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...