Month: March 2011

Uncategorized4 Comments

Did someone record that?

Westsideaction

  It isn’t enough to carry around a camera. A tape recorder would be useful too. And, while we are at it, a pause button to allow me to get it out and capture what I just heard. Such were my feelings last fall, just before the municipal election, when Planning Committee was discussing the proposed development Soho Champagne. This condo complex will soon be underway by Starwood Mastercraft, at the corner of Champagne and Hickory Street by the O-Train. Neighbours were there to object to the size and height of the proposed condo building. I forget how high the original … Continue reading Did someone record that?

Claridge, condos, pedestrians, Preston street, Primrose, sidewalks, WalkSpace5 Comments

Good neighbours on snowy sidewalks

Westsideaction

Note: this post was originally written for WalkSpace over at www.SpacingOttawa.ca site. I repeat it here just in case you don’t also read Spacing — shame on you! Go subscribe right now! ______________________ Whether or not you enjoy well-plowed winter sidewalks depends on where you live, when you use them, and your neighbours. Sidewalks get a lot of use in the urban bits of the City. Especially where the road is a grid pattern, pedestrians can get from point A to B directly and easily on a route easily understood. The City plows the sidewalks in winter. If you are an early riser … Continue reading Good neighbours on snowy sidewalks

bike path, cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, NCC, O-Train2 Comments

Janus the snowplower

Westsideaction

Whilst out walking last week, I noticed an interesting difference in City pathway plowing. From Beech south to Carling, the multi-use path (a MUP, in city jargon; a bike path to the rest of us) gets plowed. Presumably this is because of the O-Train station at Carling: The O-Train path is always gorgeous, lined (for now) with forty year old trees and established green verges bordering the stonedust path. But turn the other way, look north, and Janus does not plow it at all: It is still a city path — oops, MUP. The NCC stoop-and-scoop sign is a leftover from the … Continue reading Janus the snowplower

145 Elm, condos, design, Elm Street, housing policy, infill, intensificatioin11 Comments

Better infills through consultation

Westsideaction

The City has done a review of all the infill housing put up in the last few years in selected central area neighborhoods. Staff went out and photographed every house from the street. I must commend them for actually doing part of the study out in the real world and not from charts and drawings in the back room. It wasn’t that many years ago that the City reprimanded staff for actually going out in the field. It is a practice I would like to see more of (the going out in the city part) by planners. There are been a … Continue reading Better infills through consultation

design, Richmond road, Uncategorized3 Comments

585 Churchill again

Westsideaction

Continued from previous post: This old house has a third floor. Curiously the staircase does not go up from the upstairs hall, but from one of the large bedrooms. This severely impairs the utility of that bedroom in my mind, since the third floor is itself a marvellous room. The third floor was totally flooded with light. Skylights abounded, with gorgeous tree-house-living views. The white-washed ceiling beams kept the volume of space large. The deluxe bathroom fixtures made this attic room seem more like a retreat … except the toilet is totally open to the rest of the room … … Continue reading 585 Churchill again

design, Richmond road, Uncategorized6 Comments

Winston might be comfortable here …

Westsideaction

There was a well-worn house on Churchill. Previous owners subdivided it into apartments. Now, it has been given an “extreme makeover”. The makeover kept and modernized most of the old elements. For example, the main floor walls were left in place rather than “opened up” to a loft style. Typically for such old homes, the antiquated kitchens and baths are scarcely what would be found in decorator mags or HGTV shows today. Kitchen: So who lives there and how did I get in? No one lives there. The house has been staged … selectively furnished with impact-full pieces of furniture and artwork. All … Continue reading Winston might be comfortable here …

Booth St, Bronson, cycling in Ottawa, little Italy, O-Train, oc Transpo, pedestrians, Preston street, Uncategorized17 Comments

Be careful what you wish for … the story of Carling Avenue

Westsideaction

Life, especially when it comes to municipal planning in Ottawa, is full of inadvertent disasters. Sometimes these come from the law of unintended consequences, whereby something ostensibly for the good turns out to be awful. Other times is results from good wishes, which when delivered, make you wish you had never asked in the first place. That sounds like something from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and the proposed reconstruction of Carling between the O-Train and Bronson is looking a bit grimm to me today. In a city whose new mantra is taxpayer dollar value, we are looking at an expensive road scheme that will be … Continue reading Be careful what you wish for … the story of Carling Avenue

condos, design, Dows Lake, intensificatioin, little Italy, Uncategorized5 Comments

HOM on the Champagne

Westsideaction

Domicle has started marketing their new condo on Champagne Avenue at Hickory Street. It’s a 12 storey tower on a podium facing Champagne with six townhouses facing Hickory. The name HOM has an accent over the O to make it sound like HOME in Swedish. The marketing scheme is interesting. It’s big on IKEA style signage. The green exterior signage vandalized (graffiti) on Sunday was cleaned up by Monday morning, so they are alert. The market package inside (kitfolder) follows through on the same Ikea theme. With the popularity of design TV — the HGTV channel, for example — viewers/consumers are becoming much more design-conscious. In this case, … Continue reading HOM on the Champagne