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!

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!

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:

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?

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?

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.

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.