By Emma Jackson, Ottawa Metro News, May 9, 2016
The digging is done at Parliament Station.Chewrocka, one of three roadheaders carving out the 2.5-kilometre tunnel, has finished digging out the cavern for the future Parliament station, which will be located at O’Connor and Queen streets.
Lyon station has also been fully excavated, leaving just Rideau station to finish.
By Ted Raymond, CFRA News, May 9, 2016
OC Transpo ridership is on the decline.A report on the issue due next month will paint a clearer picture of the situation, but OC Transpo GM John Manconi says this is a trend across Canada
"The thing about ridership is that Canada wide everyone is down" said Manconi
"Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax and Ottawa, so much so that the Canadian Urban Transit association is making it a priority to finds out what is going on" he added.
By Ted Raymond, CFRA News, May 10, 2016
City staff say the issue of thousands of birds crashing into buildings and dying can be addressed, but the implementation of proposed recommendations may have to wait until at least next year.
A report for the Planning Committee says the development of bird-friendly guidelines in the City is "feasible," but it's not a priority for this Council term.
The group known as Safe Wings Ottawa is requesting the City create a comprehensive bird strategy, similar to one in Vancouver, that would create bird-friendly building guidelines and by-laws, and promote bird-related tourism. The recommendations also include:
Developing bird-friendly building, landscaping and lighting guidelines for the construction of new commercial, institutional and residential buildings and other structures that incorporate glass and glass-like panels.
By CBC News Ottawa, May 10, 2016
Kayakers, canoeists and stand up paddleboarders in Ottawa will soon have access to two new launch points on the Rideau Canal.
Catherine McKenna, the federal minister of environment and climate change and MP for Ottawa Centre, made the announcement after portaging a canoe to the site of the first dock at Patterson Creek in the Glebe.
The second dock will be installed on the east side of the canal at Clegg Street in Old Ottawa East.
By Thomas Braun, Ottawa Citizen Letter to the Editor, May 10, 2016
Get Sparks Street and ByWard market right
When the (construction) dust settles on this dog of a city’s current litter of new projects and ideas, let’s hope some common sense has prevailed and Ottawans can finally enjoy exciting, and sustainable new and renovated venues free of construction danger, noise and grime.
Two venues near and dear to me as Ottawa’s longest performing busker are Sparks Street and The ByWard Market. Both of these sites have something others do not: history. While Sparks continues to ignore or deny its history as one of the country’s oldest business and commerce streets, the minds working on ByWard have swung the axe perhaps too far, with ideas based on its rich and ignored history more appropriate for the stage of The Ottawa Little Theatre than Canada’s oldest (still) functioning farmers’ market.
By Tyler Dawson, Ottawa Citizen, May 9, 2016
The smarm and smugness that have accompanied the debate over whether Ottawa should get photo radar are indicative of the exhausting way arguments are conducted. This manifests itself, particularly, in the suggestions that people who don’t want photo radar are speed-crazed sociopaths and, from the other side of the debate, that photo radar itself is nothing more than a cash grab.
It’s literally true that photo radar is a cash grab; it would likely become a significant revenue source for the city. So there’s that. And some photo radar proponents likely are juice-swilling cyclists taking up lane space. But it’s also true that some people who don’t want photo radar really do drive like Vin Diesel wannabes and would prefer they remain able to get away with it.
By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, May 9, 2016
Mercury appeared on cue and the clouds parted above Ottawa on Monday, giving anyone with a telescope a view of the tiny planet passing in front of our giant star.
The sun contains most of the matter in our solar system, a fact that’s easy to see in Monday’s images. Even some sunspots — stormy patches on the sun’s surface — are larger than the black dot of Mercury.
Mercury passes between Earth and the sun only 12 to 13 times a century, with the previous transit taking place in 2006.
By the Editor, Ottawa Citizen, May 9, 2016
A proposal to introduce cheaper transit fares for low-income Ottawans is an admirable attempt to help the poor, but it runs into some difficulty – as do so many redistributive plans – because it costs money, and that money has to come from somewhere.
Which isn’t to say it’s a bad idea in principle. Making it easier for people on low incomes to get around town would free up their limited income for other expenses, or perhaps make it easier to obtain and hold a job.
By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, May 9, 2016
Monarch butterflies will soon return to Eastern Ontario, and this year’s numbers are showing a recovery from two years ago, when the flame-coloured butterflies nearly disappeared.
All the monarchs in North America migrate south to the same mountain forest in Mexico each fall. Biologists measure the size of the population at that point.
Instead of counting the butterflies they measure the amount of land they cover as they pack into dense clusters in trees.
By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, May 9, 2016
The $500-million lawsuit that’s led to a new police investigation of the Ontario government won’t likely go to court before 2017, because the lawyers believe it’ll take so long that finding court time will be a challenge.
The suit, filed by Trillium Power Wind Corp. in 2011, is over allegations that provincial officials deliberately timed a decision to scrap all wind-farm developments on the waters of the Great Lakes to cause the most damage possible to Trillium so the company wouldn’t have the resources to fight.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, May 9, 2016
An affordable pass for low-income OC Transpo customers should be funded by the province, the transit commission decided Monday.
Knowing Transpo doesn’t have a stash of millions of dollars to backstop a deeply discounted pass, the commission supported a motion by commissioner Blair Crew to ask the province for the money.
By StittsvilleCentral, May 7, 2016
The 10th Stittsville Brownies were painting yellow fish in Fairwinds on Thursday night. They’re as a reminderthat what you put down the drain eventually makes its way into rivers, lakes and streams, impacting the health of animals and people.
They painted yellow fish stencils next to storm drains on Riverfront, Tempest and Showandasee. The words “RAINWATER ONLY” are meant to remind people of the impact we have on nature and the environment.