Work affordable housing into LRT plans, advocates urge

By Laura Osman, CBC News Ottawa, May 2, 2018

Housing advocates in Ottawa want to make sure people with low incomes have access to prime real estate along future LRT routes before it's too late.

Several affordable housing advocates addressed the city's transportation committee Wednesday, where they urged councillors to set aside land to build housing for the people who need transit most.

State-of-the-art transit systems like the one Ottawa's planning tend to drive up the value of real estate nearby, and drive people with low incomes out of those neighbourhoods, said Trevor Haché of the Healthy Transportation Coalition..

Ontario Liberals to foot bill for southern LRT extension

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, May 3, 2018

Update | On Thursday afternoon, the provincial government made the announcement to fund a $50-million extension to the Trillium Line.

The Ontario Liberal government is expected to announce that it will fund a $50-million additional extension of Ottawa's Trillium Line that will see the light rail system stretch to the future site of Riverside South's town centre at Earl Armstrong and Limebank roads.

Liberal MPPs will join members of council and Mayor Jim Watson at his office Thursday afternoon to make the funding announcement.

Federal government pilots bird-diversion feature

By CBC News Ottawa, May 3, 2018

The C.D. Howe Building on Sparks Street has added new features to divert migratory birds from hitting its windows.

When it comes to buildings with large glass windows, birds are often unable to distinguish them from open air, resulting in injuries and deaths.

The C.D. Howe Building features tinted glass windows on two of its towers, which is enough to mark them as obstacles for birds, but the atrium in the middle has clear windows.

Open-air fire ban still in effect despite wet weather

By Megan Gillis, Ottawa Citizen, May 3, 2018

An open-air fire ban remains in effect despite the rainy weather.

Ottawa Fire Services issued a reminder Thursday morning that while the ban was still in place, conditions are improving rapidly and officials hope to lift it shortly.

Sign up to get an alert when it’s lifted here: http://ow.ly/Y4mM30jOEhs

The bans are imposed to prevent fast-spreading grass and brush fires and stay in place until fresh, green growth starts to replace tall, dead grass.

Jane’s Mob at Parkdale Market Park to kick off Jane’s Walks 2018

By WellingtonWest.ca, May 1, 2018

The 2018 Jane’s Walks organizers are hosting a free, family-friendly event in which a mob of artists, storytellers and experts will explore the various ways the park has become part of the fabric of the neighbourhood. Come to Parkdale Market Park on May 3rd from 6 - 9 pm and choose your own adventure with programming spread throughout the park. Learn about topics like:

·       Stories from the Parkdale Market’s grand opening

·       How and where to date in Hintonburg

·       Why the neighbourhood is such a brewery hotspot

Preliminary design plans for Elgin St. revealed

By Ted Raymond, CFRA News, May 1, 2018

With shovels already in the ground residents were invited to a public information session on the Elgin St. renewal project.

Dozens gathered at City Hall to meet with those in charge of the project and see preliminary designs.

Troy Harper was disappointed plans still included above ground electrical wires.

“It makes a big difference in the urban planning to not have wires hanging over top of you. Go to any street where it’s already buried you’ll see the difference,” Harper said.

Others were concerned about having shared use lanes for cyclists and vehicles.

Doug Ford reiterates commitment to LRT funding after Wynne comment

By Ted Raymond, CTV News Ottawa, May 1, 2018

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford says Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne has “nothing left to do but make things up.”

This comes after Wynne made a comment in Ottawa Monday, that funding for Phase 2 of LRT could not be guaranteed if the Liberals are not re-elected.

“We cannot guarantee what another government would do,” Wynne said to a crowd at a pre-campaign stop at Louis Riel High School in Blackburn Hamlet. “What I can tell you is, on infrastructure, I have no idea what firm commitments Doug Ford has made.”

But in a press release Tuesday, Ford said the Premier’s comments do not reflect his stated position.

“The people of Ottawa can count on me to build transit. The Ontario PCs are fully committed to moving forward with Phase II of the Ottawa LRT.”

People pedalling, E-biking and parking as gas prices rise

By Joanne Schnurr, CTV News Ottawa, May 1, 2018

The success of the LRT will depend in part on its popularity with riders. As near record gas prices hit drivers, new public transit could get a boost.

The average gas price across Canada right now is $1.33. That's the highest average we've seen in nearly four years but there is good news on the horizon at least in the short term.

The sticker shock, at $1.34 a litre at most Ottawa gas stations, is enough to make you want to stop driving. Well, almost.

“How high will it go before you park your car?” Madison Moore is asked as she fills up her vehicle at a station in east end Ottawa, “I need my car, so it’s not an option,” she says.

Ottawa can expect normal spring runoff this year

By CBC News Ottawa, April 30, 2018

The group that monitors the Ottawa River water flows says the region can expect water levels and flow to increase this week as the weather warms, but says conditions won't be anything like last year's record-breaking spring flooding.

Rainfall and snowmelt runoff from the north continues to fill reservoirs in that part of the Ottawa River basin, according to a forecast this week from the Ottawa River Regulation and Planning Board.

Last section of Ottawa's LRT track to be laid Friday

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, May 1, 2018

It's not quite the last spike — in fact, it's a clip that will hold the rail to the concrete — but the final piece of Ottawa's LRT track will be completed this Friday at the eastern end of the downtown tunnel, six months before the keys to the system are due to be delivered to the city.

There will be a photo op to commemorate this significant milestone in the city's $2.1-billion transit project, although the news was announced at Tuesday's finance and economic development committee meeting, where OC Transpo boss John Manconi delivered his monthly update on the project.

While the westbound track has been completed for some time, there's a small eastbound section near the University of Ottawa that has remained unfinished.

Risk of flooding along Aylmer shore, City of Gatineau says

By CBC News Ottawa, May 1, 2018

The City of Gatineau is offering Aylmer residents sandbags today as rising water levels could lead to minor flooding in the west-end neighbourhood.

While predicted water levels are far short of what they were during last year's major flooding across the National Capital Region, the city says the minor flooding threshold could be reached Tuesday evening.

The water level on the Ottawa River at the closest observation point — in Ottawa, at Britannia Park — was at 59.26 metres above sea level late Tuesday morning. There is a risk of flooding once the water level climbs another 16 centimetres.

Coyne: Scheer says he can meet climate change goals without carbon pricing. Let’s see how

By Andrew Coyne, Ottawa Citizen, April 30, 2018

Worried about climate change? Worried even more about the federal government’s plan to tackle climate change by taxing carbon? Relax. Andrew Scheer has a plan.

Or at least, he will.

“We will be unveiling a very detailed and comprehensive plan” in time for the next election, the Conservative leader told a television interviewer over the weekend. A detailed and comprehensive plan to do what he was not at liberty to say, except that it will achieve the target for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to which Canada committed in the Paris accord, and that it will do so without taxing carbon.

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