By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, September 17, 2017
The two garbage collection zones that use city staff together racked up a $1.2-million operational deficit in 2016, an external audit shows.
The downtown zone had a deficit of $589,899 and the east Ottawa zone had a deficit of $665,060 in the fourth year of the collection contracts.
The previous three years of the collection contracts resulted in a cumulative operational deficit of $340,609.
By the Ottawa Citizen, September 16, 2017
Unionized drivers and maintenance workers for the Société de transport de l’Outaouais transit system have voted to accept a new contract offer from the employer.
Some 526 employees voted by more than two-thirds majority to accept the four-year deal, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2015 and ending Dec. 31, 2019.
The new contract offer represents a wage increase of 9.8 per cent over the four-year term, in addition to a two-per-cent signing bonus and other bonuses, including an increased contribution to the union’s pension fund.
By Ryan Tumilty, Ottawa Metro News, September 14, 2017
Ontario’s labour minister said he intends to visit Ottawa’s LRT construction site and the province is keeping on an eye on the project.
Metro first reported last month that the site was subject to 470 workplace safety orders between Jan. 1, 2013, and April of this year.
Minister Kevin Flynn spoke with Metro reporters in Ottawa and said he’s aware of the project and staff are closely monitoring it.
By Erin McCracken, Ottawa Community News, September 15, 2017
The city is planning to fill in a missing link that will make Hunt Club Road home to one of the longest continuous cycling lanes in Ottawa.
“This project will get us between Bank Street and (Highway) 416,” said Zlatko Krstulic, a senior transportation project manager. “In terms of an actual on-ride cycling facility, it would definitely be a contender for one of the longest.
“If you look at the city from the east, then the (cycling) facility would be more or less complete up to 416,” he said. “In fact, it goes beyond that using paved shoulders. So it’s a very, very long facility.”
By CBC News Ottawa, September 15, 2017
A futuristic tube system that would sling passengers from Toronto to Montreal via Ottawa in 39 minutes has been chosen as the strongest Canadian contender to put what is for now a technological theory into practice.
A "hyperloop" uses electric propulsion to move magnetically levitated pods through low-pressure tubes, eliminating air resistance and friction, and enabling the pods to travel at a velocity approaching the speed of sound.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, September 15, 2017
The City of Ottawa’s recycling rates in 2015 were garbage compared to the provincial average, a grassroots waste watchdog says.
Waste Watch Ottawa examined diversion data submitted to the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority and saw that the city diverted 42.5 per cent of its waste in 2015, compared to the provincial average of 47.7 per cent.
Ottawa’s diversion rate was lower compared to other large Ontario municipalities like York Region (62.7), Halton Region (56.8), Toronto (51.6), Hamilton (46.8) and Peel Region (44).
Waste Watch Ottawa says it’s a “worrying sign” that the city’s diversion rate dropped from the 45 per cent recorded in 2014.
By Doug Hempstead, CBC News Ottawa, September 14, 2017
(...)Speaking of bikes, I got a long note from Renee, who bikes to work and was happy to hear police were out enforcing bike boxes in Sandy Hill.
(...)"I love it and I plan to stick to it as my main method of transportation on a permanent basis. But I will say that I find it amazing how often cyclists can be put at risk of injury (or worse). Some of my biggest pet peeves are: Motorists who park in designated bike lanes. I come across this just about every day. They would never think to park in the middle of the road, and yet they think nothing of parking in the middle of the cyclists' equivalent. I assume it is illegal, and yet I even see City of Ottawa vehicles doing it!
By CBC News Ottawa, September 14, 2017
A local coffee chain will start selling its new compostable coffee pods on Friday, but its customers won't be allowed to dispose of them in their green bins.
CEO Tracey Clark calls Bridgehead's pods "a great made-in-Ontario story," with biodegradable parts developed in the province. They're 95 per cent coffee, in a casing that consists of a paper top, a ring made of degradable bioresin, and paper mesh to contain the coffee grounds.
Customers use the pods in coffee machines that dispense single servings. Most coffee pods contain plastic, and in Ottawa, they are not recycled.
By Kieran Delamont, Ottawa Metro News, September 13, 2017
The city is not interested in pursuing an arrangement that would see a third-party operate train service across the Prince of Wales Bridge.
A memo sent to council last week by John Manconi, general manager of transportation services, said that the city might be willing to work “in a co-ordinated and consultative manner” with an outside agency or organization to provide train service across the bridge.
Joseph Potvin, executive director of the MOOSE Consortium, who have been involved in discussions around train service across the bridge since 2011, said that the Consortium “looks forward to picking up that discussion again with the City of Ottawa.”
By Melissa Murray, Ottawa Community News, September 13, 2017
The land use changes for the new Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital is the subject of an upcoming community meeting.
The city’s planning department is hosting the Sept. 25 meeting at the Alexander Community Centre, 960 Silver St. The open house begins at 6:30 p.m. with opening remarks at 7 p.m. and a presentation and question and answer session to follow at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s not a discussion on the design, or what components will go into the building, it’s just on the zoning for the hospital to go forward,” said River Coun. Riley Brockington.
By CTV News Ottawa, September 13, 2017
It has been almost one year since Uber received its “private transportation company” license from the City of Ottawa making its vehicles and drivers legal on city streets. The popular ride-sharing company hit Ottawa roads in October 2014, operating illegally until September 30th, 2016, when the city of Ottawa changed the taxi by-laws.
"There are obviously a lot of taxi drivers that are not happy with it because it has increased competition for them, but the reports I have heard back from our staff there has been good cooperation in terms of the accessibility fee that is going to be charged, registration and so on," said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, September 13, 2017
Water and sewer rates are projected to rise 5.5 per cent in 2018, with annual increases in that ballpark expected until at least 2027.
Rates are projected to go up between 4.4 per cent and 5.2 per cent annually over the next 10 years under a proposed financial strategy to pay for the upkeep of infrastructure.
(...)If council endorses the updated long-range financial plan pitched by the finance department, properties hooked into the municipal water and sewer systems would be paying more for drinking water and wastewater treatment, plus stormwater collection each year.