In traipsing around to a bunch of different community meetings, I constantly hear the complaint that something is out of context, doesn’t fit the existing neighborhood context, or is out of scale. These phrases seem to mean almost anything, and are usually synonymous with “I don’t want that.” Occasionally these are … well, humorous, because what else can you call someone saying that the best neighbour for an existing 30 storey building is a flat grassy field and that any sort of high rise or even townhouses would be “out of context”? Of course I have my own context foibles. I am … Continue reading When new buildings are REALLY out of context

There were ceremonies at the War Memorial this morning in honour of the dead, wounded, and veterans of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, in France. It was the 95th anniversary. I am always pleased to be around so many veterans at these events. They are a breed apart. There are no more veterans of Vimy itself, they have joined those who died on the day. And the crowd of veterans was a bit different this year, with more young veterans of the NATO and Afghanistan campaigns. And a surprising number of young people, I guess college-age, students of Canadian history and … Continue reading 95th Anniversary of Vimy

Any time there is vacant land, it attracts every “great idea”. Alas, too many great ideas are crackpot ideas. Don’t want a stadium at Lansdowne? Put it at LeBreton, lots of space, no one lives there, and no one will hear the noise. How about a casino? Lots of room! Noisefest? Sure! Or a collection of 20 high rises? Oops, that one’s coming for sure. So when I saw all this seating nicely arranged in rows, I figured there must be a mega church on its way: No, a mega church is not on the way. Presumably, the city is … Continue reading Megachurch on Bayview Avenue?

It’s always sad to see a reminder of what our urban forest used to look like. How big the trees were. Today’s City insists on tiny trees, pretending to give shade. Continue reading No sap running through the trees

Continue reading Signs, signs, everywhere signs, this one actually useful

Charles, a faithful reader and commenter, suggested that I take pictures of cars parking on sidewalks. It’s amazing ! They almost always promptly stop their parking, and move off to the road or at least somewhere less obstructive and obnoxious. Proof they know they are breaking the rules and being disrespectful to their fellow citizens. It would be a pretty boring blog if all these got posted. But then, along came this one. Discontent with parking sideways on the courthouse driveway, she then drove down the sidewalk and exited the City Hall driveway. She had enough presence of mind to … Continue reading As if sidewalk parking isn’t enough

Streets take up an enormous amount of our public space. Currently, we dedicate most of our public space to moving and storing automobiles. In the Dalhousie neighborhood, on Elm Street, there is a little park due for a city refurbishment in 2012. At the public meeting, and again in correspondence, I suggested that if the park is so small, if the neighborhood is really short of greenspace, if it is economically impractical to buy new parkland for millions of dollars, then why don’t we do something simple like remove some of the street in front of the park and turn … Continue reading Making streets livable

There’s still something morally questionable about getting excited over a casino for downtown Ottawa (or the Casinoadium out in Kanata). It’s not enough to have “sin taxes”, we’ve got to provide the venue for the sinning and advertise to encourage people to come stay at a Motel 6 and lose their money. Isn’t it enough that we already send buckets of cash to Ottawa? I wonder if in another 30 years people who gambled away their savings will be joining war detainees, unwed mothers, and aboriginals in suing the governments for the “wrongs” they suffered. So what’s the alternative? How about a … Continue reading Darwin Casino Suggestion a Real Crapshoot

The City will shortly be considering some revisions to the downtown LRT project. The mainstream media focussed on the Rideau Station, which has been moved slightly east (main entrance no longer under the food court, but under the now-vacant lot immediately east of the Rideau Centre). But what are the changes that will affect us west siders? First, the portal. That’s where the surface track running across LeBreton Flats goes into the cliff face near the Juliana apartment building on Bronson, and then continues under the downtown along Queen Street. Previous plans had the tracks enter the cliff face in a typical train-tunnel entrance. The … Continue reading LRT revisions affect the west side

    I met this cyclist on a pedestrian bridge in Utah. At first what caught my eye  was the number of instruments on his handlebars. Getting closer, the abundance of gear became more visible. Why so many cellphones?   Turns out he worked for AT&T. His job was to cycle through the city according to a map, stopping every 100′ to take readings as to cell phone signal strength. Was the download speed what was promised and what customers’ expected?   In the back panier was a battery and stuff to power his phones. It had enough power to … Continue reading Get paid to ride your bike …

Recall that Christ Church Cathedral is going to demolish some surrounding buildings to construct a new condo tower that will provide the operating revenue required to keep the Cathedral in good repair. And that they are proposing an office tower too, which will generate  additional income and a weekend parking garage. But, in order to get the occupants into the new offices and condos, it seems some current occupants must be displaced: Alas, the delightful images suggested of disinterring skeletons and relics is abused by the line in bold noting that the graves are empty. Still, a substitute fantasy must include ghoulish images of cubicle dwellers … Continue reading Raising the dead