By Ted Raymond, CRFA News, May 9, 2016
Monday's rare transit of Mercury safely from Parliament Hill.The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will be setting up over two dozen telescopes on the lawn of Parliament, equipped with solar filters.
A "transit" occurs when a planet passes in front of the sun, but it's unsafe to view with the naked eye.
By Michelle Nash, Ottawa Community News, May 6, 2016
An important link for Gloucester cyclists is about to get a makeover this spring.
As part of the Orléans Bikeway, the cycling route linking Innes to Ogilvie roads along Cyrville Road will be getting an overhaul beginning in June, with a combination of multi-use pathways, buffered lanes on both sides of Cyrville, sidewalks for areas currently missing a concrete sidewalk and updates to OC Transpo stops. The overhaul begins at Meadowbrook Road and runs along to Ogilvie.
By Trevor Pritchard, CBC News Ottawa, May 9, 2016
More than 40 local organizations are hoping that Ottawa's transit commission lends its support Monday to a report calling for a low-income transportation pass for the city's poorest.
Of the 145,000 people in Ottawa who earn less than the low income cut-off — the Statistics Canada threshold beneath which individuals or families devote a larger-than-normal share of their income to necessities like food and shelter — 31,000 are transit users, according to the staff report.
By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, May 8, 2016
Premier Kathleen Wynne should have known about the new police investigation into the government’s energy-contract dealings, the lawyer for the wind-power company that touched the investigation off alleges, because he told the government about it.
“The OPP are coming around to the office and making photocopies, and you should know about it,” Morris Cooper says he told staff lawyers in the provincial Justice Ministry.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Sun, May 7, 2016
Overnight LRT work near the University of Ottawa is driving residents across the Rideau Canal bonkers.
“It’s quite incredibly jarring when they’re jackhammering through concrete at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m,” Nadine Argo said Friday.
Argo, who lives in a fourth-storey apartment on west side of the canal, was so fed up with the noise this week she called 311 in the early hours. The operator apologized, but there was nothing the city could do because workers had permission to work while people slept.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, May 7, 2016
RendezVous LeBreton wants to cover the city’s LRT line through LeBreton Flats, but the city is silent about how it would affect its $2.1-billion transit system.
The development consortium, headed by the Ottawa Senators, proposes to build over the LRT tracks to make sure the rail corridor doesn’t divide the site. The National Capital Commission lauded the consortium for including the plan to cover the tracks. It’s one of the big reasons why RendezVous LeBreton won the negotiation rights to develop the site.
By Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa Community News, May 6, 2016
Some tweaks to the second stage of the city’s light rail plan will hopefully smooth out concerns over the 1.2-kilometre western leg of the route from Dominion to Cleary Station.
Instead of tunnelling under the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, which the church members spent nearly a year fighting against, the new plan would run through a strip mall at 747 Richmond Rd.
By Michelle Nash, Ottawa Community News, May 6, 2016
A business on Main Street has created a map to help locals get around during construction.As the latest road closures along Main Street in Old Ottawa East began on May 2, Green Door co-owner Ron Farmer decided to design a map to direct customers to his restaurant.
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The Main Street construction — which will make a former four lane with parking road turn into the city’s first “complete street” which will feature cycle tracks, wider sidewalks, on-street parking and space for streetscaping – hasn’t been too bad Farmer said, with the restaurant continuing to do well despite the road being ripped apart and access to the building being difficult.
“It is not in any way terrible, and it’s really not difficult to get here, it's just knowing how,” he said.
“Once it’s done, it's going to be really good, it will be a big improvement – it wasn’t pedestrian friendly at all, so it will make a big difference to the neighbourhood and I think it will be more welcoming,” he said of the project
By CTV News Ottawa, May 6, 2016
Drivers who use Kent Street might want to find an alternate route on Monday. The city of Ottawa is beginning lane reductions on Kent Street to fix the road.
Starting Monday, May 9, lane reductions will take effect on Kent Street from Catherine Street to Wellington Street. The work is not expected to be completed until mid to late June.
Sidewalk repairs will be done to ensure that the impact of the work on pedestrians is minimized. OC Transpo will install temporary bus stops where required to accommodate the work.
By Anna Sophia Vollmerhausen, Ottawa Sun, May 6, 2016
A city-wide open air fire ban is back in effect after a day in which Ottawa Fire Services responded to four separate bush and grass fires.
The ban came just four days after a previous burn ban had been lifted. That ban was in place from April 15 to May 2.
The ban is meant as a preventive measure, said OFS spokeswoman Danielle Cardinal.
By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, May 5, 2016
In the five years since Ontario scrapped all its plans for wind farms on the Great Lakes because we needed more scientific research on them, the government went four years without commissioning any.
Once upon a time, way back in 2009, the province’s Green Energy Act seemed to make it a priority to get windmills built in Ontario waters, as part of a big brave plan to make Ontario a world leader in renewable electricity. We’d kickstart a domestic green-power industry by using ourselves as guinea pigs.
By Anna Sophia Vollmerhausen, Ottawa Citizen, May 5, 2016
The City of Gatineau received an additional $2 million from the government of Quebec on Thursday, as it looks to host a world-renowned horticultural festival in 2017. The announcement comes just two weeks after the federal government confirmed a $5 million contribution to the 2017 Mosaïcultures festival.
Additionally, the city matched the province's contribution, for a total funding of $9 million.