Uniform Rules for Buried Utilities (Wiring)

(While browsing some buttons on my blogspot site, I found this older post that somehow never made it onto the blog. Recall that there was some controversey and commentary in the blogsphere and in the Citizen on burying wires. Old, but still relevant: ) – The city does not pay to bury the gas mains, it just requires the gas company to do that. It does not bury the water mains for free, it charges the users to do that. It charges customers/forces the utilties in most areas to bury the electric, teleco, cable tv wires but exempts existing urban … Continue reading Uniform Rules for Buried Utilities (Wiring)

Booth Street update

double click to enlarge pictureA few weeks ago, this blog featured Cousin Edy Garage and Chados Auto Body as the ugliest, messiest businesses in the neighborhood. As I went by today, the old tires left on the boulevard are gone, the garbage picked up, and as shown in the picture, several unhappy people removing some of the sign clutter. If they mow the lawn … and the mysteriously disappeared trees replaced … the place will once again be an acceptable neighbor, at least until someone redevelops the lot for condos! Continue reading Booth Street update

Preston Street repaving

Final topcoat of asphalt being applied to Preston Street north of Beech. The finished landscaping sections of the street look great. Unfortunately, while two sections are finished, work is just commencing on the other three sections, and major construction will continue until late December. But the finished sections will encourage residents and businesses and visitors to have courage, better times are coming. Final landscaping and decorative intersection pavings will be done in 2010. Continue reading Preston Street repaving

Interprovincial Transit Ideas

I attended a few hours of the interprovincial transit study meeting last Thursday. I heard lots of suggestions for improving interprovincial transit experience. Here are some of them: 1. Use the Prince of Wales Bridge. This rail bridge from Bayview Station to Gatineau is a favorite solution to most problems. Many felt it need not be double tracked right away, but could operate for the first years as a single track with passing tracks at each end and maybe at Lemieux Island. 2. Most attendees want a rail solution (LRT or O-Train) not a bus solution or bus on transitway … Continue reading Interprovincial Transit Ideas

Inter-Provincial transit study – some observations

I went to the Open House held Thursday about the interprovincial transit study. The study should identify problems with transit going between the two cities, user problems, and suggest solutions. I signed up for a round-table exercise. It was the first one I think I have attended, and it wasn’t as bad as I feared. First, the moderators at each table were well informed and not too rigorous about keeping the participants on topic. This was important, because the topics, defined beforehand by the sponsors, were very narrow. Basically, they were looking for expressions of what the problems were. In … Continue reading Inter-Provincial transit study – some observations

Bikepath to No-where

The NCC has been landscaping the area north of the Claridge condo building on LeBreton Flats since mid-winter. Earlier posts on this blog showed the winter landscaping and very early spring planting of trees and shrubs. Eventually, the Fallen Firefighters Monument will be constructed on the grassy area. The contractor (same one as is doing Plouffe Park) has now paved the bike path from Wellington Street north along the west side of the tailrace. A side branch cuts off to the west to join Lett Street beside the condo. But the path goes nowhere, as Claridge hasn’t yet landscaped the … Continue reading Bikepath to No-where

Plouffe Park landscaping

note the two receivers mounted on each end of the blade sod rolls; elevation transmitter in the background laying the carpet … Plouffe Park is behind the Plant Recreation Centre at the corner of Preston and Somerset. The playing fields were torn up last fall in order to lower the ground level several feet. This permits the fields to function as a storm basin in case of severe flooding expected only every 50 years or so. The Park is the lowest point in the entire Preston street catchment area, and has no natural overland outflow. The bulldozer spreading the topsoil … Continue reading Plouffe Park landscaping

Greenroof Example – Pl de Ville

One of Ottawa’s older multipurpose developments has a lovely green roof on its south side. This roof is above what was for 30 or so years a shopping mall, but for the last years has been federal government office space. The pond adds an unexpected water element to the downtown, as does the fairly large bright green lawn. It is highly visible, located adjacent to one of the busiest downtown transitway stops at Place de Ville. The glass pyramid lets light into the office area below. It suggests the pyramid glass structure at the Louvre in Paris, but on a … Continue reading Greenroof Example – Pl de Ville

DCA – AGM Tonight

There is a community association for the neighborhood bounded on the east by Bay St – on the north by the Ottawa River – on the west by the O-Train tracks – and the south by Carling Avenue. Called the Dalhousie Community Association (DCA) after the now-retired ward name for the area, the association concerns itself with planning, traffic, and social issues in this mixed income changing neighborhood that incorporates both “Chinatown” and “Little Italy”. Their Annual General Meeting is tonight at 7pm at the Dalhousie Centre, corner of Empress and Somerset, 3rd floor. Free cookies. I’ll be baking my … Continue reading DCA – AGM Tonight

LRT – the 1950’s version

This video of the former streetcar service in Ottawa is certainly interesting. At minute 4.19 there are shots of streetcars on Elm St running up to Preston (Elm street was the exit from the Champagne Streetcar Barn. The entrances were from Champagne [now City Centre Ave] In the background is a large structure the predates the City Centre complex, which is now nearing the end of its lifespan). Most of the houses filmed on Elm are 100% recognizable today. My house abuts the Champagne Barn, I enjoy a great westward view over its rooftop. The roof used to be mostly … Continue reading LRT – the 1950’s version

US Housing Policy in a Nutshell

Over at the City journal.org website, there is an article on the repeating US housing crisis. I like their site because it often offers a contrarian view of what is conventional wisdom in the urban affairs sphere. It makes an interesting comparison to the Metropolis website. Here is a summary (first three para) of their most recent article on the US housing policy: In December, the New York Times published a 5,100-word article charging that the Bush administration’s housing policies had “stoked” the foreclosure crisis—and thus the financial meltdown. By pushing for lax lending standards, encouraging government enterprises to make … Continue reading US Housing Policy in a Nutshell

More Green Roofs in Ottawa

There is a very nice and useful green roof at Preston Square, 333 Preston Street in the heart of Little Italy. It is bordered by the two taller office towers (Xerox and Adobe towers) and the low rise office building (Ontario services) and the mid-rise apartment building. All buildings open out on the roofscape, with paths, benches, deep planters, lawns, etc. It is well kept and accessible to the public. Below the roof are parking areas, shipping and receiving areas, etc. I especially like this green roof for its accessibility and utility to a variety of office and residential users. Continue reading More Green Roofs in Ottawa

One train/one tunnel vs many trains in one tunnel

The downtown transit tunnel will have two tracks, one for each direction. This would be fine if the trains only went east and west. However, desire for travel is also north and south. It is possible to force everyone on the future southwest LRT, and future southeast LRT, and future link to Gatineau LRT, to transfer to the east-west line. Transfers would occur indoors, be comfortable, but would still increase trip time significantly. This would be significant for those who already had to take a local bus to the BRT to the LRT transfer … etc. Recall too that IF … Continue reading One train/one tunnel vs many trains in one tunnel

Kanata to downtown direct bus service ?

I read on Real Grouchy’s blog that he and Marianne Wilkinson expected direct BRT service from Kanata to downtown to continue after the LRT system is opened from Tunney’s to Blair. When the DOTT study began, its terms of reference were from Bayview to Blair. It was a somewhat dubious proposition to force all west end commuters to transfer to the LRT at Bayview when they were already in sight of the downtown. They therefore proposed continuing BRT service from the west into the core. Since the transitway would be converted to LRT, the buses would exit the transitway at … Continue reading Kanata to downtown direct bus service ?

How Many LRT Stations are Needed Downtown?

I am a bit mystified about the mini-controversy about how many stations should be in the downtown core. The DOTT plan calls for two, as was shown in the Feb. open houses. I have heard a number of suggestions we might need 3. I disagree. Each station will be a entire block long – the “long” blocks in the downtown, ie the east – west blocks (the north south blocks are much shorter). Each station will have at least two exits, most likely near each end. The stations themselves will be very deep down. Unlike Toronto, where the subway is … Continue reading How Many LRT Stations are Needed Downtown?

Corso Italia – aka Preston Street – Closed

Preston Street has been closed to through traffic until December, to permit reconstruction. Happily, the tree and shrub planting now going on at Plouffe Park and the sections of Preston rebuilt last year, demonstrate that the aggravation, noise, and dust is well worth it. One of the minor little pleasures last year was the ability to easily stroll across the street just about anywhere that wasn’t a pit, without being run over by a bus or speeding commuter. Continue reading Corso Italia – aka Preston Street – Closed

Transit tunnel success …

The City today announced its preferred LRT routes and station configurations. Good news: the major transfer station from buses-on-the-transitway-west will be at Tunney’s Pasture, built on the grassy vacant area north of the current station. Good news: the configuration at Bayview will permit same train access from the (future) southwest transitway / O-Train alignment to the downtown. This means that we can attract larger conventions to the new convention centre downtown as we will have no-transfer-required service direct from the airport to downtown. The configuration at Bayview permits much greater flexibility in train routing. Bad News: the LeBreton Station is … Continue reading Transit tunnel success …

Preston Streetscaping; Plouffe Park

Trees on Oak St.await planting Plouffe Park planters planted While some trees and shrubs were planted on the reconstructed parts of Preston south of the Queensway last fall, the north side did not get any planting done last winter. The crews are busy now planting. In Plouffe Park, the combination retaining walls and sitting areas have been planted with periwinkle (vinca), which will eventually spread into a thick mat. Pretty blue flowers in the early spring. A huge number of trees have been delivered and are being stored for now on Oak Street. Tree types include amur maple, ginko, and … Continue reading Preston Streetscaping; Plouffe Park

Chinatown art festival

Here is all about it, from their press release. I am so pleased that Grace Xin has organized this. It should help put our neighborhood and its businesses on the map, and raise awareness. Exhibits in unexpected spaces: come see original art in the bakery, giftshop, optician, bookstore, grocery, cafe and restaurants in this multicultural village with Asian flavour. CHINATOWN REMIXED COLLECTIVE is pleased to present the works of over 30 contemporary artists. The artists, mostly local, include the likes of HOWIE TSUI, CYNTHIA O’BRIEN and ADRIAN GOLLNER. More than 15 businesses in Ottawa’s Chinatown, from Percy St. westward to … Continue reading Chinatown art festival

LeBreton Landscaping adventures continue

NCC plantings along new bike path, view from Wellington Claridge doing nothing yet… this is their green roof NCC plants up to edge of Claridge condo NCC trees along north edge of condo In a posting in March, there were photos of the NCC doing winter landscaping on the Flats. They filled in the depression on the north side of the Claridge condo on Lett St, phase 1 of LeBreton Flats north of Albert. They graded the land to a lawn area, roughed in bike/pedestrian paths, and installed a generous trench of topsoil for a row of trees along Wellington. … Continue reading LeBreton Landscaping adventures continue