By Steve Collins, Ottawa Metro News, January 24, 2017
City council meetings have rules and procedures that sometimes seem aimed at insulating public officials from too much unfiltered public input.You could immediately tell the difference between those and last week's open house on the central library.
Andrew Haydon Hall was packed, for starters. Council attendance skewed 100 per cent urban (downtown councillors Catherine McKenney, Jeff Leiper, Tobi Nussbaum, Mathieu Fleury and David Chernushenko). Judging by a show of hands, the vast majority of public attendees came from downtown as well. After all, the main library is their local branch.
Instead of city staff, an expert panel (University of Ottawa's Elizabeth Kristjansson, Ecology Ottawa's Graham Saul and retired architect Tony Griffiths) was on hand to talk about the social role of the library, the importance of its accessibility to pedestrians, and how it should fit into the city’s fabric.
http://www.metronews.ca/views/ottawa/collins-ottawa/2017/01/24/ottawa-councillors-should-listen-to-library-opposition-.html