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Mayor Jim Watson and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird are to meet Thursday to discuss the city’s light rail plans.
The meeting comes nearly a week after the National Capital Commission threw a wrench in the city’s plans by announcing that its board of directors believes Rochester Field on Richmond Road in Westboro, which the NCC owns, is a better option for light rail than along the Ottawa River, unless the city is prepared to dig a deep tunnel for the trains in order to preserve its proposed route along the river.
An Ottawa MP, Baird is the senior Conservative minister for the National Capital Region and oversees the NCC.
Watson told reporters he’s hoping the meeting with Baird at the minister’s office inside the Lester B. Pearson building on Sussex Drive will help improve communications between the city and the federal government, which makes decisions that the mayor says often come as a surprise to the city.
“I think we have to work out a better protocol in terms of when decisions are going to be made so we’re not caught off-guard and we’re not surprised by them, and the NCC decision was obviously a surprise to us,” Watson said after Wednesday’s city council meeting.
Related
In addition to the NCC announcement, Watson said he was given no notice last week of the decision to upgrade the Canada Science and Technology Museum before Heritage Minister Shelly Glover announced it will be closed until 2017 as part an $80.5-million overhaul.
“We have to be grateful for the $80-million investment, but I do think that we missed an opportunity to have a much more vibrant museum than what we’re going to have on St. Laurent Boulevard,” Watson said last week.
He may learn Thursday whether such criticism rubbed Baird the wrong way.
The minister’s office has said his staff reached out to the mayor’s staff over the weekend, but Watson could not meet.
Watson said there was an option for a meeting this past Monday, but it would have conflicted with the city’s unveiling of a painting to commemorate Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, the soldier shot and killed last month at the National War Memorial. That’s when the two settled on Thursday.
The mayor added he is not aware of city staff cancelling or postponing meetings with the NCC regarding the light rail project and noted staff have been preparing to present a progress report to the NCC in January.
The commission has said it supports the city’s western light rail transit project, but the two sides remains at odds over the 1.2-kilometre section of the proposed $980-million Richmond Underground line that would cross NCC land along the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.
The city wants to run the line through a trench, only 700 metres of which would be partly covered. But the NCC board declared last year that it would not approve the line unless it allows unimpeded access to the Ottawa River shoreline and has a “minimal visual impact” on the parkway corridor landscape.
The city says it can’t afford a tunnel along the river. Nor is it willing to support surface rail along Richmond Road or the Byron Linear Park.
“The easiest thing in life is to spend someone else’s money,” Watson said. “While the NCC has the right to determine what’s going to go on their land, I think they have to be reasonable and they can’t simply bring forward suggestions that are going to cost $300 or $400 million more and add to the woes of our taxpayers.”
“There’s a lot of momentum for phase one, as there is for phase two, and I don’t think the public want to see that stopped in its tracks,” Watson said, adding the city hopes to lock down the proposed route in time to apply for federal funding sometime next year.
mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
The meeting comes nearly a week after the National Capital Commission threw a wrench in the city’s plans by announcing that its board of directors believes Rochester Field on Richmond Road in Westboro, which the NCC owns, is a better option for light rail than along the Ottawa River, unless the city is prepared to dig a deep tunnel for the trains in order to preserve its proposed route along the river.
An Ottawa MP, Baird is the senior Conservative minister for the National Capital Region and oversees the NCC.
Watson told reporters he’s hoping the meeting with Baird at the minister’s office inside the Lester B. Pearson building on Sussex Drive will help improve communications between the city and the federal government, which makes decisions that the mayor says often come as a surprise to the city.
“I think we have to work out a better protocol in terms of when decisions are going to be made so we’re not caught off-guard and we’re not surprised by them, and the NCC decision was obviously a surprise to us,” Watson said after Wednesday’s city council meeting.
Related
- Peter Raaymakers: The NCC finally has a vision for the waterfront
- Mark Kristmanson: The NCC is expanding the options for light rail
- Chianello: NCC's bizarre LRT grandstanding smacks of politics
- Updated: Mayor Watson slams NCC over LRT demands (with video)
In addition to the NCC announcement, Watson said he was given no notice last week of the decision to upgrade the Canada Science and Technology Museum before Heritage Minister Shelly Glover announced it will be closed until 2017 as part an $80.5-million overhaul.
“We have to be grateful for the $80-million investment, but I do think that we missed an opportunity to have a much more vibrant museum than what we’re going to have on St. Laurent Boulevard,” Watson said last week.
He may learn Thursday whether such criticism rubbed Baird the wrong way.
The minister’s office has said his staff reached out to the mayor’s staff over the weekend, but Watson could not meet.
Watson said there was an option for a meeting this past Monday, but it would have conflicted with the city’s unveiling of a painting to commemorate Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, the soldier shot and killed last month at the National War Memorial. That’s when the two settled on Thursday.
The mayor added he is not aware of city staff cancelling or postponing meetings with the NCC regarding the light rail project and noted staff have been preparing to present a progress report to the NCC in January.
The commission has said it supports the city’s western light rail transit project, but the two sides remains at odds over the 1.2-kilometre section of the proposed $980-million Richmond Underground line that would cross NCC land along the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.
The city wants to run the line through a trench, only 700 metres of which would be partly covered. But the NCC board declared last year that it would not approve the line unless it allows unimpeded access to the Ottawa River shoreline and has a “minimal visual impact” on the parkway corridor landscape.
The city says it can’t afford a tunnel along the river. Nor is it willing to support surface rail along Richmond Road or the Byron Linear Park.
“The easiest thing in life is to spend someone else’s money,” Watson said. “While the NCC has the right to determine what’s going to go on their land, I think they have to be reasonable and they can’t simply bring forward suggestions that are going to cost $300 or $400 million more and add to the woes of our taxpayers.”
“There’s a lot of momentum for phase one, as there is for phase two, and I don’t think the public want to see that stopped in its tracks,” Watson said, adding the city hopes to lock down the proposed route in time to apply for federal funding sometime next year.
mpearson@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
