Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Reevely: Fifth-Clegg footbridge to start construction in fall but we need more like it and faster

Ottawa Citizen

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, June 23, 2017

The footbridge between Fifth Avenue and Clegg Street is finally being built after 110 years on the books, with a promise of $5 million in Ontario government money delivered on Friday.

Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi has spoken fondly of the Rideau Canal bridge for his entire political career but it took this long to find all the money for a span that’s been included in federal and municipal plans since early in the last century.

“If we can start the construction in 2017, it can technically be a legacy project. So happy birthday to Canada,” Naqvi joked as he made the announcement outside the Canal Ritz restaurant, where the west end of the bridge will be.

Tent caterpillars: What you need to know about Ottawa's insect invaders - Ottawa - CBC News

By CBC News Ottawa, June 22, 2017

If you spent any time outdoors this spring, you probably noticed the abundance of caterpillars.

Any place you'll find greenery—parks, trees, gardens—you're sure to find a caterpillar or two. Or 2,000.

But fear not. The caterpillars, say entomologist Chris Schmidt, are harmless.Schmidt spoke to Hallie Cotnam on Thursday's edition of Ottawa Morning about the caterpillar invasion, and what can be done to protect your trees and plants. Spoiler: not much.

Kemptville residents demand safety upgrades after pedestrian killed - Ottawa - CBC News

By Jennifer Chevalier, CBC News Ottawa, June 22, 2017

Residents of Kemptville are calling on the municipality to improve safety for pedestrians along Highway 43 after a man was struck and killed by a passing vehicle on the weekend.

Boal was walking home with his girlfriend Diane Giliauskas, his son Jason Boal and Jason's girlfriend Kirsten Nordstrand when he was struck on the section of roadway that crosses Kemptville Creek..

"We know 43 can be a little bit dangerous so we cut through the side streets and parking lots and only had to cross the bridge," Nordstrand said.

Denley: Apparently, the city can’t afford road maintenance. Here’s why

Ottawa Citizen

By Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen, June 21, 2017

Ottawa city councillors have spent themselves into a corner and one way or another, you’re going to pay.The problem is that the city can’t afford to properly maintain public assets such as roads and rinks. That’s because the two-per-cent tax increases councillors pride themselves on don’t provide enough money to fix what we already have and there is no more available because so much has been committed to transit expansion.

The city should be spending $224 million a year to maintain its assets, staff say. In reality, it spends $70 million less. That’s a big gap to close, and the experience of the last five years has been daunting. Council has pushed the maintenance budget up by $51 million a year, but most of that money has been eaten up by rising costs. The gap between what the city spends and what it should spend has decreased by only $20 million.

OC Transpo announces new route IDs, end of paper passes

Ottawa Citizen

By the Ottawa Citizen, June 22, 2017

Starting Sunday, OC Transpo passengers in the south and east areas of the city may be doing double-takes as several routes adopt new numbers in preparation for next year’s opening of the O-Train Confederation line.

In all, 15 routes will be renumbered.The busiest route is No. 1, which will be renamed the No. 6. Others changing are: Rte 41 becomes No. 291; routes 121, 123, 124, 126, and 128 become routes 42, 23, 24, 26, and 28 respectively; lines 144, 146, 147, 148, and 149 will become routes 93, 92, 197, 48, and 49 respectively, and the 192, 193, and 194 lines will be renumbered as Local Routes 47, 31, and 21 respectively.

Gilmour Street gas leak fixed, streets reopened

Ottawa Citizen

By Megan Gillis, Ottawa Citizen, June 22, 2017

Streets reopened around a Gilmour Street park and residents returned to their homes shortly before 2 p.m. after a gas leak prompted the evacuation of several buildings.

The fire department confirmed shortly after 11 a.m. that three buildings on the north side had been evacuated as a precaution.

Flood-related repairs to some NCC pathways to take another year

Ottawa Citizen

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, June 22, 2017

Floodwaters washed out so much of the Ottawa River shoreline that the National Capital Commission will require nearly another year repairing pathways and “shoreline assets.

”Several popular pathways will be closed because of sinkholes and erosion until the spring of 2018, including:

– The Parliament Hill section of the Ottawa River Pathway. “There is severe shoreline erosion, as well as visible sinkholes,” the NCC says.

44 tickets handed out in bus lane blitz

CTV Ottawa News

By Saron Fanel, CTV News Ottawa, June 20, 2017

Ottawa police are cracking down on drivers using bus-only lanes as shortcuts.

Police handed out 44 tickets for driving in bus-only lanes in less than two hours Tuesday morning.

Officers began monitoring the Montreal Road bus lane at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Uber rolls out driver tipping feature in U.S., suggests Canada to come - Business - CBC News

By Solomon Israel, CBC News Ottawa, June 20, 2017

Uber passengers in Canada may soon find themselves facing a classic service industry conundrum: "How much should I tip?"

In an announcement to U.S. Uber drivers on Tuesday, the ride-hailing service said it will roll out a tipping function for its app in all U.S. cities by the end of July. The tipping option is already online in Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston, Uber said.

The ability to tip Uber drivers through the Uber app is likely coming to Canada by the end of the year, suggested Uber Canada spokesperson Susie Heath.

Committee swayed by LRT impact in $18M stormwater pond decision

Ottawa Citizen

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, June 20, 2017

LRT officials scrambled to an environment committee meeting on Tuesday as councillors poked holes in a controversial plan to build an $18-million stormwater pond that will serve the future Baseline station at Algonquin College.

Seeing that colleagues could throw the city’s Stage 2 plans out of whack, council’s transportation chairman Keith Egli summoned LRT managers to the meeting to underscore the importance of building the pond as part of the city’s largest-ever infrastructure project.

Opponents of the pond, which is to be built on a National Capital Commission green space northeast of Baseline Road and Woodroffe Avenue, couldn’t believe what they were watching in the city hall committee room.

Reevely: City hall’s advisory committees are still a disaster

Ottawa Citizen

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, June 20, 2017

Nancy Biggs regrets spending three years trying to advise city council on the environment.

“I had high hopes in the first year and it just became more and more evident as time passed that we weren’t really a resource to the city at all,” Biggs said Tuesday, the day after she quit as vice-chair of city hall’s environmental stewardship advisory committee. She’s the second to bail out in six months and other members are restive. “We have never really been utilized at all.

”City hall’s advisory committees have a long history of sucking up interested citizens with expertise, ignoring them and making them mad, and then spitting them out again.

Biggs has a master’s degree in environmental science and spent her career in medical research. Since she retired she’s been increasingly active in environmental causes. She thought helping craft city policies on garbage, energy and especially active transportation (like biking and walking instead of driving) would be a worthwhile project. Instead, “I just don’t feel like I’m being useful, or like I’m using my time well.”

CITIZEN: Ottawa’s garbage plan is a real stinker

StittsvilleCentral.ca

By Randall Denley, StittsvilleCentral, June 14, 2017

People driving on the 417 to Kanata or Stittsville can’t miss two distinctive landmarks. There is the Canadian Tire Centre and on the other side of the road, and just a little farther out, is a massive landfill site.

That might seem incongruous and it’s getting weirder by the month. One wouldn’t have thought a landfill would be an ideal neighbour, but that isn’t stopping development from springing up around the site…

It seems like a recipe for trouble, given the problems Waste Management had with odours from the site when it was in full operation…