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