Information is trickling out of contacts at City Hall. They say the issue of how cyclists will be handled on the “freeway” section of the new Booth Street between Albert and Wellington has attracted the mayor’s office. Not yet in … Continue reading Booth Street Freeway MAY yet get bike lanes
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 has pronounced itself regarding the replacement of the Queensway overpass at the OTrain / Trillium corridor. The existing east side pathway will get an underpass for people who walk or cycle. As for the west side, the City says: It is deemed to be a longer-term project (post 2031) and therefore is not included in the City’s current affordable plan. It should be noted that this west-side MUP could provide localized circulation benefits even if there were not to be a direct connection beneath the Queensway bridge. Communities on the west side can still conveniently access the east-side … Continue reading City not interested in path under Qway
Yesterday, Planning Committee had an over-full agenda of contentious items. This meant huge waits for the assembled throngs. All seats were taken, and there were over 70 standees / folding chairs / sitting on the floor. For a 8+ hour meeting. The final votes were to approve various high rise developments, leading to the predictable reaction of citizen attendees that the process was unfair, rigged, or otherwise unsatisfactory. I agree the process is unsatisfactory and might dedicate a subsequent post to suggestions to fix it. And incidentally save us all buckets of money. But a large part of the dissatisfaction yesterday … Continue reading Making the wrong arguments to planning committee doesn’t help
A reader responded to a previous gripe here about motorists that park on sidewalks. He suggested I conspicuously take a picture of the scofflaw. So when I came across this car on Preston Street, I first noticed that there were abundant on street parking spaces, and off street ones too in the Preston Hardware lot across the road. I stopped in front of Mr Motorist and spent a little bit of time setting up the picture. With a little squeak of the tires (sort of an attempted squeal, but he wasn’t going fast enough) he pulled out and parked legally in space fifty … Continue reading Sidewalk parkers move on!
I noticed recently that Ottawa City Hall will be providing some sort of bike repair station at their nifty new bike parking facility. The one shown above is at my son’s university. They were to be found in numerous places around campus. The bike can be lifted up by its seat and inserted into the bent metal pipes to hold the bike up off the pavement so the crank or wheel can be spun. The tools are all attached by a sturdy cable, and are supposed to be placed in the tray behind the red sign but obviously people prefer to let them all … Continue reading Bike repair station
Down on LeBreton Flats things are quieter right now. The music concert season is drawing to a close (did you notice, the HoDown patrons were much better dressed than the Bluesfest patrons? Cowboy boots, hot pants, checkered shirts, and straw cowboy hats….hee hah!). Claridge is finishing up his current building, but not yet started its next bunch. You can actually hear the birds chirp, and see them flitting from stunted popular tree to stunted shrub amongst the bomb-crater landscape that typifies much of the Flats. Claridge builds the condos, and landscapes their grounds. He then landscapes the “public parkland” space along the new bike … Continue reading Cheap, an oversight, or lack of oversight?
I sit on the public advisory committee for pedestrian and cyclist access to and design of the new LRT stations. Sometimes my comments are welcome there, and sometimes I feel like the skunk at a garden party. After last week, I was a stunned bunny. The subject was (again) cyclist and pedestrian access to the new stations. There was some useful stuff, like the likely walk-in catchment zone, the cycle-in catchment zone, and the zone where it is just too much effort to get out the bike so someone might walk; and zone where someone might decide, since they were already … Continue reading Bike Parking at New LRT Stations
A good politician manages to turn adversity into advantage. Responding to criticism that new (again) Mayor Jim Watson would go to anything, including the opening of an envelope, he brought this up at his inauguration speech at the Shenkman Hall. The wording in his prepared speech is: “listening to the families I speak with at the church bazaar or the backyard BBQ. Some people poke fun at me for that, but it’s a point of pride for me. Over the next four years, I will join you in your communities and church basements, at your farmers’ markets and fairs, … Continue reading Watson Pushes Envelope
Green roofs are nice; however we should identify what we want to achieve and then let the market find the means, rather than adopting the solution first and demanding it be implemented.
Continue reading More Green Roofs Promised
CBC Ottawa bikes were spotted at City Hall recently. See the interview on expanding the Ottawa bike paths. Continue reading Cycling Along the CBC
These mini-traffic lights were on a post in Gatineau. I could not determine if they were for cyclists. Or pedestrians. Or if they went off and on with the bigger lights. I recall seeing these everywhere in France, but that is because they skip the big light fixtures on the far side of the intersection in favour of big ones over the stop line only. The plethora of push buttons didn’t make it any clearer. I eventually walked my bike across against a red light (I was on a bike path detour that led me to the intersection and abandonned … Continue reading Gov’t Downsizing
These mini-traffic lights were on a post in Gatineau. I could not determine if they were for cyclists. Or pedestrians. Or if they went off and on with the bigger lights. I recall seeing these everywhere in France, but that is because they skip the big light fixtures on the far side of the intersection in favour of big ones over the stop line only. The plethora of push buttons didn’t make it any clearer. I eventually walked my bike across against a red light (I was on a bike path detour that led me to the intersection and abandonned … Continue reading Gov’t Downsizing
Every festival has impacts external to the site it operates on. These get managed in different ways. Winterlude and the Tulip Festival have numerous events along the canal, abutting neighborhoods like the Golden Triangle and The Glebe. For both these festivals, shuttle buses run along the canal to get crowds to and from the event sites. This distributes parking impacts over a larger area. It also means the City Hall garage and Lansdowne Park parking lots get used. For Bluesfest, there are no shuttle services, leaving adjacent neighborhoods to suffer from a huge influx of parkers. This is most noticeable … Continue reading Festival Externalities
The City hosted a technical session on Saturday, June 20th for all those people who delight in spending a summer Saturday listening to streetcar vendors. About 100 of the public showed up, and at least 30 staff and consultants and vendors. The stated purpose of the meeting was to examine technical issues such as low floor vs high floor LRTs, dedicated vs shared rights of way, driverless vs on-board staff, etc. But I think the unstated purpose of the meeting was to educate the bloggers and transit hobbyists and community activists, so as to raise the tone of the debate … Continue reading LRT Technical Session
Today’s paper had a major front page story on green roofs (www.nationalpost.com). Apparently Mayor Millar in Toronto is trying to position Toronto as a green sweepstakes winner. Green roofs have a number of widely recognized benefits (and less widely recognized costs) so Council is considering mandating them on new buildings. Curiously, they propose to exempt themselves from the rule: their new municipal housing would be exempt, as would schools and, curiouser and curiouser: large commercial buildings. The buildings that would be targeted (ie, forced to install green roofs) include condos and retail malls. Note that both of these types of … Continue reading Greenroofs
From today’s Ottawa Citizen: “OTTAWA — The city is so serious about getting 100,000 trees planted that it’s now willing to deliver the trees right to your house. All you have to do is go to ottawa.ca/TREE or call 311, and you’ll be able to select the species of tree you want to plant on your property. They aren’t saplings, either: Each tree delivered under the program, aimed reforesting and enhancing tree cover in the city, is 1.5 to two metres tall. The trees are available on a first-come, first-served basis for June 2009 delivery. If the city runs out … Continue reading Trees Along the Albert St path
