By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, June 14, 2016
The city is on track to banning the use of herbal water pipes, such as hookah pipes, in the same places where tobacco is outlawed.
The ban would cover all enclosed public spaces, enclosed workspaces, outdoor patios and stands at the ByWard and Parkdale markets.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, June 14, 2016
Motorists who live outside Ontario were caught burning red lights in Ottawa 4,900 times last year but got away without being fined.
That’s because the City of Ottawa didn’t yet have the legislative power to ticket out-of-province drivers whose vehicles were captured by red-light cameras. The other 17,658 drivers who blew reds at camera intersections in 2015 received tickets.
The city now has the legal power to send rogue, out-of-province drivers the violations thanks to a legislative change that started in January. But to this day, the city still doesn’t have a method to do so.
By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, June 14, 2016
Across the street from Howard Darwin Arena on Merivale Road, a big green space opens up, heading west in a 100-acre chunk to Woodroffe Avenue.
It is NCC land and there was a time, maybe 15 years ago, when the Crown corporation cut every blade of grass. “It looked like a billiard table,” one neighbour said of the 200-metre wide strip.
Then they stopped, and the buckthorn and scrub trees started to spread, the grass grew and the neighbours — especially on bordering Parkside Crescent — took matters into their own hands.
By CFRA News, June 13, 2016
The City unveiled the first of 180 planned pedestrian crossovers on Monday afternoon, during a ceremony in Kanata.
The new crossing is in front of Earl of March Secondary School, is a designated spot where drivers and cyclists must yield to pedestrians so they can walk across the road safely.
Chair of the City's transportation committee Councillor Keith Egli says 45 crossovers have been installed recently and will soon be up and running.
By Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa Community News, June 13, 2016
Council approved the environmental assessment for the $91-million, three-phase, plan to widen the Airport Parkway on June 8, despite some dissent from downtown councillors.
Rideau-Rockliffe Coun. Tobi Nussbaum said he was “astonished” that the staff report didn’t establish baseline traffic figures for the future that didn’t include a widening of the road.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Sun, June 13, 2016
The Ottawa Asian Fest wants to know how many people take the bus to this weekend’s event at Lansdowne Park before shelling out money to OC Transpo.
Simon Huang, a festival co-ordinator, said city special events staff have helped strike an arrangement with the transit agency.
By Evelyn Harford, Ottawa Citizen, June 13, 2016
Ottawa’s sinkhole repair is on the right track, said Yasser Korany, a forensic structural engineer at Canadian engineering firm Origin and Cause.
Ottawa “stabilized” the Rideau Street sinkhole over the weekend with hundreds of truckloads of concrete in the city’s first phase of repairs.
Pouring concrete into the sinkhole is the most “sensible” way to stabilize the surrounding buildings and ensure the safety of the workers, said Korany, who has performed more than 500 investigations into structural failures in his 25-year engineering career.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, June 13, 2016
The LRT tunnel is half-filled with water directly under the Rideau Street sinkhole and the city doesn’t know yet if a “roadheader” machine is submerged.
Steve Cripps, the city’s director of the rail implementation office, said the water is about 2.5 metres high at the deepest part. The tunnel is about five metres in diameter.
By Lucy Scholey, Ottawa Metro News, June 12, 2016
1. Addling to oiling
The City of Ottawa is greasing up goose eggs to control the winged pests. Last year, the city launched a goose-control pilot project on Petrie Island. This year, the city has switched to an oiling method – it involves sterilizing the eggs with a coat of vegetable- or mineral-based oil, which blocks the air from the pores. It’s apparently just as effective as egg addling (shaking the eggs to break the internal membranes), which the city used last year to sterilize 66 eggs. The project has expanded to Riverain, Bordeleau, Kingsview and King Edward parks.
2. Bus fare change
Leading up to the light rail launch, OC Transpo customers will face big fare changes. As we recently heard, express bus riders will pay less, but regular monthly pass holders will pay more. That’s because the express pass and premium cash fare will disappear, but the regular monthly pass buyers will pay $7 more. The proposed fare structure is up for debate at the transit commission on Wednesday.
By StittsvilleCentral.ca, June 9, 2016
The Ottawa Food Bank unveiled a new beehive on Wednesday at their Community Harvest farming project on Mansfield Road near Stittsville.
Thanks to a grant from JustChange Ottawa, the Gees Bees Honey Company has teamed up with the food bank to install the beehive. The honeybees who call this new hive their home will help pollinate the crops and will also produce honey that Gees Bees will sell to benefit the food bank.
By Emma Jackson, Ottawa Metro News, June 9, 2016
Ottawa cycling advocates say stiffer careless driving penalties are just “one fairly small” part of keeping cyclists safe.
Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon tabled a private member’s bill in the Ontario legislature Thursday to impose tougher penalties on careless drivers who seriously injure or kill someone.Under the Highway Traffic Act, a careless driving charge right now can yield a maximum $2,000 fine and six months in jail.
By Joanne Schnurr, CTV News Ottawa, June 9, 2016
Stores in the Rideau Centre were back in business today but the food court was suddenly shut down after Ottawa Public Health issued a precautionary boil water advisory. The impact of the sinkhole along Rideau Street was rippling through the downtown core; many of the businesses along Rideau between Sussex and Dalhousie, affecting buses and tourists, too.
Pictures of a giant sinkhole aren't quite the photos Nick and Ann Beeden of Derbyshire, England expected to take on their holiday to Ottawa.