Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Coyote information session held to alleviate residents' worries about recent sightings

OttawaCommunityNews.com

By Christopher Whan, Ottawa Community News, October 12, 2017

Unless you're a small pet or a beeping roadrunner, the city and the Ministry of Natural Resources say you have little to worry about when it comes to coyotes.

In an information session the Nepean Sailing Club on Oct. 11, Bay Ward Coun. Mark Taylor and local wildlife experts from the city and the ministry said coyote sightings in the area are nothing out of the ordinary. As long as residents who live near the Greenbelt follow a few simple rules, coyotes won’t be an issue.According to Nick Stow, a city senior environmental planner, coyotes are in every major North American city. Through deforestation and development over the last several hundred years, humans have provided a perfect environment for coyotes.

Driverless car test in Ottawa a Canadian first - Ottawa - CBC News

By Joe Lofaro, CBC News Ottawa, October 12, 2017

The test drive of an autonomous car in Ottawa's west end Thursday marked the first trial run of a driverless vehicle on a public street in Canada.

The autonomous vehicle, which is powered by Blackberry technology, took Mayor Jim Watson, Coun. Marianne Wilkinson, Blackberry QNX head John Wall and BlackBerry QNX software developer David van Geyn for a spin around the Kanata North Technology Park for a live demonstration.

Nussbaum: How to build public support for urban intensification

Ottawa Citizen

By Tobi Nussbaum, Ottawa Citizen, October 12, 2017

You could not be faulted for approaching the new Minto building at the western gateway of Beechwood Avenue with excited anticipation.

After a fire devastated the previous structure in 2011, reducing apartments and beloved shops to ash, the sad and barren site sat boarded up until 2015, when construction began on a nine-storey, mixed-use building.As you approach the new edifice, however, you may be puzzled. You recall the renderings showed an attractive entrance and transparent windows at a notched corner focal point, beckoning passers-by.

Instead, you are confronted at the door by a Bank of Montreal emergency exit sign directing you elsewhere. Shade-drawn windows obscure the view inside. To get to the actual entrance, you round the corner and pass by three more large windows, equally opaque, creating a mirroring effect and dulling the pedestrian experience.

Today’s letters: Urban trees, NHL captains, voting reform

Ottawa Citizen

By Jim Douglas, Ottawa Citizen Letter to the Editor, October 10, 2017

Who should pay for fallen trees in the city

Re: We’re not prepared, Oct. 4.

Another way in which we are not prepared for more intense storms is in regard to the damage that will befall our urban forests, and the costs associated with this.

Apart from the primary concern of human safety and threats to property there is the very significant issue of reparation costs. The removal of a fallen tree, especially a large tree in a residential backyard, can cost ten of thousands of dollars, a daunting prospect for property owners. In my opinion, costs of removal of damaged and fallen trees on private property should be shared by the community as a whole, as the benefits of the urban forest are to the overall community.

Millions more for green space in Gatineau, pledges Pedneaud-Jobin

Ottawa Citizen

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, October 10, 2017

Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin and his Action Gatineau party have pledged to spend millions of dollars upgrading Gatineau’s parks.

“An amount of $5 million will be allocated to facilities outside the Parc des Cèdres, and a new four-year plan will be devoted to the other parks in the city where the development needs are significant,” the party said in a campaign announcement Tuesday.

It didn’t give a price estimate for the full citywide program.

The party also wants to spend $100,000 a year on a program to protect the Gatineau and Ottawa rivers while providing access to them.

Rider claims safe stop on Scott Street rejected by driver citing city memo

CTV Ottawa News

By CTV News Ottawa, October 9, 2017

An Ottawa woman is raising concerns after she says an OC Transpo driver denied her request for a safe stop on Scott Street.

Sara Wurtele was taking the 95 home from downtown on Monday around 1:00 a.m. when she asked a driver to let her off at Holland Cross instead of a Tunney’s Pasture.

“I didn’t feel safe getting off at Tunney’s, so I was asking for a safe stop here instead and when I asked to get off here the bus driver shook his head and refused,” she said.

OC Transpo’s safe stop program allows passengers to disembark between stops, wherever they feel safest on the bus’s regular route, after 7 p.m. Wurtele says this was the first time a driver has ever said no.

City continues to grow green fleet

OttawaCommunityNews.com

By Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa Community News, October 6, 2017

This year, the city has acquired 11 new hybrid vehicles, the transportation committee heard on Oct. 4.

Of the 11 new vehicles, eight of them were for bylaw services.

For 2018, the city plans to spend $25.7 million to replace 97 vehicles and pieces of equipment for greener alternatives.

There are also plans to buy 16 new vehicles in the coming year. Funding for the extra 16 will be sought during the upcoming budget process.

Let's make sure Nepean Point's new park works as a park

Reevely

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Ottaw

By David Reevely, Ottawa Sun, October 6, 2017

If renovating Nepean Point is going to be worth the money, we have to make it magnetic, a place people cannot help but visit.

The lookout behind the National Gallery is a spectacular spot with glorious views of the heart of Ottawa and Gatineau. It’s also hard to get to and there’s nothing to do when you arrive but take in the view and then leave again. A couple of sculptures are all but concealed there. The decaying amphitheatre needs major work.

The NCC rightly wants to take the opportunity to spiff the space up and connect it better to the rest of Ottawa, and it has $6.7 million to spend.

Groundbreaking on new Rideau Canal crossing - Ottawa - CBC News

By CBC News Ottawa, October 6, 2017

The official groundbreaking of the Rideau Canal Crossing, which is going to connect Clegg Street in Old Ottawa East to Fifth Avenue in the Glebe, took place Friday, with representatives from the city as well as the provincial and federal governments.

In a media release, the city said it hopes the crossing will improve connectivity between the two neighbourhoods by encouraging safe cycling and walking routes. The bridge should also "shorten commute times and offer a dedicated active and sustainable transportation route to schools, work, entertainment and shopping sites, such as Lansdowne in the Glebe," according to the release.

The bridge will help link pathways connecting to the City's O-Train Confederation Line at Hurdman and Lees transit stations, said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.

Poison ivy on steroids: Another side of climate change

Ottawa Citizen

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, October 6, 2017

An American forest scientist has identified a new and scary face of global warming for Ottawa residents: Not drought or pestilence, but bigger and badder poison ivy.

Lee Frelich is a big name in the field of forecasting what climate change will do to forest species. He teaches at the University of Minnesota, and has been in the forest research business since the late 1970s. He knows Ontario’s forests too.

And he says there’s firm evidence that poison ivy will thrive in our expected future climate.

TransCanada drops plans for Energy East pipeline

StittsvilleCentral.ca

By StittsvilleCentral, October 5, 2017

TransCanada announced today that it has cancelled plans for the Energy East pipeline. It would have would have carried 1.1-million barrels of crude oil each day across the country, including a stretch on the western boundary of Stittsville. (The photo above shows the part of the pipeline route, looking south from Jinkinson Road.)

Here’s a press release from Ecology Ottawa, who have been campaigning against the project for several years:

Ecology Ottawa is celebrating TransCanada’s announcement earlier today that officially terminated the company’s proposed Energy East pipeline project. Energy East, which would ship 1.1 million barrels of diluted bitumen across Ottawa, posed a direct threat to the city’s water, land and climate. Since the pipeline project was announced in 2013, Ecology Ottawa has been working in communities across Ottawa to mobilize resistance to the pipeline.

Demise of Energy East exposes political divide between energy, environment

CTV News

By Mike Blanchfield, CTV News Ottawa, October 5, 2017

OTTAWA -- TransCanada's decision to cancel the Energy East pipeline project exposed deep divisions across the political landscape Thursday, highlighting the ever-present clash between energy development and environmental protection.

The premiers of Alberta and New Brunswick expressed disappointment over the decision, while the Opposition Conservatives blasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government for "disastrous" energy policies that they blame for lost jobs and investment.

Quebec politicians, along with Indigenous and environmental groups, welcomed the project's demise, branding it as a harbinger of the inevitable death of fossil fuels and a reminder of the need for further green energy development.