Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Condo towers back on city hall’s agenda, after a lull

Ottawa Citizen

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, January 20, 2016

Slow sales of new condos have meant fewer rezonings for tall buildings in downtown Ottawa, but four towers on two sites will get councillors’ attention at a planning committee next week.

(...)

Coun. Catherine McKenney, who gets to add formal comments to the planning department’s report recommending the proposal be approved, wrote that she appreciated that but believes the plan doesn’t include enough landscaping and plants in a neighbourhood that’s too dominated by bricks and concrete.

It will also put an entrance to an underground garage beside a bike lane on Bay and cars will cut across it constantly, she pointed out: “This poses a hazard to cyclists using the bike lane and pedestrians using the sidewalk.”

The Rideau Canal Skateway might just open this month

Ottawa Citizen

By Ottawa Citizen, January 20, 2016

Work crews are going full-blast now on the Rideau Canal and Dow’s Lake preparing the skateway.

Thanks to their hard work and more cold in the forecast, it could be open by the end of January — in plenty of time for Winterlude — the NCC tweeted this morning.

Ottawa Para Transpo riders plan rally to protest new buses

Metro News

By Emma Jackson, Ottawa Metro News, January 19, 2016

Para Transpo users are taking issue with the service’s new vehicles.

Ryan Lythall said riders will meet at city hall on Jan. 27 to protest Para Transpo's new kneeling buses, which have a retractable ramp similar to regular OC Transpo buses rather than a wheelchair lift.

Lythall, who uses a motorized wheelchair, isn’t sure yet whether he’ll attend – he doesn’t agree with banning the buses altogether – but he said the safety concerns are valid.

City planners seek ways to make roads safer for elderly pedestrians

Ottawa Citizen

By Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen, January 18, 2016

Two serious collisions on Carling Avenue within a week — one of which that took the life of an 87-year-old woman — represent a “vector” that should make the city sit up and take notice, says a retired University of Ottawa professor who produced a report on pedestrian safety for the city 20 years ago.

“The first one would have been a heads up to the police,” said Barry Wellar, 75, who has testified as an expert witness in a number of court cases involving car-pedestrian collisions. “The second one would have made them say, ‘Whoa!'”

Beechwood Market opens for winter

By Alex Robinson, Ottawa Community News, January 18, 2016

The Beechwood Market is taking its fresh foods bazaar indoors this winter.

More than 20 vendors will sell produce at the winter market on four Saturdays – Jan. 23 and 30 and Feb. 6 and 13 – from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m inside the former St. Charles Church, at 131 Barette St.

Commuters notice few delays as Transitway closure reroutes buses

Ottawa Citizen

By Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen, January 18, 2016

OC Transpo riders reported only slight delays, at worst, to their morning and afternoon commutes with the closure Monday of a portion of the Transitway west of downtown Ottawa.

“They did their jobs right,” said Sandra Baranek as she waited on Albert Street near Bayview Road for a connecting bus. She noted that OC Transpo had workers in the area helping anyone experiencing difficulties figuring out where to go. “They made it simple.”

‘Dooring’ charge laid in death of e-bike rider

Ottawa Citizen

By Andrew Seymour, Ottawa Citizen, January 18, 2016

A driver is facing a charge of dooring following a deadly collision in the ByWard Market last Monday that killed an e-bike rider.

The e-bike rider, identified by friends as 66-year-old John Johnson, was northbound on Cumberland Street when, police allege, the driver of a parked car opened his door unsafely. Johnson collided with the car door and was thrown from his e-bike onto the road, where he was struck by a northbound pickup truck.

580 CFRA News Talk Radio :: Councillor keeping an eye on Transitway Closure :: News - Article

By Josh Pringle, CFRA News, January 17, 2016

Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper is warning the closure of the Transitway just west of downtown will be "fairly disruptive" for area residents.

The Transitway is now closed between Merton Street and Empress Avenue to accommodate construction on the Light Rail Transit project.

The closure will result in buses being diverted off the Transitway at Merton Street to new bus-only lanes on Scott and Albert Streets.

In a video to constituents, Leiper says the Transitway closure will result in up to 125 buses an hour being diverted onto Scott and Albert.

Leiper says he will closely monitor the traffic impacts on residential streets and watch for an "excessive amount" of cut-through traffic in the neighbourhood.

Cohen: Haters gonna hate, but little reason for optimism about Ottawa

Ottawa Citizen

By Andrew Cohen, Ottawa Citizen, January 17, 2016

My, my. Utter some discouraging words about Ottawa and you’re “a whiner”, “a hater”, and “a basher.”

Actually, since I wrote a column Tuesday calling Ottawa the worst capital in the G7 – lamenting its lack of ambition and absence of imagination, reflected in shoddy planning, administrative lassitude and somnolent politicians – the harpies have descended.

Parks Canada acknowledged some ‘minor’ problems with Rideau Canal in 2013 report to UNESCO

Ottawa Citizen

By Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen, January 17, 2016

A long-suppressed 2013 report to UNESCO, recently released to the Citizen, shows Parks Canada acknowledged some weaknesses in its stewardship of the Rideau Canal but said they had “a minor impact” on the World Heritage Site.

The government is obliged to report to UNESCO on the state of Canada’s World Heritage Sites every six years. Parks Canada submitted the report on the canal, which received its designation from the UN agency in 2007, in July 2013.

Eastern Ontario’s crayfish feel the pinch

Ottawa Citizen

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, January 17, 2016

At a time when biology is all about cell parts and molecules, John Smol asks a simpler question: Why are there no more crayfish at your cottage?

The number of these little shellfish has fallen sharply in Eastern Ontario and many places around the world, so Smol went to four lakes in Algonquin Park to learn why. There are obvious reasons in some regions — such as polluted water — but his Algonquin lakes are remote and clean.

Every earthquake felt in Canada from 1985 - British Columbia - CBC News Multimedia

By Tamara Baluja and William Wolfe-Wylie, CBC News Ottawa, January 15, 2016

While many on B.C.'s South Coast were jolted out of their beds on Dec. 29 by a magnitude 4.8 earthquake, it certainly wasn't unusual. In fact, it was one of 300 earthquakes of magnitude 4 and higher that have been felt in Canada since 1985 to Dec. 31, 2015.

CBC has mapped all those earthquakes, using the seismic bulletin data from the National Earthquake Database.