Editorial: Greyhound's departure clears the road for others

By the Editor, Ottawa Citizen, May 15, 2021

Greyhound Canada, which shut its Canadian operations temporarily last year, is making the pullout permanent. The first reaction, typically Canadian, has been to demand that government do something.

...Meanwhile, for the city of Ottawa, already without a central bus station, preliminary plans to adapt a light-rail station as an intercity bus hub remain perfectly viable. The bus company involved needn’t be Greyhound. In fact, Megabus.com said Friday it is adding an Ottawa leg to one of its routes.

Something else about buses, though: they are not the most climate-friendly way to shuttle people around.

Find the whole article here.

Bergevin: Cement plant near L'Orignal would hurt the environment, and humans

By Normand Bergevin, Ottawa Citizen OP-Ed

...We are asked to believe that this plant will be able to operate without any material impact on the environment, including the Ottawa River, or on people’s health. For those who are comforted by assurances that this plant will use state-of-the-art technology to minimize pollution and environmental impacts, take a look at news reports on the McInnis cement plant in Port Daniel, Que., which has become one of the largest carbon emitters in the province, not to mention its other environmental problems.


Find the whole article here.

Grover and Matkovsky: On-demand bus service won't fix Ottawa's transit woes

By Taras Matkowshy and Nick Grover, Ottawa Citizen Op-Ed, May 10, 2021

OC Transpo and city councillors are looking for ways to spend less on public transportation in Ottawa. Coun. Carol Anne Meehan has proposed “on-demand transit” as a way to cut transit spending while maintaining service as pandemic bus ridership remains low.

...The city of Ottawa isn’t broke, but council sure acts like it when it comes to providing basic services like transit. The city has no problem funding road expansion projects such as Strandherd Drive, where $112 million has been earmarked to add two lanes on a few kilometres of road. Council could easily reallocate this towards transit and serve far more people. 

Find the whole article here.

Grossing out over green bin less of a problem for organic-waste holdouts

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen

The city has a long way to go in convincing many Ottawa homeowners to embrace the green bin, but at least fewer people seem to be grossed out by it.

...The city spent $448,163 for advertising and market research on how Ottawa residents are diverting their organic waste after a big change in July 2019 which allowed people to start using plastic bags in their green bins. 


Find the whole article here.

 

Tree experts stumped by case of 'elephant trunk'

By Joseph Tunney, CBC

...'Paul Sokoloff, a botanist at Ottawa's Canadian Museum of Nature and a member of the board of directors of the Field Botanists of Ontario, confirmed it's a rare find, and a first for him, too.

...Water stress, hormones or some other disruption of the tree's outer later are all plausible explanations, but further study is required, Sokoloff said. Finding more specimens could provide a clue as to whether the cause is environmental or genetic, he added.

Find the whole article here.

 

Egan: Welcome to store-free Ottawa — the giant warehouse with home delivery

By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen

...

'“On nearly every aspect, it goes against the planning policies,” said Teddie Laframboise, a farmer and riding school owner who helped found the opposition Rideau Action Group.

What about the goal of the 15-minute neighbourhood, she wondered? What about preserving the village character? What about those who bought or built close by, thinking it was “country”? What about the earlier commercial plan, much debated, for the site?'

Find the whole article here.

In Barrhaven, the cars are fast and the residents are furious

BY Robyn Miller, CBC Ottawa

'Some residents of Ottawa's Barrhaven neighbourhood are calling for a stop to the revving engines, squealing tires and dangerous speeds that they say have become a nearly nightly occurrence on the suburb's streets.

'Donald O'Connor, who has lived near Woodroffe Avenue for 20 years, describes the road as a "racetrack," and said he'd like to see speed cameras installed.

"Someone's going to get killed. That's how I look at it, and police can't be everywhere. I wish they were, but they're not," O'Connor said.

Find the whole article here.

Pandemic is opening door to consider a greener future for Ottawa’s downtown

by Cleo Ding, The Current

'When the pandemic hit, workers fled the downtown core and emptied high-rise office buildings and condos. As a result, the vacancy rate in office buildings in Ottawa rose from 5.7 to 8.7 per cent from 2019 to 2020, according to the Canada Office and Industrial Report 2020 by real estate firm Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis.

This hiatus is an opportunity for the city to rethink the design of the downtown core, said Emmanuelle van Rutten, an Ottawa-based architect and principal at Moriyama and Teshima Architects, which specializes in educational architecture. In particular, van Rutten is urging city planners to make downtown urban spaces greener and more appealing.


Find the whole article here.

Kurl: What we're learning from COVID-19 could help us confront climate change

By Shachi Kurl, Op-Ed Ottawa Citizen, May 1, 2021

...If there is one exception to the political and policy issues stuck on the back burner, it is climate change, consistently named by Canadians (after health care and pandemic management) as uppermost on their minds. The parallels to how we think about both crises are notable.

...I have been told before that public opinion shouldn’t matter when determining climate policy. That may be true, but it does anyway. It’s why it took until this spring for the leader of a major federal political party to find the gumption to bring in a plan to price carbon. 


Find the whole article here.

Why working from home might not be as green as you think

By CBC Ottawa

While fewer cars on the road during the daily commute might seem like one of the COVID-19 pandemic's silver linings, the environmental impact of working from home is more complex than it immediately appears.

..."But there are some simple things that you can do on a daily basis, for just yourself and your family, that will make an impact."


Find the whole article here.

 

 

Former Toronto planning chief says Ottawa 'needs to take ownership of its future'

By Jen Keesmat, an urban planner and former chief planner for the City of Toronto, Ottawa Citizen Op-Ed

'Jennifer Keesmaat believes Ottawa’s population hitting one million signals the moment in which the city should be bold in its land-use planning, a timely observation since the city is getting closer to having a new official plan.'

'Keesmaat said people often talk about wanting a sustainable, walkable, transit-orientated and inclusive city, but governance doesn’t always match the aspirations, and she used land-use planning as a prime example.

Find the whole article here.

 

 

 

Email:
Phone: 613 860 5353
Address:
123 Slater St, Floor 6
Ottawa, ON K1P 5H2