Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Science of Winter: Squeaking snow is the sound of snowflakes shattering

Ottawa Citizen

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, December 25, 2016

This winter, The Citizen’s Tom Spears looks under snow and behind icicles to find out what makes our coldest season tick. It’s a series we call The Science of Winter, and today’s episode looks at the unique sound of stepping on cold, packed snow.

In years of living in Manitoba, David Shoesmith got used to the different kinds of ice where his son played hockey, and different types of snow where his wife went cross-country skiing.

Outdoor rinks behave nothing like the ice in a heated arena, he noticed. The deep cold makes the skating conditions different. And when the snow became extra cold, his wife complained her skis wouldn’t glide as easily.

OC Transpo extends free bus service New Year’s Eve

Ottawa Citizen

By Lauren Sproule, Ottawa Citizen, December 23, 2016

Once again, OC Transpo will be offering its free New Year’s bus service on Dec. 31, but with a new 4:30 p.m. start to the service.

Transpo, with MADD Ottawa, in partnership with the City’s Safer Roads Ottawa program and other partners, is starting the free bus and Para Transpo service earlier in the day to encourage families to participate in the New Year’s festivities.

Infrastructure tops McCrimmon’s 2017 priorities

By Jessica Cunha, Ottawa Community News, December 22, 2016

Liberal MP Karen McCrimmon says 2016 has been a great year for Kanata-Carleton.

The biggest highlight was announcing funding for the environmental assessment for the Kanata portion of light-rail transit.

The city announced in June that it will begin an assessment in January 2017 for the stretch between Bayshore and Palladium Drive, splitting the $2 million to $3 million cost with the federal government. The project will take two years to complete.

“The LRT wasn’t supposed to come to Kanata until 2031,” said McCrimmon, who lives in Constance Bay. “That was a huge step forward to have the municipality, to have the city, willing to put their money out to do an EA, and then we matched it.”

McCrimmon said she believes light rail will be in Kanata by the early- to mid-2020s.

Green team looking for projects to work on

By Michelle Baker Nash, Ottawa Community News, December 22, 2016

There are green super heroes among us here in Ottawa and they are hoping to help your community be as green as it can be.

The Ottawa Eco-Talent Network, which includes practicing or retired professionals in a range of fields, is a group of people in the city who want to lend their support and expertise to neighbourhood groups hoping to take some environmental action.

Christmas 'winter cocktail' of snow, ice, freezing rain expected

Ottawa & Regi

By Paula McCooey, Ottawa Sun, December 22, 2016

Motorists might have a tough time on the roads this holiday weekend with a “winter cocktail” of snow, ice pellets and freezing rain expected to wreak havoc on the roads, Environment Canada is warning.

The storm, which could affect much of northeastern and Eastern Ontario, is expected to begin late Christmas night or early Boxing Day.

Ottawa introduces new pedestrian crossovers near Rideau Canal - Ottawa - CBC News

By Elise Von Sheel, CBC News Ottawa, December 22, 2016

Two federally funded pedestrian crossovers opened Thursday morning along the Queen Elizabeth Driveway. The new crossings are located on the west side of the Bank Street Bridge, near Commissioners Park. The funds to install them come from an agreement the City of Ottawa has with Canada's Public Transit Infrastructure Fund.

The crossovers are marked by street signs and drivers must yield right of way to pedestrians when the lights atop the sign flash.

New OC Transpo fares mean price hike for regular riders - Ottawa - CBC News

By Marc-André Cossette, CBC News Ottawa, December 23, 2016

OC Transpo riders can expect changes in the New Year.

Starting Jan. 1, OC Transpo will eliminate premium fares for express bus routes. As a result, all routes — including those currently designated as express routes — will require only a regular fare.

Under the new system, a monthly adult transit pass will cost $113.75.That means current express pass holders will save almost $17 a month, while regular pass holders will have to pay $8 more.

Feds to sell site of former Gladstone Avenue warehouse - Ottawa - CBC News

By Paul Coté Jay, CBC News Ottawa, December 23, 2016

A chunk of land in Ottawa's Little Italy neighbourhood that was once home to a federal munitions warehouse has been deemed surplus land by the government and is being sold off.

The former Plouffe Park warehouse complex extended from Somerset Street West to Gladstone Avenue, and from the O-Train green corridor/multi-use path in the west to Plant Bath and Plouffe Park in the east.

Ottawa, say no to footing Zibi cleanup bill

Ottawa Citizen

By John Blatherwick and others, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, December 22, 2016

Costs must be recovered in Zibi redevelopment Re: $60M sought for Zibi cleanup, Dec. 16

I sincerely hope that Ottawa’s taxpayers are not going to pick up the $60-million tab to clean up the former E.B Eddy paper mill site. The buyer beware principle must apply here. The developer knows how badly the site is polluted and most likely understands the cost of remediation.

Ottawa has a brownfields policy to promote redevelopment on lands like this former industrial site. But in this instance, council may have to set a limit on the level of subsidy available. It is also acceptable practice for a municipality to fully offset the cost of site cleanup with potential, not guaranteed, future increases in market value assessment that will result in residential and commercial property taxes where none are currently generated.

This is why we need to widen Highway 417

Ottawa Citizen

By Bob Chiarelli, Ottawa Citizen, December 23, 2016

The following rebuttal was submitted in response to David Reevely’s Dec. 20 column critical of a plan to widen Highway 417:

Here we go again: another critical investment in Ottawa’s transportation infrastructure criticized by Ottawa Citizen columnist David Reevely.

This time, Mr. Reevely suggests it’s a bad idea for the provincial and federal governments to widen Highway 417 because then more cars would use it. Also, the project is unnecessary because we’re building a train. And finally, he contends, the money could be used elsewhere. On footbridges, for example.

The library site is good – let’s move on to bigger challenges

Ottawa Citizen

By Mohamed Adam, Ottawa Citizen, December 22, 2016

Memo to Ottawa: Please don’t turn the plan for a new central library into another circus. After the farce that was the Civic hospital site selection, let’s not turn the choice of 557 Wellington St. for a landmark new library into another debacle. We have an excellent site at the western gateway to the city core, a corner of the capital that’s emerging as an important new cultural hub, and we should embrace it.

Consider the exciting possibilities in this important corner of the city: the Canadian War Museum, LeBreton Flats development, including a new hockey arena and other transformational projects, the proposed Zibi development, a future home for a major national cultural building and a new LRT hub. This part of the city is where the new, exciting downtown Ottawa is being carved to complement the old, and there can be no better place for a new central library.

It wasn’t us, city says of the Rideau Street sinkhole

Ottawa Citizen

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, December 22, 2016

No failure by the city government was to blame for last June’s massive sinkhole on Rideau Street, city solicitor Rick O’Connor reported Thursday, but experts aren’t sure why it happened and the public can’t see their report.

The sinkhole was “a complex event,” O’Connor wrote in a memo to city council. And right after it happened, contractors began pouring 3,000 cubic metres of concrete into the pit by the Rideau Centre just east of Sussex Drive, which made investigating the cause challenging.