More signs of the times

Ottawa isn't the only place with a sign problem:

"It's currently the wild west," said Councillor Adam Vaughan. "You can put up a sign for five or six years, and make hundreds of thousands of dollars off it, and nothing happens.

I like most of these proposals for a new TO sign by-law, all of which would help out the Bells Corners Strip:

• Require illuminated signs to be powered by renewable energy or demand the purchase of offsets

  Consider times when illuminated signs must be turned off

  Limit the maximum area that signs can occupy in a window

  License sign companies

  Create a dedicated sign unit with the city building department to issue permits, inspect, monitor and enforce the new bylaw

Also a link to a great web site: http://illegalsigns.ca/ ... we need one of these for Ottawa!

Greenbelt meets suburbia

This is one of the photovoice shots I took in the greenbelt. It's supposed to communicate the blending of suburbia and nature, part of what makes our neighbourhood so great. I don't know if it succeeds, but it's a pretty picture.

Going solar

This is a really interesting story about a family in Orleans that have installed a solar panel, and are selling power back to the grid:

Even in December, the rooftop solar panels on the Helmerson family's home can produce enough power on a sunny day to meet the family's needs — and a little more.

The catch: at $12,000 for the system, it will take about 15 years for it to pay for itself. I would expect there to be great economies of scale with a system like this, though. Imagine a $6000 system that paid for itself in 7 years... at that point I think you'd start to see mass adoption.

Spam from Pierre

Our good friend Pierre Poilievre is spamming all and sundry:

From: info@fightingforyou.ca To: all my intertoob friends, including reburb Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 13:26:30 -0500 Subject: Stand Up for Canada Stand up for Canada - Let the people speak Two months ago, Canadians elected the Prime Minister with a strengthened mandate to address the global economic crisis. Now, we're about to have our shiny toys taken away! WAAAAHHHH!!! Sob. Please, please don't let this happen to us! SHRIEK!

Interestingly, this email is unsigned, though it does sound a lot like Pierre. Sorry buddy, I gotta say, suck it up. Here's reburb's response:

Dear Pierre, The people already spoke, you're not listening. The majority don't support you in this silly slap-fight. Do the right thing and stand up to a confidence vote instead of running away like shrieking little girls. Best regards, Reburb

In hindsight, the comparison is unfair to shrieking little girls. I have a couple, and they'd do a better job at running Pariliament than the current crop of clowns.

Bells Corners Photovoice

My daughter and I have been participating in a program called "Photovoice" over the past couple of weeks, where residents are given cameras and asked to take pictures of things in their communities. The subjects fall into two categories: things you value, and things you would like to change. We're not sure where the results will end up, but it sounds like there may be a display at the Centennial Library in the new year, as well as a large showing of photos from many communities around Ottawa at City Hall in June.

We had to select just one from each category to submit. So here are a couple of the "rejects". Which category do you think they fall in to?

Sign Jihad Episode ?

It looks like the temporary signs at the National Bank Plaza have been reduced by 25%. Gone is the unlit Giant Tiger sign, and one of the other GT signs has been given over to the health clinic to advertise flu shots. Still, that's 3 signs on one block.

When I get a bit of time, a note will be sent to The Public Citizen. I like his style...

Ok, so it's been a month...

Yes, Reburb has been busy moving from Bells Corners to... Bells Corners! My advice to you, my friends, is to never ever ever move. Talk about sapping your will to live. But things are starting to settle, so I hope to get regular posts up soon.

Mixed messages

On the one hand, the City of Ottawa wants people to think about ways to spruce the place up:

While Deputy City Manager Nancy Schepers said cost estimates won’t be done until early next year, city staff began asking downtown pedestrians yesterday for their opinions of the city’s existing street furniture and what they would like to see in its place.

On the other hand, the City of Ottawa wants people to rip out flowers and pathways:

Resident of Ottawa's Riverside South neighbourhood who have spent years greening up the area around their homes have been told by the city to tear up any trees or flowers they have planted on city property.

The area councillor thinks maybe the Bylaw department is overzealous:

The bylaw department "I think overreacted and sent the letter to a large number of residents," said the councillor for the area, Steve Desroches. "I don't want to see them pulling out trees and tulips and flowers."

That's the Bylaw Department, they've got a hate on for everyone but Giant Tiger.

The Cleanup

We only made it out to the last hour of the Bells Corners cleanup on Sunday, but it was great to meet some other cleaners, including the Green and NDP candidates for Nepean Carleton, and their entourages. There wasn't much litter to pick up around the community centre, since the city had been there the week before, but we managed to get half a garbage bag full of stuff. The folks who had made the trek through Bells Corners had very full bags. Thanks to Hibou for organizing this!

Bells Corners cleanup

This is just a repost of information from the Bells Corners Community site:

We're organizing a community event this Sunday as part of the City's "Fall Cleaning the Capital" initiative.

Recently Bells Corners has received some bad press.

Randall Denley called it "bleak, bizarre and dodgy" and the Citizen had a front page photo of the derelict Vox building. The people who live here think Bells Corners is a great place and we're proud of our community.

We've organized a "litter-picking parade" as our City-sponsored Fall Cleaning the Capital event. We hope to have kids on decorated bicycles, teenagers on skateboards, senior citizens walking their dogs and lots of other residents who are anti-litter.

We've also invited the mayor, Councillor Chiarelli and all of the candidates running in Nepean-Carleton.

Parade route (Sun. Oct. 12):

10:00 Westcliffe Park

10:30 Price Choppers

11:00 Tim Hortons

11:30 Williams Park

12:00 Lynwood Park

12:30 Hillside Park

At Lynwood Park (7 Sycamore) the community building will be open for free coffee and food, activities for the kids, etc.

Thanks!

Craig MacAulay President Lynwood Village (Bells Corners) Community Association http://ato.smartcapital.ca/bc

OC Ohno

This sounds insane:

Staff have come up with a plan to reduce the City of Ottawa's fuel consumption by 25%, but it would require drastic transit service cuts and cause a decline in ridership. ... The policy report, expected to be tabled at next week's transportation committee meeting, suggests eliminating 20 bus routes and reducing transit service by 25% to all areas of the city. It also proposes eliminating all morning-transit service for Riverside South.

It seems a bit like the "musical ride" style cutback: propose something so ludicrous, it is rejected out of hand. Smart move, City staff. Though proposing something useful, like replacing older buses with fuel-efficient ones, might make more sense. Cutting back bus service may reduce the City's fuel consumption, but increase overall consumption as spurned riders get back into their cars. On a related note:

Transit fares are paying less and less of the cost of running OC Transpo, but officials with the company are hoping a new fare structure, including a 7.5 per cent fare hike, will close the gap. ... A report going to city councillors on the transit committee next week says the cause of the widening gap is increased demand for longer trips downtown from the suburbs and higher fuel prices.

Guilty parties include residents of Bells Corners on the 69. I wonder how much more than the 7.5 per cent "average" prince increase the long-haul express routes will enjoy?

Benchmarks

Hibou corrects my assertion that there aren't any benches in Bells Corners (aside from the strange on in the middle of a parking lot), and has made this little video:

Nice little subliminal advertising at the end: the Bells Corners cleanup is on Oct 12. See you there!

Nepean This Week Doesn't Believe In Google

Some hard-hitting journalism over at Nepean This Week, under the headline Community believes Conservatives come out on top at Nepean-Carleton debate:

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre received the most positive audience reaction during the two hour debate. ... Richard Fromm, 41, of Barrhaven has two children and was upset with Mahfouz’s answer when questioned about his position on young offenders. “The Liberal candidate is opposed to tackling violent crime, this concerns me,” he said. Fromm believed that Pierre Poilievre was the most professional of the candidates. “Pierre came out on top,” said Fromm.

Fascinating stuff. Richard Fromm of Barrhaven, concerned community member, giving his objective, non-partisan view of the debate. I wonder if he's related to Richard Fromm, former President of the Ottawa West-Nepean Conservative Association?

But wait, there's more:

“I am very concerned about the cost of living with the carbon tax.” Bill Ayyad, 44, a resident of Centrepointe said after watching the debate he will be voting conservative. “Pierre did very well. He had an in-depth knowledge of the issues”.

Just another average Joe voter, attending the debate, giving his dispassionate and reasoned views to the community newspaper. I winder if he's related to Bill Ayyad, Chair of Community Affairs for the Nepean-Carleton Conservative Association? It's hard to believe that Nepean This Week could dissappoint with a new low in journalistic standards, but they just did. Their "reporter", Meghan Graham, must be either a Conservative plant, or incompetent. The smart money is on "all of the above".

In case the stock crash has you down...

This will definitely cheer you up:

Baird's Bad Day

Next door, in the riding of Ottawa-West Nepean, our friend John Baird is having a bad day:

... who should appear in front of me but a friendly neighbourbood John Baird campaign staffer, bearing a stack of freshly printed press releases bearing the fabulously evocative headline: “SHADOWY FOREIGN ORGANIZATION ATTEMPTING TO INFLUENCE CANADIAN ELECTION” - which would be awesome enough all on its own, but the subhead made it even better: Apparently - their words, not mine - a “Wall Street Billionaire” is “bankrolling [the] campaign”.

Which is apropos this. Did David Pratt just become the luckiest Liberal of the year? Avaaz raised over $100K in 4 days to run anti-Baird ads, like this:

Walking and sitting

Two things humans do a lot (besides eating and breathing) are walking and resting, neither of which is encouraged in suburbia. This month, Toronto is having a Walking Festival:

The Toronto Walking Survey conducted in November 2007 showed that 81 per cent of residents walk for recreation or fitness.

But short jaunts of two kilometres or less account for almost one-third of car trips we take.

With so many conveniences along the strip, I know I could walk a bit more.

And Montreal has a lot of benches:

Montreal goes even further and attaches benches to utility poles throughout the downtown core. Again, the message is clear: The street isn't just a way to get from A to B, but a place to be. ... At a time when the move to the city is gaining momentum, even in Canada, it's time to rethink basic attitudes to urbanity. This doesn't necessarily mean hugely expensive programs and grand projects; it can also include humble measures such as the lowly bench.

The only bench I know of along the strip is in the middle of the National Bank centre parking lot. Nice bench and all, but I don't know if anyone would actually sit on it:

Interlocking the strip

At some point, the city put a lot of money into "beautifying" the strip with interlocking bricks. I can see why this is a pragmatic choice -- the brickwork is nicer to look at than pavement, it doesn't need to be mowed, and initially requires little maintenance. It is a poor choice, though, in a couple of ways:

• interlock is not cheap, certainly more expensive than just grass or even modest flower planters.
• after some time, the interlock requires regular maintenance, which is fiddly and requires expertise (see photo 2 below).
• it's nicer to look at than pavement, but it's uglier than any of the other alternatives.

Let's see how the interlock is holding up:

The Mocking, It Burns

Hello Canada, and welcome to The Debate. Don't touch that dial, there's Pakin on it! Ha ha, I slay me. Now for the opening statements.

First, I am always asking the questions, like why am I never have the blinking? You have the blinking, she has the blinking, he has the blinking, but I never have it. And it makes me look the crazy and also be the crazy. Also, where is my pant? I was wearing my pant before, but now it is not on.

Canadians need leaders who are wearing pants, especially at the kitchen table. I always wear pants. I was at the kitchen table while flying over Exxon. I will sell ordinary, working Canadians pants at a 20% discount, with no money down until 2011!

This is such a sausage fest. But I like the cut of your jib, Jack, which is why I'm announcing a plan where Canadians can give up their gas guzzling cars and ride Jack Layton to work, reducing their carbon footprint by using this alternative mode of transportation.

(I can ride Layton to work? Wheeeeee!!! Golly, smiling in this rubber mask hurts.)

Dis is a good plan, but not a great plan. The Layton, he has a very aerodynamic head, but we would shave the excess face hairs. We will make the Canadians ride the Layton to the work, but ride the Gilles Duceppe home. The Liberal carbonation tax is simple. We put a tax on what is bad, such as the Pepsi, and we cut taxes on what is good, such as the wine. Vote for more of the fun.

You panicked, Stephane. You came in here and saw Gilles without any pants, and you panicked, and now you're making up plans as you go. Let me be clear. Our plan is simple. We've ordered another fifty rubber masks from the mother ship, and these ones will fit a lot better. Plus I have a new pair of pants.

Are you having my pant, Harper? Because you don't make me becoming mad, or if I am becoming mad, I'll cut you! I'll cut your face Harper!

And that's all the time we have for tonight. Pakin FTW!

"Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon...

Going to the candidate's debate.

Laugh about it, shout about it

When you've got to choose

Every way you look at this you lose."

Hibou attended the Nepean-Carleton all-candidates debate on Tuesday night, and posts his thoughts. Interesting read.

(And now you've got Simon and Garfunkle stuck in your head like I do.)

Tilting at windmills

An Ottawa man is trying to have city bylaws ammended to allow him to erect a power-generating windmill in his back yard:

About 20 of Findlay's neighbours showed up at the committee meeting Wednesday to express their opposition to the turbine. Some said they support the concept, but have safety concerns.

Kinda sad, isn't it? This isn't just NIMBY, this is NIYBY (Not In Your Backyard)! Many houses in Bells Corners have large yards, so the setback wouldn't be an issue. The 10 m height would still be a problem, though. Windmill man's suggestion is interesting:

"We should take the lead from the Europeans who are installing these not only in backyards, but on street poles, lighting poles, on schools, on fences, on bridges," he said.

Finally, a good use for these hideous structures!

Slow week ahead

I'm out of town for the week, so no new content until next Monday... sorry! In the meantime:

About 40 protesters carrying signs that read "Save the Parkway" showed up Monday night at an open house at the Nepean Sportsplex about possible routes for Ottawa's proposed light rail network.

I wanted to attend this open house, but ran out of time. But wouldn't it be nice if residents could see past their own fears and imagine how great light rail along the parkway would be for the entire city? How about getting protesters together to demand light rail in their neighbourhood? Maybe run the track down the strip? Who's with me????

Friday Mocumentory

Waiting for the short bus

OC Transpo has released it's 2007 Annual Performance Report, with an interesting analysis of "on-time performance":

In 2007, service reliability was at 76%, a slight decrease from 77% in 2006. The proposed policy target is for OC Transpo bus trips to adhere to published schedules 90% of the time. The policy standard for on-time performance is not to run early and to be no more than five minutes late. On Transitway routes, the adherence to the time between buses (called headway) is of greater importance than the posted times. This measure is under investigation for measurement using our new GPS system. This measurement would be of significant value for the future.

24% actually seems a bit low for late buses, at least for the 69, which runs through Bells Corners. It is >5 minutes late about half the time in the morning, and about 3/4 of the time in the afternoon. It's even worse in the winter, when I would say it's more than 5 minutes late at least 100% of the time.

Which brings me to my cranky old man suggestion of the day: OC Transpo should have some sort of "guarantee" of performance. If your bus is more than 10 minutes late, you get a free ride. Right now it would be complicated to implement, as many commuters have already bought monthly passes. But with the new smart card system, it would be simple. If your bus is late, swipe the card, and a credit is added to your account for next month's pass purchase.

Got some spare reading time?

Why not pour a cup of coffee, kick up your feet, and check out these three links:

1. "66 Said Yes" - an insider's look at the In and Out Scandal. If you're like me, you know the outline, but not the details. Pages 10-12 are what you want, a nice, concise explanation of what the Conservatives did to break election financing rules.

2. "Listeriosis is the least of it" - by the Canadian Medical Association.

Last November the Canadian government instituted astrategic review of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency(CFIA). Among its outcomes was to transfer inspection duties for ready-to-eat meats from the government inspectors to the meat industry.

... Maple Leaf Foods, the company at whose plant the Listeria contamination originated, was an early adopter of the government’s new plan.

3. "The Nordic approach to financing the welfare state" - in (very) short: raise the GST, lower corporate taxes.

Another argument for bike lanes

This is just so sad:

An 18-year-old woman is in serious but stable condition in hospital after she was hit by a taxi while cycling in Ottawa's west end Wednesday morning.

The cyclist's head hit the windshield of the taxi and she was thrown about the length of a parking space before landing on the road near Robertson Road and Vanier Street in the Bells Corners neighbourhood at about 9:30 a.m., said an Ottawa paramedic service news release.

Vanier is the entrance to the trailer park. I don't understand how there's room for 5 lanes of traffic along the strip, but no room for bike lanes. The strip connects two important cycling corridors in the west end: to the west there's the trans-Canada trail and other NCC trails near Nortel. To the east there's the trail system starting at Shouldice Farms, leading down to Andrew Haydon Park, and ultimately connecting to downtown and points beyond. The strip is a bike-lane-free zone between them. How many cyclists have to bounce of windshields before we get better biking infrastructure in Bells Corners?

Stephen Harper: Not An Economist

This is an excellent article from the Citizen today. In a short interview with a very conservative economist, it clearly and succinctly explains why a carbon tax ("tax shift"), proposed by at least two non-Conservative parties in this election, is sound economics.

This is all orthodox economics, Mankiw insists -- a 2006 survey of American Economic Association members found two-thirds agreed that "the U.S. should increase energy taxes" -- and so the issue shouldn't be cast as left versus right.

And GST cuts, it turns out, is bad economics.

City to teen playwrights: no signs!

The problem is that the signs, which are about the size of a car licence plate, qualify as posters under the city's bylaw, said Linda Anderson, head of enforcement at the City of Ottawa's bylaw office. That means they must be made of paper and are only allowed up for a couple of weeks at most — not long enough for a three-year installation. City crews tear down posters across the city on the first and the 15th of each month.

Meanwhile, in Bells Corners, no sign of bylaw enforcement officers or "city crews" anywhere in sight.

Worst. PFO. Letter. EVER

I recently (on behalf of my wife) requested a book via the Ottawa Library online request service. Their response:

Title: The Divided Heart Format: Book The item that you suggested be purchased for the Ottawa Public Library will not be ordered, for one of the following reasons:

• It does not meet the Library's selection criteria - http://www.biblioottawalibrary.ca/explore/about/policies/selection_e.html
• It is by a very popular and best selling author, or is a top 40 compact disc, or a well reviewed DVD feature film - we will be buying these anyway and the order will be placed at a later date. Please check the database so you can place a hold.
• It is over two years old. (If a book, see if it is available from one of our Sm@rtLibrary partners.)
• It has not yet been published or released.
• The budget for the year has been spent.

The Library receives a large number of suggestions and can not always respond to requests for clarification of its decisions. Thank you for your interest in the Library's collection.

Translation: "Here's a semi-random list of reasons we can't get your book, but we can't tell you which one is the actual reason: 1) It's not a book. 2) It's too popular. 3) It's too old. 4) It's too new. 5) Oh yeah, we fogot, we're broke. Please don't contact us for further information. Toodles!" I particularly like the last reason. "We're broke." Maybe if you've spent the budget, you should stop soliciting ideas for new books until the next paycheque comes in. It will save us all some grief. Just an idea.

Children of the corn

My kids love corn, so much that I suspect I could feed them the stuff three meals a day, every day, all summer long. It's a good thing, then, that Bells Corners has the best corn stand in Ottawa. This is not an exaggeration. I've tried corn from the Carp Market, the Landsdown Market (two different vendors), from various roadside stands around North Gower and Manotick, and nothing comes close to the Abbey Hill Farm stuff from the stand at Moodie and Timm. The fantasticness of their corn cannot be overstated. View Larger Map Stopped in on Saturday for a dozen, and it's still good, even in mid-September! Plus they have mellons, apples, potatoes, tomatoes and zuchini for sale now. Not for long, though, they close shop at the first frost.

Attacking the attack ads

Despite having a wealth of material to work with, the Nepean-Carleton Libs have served up two poorly written, text-rich attemps on their web site: This one is every so slightly better, just because it focuses on a single Poilevre "moment" rather than try to tackle everything, but it still brings on a bit of a yawn: This one, which ran in the Nepean Weekender this weekend, is actually pretty good:

• it's brief
• features a large photo of Baird's annoying face
• it doesn't actually mention David Pratt's name (or even the Liberals), probably a good idea, all things considered!

I'll take "none of the above" please

Commenter hibou's signs of the times.

Planting a parking lot

Last weekend I ducked down one of Bells Corners' lesser known side streets, Northside Road, to check out a relatively new business, the Urban Terrace. It's located in the old Dindardo's building.

What most interested me was how the business was re-landscaping a non-descript (shall we say "barren") parking lot into something quite nice looking. With a couple of new flower beds against the curb, one against the building, and lots of planters (with a couple of impressively huge ones out front), the place is looking very nice. I went in a chatted with the owner, Rick Brown, who indicated that he's planning to do a bit more work on the place before he's done.

The business specializes in higher-end planters, garden sculptures, fountains, and other interesting items for landscaping and patio design ("outdoor living"). Rick also runs a landscaping company (Turf's Up), and does residential and commercial landscape design. I can think of at least a dozen buisnesses on the strip that could benefit from this company's expertise (Mort's Pub, anyone???). Let's hope the BCBIA becomes a frequent customer.

This seems to me exactly the type of business we need more of in Bells Corners, independently owned and run "high-end" stores that specialize in service and expertise. And they take pride in their premises, working to beautify the neighbourhood. Check them out.

Taking out the trash

Looks like someone is thinking about getting a fall clean-up team together for Bells Corners. Why not pitch in?

On Fridays we mock politicians

This link is for the satirically impaired.

Fight the greenwash

Interesting article in Wired today on GoodGuide, a startup that aims to provide accurate, scientist-vetted data on every day consumer products and give them a "green" rating. A great way to deal with "green-washing", where companies make bogus claims of environmental friendliness for their products. With no standards for what's "green", it's possible to make claims for pretty much anything.

Sign Jihad Episode 1, Act 2, in which 311 forwards my email

from: 311@ottawa.ca to: reburb@gmail.com cc: Bylaw Dispatch date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 10:36 AM subject: 2008-334589 FW: Temporary signs at Stafford Road / Richmond Road

Good morning,

Thank you for contacting the City of Ottawa. With regard to your inquiry, we have forwarded your email to our By-Law Services Branch. Your service request number is 2008-334589.

For further information, or should you have any other issues that need to be resolved rapidly, we invite you to call us at 3-1-1, Monday to Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. A Call Centre Agent will be happy to take care of your request immediately.

Yours truly,

Design and the City

reburb commentor hibou pointed me to this Citizen column where David Reevely discusses the design of city infrastructure components, such as power poles. There are no shortage of poles and wires along the strip. It's quite jarring to see beautiful facades like The Spa and Al's surrounded by a forrest of creosote poles and guy wires, and bordered by abandoned lots. The Spa especially, since they put a lot of effort into their landscaping. There's also a high voltage right-of-way that bisects the community, under which there are soccer fields and playgrounds in Lynwood and Williams Parks. Since we need electricity, we need power poles. But imagine if they looked like these French poles?

Meet the new boss

Or at least the new ombudsman at the NCC:

A woman who has spent more than a decade of her law career settling class action lawsuits and resolving disputes through mediation and arbitration has been appointed as the National Capital Commission's first ombudsman. Laura Bruneau will start in the position Monday, an NCC news release said the same day

This is who we will be dealing with when the NCC inveitably starts developing around Bells Corners. Note the large "buildable site" designation on the NCC land on which the Queensway hospital, Valleystream Park, and Shouldice farm sit on this map.

Election signs: another blight on a blighted landscape?

The Green Party's proposal of a moratorium on election signs on public property is not gaining traction in Kingston.

Other parties don't seem to be signing on to a Green party plan to reduce "visual pollution" in Kingston, Ont., during the federal election campaign. The party is advocating that parties voluntarily keep public spaces free of election signs and limit them to private property — an idea that both the Liberals and the NDP supported in 2006.

Too bad, election signs are such a waste of material and money, and annoying visual pollution to boot.

Across the border

There's exciting things afoot in Old Chelsea, over the QC side. Chelsea Matters is a blog set up to discuss the controversial Chelsea Creek housing development. It doesn't look like it's been updated in a while, but that doesn't matter, local residents have been able to force modifications to the original plan:

OTTAWA-The developer of a controversial sustainable housing project in Old Chelsea presented a revised lower-density plan at an informational meeting Wednesday night, but residents are still unimpressed by the proposed project and worry about its effect on the community.

They may even be able to cause a municipal referrendum on the development:

After a Sept. 8 council meeting, residents of the zones of Chelsea that border on the development will have the opportunity to request a municipal referendum on the project.

There's a lesson here: communities don't have to lie down and take whatever developers decide to show down their throats.

The Vox: Two Views

I'm keeping an eye on this to see if/when it's going to be re-developed.

I received this in an email from our councillor Rick Chiarelli regarding this site:

We have managed to get a pronouncement as to the suitability, from both a safety and a property standards perspective, of the Vox building. Thankfully, we have won the decision that it cannot continue to function. The physical resolution to the matter is not too far off, but there is some sluggishness due to the complex legal battle that is associated with it. Having said that, we have met with a buyer who is set to activate a firm (forced) purchase of the property as soon as we get a final decision from a judge in a relation to financial issues for which a trial that has recently concluded. Following talks with us, that buyer has agreed to demolish the building as part of any purchase/ development proposal. My goal for the property was demolition and demolition is coming. We just have a little while to wait.

Sign Jihad Episode 1: Giant Tiger Is Killing Our Souls

to: 311@ottawa.ca date: Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 1:13 PM subject: Temporary signs at Stafford Road / Richmond Road Hello, I'm writing to complain about the "temporary" signs on Richmond Road in Bells Corners, at the corner of Stafford Road. They belong to the Giant Tiger (address: 1 Stafford Road). I understand that the sign bylaw allows 1 sign, for 1 month, for 3 times a year. Giant Tiger has had at least one sign up at this location since it opened in the early summer, and now has three signs (photo attached). Secondly, I believe all the signs are in contravention of the regulation that they must be 23 m from other temporary signs. The first sign is certainly closer than that to the East Side Mario's sign (which has also been up all summer). Could you tell me: 1) what the permit situation is with these signs and 2) whether they are in contravention of the sign bylaw? Thanks, reburb@gmail.com

reburb gets comments

Our first commenter, hibou, takes a cue from John Lennon's Imagine and says:

In the future the strip might be a very different place indeed- a pedestrian/cyclist-friendly community hub where the car is no longer king. Many of the strip malls and vacant parking lots will have been converted to high-density housing. The mobile home park will be a green European-inspired cooperative with ample affordable housing and self-sufficient in energy needs. The existing rail line that traverses Bells Corners will be used for rapid transit, with stations on Moodie and Richmond.

He then paints a darker picture:

Another possible outcome: the strip becomes even more congested and ugly as suburban sprawl continues apace and desperate Kanata and Stittsville SUV commuters look for a route downtown that's slightly less congested than the Queensway. Some of them may stop at one of the numerous big box stores that the councillor has helped to bring in. The BIA will still be stringing up Christmas lights in winter and flower baskets in summer in an unsuccessful attempt to mitigate the ugliness of the strip. The trailer park will have been converted to a luxury gated community thanks to the developers and their friends on City Council. Barbed wire will keep out the rabble who are crammed into their Westcliffe hovels.

Two divergent futures for the community of Bells Corners, I couldn't have put it any better.

In some ways, our community is no different from thousands of other suburbs developed in the past 50 years, "anchored" to a strip of mini-malls along an arterial road. But Bells Corners is also unique, with the incredible advantage of being completely surrounded by NCC Green belt. It has the potential to be an oasis rather than a blight.

The good, the bad, and the WTF

So you've built a giant, desolate parking lot, and stuck a nondescript office building at the back of it. Why not? Everyone else is doing it. But then you discover that you can't rent all the space. For some strange reason, restaurants keep failing, companies keep moving out. It's not good for business. What to do, what to do? Then it hits you, let's embark on an ambitious beautification program! Give the place a total face lift! What you need is a plant. And not any old plant, but one with flowers. Put it right out there, on that tiny strip of grass between the 5 lanes of Richmond and the vast expanse of parking lot. Perfect! And to celebrate, put up a few signs advertising the new, beautiful business site.

I was against snap elections before I was for them

"Fixed dates stop leaders from trying to manipulate the calendar. They level the playing field for all parties... Hopefully, in the next election, we can run on our record and we won't need the manipulation of the electoral calendar." - Stephen Harper, May 26, 2006

If you fail to plan you plan to fail

So my old swim coach would remind us, and we had no frickin' idea what he was talking about. But in the case of transportation, it's actually true. The City of Ottawa is updating its Transportation Master Plan , and we're invited to contribute . There are two open houses near Bells Corners: OPEN HOUSE – WEST Thursday, September 18 Glen Cairn Community Centre, Upper Hall, 190 Morrena Drive OPEN HOUSE – SOUTH/WEST Monday, September 22 Nepean Sportsplex, Salon A, 1701 Woodroffe Avenue You need to sign up to attend.

Hell's Corners

What is today's youth coming to? These kids have no respect. When I was a kid we were performing civic duties like cleaning up trash cans via incineration, and beautifying the neighbourhood with spray paint. But these kids are out there making satirical videos and working on their editing skilz.

Big poles, little signs

Planner A: Hey, I have a bunch of two-way lane signs I need to put up in Bells Corners. Planner B: Why? Planner A: Well, even though the centre lane is well marked, and painted with two-way signs, we have to consider the drivers who can't see the road. Planner B? What? Who would that be? Planner A: You know, the blind, children, small dogs, anyone who can't see over the dashboard. Planner B: Riiiight. [Sarcastically] I've got a bunch of giant old metal light posts you could use. You know, put one one either side of the road, and connect them in a grotesque arch with two more poles welded together. Planner A: Fantastic! Planner B: I was just kidding... Planner A: They'll blend in nicely with the rest of the poles, lightstands and wires I've put up!

Road Moratorium

As seen on the excellent Miss Vicky's: Ecology Ottawa is getting a petition together asking for a moratorium on new road construction in Ottawa. Particularly interesting is their concept of a "cap and trade" system for roads: if a new road absolutely must be built, another road of similar size is taken out of commission, and converted into a pedestrian walkway (a la Sparks Street), bicycle throughfare or transitway. What a great idea!

Development Alert: 145 Robertson Road

This development (a four storey office building and self storage) isapplying for "minor variances" to 1) reduce the "landscape buffer" in front of the development and 2) allow parking in front. Although its obvious this has been the way things have been done the past 40 years,these are two things we don't want in Bells Corners any more. It also looks like the developer wants the road widened as well, but I'm not an expert. Here's the money quote from the application:

Robertson Road is characterized by automobile-oriented, small and medium scale commercial uses. A reduced landscape buffer should not negatively impact the surrounding area, nor is it generally inconsistent with existing landscape treatments along Robertson Road.

It's not inconsistent because no one has opposed variances in the past. The way to make "the strip" better is to improve greenspace, sidewalks, lighting, etc, one development at a time.

Here's a link to the city web site, where you can view the site planand application, and where (more importantly) you can send comments opposing the variances to the planner.

http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/appDetails.jsf?lang=en&appId=__68T4IS

Our city councillor is Rick Chiarelli, you can also send comments to him at: Rick.Chiarelli@ottawa.ca