Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

The best and worst moments for City Hall in 2013

Ottawa & Region

News

Ottawa Sun

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Sun, December 26, 2013

Council rode an emotional rollercoaster through 2013, starting on the high of putting shovels in the ground on LRT, to the frustrations over locating a new casino, to the heartache of losing six residents in a collision between a bus and train. And while Mayor Jim Watson kicked off 2013 by predicting it would be a year of action, there were a couple cases of severe inertia when it came to bridges. Delayed, again, would be the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge and the Airport Pkwy. pedestrian overpass. via The best and worst moments for City Hall in 2013 | Ottawa & Region | News | Ottawa Sun.

City drains Riverside South stormwater pond to eliminate stink

By Joanne Chianello, Ottawa Citizen, December 27, 2013

OTTAWA — For the fourth time in as many winters, the Riverside South stormwater facility is raising a stink.

The stormwater pond — which is designed to hold run-off water from rain and snow so it doesn’t flood the sewers — was drained over the past week, between Dec. 20 and Dec. 27, after residents noticed the return of an unfortunately familiar smell earlier this month.

Let’s get ready to rumble

By Joanne Chianello, Ottawa Citizen, December 27, 2013

The last city council meeting of 2013 saw a number of our local politicians walk new business onto the council agenda at the 11th hour, a move that is so clearly in contravention of the procedural policy that doing so requires three-quarters of council to vote to waive the usual rules.

The councillors will tell you they needed to break with procedure because they were pressed for time, that because the next council meeting was six weeks away, they had to rush their items through.

Booming — just not quite as planned

By Maria Cook, Ottawa Citizen, December 27, 2013

OTTAWA — In their first years of marriage, Mark and Laurie Rogers lived in a downtown condo and enjoyed the urban lifestyle. “I used to walk to work downtown, and my wife took the bus,” he says. “We lived across from a grocery store.”

In 2007, when Laurie was five months pregnant, they moved to Riverside South, one of Ottawa’s new and fast-growing suburbs beyond the Greenbelt. Located south of the Ottawa International Airport and east of the Rideau River, it encompasses 4,500 acres in the former City of Gloucester.“

Chianello: When the privacy of your own home gets trumped

By Joanne Chianello, Ottawa Citizen, December 25, 2013

Now that the Christmas feasting is done, you might be turning your mind to New Year’s resolutions. But if you’re a smoker on the long waiting list for social housing, no need to worry — city officials have done it for them. Starting in 2014, smoking will banned in all Ottawa Community Housing.

It’s understandable why OCH would implement the policy, but there’s something unsettling about a government agency telling residents how to behave in their own homes.

How the south was won ... at least here in Ottawa

By Maria Cook, Ottawa Citizen, December 26, 2013

In the 1970s, when the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton proposed a satellite city of 100,000 in the south end — today’s Riverside South and expanded Barrhaven — many people thought it was a bad idea.

Transportation planner Stan Wallace, speaking at a 1976 panel discussion in Manotick, predicted “horrendous transit problems,” and said the plan would require a 16-lane highway through the Greenbelt.

Province gives solar power a boost; Nepean company gets funding for powerchip production

By Jennifer McIntosh, Ottawa Community News, December 26, 2013

A local energy startup received a boost from the province\'s Innovation Demonstration Fund on Dec. 18. Solantro Semiconductor Corporation, based in Nepean, received $4 million for the production of chipset that will make solar panels and other small power generators more efficient, thereby adding more power to the grid.

Unlike chips that process information, the chips process power and turn electrical grids into smart networks.

Lees Avenue to get a bike lane in 2014; Resurfacing will add parking on one side, bike lane on the other

By Laura Mueller, Ottawa Community News, December 26, 2013

A one-way bicycle lane is confounding residents of Old Ottawa East.

The bike lane, proposed for only one side of Lees Avenue, will be part of the street\'s reconstruction next summer.

Ottawa’s “frontier of development”

By Maria Cook, Ottawa Citizen, December 24, 2013

OTTAWA — The fastest growing part of Ottawa, the south urban area, is like a jigsaw puzzle. There are sections where the picture is nearly complete, others still being assembled, and there are some missing pieces.

Established neighborhoods give onto fields stripped of soil and trees in preparation for development. Bungalows built on country lots forty years ago are now surrounded by new town houses laid out on small lots with reduced street widths. Occasional fragments of rural heritage survive: barns, sheds, stands of trees.

CFRA - Ottawa Public Health issues frost bite advisory - News Talk Radio

By Alison Sandor, CFRA News, December 23, 2013

A frostbite advisory is in effect for the city of Ottawa.

The advisory extends into Tuesday morning. The windchill is expected to be -31.

Dr. Rosamund Lewis, Ottawa\'s associate medical officer of health told CFRA residents should take precautions against the cold, like wearing multiple layers and covering as much exposed skin as possible to prevent frostbite.

OC Transpo drivers to get special training to de-escalate assault scenarios

Ottawa & Region

News

Ottawa Sun

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Sun, December 23, 2013

OC Transpo drivers are poised to receive special de-escalation training to help them handle unruly passengers. Craig Watson, president of the union that represents drivers, said the course design is still being worked out but he expects each driver will receive a full day of training on de-escalation techniques. via OC Transpo drivers to get special training to de-escalate assault scenarios | Ottawa & Region | News | Ottawa Sun.

Direction on energy

By Parker Gallant, Ottawa Citizen Letter to the Editor, December 23, 2013

Re: Stop making green power the scapegoat, Dec. 17.

The time has come to recognize wind and solar power generation for what it really is; intermittent, expensive and economically disastrous for Ontario. Wind turbines produce power 29 per cent of the time at the wrong time of the day and season when we consumemuch less power. Would anyone purchase a product that only works 29 per cent of the time?