Ottawa truly is the city that fun forgot. Or maybe the city that frets endlessly about being sued. In a park-short neighbourhood with three different multi-storey public staircases, no opportunity for fun may be indulged in. Someone might smile. But … Continue reading Friday Traveller: Active transportation in Montreal
I used to be just as scornful as many when it came to synthetic grass. Fake. Artificial. Faux, to be snobby about it. I’ve changed my mind. I’m tired of seeing public playing fields beat to sh__ mud by over-use. … Continue reading The green green grass of … synthetics
The City of Ottawa claims it cannot possibly design the new section of Booth Street running north from Albert, serving Pimisi Station and the LeBreton Flats area, to include motorists, buses, transit, and bikes. The cyclists just don’t fit. So they are being thrown under the bus. As for their partner in crime, the NCC’s vision for their new urban downtown showpiece doesn’t seem to include complete streets or cyclists. Dusk a few weeks ago, I noticed this lovely bike path – walkway – bus stop combo in Montreal, on the side of Park Lafontaine. Everyone approaching the place gets ample visual … Continue reading Bike Path, Walkway, Bus Stop: all together now
Urban form is a diagram of the forces acting during planning. Sidewalks are traditionally glued to the edge of the curb. Their routing, and thus that of pedestrians, deemed by engineers to be absolutely perfectly defined by the road geometry designed to move cars. Might there be a more direct way? A different desire line? A more pleasant way? To even consider pedestrian needs and wants is rare (gluing a sidewalk to a curb doesn’t count). All the more delightful to come across this urban scene where landscaping was integrated into the pedestrian realm. A curvy path. Interesting sight lines. … Continue reading Innovative sidewalk layout
As seen at Ryerson University campus in Toronto. Eye catching shape. And it did attract a few cycles. I wonder if it really saved enough space to warrant the expense, and the deterrence to cyclists who wouldn’t want or were unable to lift up their bikes to park them. Wall mounted bike racks make regular appearances, and designers love to design new ones, but gravity remains their foe. That, and the length of chain required to attach the frame of the bike to one of the solid bars, neither of which was close to the frame. Continue reading Novel bike rack
We all hear the complaints that condo towers are boring, boxy, and uninteresting. I suspect many of the criticisms are simply people casting around for grounds to justify their a priori dislike of tall buildings. In any case, Ottawa has a number of irregularly shaped and “dented” or curved condos now under construction. For those who want something more extreme, be careful of what you wish for, since ground breaking towers elsewhere are prototype buildings bound to be copied — suitably toned down — for the smaller Ottawa market by lesser architects. The podium townhouses featured in the previous story … Continue reading Absolute Marilyn
In 2012 Toronto converted some painted bike lanes on Sherbourne Street to a segregated bike lane. Sherbourne runs parallel to Yonge Street, and is about 8 blocks east of Yonge, running from Bloor to Front Street. A walk along the bike track proved interesting. Immediately south of Bloor, the track commences as a curbside painted lane, that then drifts out from the curb and becomes green painted. There is an orphan bit of black asphalt between it and the curb, with faded zebra hatching marks on it, but I was unable to determine if this was a right turn lane (awfully narrow) … Continue reading Sherbourne Ave segregated bike lane, Toronto
A few observations from a recent visit to the Centre of the Universe ™, aka Toronto. Continue reading Sundry Observations from The Centre of the Universe
Last winter, Domtar knocked down an elderly mill building on the Islands in the Ottawa River. Great consternation arose, as they did it Without Consulting the Bureaucrats. Priceless heritage lost! Like a dog with a bone, the media and planning pundits worried about the lost potential for a vibrant outdoorsy urban waterfront à la Granville Island or The Distillery in Toronto. Few people seemed to notice that Victoria Island is one of the windiest, coldest, bleakest spots in Ottawa, a far remove from sunny* Granville Island or the spirits factory in Toronto. Numerous calls were made for the Distillery Folks to come to … Continue reading Distilling Our Lady of the Condos – part ii
A few posts ago, there were some polite sign reminding dog owners human companions to pick up after their companion animals. Here’s a modified Toronto sign, and following it is the original format of the sign. I do wonder at the size of the bag the dino companion would have to carry. Continue reading Another dog poop sign
Toronto has new subway trains, now. Ottawa will have its new LRT trains sometime in the future. What Toronto has now has certain similarities with what Ottawa will have in 2017 or 2018. Unlike earlier subway cars that were individual cars hooked together into trains, without any means for passengers to switch cars, the new train cars have open gangways. This is similar to how the articulated OC Transpo buses work. It means passengers can get on any car but then as passengers shift around, the load evens out throughout the train. Passengers feel safer, less “trapped” in one car. It … Continue reading Toronto Now — Ottawa Later
Saw the pictured woodpecker on Primrose St in front of St Vincent Hospital around 1pm on March 17th. He had created a significant litter of woodchips on the lawn and sidewalk, which is how I spotted him, since his pecking was silent. It was bigger than a robbin, smaller than a crow; much larger than the woodpeckers I normally see in this neighborhood. Continue reading Woodpecker on Primrose
The City Centre office and warehouse complex, 250 City Centre Avenue, opposite the Bayview OTrain station and Tom Brown Arena, is often referred to as the ugliest in the city. While not pretty, its not so bad either. I should know, I look at it from my house, and until I sold my business a few years ago, was/is the largest tennant in the industrial bays. The night time picture was taken at 2am a few weeks ago from a window on the third floor of my house, looking across the roof of the Just Rite Storage building, aka the … Continue reading City Centre Office Tower Loses Roof Sign
There is a vacant triangular plot of land at the corner of City Centre Avenue at Albert, just across from the Bayview OTrain Station and Tom Brown Arena, and beside the existing 8 storey City Centre office tower. The land has been owned by Phoenix development for some years. They have applied for rezoning for two 31-storey condo towers and a four storey office building. Each tower would be similar in height and size to the Metropole tower built further west on Scott near Westboro Station. The Metropole development, with townhouses clustered at its base, turned out well, despite its … Continue reading 801 Albert St Condo Towers – Bayview Station area
