro-sprawl mindsets, among developers, cities, and the public alike, don't change, and fast.

More awareness is needed of this. Just watch what is happening in the 905 belt in Toronto. Property taxes are skyrocketing. Now that they've run out of new development to collect development charges on, their revenue is shrinking, just as aging infrastructure is about to take a bite out of their budgets.

In the GTA, those are independent municipalities. Toronto is not going to suffer for poor decisions made in Mississauga or Vaughan. In Ottawa, they fall under the same umbrella. Why the heck would anybody here want to tolerate an inch of sprawl outside the greenbelt? The financial consequences will be disastrous.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

8- and 9-point margins might be considered safe in the U.S., but they aren't here.

Yes, the Tories have had candidate issues in that riding... But I can guarantee you, 100%, that both the fedprov Tories and the fedprov Liberals go into almost every electoral event assuming that it'll be tight, and in the past decade they've been right.

So to summarize, a riding that has voted Liberal in every single election for the last 30 years, never by a margin smaller than 8%, and in the last 10 years by an average margin of 21%, and had the highest liberal vote in Eastern Ontario in the last election and the 4th highest liberal vote in all of ontario, and which the local
newspaper calls a "liberal stronghold" is a swing riding because some local operatives say it will be close.

Makes sense to me.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

As a transplanted Torontonian, when I moved to Ottawa in 2006, I was shocked by how few condo options there were for a city of its size. Forget large condos. Not even much low-rise to choose from. Ottawa is so suburban inside the greenbelt.

The condo explosion had a good 15-year head-start in Toronto vs. Ottawa, and about 10 years in Montreal. While Toronto developers were starting to build up, especially in the core and along TTC lines, Ottawa developers were still tacking on additions to Barrhaven, Kanata, and Orleans.

And there is still no Ottawa developer even half-way interested in tapping into the unexploited market of people who might like to live in a detached or semi-detached home in a new neighbourhood that has a more traditional layout, as opposed to the post-war suburban standards of curly, dead-end, and other non-griddy street plans.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

So to summarize, a riding that has voted Liberal in every single election for the last 30 years, never by a margin smaller than 8%, and in the last 10 years by an average margin of 21%, and had the highest liberal vote in Eastern Ontario in the last election and the 4th highest liberal vote in all of ontario, and which the local
newspaper calls a "liberal stronghold" is a swing riding because some local operatives say it will be close.

Makes sense to me.

Never, ever, ever trust a political journalist to tell you which ridings are strongholds or swings. They aren't very good at it.

Again, I refer you to the herculean efforts that the Tories have put into penetrating suburban Ottawa in the past 20 years, including into Ottawa South, and the equally herculean efforts that the Liberals have put into keeping it. Why?

Because in both of their assessments, it's a swing.

[waterloowarrior]

City releases shortlist of builders vying to extend Trillium Line

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: July 17, 2017 | Last Updated: July 17, 2017 4:04 PM EDT
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...-trillium-line

The city has shortlisted three finalists to extend the O-Train’s north-south Trillium Line.

In a memo sent to city council on Monday, city manager Steve Kanellakos says the rail department has pre-qualified two new consortiums, as well as a single firm, to extend the Trillium Line to Riverside South and build a separate spur to the Ottawa International Airport by 2021. The detailed bid documents for the project were to be released Monday.

As with the Rideau Transit Group consortium that won the contract to build the $2.1-billion Confederation LRT Line, two of the finalists are corporate groups assembled specifically for the Ottawa work.

The finalists are:

• Trillium Link (made up of eight companies, including Spanish infrastructure builder ACCIONA, Spanish railway vehicle and equipment maker CAF, Ottawa construction firm Thomas Cavanagh and Ottawa’s GRC Architects)
• Trillium Extension Alliance (made up of seven companies, including Australian infrastructure builder Plenary, French road and rail company Colas and local construction firm Tomlinson)
• TransitNEXT (made up of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin)

The city wants to tweak the proposed extension of the Trillium Line to bring trains almost a kilometre closer to fast-growing Riverside South as part of the Stage 2 transit program.

The current blueprint has the Trillium Line stopping at a rural area along Bowesville Road, but a plan unveiled earlier this month would add about 800 metres of LRT track and move the station and park-and-ride lot south to Earl Armstrong Road.

Such an extension is beyond what the city can currently afford, but city officials have said they hope to work with the private-sector developers to see if partnerships can be found to accelerate the work, which is estimated to cost about $40 million (including the purchase of an additional train).

In June, the city announced it had shortlisted three international construction consortiums to bid on extending the Confederation Line west to Bayshore and Baseline and east to Trim Road by 2023.

In all, the next phase of rail and all its add-ons are supposed to cost $3.6 billion.

According to Kanellakos’s memo, awarding contracts for both procurements is expected next year, with construction to begin by spring 2019.

mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78

[kmcamp]

I guess that means we could end up with another north American first... CAF Civity trains http://www.caf.net/en/productos-serv...odularidad.php
Whoever wins i kind of hope they choose to go with longer trains rather than two coupled together. They could use the current Lint trains for the airport shuttle