Ottawans still riding the bus...

... despite every effort by OC Transpo to stop them:

OC Transpo did not expect ridership numbers to return to normal until the fall, but the transport company's statistics show that ridership this March was only 2.8 per cent lower than it was in March 2008.

Personally, I've reduced my ridership by 38.5%, (2.5 days per week from 4), and now that the Tamils are making arrival times less predictable, I'll probably ride even less.  I guess not everyone has the luxury of alternate transportation, or the option of working from home.

Also, I'm looking forward to decent cycling weather so I can reduce my bus ridership to 0%!

Getting Seedy

We managed to get to the Seedy Saturday event at the Ron Kolbus centre (at Britannia Park), and were blown away by how great it was. Of course there were seeds to trade (we forgot to bring ours, but we probably need them for the new garden anyway), but also 8 or so small seed vendors specializing in organic and heirloom varieties. I spoke to one of the owners of The Cottage Gardner, and she said it's the busiest she's ever seen it. Of course, since we showed up at 2 pm, a lot of varieties were sold out. We'll have to rely on mail order. Along with the seed vendors, there were displays from a lot of local food-oriented organizations, including Just Food, who produce the excellent BuyLocal food guide. They also sponsor the Community Gardening Network of Ottawa, which includes fourteen local community gardens. The closest to Bells Corners looked like it was in the Carlington neighbourhood. I wonder if there would be any appetite for a community garden here? Most people have lots which are big enough for a small garden, but that doesn't have the same social aspect of getting together with a bunch of like-minded gardeners to dig some dirt. So what do you think? Where would be a good location for a community garden in Bells Corners?

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!