Dorgeville: Ottawa drivers need to start changing their expectations

By Marc Dorgeville, Ottawa Citizen, April 10, 2019

(...)In North America, cities have been built around cars for decades and Ottawa’s sprawl is the result of car-centric transportation. While knocking on doors over these past nine weeks for the Rideau-Rockcliffe byelection, I met drivers frustrated by the fact traffic is slower today than it was along the main arteries of the ward: Beechwood, Montréal, MacArthur, Donald. One irate driver believes that the city de-synchronizes light signals to slow traffic on purpose.

But I also met many more residents concerned about the safety and speeding issues linked to cars going through our neighbourhoods. All expect the next city councillor to increase traffic-calming measures for a more pedestrian- and business-friendly experience.

Car travel times inside Ottawa are bound to increase in the future. First, because of safety concerns and residents’ desire to improve the quality of life in their neighbourhoods. The advance signal for pedestrians or the “no turn on red“ in some intersections slow down traffic of course, but these measures also reduce the number of car-pedestrians incidents and are necessary for the safety of the most vulnerable users: pedestrians.

Council approves development at busy Hunt Club/Riverside, cycle pilot project at Andrew Haydon Park

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, April 10, 2019

A zoning change to allow a new mixed-use development near one of Ottawa’s worst intersections received the majority of council’s support Wednesday.

(...)The intersection of Hunt Club Road and Riverside Drive is usually near the top, or at the top, of an annual list of intersections with the most collisions. Under the city’s traffic volume scoring system, the intersection has a failing grade.

(...)The city hopes the Trillium Line O-Train expansion will get more suburban residents using public transit, rather than driving their cars. The rail line is scheduled to be extended to Riverside South by 2022.

(...)Drive-and-cycle pilot project approved for Andrew Haydon Park

The city will begin the rezoning process to allow a handful of car spaces in Andrew Haydon Park to be used as drive-and-cycle spots.

Council approved a pilot project that will reserve 10 park-and-cycle spots on a first come, first served basis between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The early bird gets big trouble this year

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, April 10, 2019

A combination of cold and snow is probably killing off significant numbers of the first migrating birds in our region, says birder Bruce Di Labio.

Migrants leave the south at different times, with some birds always in a rush to arrive first and get the best breeding territory, he said.

“That’s not always a good method of surviving. It’s rolling the dice and a lot of those early migrants don’t always win.”

Among the insect eaters “there have been yellow-rumped warbler, pine warbler, eastern phoebe, but sadly it is going to be pretty tough on them to survive,” he said.

Garbage costs could rise as city considers short-term contracts while waiting for provincial direction

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, April 10, 2019

Ottawa homeowners are poised to pay more for garbage collection for at least the next three years as city hall waits for the province to set policies which will likely impact municipal trash management.

The City of Ottawa’s garbage collection contracts expire on May 31, 2020, and it has to decide now what it wants to do about new contracts.

Public works staff have laid out their recommendation in a report to council’s environment committee, telling councillors they should sign new three-year contracts with the existing service providers, rather than put the contracts up for competition or inking longer deals that could be cheaper for taxpayers.

This Popular Vegan Cinnamon Bun Shop Is Opening Their First-Ever Location In Ottawa

By By Mia Shabsove, Narcity, April 7, 2019

There's honestly nothing better than the sweet smell of cinnamon mixed with the richness of icing sugar in the morning, or any time of day really. Walking past a bakery and getting a whiff of delicious cinnamon buns is like heaven on Earth and almost irresistible!

There's a popular cinnamon bun shop that has been taking over Canada and now they're finally opening up their very first location in Ottawa! Cinnaholics is totally unique because all of the cinnamon buns they make are completely vegan. So you can indulge without the guilt!

$100 million investment announced for Lachute recycling facility

By James Morgan, The Review, April 8, 2019

The empty wine bottle from last Saturday’s dinner or the jelly jar from Sunday brunch could have a second life at a plant in Lachute.

Québec City-based RV2 Technologies is investing $100 million over 20 years in Tricentris, whose facilities are in Lachute’s Synercité business park.

Tricentris collects and processes most of the items from municipal recycling programs across the MRC d’Argenteuil.

RV2 is developing a technology to extract silica and zeolite from recycled glass.

Grenville-sur-la-Rouge aiming to keep river for recreation

By James Morgan, The Review, April 8, 2019

Hydro-Québec has decided to sell land it owns on both sides of Rivière Rouge from along Chemin de la Rivière Rouge south to Route 148.

The municipality of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge is concerned that the sale of the land to private owners could end free access to the river for white-water canoeists, kayakers and rafters.

Council is considering a zoning change that would restrict permitted uses in most of the affected area to canoeing, kayaking, rafting, and interpretive trails.

What will the survey say? That’s up to you. Have your say about an intermunicipal transportation system

By Louise Sproule, The Review, April 8, 2019

Have your say. It’s time to weigh in on intermunicipal transportation system in our region.

The United Counties of Prescott and Russell (UCPR) are pleased to announce the launch of an online survey to understand and evaluate the needs of future users of the region’s new intermunicipal transit service within the region.

Residents are invited to make their interests and travel habits known by filling out the online survey as of today, and until May 10, by visiting the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PRTranspoEn. The survey only takes five to seven minutes to complete.

Swapping dumpsters for composters

By Charlie Senack, Kitchissippi Times, April 5, 2019

In an effort to cut costs and leave a greener footprint, the owners of Petit Bill’s and Bridgehead Coffee located at Wellington Street West and Smirle Ave., decided to get rid of their traditional garbage dumpsters and start a compost program.

“We went from about eight bags of waste to about one,” says Randy Fitzpatrick, co-owner of Petit Bill’s, who adds that the restaurant has also switched to many biodegradable products.

“Our straws are biodegradable. The first straws we had broke down after 72 days, now they break down basically after 45 days. The portion cups we had and will have again are made from corn sugar, so you literally could eat them.“

Why some see HST on carbon tax as 'double dipping'

By Laura Osman, CBC News Ottawa, April 8, 2019

To say Deb Richmond was surprised when she looked at her home propane bill this month would be an understatement.

Richmond had read about the outrage online from people being charged sales tax on top of the federal carbon tax, but when she saw that charge on her own bill, she still couldn't believe it.

"I always thought it was illegal, frankly, to tax a tax," she said. "But that is what they're doing."

City auditor to investigate Stage 2 LRT evaluation process

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, April 8, 2019

The City of Ottawa's auditor general will investigate the evaluation process that led to SNC-Lavalin winning the $1.6-billion contract to extend the Trillium Line, even though the company didn't meet the technical threshold for the light rail project.

Auditor Ken Hughes began his report to the city's audit committee on Monday morning by adding the LRT Stage 2 investigation to his 2019 work plan, and putting off a proposed compliance audit of travel and hospitality.

Ontario to mandate anti-carbon tax stickers at gas pumps

By the Canadian Press, CBC News Ottawa, April 8, 2019

Ontario drivers could soon see government-mandated stickers about the price of the carbon tax on gas pumps across the province, as the Progressive Conservatives open a new front in their battle with Ottawa over the levy.

The environment and energy ministers made the announcement Monday in one of the near-daily events the Ontario government has held to slam the tax since it was imposed one week ago.

"We will make sure that we use every tool at our disposal to make sure that Ontarians understand the impacts of this carbon tax — the impact on their business, the impacts on their families and the impact on our province's competitiveness," Environment Minister Rod Phillips said at a gas station in Oakville, Ont.

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