Proposed U of O residence unfair intrusion into Sandy Hill, community association says

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, March 17, 2014

OTTAWA — Building a new residence on a neighbourhood street in Sandy Hill is a poor solution to the University of Ottawa’s shortage of student beds, the local community association says.

“It says dorm. It doesn’t say even, ‘We’ve made an effort to make it blend in’,” said Chad Rollins, vice-president of Action Sandy Hill, of the university’s latest proposal for a four-storey, 172-bed residence on Henderson Avenue at Templeton Street, just behind its new “advanced research complex” on King Edward.

Coalition calls for more research

By Tom Harris, Ottawa Community News, March 13, 2014

Your report on the Feb. 5 Ecology Ottawa event, The Future of Snow and Skiing in a Warming World, held at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, contains information to which I would like to reply:

1 - The International Climate Science Coalition asserts that the causes of climate change are not properly understood due to the immature nature of the science. We "deny" nothing. We say that human activity causes climate change by land use change, urban heat island effect, and emissions of greenhouse gases. However, we doubt that rising GHG is causing dangerous climate change either now or in the foreseeable future. ICSC advocates increased funding for research so that someday we may be able to better predict future climate change, however caused. We also advocate helping vulnerable populations prepare for climate change and extreme weather. Of the $1 billion a day spent across the world on climate finance in 2012, only six per cent of it went to adaptation. The rest went to trying to stop what might happen decades in the future. We regard this as immoral, effectively valuing the lives of people yet to be born more than those suffering today.

More discarded needles being found in Ottawa's suburbs - Ottawa - CBC News

By CBC News Ottawa, March 17, 2014

CBC News used the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection Privacy Act to obtain an extract of the database the city uses to track property standard complaints about discarded needles and syringes. The data set in the map above covers the period from 2009 to 2013, and shows the city consistently receives complaints about these discarded items. Click on each red dot for details on that discarded needle. via More discarded needles being found in Ottawa's suburbs - Ottawa - CBC News.

580 CFRA News Talk Radio :: Local brewery sourcing local ingredients and local backing :: News - Article

Bt Sarah Anderson, CFRA News, March 14, 2014

Craft breweries are a growing trend in Ottawa, reflecting a history that stretches back to before prohibition when brewing was incredibly popular in the capital.

Dominion City Brewing Co. is committed to reviving that history while using local materials, ingredients and taste as well as meeting a growing demand for beer brewed right here in town.

Fragile Sandy Hill

By Sally Southey, Ottawa Citizen Letter to the Editor, March 14, 2014

Re: Sinkhole spot was focus in 2011 test, March 13.

The confirmation that the Sandy Hill sinkhole was due to inadequate soil testing underscores the problem with construction in a neighbourhood so aptly called Sandy Hill. To date, the City of Ottawa has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars, if not more, compensating homeowners when their foundations have shifted following inadequate preparation and care during what appeared to be routine road and sewer work disrupting the underlying sand and leda clay.

Councillor, developer complain of silent treatment from city planning staff

By Michael Woods, Ottawa Citizen, March 14, 2014

OTTAWA — An Ottawa city councillor is worried she’s been frozen out of the planning process for a proposed luxury condo building in Wellington West after the powerful chair of city council’s planning committee publicly opposed the proposal.

Coun. Katherine Hobbs said she’s been given the silent treatment from the city’s planning department regarding a proposed 12-storey building by Mizrahi Developments of Toronto in the months since the application was filed.

Despite confusion, separate call centres are the best way to serve Presto users, OC Transpo says

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, March 14, 2014

OTTAWA — Transit users might often be confused by whom they need to call when they have problems with OC Transpo’s Presto cards, but that won’t change, the agency says.

“There are many PRESTO customer issues that can be dealt with directly by OC Transpo customer service staff; however, there are certain issues that cannot be dealt with by OC Transpo staff due to their limited access to payment and contract information,” says a written answer to a query put by Coun. Mathieu Fleury about whether it might be better to have OC Transpo’s people take all the calls.

If it’s city business, it’s taxpayers’ business

By Joanne Chianello, Ottawa Citizen, March 14, 2014

OTTAWA — You could hear the guffaws echo through City Hall earlier this week when an update on the Waller-Laurier sinkhole informed us that “root cause investigation and analysis have confirmed that the cause of the roadway collapse was due to unanticipated soil conditions.”

Are we supposed to be relieved to know that the international consortium building our $2.1-billion light-rail system didn’t actually anticipate a piece of downtown Ottawa would suddenly disappear into a gigantic hole in the ground? Of course something unanticipated occurred: the question is what.

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