Stage 2 LRT contracts pushed to fourth quarter after bidders ask for more time

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, March 12, 2018

Winners of the Stage 2 rail contracts will be announced in the fourth quarter of 2018 after bidders asked for more time to complete their proposals, city staff have told council.

The contracts were scheduled to be awarded in the second quarter of 2018, but the groups bidding on two contracts asked for more time to work on their design and price submissions.

Chris Swail, the city’s director of O-Train planning, told council in a memo that construction of Stage 2 will still start in 2019.

Predicted spike in Ottawa temperatures worries experts, councillor

By Susan Burgess, CBC News Ottawa, March 9, 2018

Ottawa residents can expect to skate less, drive over more potholes and even fall more on slippery streets, according to experts and a city councillor digesting a new report on climate change and cities.

Ottawa is among 13 cities worldwide that are projected to see temperature hikes that could exceed 2 C in the next decade or so, according to the report form the Urban Climate Change Research Network at Columbia University.

Some birds flew north looking for spring. Then spring froze

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, March 9, 2018

Birds have migrated north in large numbers in recent weeks — an early gamble that is now forcing some to do a U-turn, and others to starve.

A number of people in Ottawa have heard Canada geese fly over noisily, beginning in late February’s mild spell.

“Thousands of geese showing up in eastern Ontario. A lot of them are actually still here,” birder Bruce Di Labio said. But with snow covering the cornfields and freezing temperatures at night, they aren’t going any farther north.

Ottawa among 13 cities that could see 2 C increase in 2020s: report

By CBC News Ottawa, March 8, 2018

Ottawa is among 13 cities worldwide that are projected to see temperature hikes that could exceed 2 C over the next decade or so, according to a new report.

The Russian capital, Moscow, faces the highest potential increase among more than 100 cities included in a report several years in the making by the Urban Climate Change Research Network, based at Columbia University.

GET YOUR COMMUNITY GARDEN BOX!

By Overbrook Community News, March 6, 2018

Are you interested in supporting…

* Healthy eating?

* Food self-sufficiency?

* Beautification in Overbrook?

* Community spirit in Overbrook?

You are invited to participate by:

  • Attending an Information Meeting, Thursday, 8 March at 7 pm at the Overbrook Community Centre, 33 Quill
  • Completing application and agreement forms (available at Reception)

Application Form Due Dates:

* Returning Gardeners – due Friday, March 30 Address: OverbrookCommunity Centre, 33 Quill Street

Compromise could pave way for completion of rail trail

By CBC News Ottawa, March 8, 2018

The town council of Mississippi Mills, Ont., has approved a compromise to allow snowmobiles — but not ATVs — on a section of the Ottawa Valley Rail Trail.

The 296-kilometre trail is being built along a former Canadian Pacific Railway corridor, which was purchased by Renfrew and Lanark counties for recreational purposes.

The trail connects Smiths Falls to Mattawa, passing through Carleton Place, Almonte, Arnprior, Pembroke and Petawawa.

Future of Uber and Lyft in Ottawa rests with judge

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, March 8, 2018

The future of the City of Ottawa’s bylaw regulating ride companies like Uber and Lyft rests in the hands of a Superior Court judge.

Justice Maria Linhares de Sousa reserved her decision Thursday on an application by the taxi union to quash the vehicle-for-hire bylaw and reinstate the former taxi-only licensing regime. The judge didn’t say when she would release her decision.

The taxi union’s lawyer, Monica Song, capped off four days of argument by replying to the case presented by the city’s lawyer, Benoit Duchesne.

OC Transpo to run on reduced schedule for March Break

By Ottawa Citizen, March 8, 2018

OC Transpo buses will be running on a reduced schedule as schools close and people leave for the holidays during March Break.

Minor reductions from March 12 to 16 will be made to some routes, and bus arrival times may be slightly adjusted compared to a usual weekday schedule, said the city in a release Thursday.

COMMENT: New high school brings an opportunity to promote walking and cycling

By Bike Ottawa, StittsvilleCentral, March 6, 2018

Congratulations to the parents and students who championed a public high school in Stittsville. The school is long overdue. Teens spending their time being bused out to Richmond weren’t being given the same opportunities for after-school activities, or for the extra morning sleep teens seem to require.

To be healthy, kids need physical activity. One of the easiest ways to stay active is to make it part of the daily trip to school. In this moment, Stittsville has a fantastic opportunity to be one of the first in the region to purposefully design safe routes for walking and cycling to school. This will provide much-needed independence for teens… and for their parents, too. No more need to shuttle kids to school.

Reevely: Caroline Mulroney takes some pages from the People's Guarantee

By David Reevely, Ottawa Sun, March 7, 2018

Caroline Mulroney wants to build more nursing homes, license home-daycare operators, teach guidance counsellors about work in the trades, and help more terminally ill people get palliative care.

In a Progressive Conservative leadership campaign that’s been mostly about personalities and attitudes, devolving lately into a mudwrestle between Christine Elliott (a secret Liberal!) and Doug Ford (erratic and out of control!). Mulroney has tried to distinguish herself with some actual ideas, rolling them out like platform planks in a full election campaign.

(...)She also promises to cancel the People’s Guarantee’s carbon tax, a $2.4-billion-a-year moneymaker that would cover most of the $3.2 billion the provincial government would give up in those income-tax cuts. All the candidates promise this, competing only on how hard they’d cancel it. Whoever wins, it’s going to be a problem.

City to appeal agency's order to replace ripped-up rail

By CBC News Ottawa, March 6, 2018

The City of Ottawa is appealing a federal agency's order to restore, sell or scrap a portion of rail line near the Prince of Wales Bridge, and the mayor is asking a federal minister to step in.

As part of light rail construction, the city removed a section of the line north of Bayview Station.

The Canadian Transportation Agency's (CTA) mid-February decision would force the city to either put the line up for sale, which could lead to its permanent closure if no buyers come forth, or restore it to a state where it could be re-opened to rail traffic within 12 months.

Scientists plan simulated oil spills in northwestern Ontario

By Bartley Kives, CBC News, March 7, 2018

Scientists are planning experimental "oil spills" in northwestern Ontario this summer in an effort to better understand what happens when diluted bitumen winds up in freshwater lakes.

In research with implications for how Canada regulates oil transport by pipelines and rail, ecologists at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) east of Kenora are planning to simulate a series of spills, clean them up and then assess what happens to the water, plants and animals.

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