By Stu Mills, CBC News Ottawa, March 7, 2018
One day in 1982, when Abd El Halim was still a graduate student at the University of Waterloo, he stopped to watch a paving crew at work near his house.
Fascinated, El Halim studied the steel cylinder of the asphalt roller as it met the hot, black road surface, leaving a network of fine fissures in its wake.
By Laura Osman, CBC News Ottawa, March 7, 2018
Some Ottawa restaurant owners say new standards intended to make city sidewalks more accessible have arrived too close to the start of patio season.
The city's transportation committee voted Wednesday to require businesses to leave two metres of the sidewalk clear for pedestrians. In return, the city agreed to move street signs, park benches and garbage cans, and offered a 25 per cent discount on patio licence fees to help businesses recover some of the costs associated with the changes.
'It's never going to happen in three weeks' time.' - Jasna Jennings, ByWard Market BIAStill, patio owners said there's no way they can apply for, design and build patios that meet the new requirements in time for the warm weather.
By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, March 6, 2018
The provincial government refuses to say whether Ontario companies were big buyers in the first international auction for carbon permits, sending cash to Quebec or California for the right to emit greenhouse gases.
Joining up with those two jurisdictions in the “Western Climate Initiative” is the driveshaft of the Liberal government’s climate-change plan. Four times a year, they put millions of tonnes’ worth of “allowances” up for bids, letting certain heavy emitters (and a handful of speculators) buy rights to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Every year the supply will shrink, increasing the pressure on power companies, fossil-fuel vendors, railways and others to get more efficient.
By Wayne Scanlan, Ottawa Citizen, March 7, 2018
Lanark County Warden John Fenik has felt the passion from both sides of the heated recreational trail dispute.
For every 10 emails arguing the case for running snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles on the old CP Rail line through the county and the town of Almonte, he has 10 more opposed to increased noise in the tranquil Ottawa Valley town.
Now, Fenik hopes a compromise that includes an Almonte diversion might win the day.
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.
(...)"Particularly, it appears that the CTA has rendered its decision without taking into account the ongoing discussions between the cities of Gatineau and Ottawa, as well as with local Members of Parliament, with respect to the future potential use of the [bridge] in connecting our two transit systems."
By Gerry Andrews and others, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, March 6, 2018
Keep this trail safe from ATVs
Re: Peace and quiet versus ATVs and snowmobiles, March 5.
The original intent of the Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail, as in the County’s management plan, was to be a “multipurpose” trail. How can you cross-country ski, walk, snowshoe or bike on a trail when you are looking over your shoulder for ATVs or snowmobiles? The safety issue has never been adequately addressed.
By Vito Pilieci, Ottawa Citizen, March 5, 2018
Ottawa transit riders will soon be able to buy and top up Presto cards at Shoppers Drug Mart locations starting next month.
The cards will be immediately available at Shoppers Drug Mart locations in York Region, just north of Toronto, the provincial government announced Monday afternoon.
Locations in Ottawa, Durham Region and Oakville will follow in April.
By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, March 5, 2018
Backyard chicken coops — banned in Ottawa — are taking off in Gatineau, where the city proposes to expand its small experiment in urban farming to allow coops for 200 homes.
The expansion, still to be approved by council, would allow up to three hens per home — but no roosters because the neighbours may wish to sleep. Gatineau also proposes 50 licences for beehives. Commercial production is not allowed.
So far, the reviews from Phase 1 are good
By Matthew Kupfer, CBC News Ottawa, March 3, 2018
Cyclists say they feel unsafe riding in downtown Smiths Falls, Ont., after council rejected a proposal to add bike lanes to their main street and chose to keep angle parking instead.
The proposal, which was supported by Mayor Shawn Pankow, would have turned angle parking along Beckwith Street into parallel parking and added bike lanes between the parking spots and a widened sidewalk.
By Mike O'Reilly and others, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, March 3, 2018
A glaring omission in train names
Re: Gord Downie, Rocket Richard among winning names for Transpo LRT cars, Feb. 24.
They founded the Ottawa Electric Railway, running streetcars from Britannia to Rockcliffe. The O.E.R. begat the Ottawa Transportation Commission (O.T.C.) which morphed into OC Transpo. There is a clear lineage and not a little irony, connecting the rails now being laid across LeBreton Flats (Ahearn’s birthplace) and the O.E.R.
By Shad Qadri, StittsvilleCentral, March 1, 2018
I am happy to invite residents to a public information session and open house on March 22 at the Goulbourn Recreation Complex to discuss OC Transpo service in Stittsville.
The Director of OC Transpo Transit Customer Systems and Planning, Pat Scrimgeour, will be on desk answering customer questions/concerns and providing a short presentation on transit service in suburban wards.
The meeting will take place in Hall A at the GRC (1500 Shea Road) and will run from approximately 6:00-9:00 PM.
By CBC News Ottawa, March 2, 2018
A coalition of community activists says the list of names announced last week for the city's Confederation Line trains contains some glaring omissions, and should be reconsidered.
In an open letter to Mayor Jim Watson, the group claims the 40 winning names, which were suggested by local children, aren't sufficiently representative, and don't reflect either Ottawa's history or its changing face.
"Of the 40 names, 15 of them honour specific people (only 5 are women). Merely three of them could claim Ottawa as their home, and none of them are Franco-Ontarian, people of colour, LGBTQ2+ people, Aboriginal."