Egan: Car/bike road rage: ‘Did you just throw a banana peel at me?’
Ottawa Citizen

By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, September 1, 2015

On Tuesday, cyclists were given more legal protection under the Highway Traffic Act.

The same day, Andrew Cameron and I wondered the same thing: Who is going to enforce these wondrous new rules, like the one-metre buffer?

On June 9, he was cycling home from his office downtown when he became involved in an altercation with a motorist.Unlike most of these confrontations, we know exactly what happened: Cameron, 35, had a digital video camera on his helmet.

Second safety audit planned for Airport Parkway Pedestrian Bridge
Ottawa Citizen

By Ottawa Citizen, September 1, 2015

The city will hold a second safety audit at the Airport Parkway Pedestrian Bridge on Wednesday to assess lighting and sight lines in summer conditions.

The public is invited to meet at the Cahill Drive/Plante Drive entrance to the bridge at 7 p.m. Councillors Riley Brockington and Diane Deans will be on hand along with city staff to hear comments and feedbacks from users.

Councillors OK $60M sole-sourced contract for LRT’s second phase
Ottawa Citizen

By Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen, September 1, 2015

Five years after he publicly pledged to ban all sole-sourced city contracts if elected mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson has thrown his support behind a plan to give a $60-million sole-sourced contract to a consortium working on Ottawa’s new light rail transit system.

City council’s finance and economic development committee, chaired by Watson, approved a staff recommendation Tuesday to award the non-competitive contract to Capital Transit Partners (CTP) for design and engineering work on the second phase of the LRT project. Only Coun. Diane Deans dissented.

Tax hikes or spending cuts? Ottawa city committee to examine $41-million deficit
Metro News

By Lucy Scholey, Ottawa Metro News, August 31, 2015

It’s the $41-million question Ottawa city councillors are facing: raise taxes or cut spending?

A city staff report that will go before the finance and economic development committee (FEDCO) on Tuesday cites a whopping $41-million deficit by the end of the year. “Higher than seasonal norms of snowfall” are largely to blame for the $17.7-million public works shortfall in the report, but freezing pipes and an unexpected $9.88 million for wage arbitration are also factors in the overall deficit.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson's fiscal discipline is fine, until it becomes fiscal masochism
Metro News

By Steve Collins, Ottawa Metro News, August 30, 2015

There’s a hole, there’s a hole. A $41.3-million hole, that is, in the city’s tidy, prudent 2015 budget, according to projections in a report that goes to the finance committee this week.

The biggest deficit, $17.7 million in public works, is mostly attributed to last winter’s snow clearance operations. Even after we raid the winter maintenance reserve fund for its estimated $4.2 million, the white stuff still has us significantly in the red.

Transportation coalition pushes for low-income transit pass

By Alex Robinson, Ottawa Community News, August 31, 2015

A coalition of transportation advocates is looking to affect next year’s budget talks early, in the hopes of pushing the city council to create transit passes for low-income residents.

The Healthy Transportation Coalition has launched a petition to gather signatures of those who support implementing such a pass.

Amazing Little buggers
Ottawa & Region
News
Ottawa Sun

By Julienne Bey, Ottawa Sun, August 31, 2015

One sticky August morning, just before noon, Dr. Barry Lyons disappears into a densely forested area off a major road in south Ottawa.

He's walking briskly through a bed of poison ivy, following neon-coloured tape that's wrapped around tree trunks.

Foreign species plan a balance of risk, benefits
Ottawa & Region
News
Otta

By Julienne Bey, Ottawa Sun., August 30, 2015

No foreign species are imported into Canada with the approval of the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency.And that's a responsibility the CFIA doesn't take lightly.

There are historic examples of what can happen when a foreign species is introduced into an ecosystem without enough planning. Purple loosestrife is a prime example. It's a wetland plant native to Europe and Asia that was inadvertently introduced into North America. It is highly invasive and can now be seen throughout the Great Lakes area and St. Lawrence River Basin as well as some scattered locations in this province.

It’s been a good summer to swim
Ottawa & Region
News
Ottawa Sun

By Matt Day, Ottawa Sun, August 29, 2015

Although the summer swim season was short at Ottawa beaches, there weren’t many days lost for swimming.The most encouraging numbers came from Petrie Island Park, where a total of seven days — including those after heavy rainfalls — were under no-swim advisories because of E. coli contamination. The season lasted 58 days.

Compare that to the beach’s first year under the city’s care and that’s a drastic improvement. In 2006, the beach had 45 no-swimming advisories — more than any other beach in the city.This year’s seven no-swim days is on par with the others in Ottawa.Mooney’s Bay had four total no-swim days, Brittannia Beach had six, Westboro had seven and Petrie Island East Bay had five.

Robb Barnes, managing director of Ecology Ottawa, called Petrie Island one of the “jewels of the Ottawa area.” He and a group of volunteers were at the park Saturday doing their second of two annual cleanups.

City faces $41M deficit - with 4 months remaining in 2015
Sherring
Ottawa &

By Susan Sherring, Ottawa Sun, August 28, 2015

The City of Ottawa is looking at a $41 million deficit - and 2015 isn't over yet.

The shortfall will mean cuts across the board as staff scrambles to make up some of the difference. Details of the deficit are outlined in a staff report going to the city's finance and economic development committee on Tuesday.

Five new (or changed) road laws that come into effect Sept. 1
Ottawa Citizen

By Patrick Smith, Ottawa Citizen, August 29, 2015

Ottawa police will have some additional rules to enforce starting Tuesday, when the provincial government’s Making Ontario Roads Safer Act comes into effect.

The new legislation, which received unanimous assent when it was voted on in June, will also allow officers to impose stiffer fines and penalties on current law-breaking activities, including impaired driving and texting at the wheel.

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