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.

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...

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!

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:

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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!