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Around Ottawa City Hall, 2016 will be remembered as the year Rideau Street sank and Uber scored a slam dunk, the year LRT trains began to roll and a new stormwater fee took its toll, the year the bureaucracy got lean and the mayor dreamed of 2017.
Here are 16 memorable moments from 2016.
1. This train is bound for glory
Construction of the $2.1-billion Confederation LRT line reached a major milestone in early December when the first light-rail vehicle assembled in Ottawa began rolling along slowly on a stretch of track between Blair and Cyrville stations.
Testing of the Alstom Citadis Spirit trains will continue until the new O-Train line officially opens in 2018.
Meanwhile, this year also saw the realignment of the western LRT route to be built as part of the second phase of LRT construction.
The Unitarian campus had been fighting the city over the proposed route, which was designed to cut through the Cleary Avenue property that houses a seniors’ residence, church and child care centre.
The city now plans to build the LRT tunnel through an adjacent property, with Cleary station fronting on Richmond Road (instead being tucked behind the plaza).
Ottawa taxi driver Tony Hajjar yells at council after they passed regulations to allow Uber to operate legally in the city after a meeting at City Hall Wednesday April 13, 2016.
2. Legally Uber
After operating illegally on Ottawa streets since October 2014, the international ride-ordering company Uber was granted legal status in the capital.
City council voted in April to create a dual licensing system with different rules for the taxi industry and alternative ride companies like Uber. The new bylaw came into effect Sept. 30.
The move didn’t sit well with cabbies. Members of the city’s beleaguered taxi industry filed a $215-million class action lawsuit against the City of Ottawa, accusing it of failing to properly enforce its own taxi bylaw after the ride-hailing company arrived here.
A photo of the Rideau Street sinkhole, four days after the ground disappeared.
3. That sinking feeling
An enormous sinkhole on June 8 swallowed three lanes of Rideau Street and a parked van, and forced the evacuation of the Rideau Centre and nearby businesses, all of which threw the downtown core into a state of chaos for several days.
The #RideauSinkhole also became a brief Internet sensation, spawning T-shirts, mugs, spoof Twitter accounts and no end of clever Internet memes.
City officials have been reluctant to link the sinkhole to LRT tunnel construction happening two-dozen metres below.
4. At play in Mooney’s Bay
The city quietly signed a deal to build Canada’s largest playground at Mooney’s Bay Park to serve as a legacy project for the country’s 150th birthday.
Trees were chopped down and a popular outdoor fitness park was removed to make way for the $2-million playground, which will be featured on an upcoming season of the TVO children’s show, Giver.
Though it was built in the shape of Canada — and will officially open on Canada Day 2017, a row of play buildings of vertical wooden boards labelled Bank, Hotel, and Sheriff — located in the prairie area and intended to portray an old western town — hearkens back much more to the American West than to Canada’s past.
5. Hey drivers, say cheese!
Ottawa joined other Ontario municipalities in pressuring the province for permission to target speeders by using photo radar.
City council agreed to ask the province for permission to conduct a pilot project in school zones as long as the ward’s councillor agreed. Any money collected from fines would be used to fund road safety programs.
In November, Premier Kathleen Wynne responded by promising to introduce a bill that will let municipalities install speed cameras in school zones and certain designated “community safety zones.” The same bill will let cities also reduce speed limits in those areas from the default of 50 km/h and make it easier to install cameras that send automatic tickets to the owners of cars caught running red lights.
6. A new central-ish public library
After months of speculation and study, the Ottawa Public Library announced its preferred site for a new central branch and — surprise — it’s the same city-owned land at 557 Wellington St. that officials named as an “exemplar site” months earlier.
The 3.56-acre parcel of land just west of Bronson Avenue received the highest ranking in OPL’s analysis of 12 potential sites, in part because it will be a four-minute walk to the Pimisi LRT station and would offer terrific views of the Ottawa River.
But the choice isn’t sitting well with some city councillors and community groups, which have called for a site in the downtown core (i.e., east of Bronson).
Expect to read lots more about the library in 2017.
Crews fixed a vandalized wire fence that closes off the Prince of Wales Bridge over the Ottawa River on Oct. 14, 2016.
7. Kiss that sunset view goodbye
That the Prince of Wales Bridge was technically closed didn’t stop masses of people who, for years, climbed onto its aging span to watch the sun go down over the Ottawa River.
But the city became increasingly concerned about safety on the closed bridge, especially since Transport Canada requires municipalities to prevent access to the deck, so officials decided to block it off permanently.
The issue blew up over the summer when people learned the city was considering installing stronger security gates at a cost of $250,000. Instead, the city spent a smaller amount on chain-link fences that were instantly vandalized, and hired private security to guard the bridge access points.
Many want the city to restore the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, but there’s no money to make it happen, the city says. The unused rail bridge connects to the O-Train Trillium line, which has a northern terminus at Bayview station. Someday, when it can afford to do so, the city wants to run the train to Gatineau.
Bob Gregory and his dog Goose stand beside their creek outside their home in Dunrobin on Monday Oct. 3, 2016. Gregory was less than pleased with the city’s stormwater plan.
8. Shelter from the storm(water)
The city approved a controversial plan to charge every property owner in Ottawa a levy to pay for stormwater mitigation, such as culverts, ditches and sewers.
People who receive water and sewer bills were already paying for it, but those not connected to municipal water and sewer lines weren’t.
The issue caused an uproar in some rural parts of the city, but council was undeterred.
People with water and sewer bills will see the stormwater fee itemized on their invoices, rather than rolled into the sewer charge. Landowners not hooked into the municipal water and sewer systems will see a new line on their property tax bills for stormwater services.
9. Benched
Mayor Jim Watson ordered city staff to install benches in Ogilvy Square — the new pedestrian plaza replacing a short stretch of Nicholas Street between Rideau and Besserer streets, closed permanently to vehicle traffic — after reading in the Citizen that benches weren’t included in the original plan.
Drawings of the new square showed a line of trees on one side and a new restaurant patio on the other. There were also bike racks and space that could be used for various special events or public art. But there was no place to sit.
City officials had concluded benches or permanent seating would be hard to work around or move every time the space was used for a special event, and there were also fears about homeless people loitering or panhandling.
“There will be benches there,” Watson decreed. “It should be a place where people can sit, relax and enjoy this new plaza.”
Cyclist Paul Ringuette — who captured a cyclist/car collision on video — cruises across Isabella on the new O’Connor Street bike lane in front of Ottawa police.
10. O’Connor, o’carnage
Things were looking good for the new segregated bike lanes on O’Connor Street when they opened about a month early. The $4-million bikeway between Parliament Hill and Lansdowne Park is a combination of separated bike lanes, painted bike lanes and shared use lanes.
But in the first three weeks, three cyclists were struck by cars — including one captured in a hair-raising video.
The city hauled in huge digital signs and launched a safety blitz in an effort to prevent further carnage.
11. Birds vs. windows
The skywalk that connects the heritage and newer buildings at city hall became more feather friendly this year after workers installed dotted stickers to prevent birds from crashing into it.
It’s been an ongoing problem with the structure, which Bohemian waxwings often smash into after taking off from trees that line the walkway below. Mass avian casualties often pile up in the winter and early spring.
A particularly deadly day in April, during which more than 30 birds were killed, prompted the city to tape brown paper to the inside of the windows as a temporary measure.
12. The power of love
An Ottawa man who asked his girlfriend to marry him one winter’s night during a skate on a south Ottawa pond asked the city to name the small body of water Proposal Pond.
The Deerfield Village resident proposed to his then-girlfriend last year by drawing the words of the proposal in the snow that covered the ice on the pond in Fawn Meadow Park on Meandering Brook Drive.
Persuaded by the power of love, city councillors ultimately approved the commemorative naming request.
No word yet on whether the city will rename any cul-de-sacs Divorce Court.
13. Brother, can you spare a dime?
OC Transpo will launch a low-income pass next spring after thousands of customers demanded a cheaper option for people who can’t afford a full pass.
At $57, the monthly EquiPass will cost about half of what the full adult pass would cost.
Advocates wanted OC Transpo to reduce the EquiPass price to bring it closer in line with the seniors pass ($43.25 in 2017) and community pass ($42.25), but the city says the provincial government would have to chip in money to bring the price down further.
14. First-past-the-post is first in council’s heart
Ottawa will keep the first-past-the-post format for the next municipal election and maybe longer.
The province gave municipalities the option of using ranked ballots for the 2018 election.
For the City of Ottawa, switching to ranked ballots meant spending $3.5 million more for the 2018 election and a council decision was needed right away.
No council member suggested changing to ranked ballots in 2018 or subsequent elections.
Steve Kanellakos, Ottawa’s new city manager, is photographed at Ottawa City Hall after city council unanimously voted him into the position.
15. The return of Steve K
The respected deputy city manager who left Ottawa to take the top job at the City of Vaughan was coaxed back to town in February to replace Kent Kirkpatrick as city manager.
Steve Kanellakos hit the ground running by meeting with dozens of staff, councillors and outside stakeholders to collect feedback on how to run a more efficient city bureaucracy.
Employees told him to reduce the internal red tape to get projects off the ground. Kanellakos responded with a plan that he said flattened the reporting structure and empowered staff to make decisions without getting stymied by levels of bureaucracy.
The city cut 75 managerial and 102 unionized staff positions, and shuffled the senior management team.
Ottawa Public Health is using a cheeky poll to get people to help it to choose the designs that will appear on the wrappers of Ottawa 2017 condoms.
16. Getting ready for ’17
There’s much anticipation about Canada’s 150th birthday.
The city rolled out a number of its “signature” events, including Red Bull’s Crashed Ice, a two-day music festival, a multimedia show in a new downtown LRT station, a culinary experience 50 metres up in the sky, and North America’s first appearance of La Machine, large-scale machines from France that will invade the streets in late July.
It also announced a $250,000 fund to help Ottawa’s homegrown festivals promote themselves to the thousands of tourists expected to visit next year and gave the green-light to creating campgrounds at 11 city properties over the Canada Day weekend.
And it installed a five-metre-tall cauldron in front of city hall that will be lit at a special celebration on New Year’s Eve.
Even Ottawa Public Health appears, ahem, excited.
The city’s public health department launched a cheeky poll to get people to help it to choose the designs that will appear on the wrappers of official Ottawa 2017 condoms.
“Gear up for fun,” says one with hockey equipment, while another pitched at festivalgoers says, “Don’t spread more than love.”
And people say Ottawa is the city fun forgot.
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
Here are 16 memorable moments from 2016.
1. This train is bound for glory
Construction of the $2.1-billion Confederation LRT line reached a major milestone in early December when the first light-rail vehicle assembled in Ottawa began rolling along slowly on a stretch of track between Blair and Cyrville stations.
Testing of the Alstom Citadis Spirit trains will continue until the new O-Train line officially opens in 2018.
Meanwhile, this year also saw the realignment of the western LRT route to be built as part of the second phase of LRT construction.
The Unitarian campus had been fighting the city over the proposed route, which was designed to cut through the Cleary Avenue property that houses a seniors’ residence, church and child care centre.
The city now plans to build the LRT tunnel through an adjacent property, with Cleary station fronting on Richmond Road (instead being tucked behind the plaza).
Ottawa taxi driver Tony Hajjar yells at council after they passed regulations to allow Uber to operate legally in the city after a meeting at City Hall Wednesday April 13, 2016.
2. Legally Uber
After operating illegally on Ottawa streets since October 2014, the international ride-ordering company Uber was granted legal status in the capital.
City council voted in April to create a dual licensing system with different rules for the taxi industry and alternative ride companies like Uber. The new bylaw came into effect Sept. 30.
The move didn’t sit well with cabbies. Members of the city’s beleaguered taxi industry filed a $215-million class action lawsuit against the City of Ottawa, accusing it of failing to properly enforce its own taxi bylaw after the ride-hailing company arrived here.
A photo of the Rideau Street sinkhole, four days after the ground disappeared.
3. That sinking feeling
An enormous sinkhole on June 8 swallowed three lanes of Rideau Street and a parked van, and forced the evacuation of the Rideau Centre and nearby businesses, all of which threw the downtown core into a state of chaos for several days.
The #RideauSinkhole also became a brief Internet sensation, spawning T-shirts, mugs, spoof Twitter accounts and no end of clever Internet memes.
City officials have been reluctant to link the sinkhole to LRT tunnel construction happening two-dozen metres below.
4. At play in Mooney’s Bay
The city quietly signed a deal to build Canada’s largest playground at Mooney’s Bay Park to serve as a legacy project for the country’s 150th birthday.
Trees were chopped down and a popular outdoor fitness park was removed to make way for the $2-million playground, which will be featured on an upcoming season of the TVO children’s show, Giver.
Though it was built in the shape of Canada — and will officially open on Canada Day 2017, a row of play buildings of vertical wooden boards labelled Bank, Hotel, and Sheriff — located in the prairie area and intended to portray an old western town — hearkens back much more to the American West than to Canada’s past.
5. Hey drivers, say cheese!
Ottawa joined other Ontario municipalities in pressuring the province for permission to target speeders by using photo radar.
City council agreed to ask the province for permission to conduct a pilot project in school zones as long as the ward’s councillor agreed. Any money collected from fines would be used to fund road safety programs.
In November, Premier Kathleen Wynne responded by promising to introduce a bill that will let municipalities install speed cameras in school zones and certain designated “community safety zones.” The same bill will let cities also reduce speed limits in those areas from the default of 50 km/h and make it easier to install cameras that send automatic tickets to the owners of cars caught running red lights.
6. A new central-ish public library
After months of speculation and study, the Ottawa Public Library announced its preferred site for a new central branch and — surprise — it’s the same city-owned land at 557 Wellington St. that officials named as an “exemplar site” months earlier.
The 3.56-acre parcel of land just west of Bronson Avenue received the highest ranking in OPL’s analysis of 12 potential sites, in part because it will be a four-minute walk to the Pimisi LRT station and would offer terrific views of the Ottawa River.
But the choice isn’t sitting well with some city councillors and community groups, which have called for a site in the downtown core (i.e., east of Bronson).
Expect to read lots more about the library in 2017.
Crews fixed a vandalized wire fence that closes off the Prince of Wales Bridge over the Ottawa River on Oct. 14, 2016.
7. Kiss that sunset view goodbye
That the Prince of Wales Bridge was technically closed didn’t stop masses of people who, for years, climbed onto its aging span to watch the sun go down over the Ottawa River.
But the city became increasingly concerned about safety on the closed bridge, especially since Transport Canada requires municipalities to prevent access to the deck, so officials decided to block it off permanently.
The issue blew up over the summer when people learned the city was considering installing stronger security gates at a cost of $250,000. Instead, the city spent a smaller amount on chain-link fences that were instantly vandalized, and hired private security to guard the bridge access points.
Many want the city to restore the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, but there’s no money to make it happen, the city says. The unused rail bridge connects to the O-Train Trillium line, which has a northern terminus at Bayview station. Someday, when it can afford to do so, the city wants to run the train to Gatineau.
Bob Gregory and his dog Goose stand beside their creek outside their home in Dunrobin on Monday Oct. 3, 2016. Gregory was less than pleased with the city’s stormwater plan.
8. Shelter from the storm(water)
The city approved a controversial plan to charge every property owner in Ottawa a levy to pay for stormwater mitigation, such as culverts, ditches and sewers.
People who receive water and sewer bills were already paying for it, but those not connected to municipal water and sewer lines weren’t.
The issue caused an uproar in some rural parts of the city, but council was undeterred.
People with water and sewer bills will see the stormwater fee itemized on their invoices, rather than rolled into the sewer charge. Landowners not hooked into the municipal water and sewer systems will see a new line on their property tax bills for stormwater services.
9. Benched
Mayor Jim Watson ordered city staff to install benches in Ogilvy Square — the new pedestrian plaza replacing a short stretch of Nicholas Street between Rideau and Besserer streets, closed permanently to vehicle traffic — after reading in the Citizen that benches weren’t included in the original plan.
Drawings of the new square showed a line of trees on one side and a new restaurant patio on the other. There were also bike racks and space that could be used for various special events or public art. But there was no place to sit.
City officials had concluded benches or permanent seating would be hard to work around or move every time the space was used for a special event, and there were also fears about homeless people loitering or panhandling.
“There will be benches there,” Watson decreed. “It should be a place where people can sit, relax and enjoy this new plaza.”
Cyclist Paul Ringuette — who captured a cyclist/car collision on video — cruises across Isabella on the new O’Connor Street bike lane in front of Ottawa police.
10. O’Connor, o’carnage
Things were looking good for the new segregated bike lanes on O’Connor Street when they opened about a month early. The $4-million bikeway between Parliament Hill and Lansdowne Park is a combination of separated bike lanes, painted bike lanes and shared use lanes.
But in the first three weeks, three cyclists were struck by cars — including one captured in a hair-raising video.
The city hauled in huge digital signs and launched a safety blitz in an effort to prevent further carnage.
11. Birds vs. windows
The skywalk that connects the heritage and newer buildings at city hall became more feather friendly this year after workers installed dotted stickers to prevent birds from crashing into it.
It’s been an ongoing problem with the structure, which Bohemian waxwings often smash into after taking off from trees that line the walkway below. Mass avian casualties often pile up in the winter and early spring.
A particularly deadly day in April, during which more than 30 birds were killed, prompted the city to tape brown paper to the inside of the windows as a temporary measure.
12. The power of love
An Ottawa man who asked his girlfriend to marry him one winter’s night during a skate on a south Ottawa pond asked the city to name the small body of water Proposal Pond.
The Deerfield Village resident proposed to his then-girlfriend last year by drawing the words of the proposal in the snow that covered the ice on the pond in Fawn Meadow Park on Meandering Brook Drive.
Persuaded by the power of love, city councillors ultimately approved the commemorative naming request.
No word yet on whether the city will rename any cul-de-sacs Divorce Court.
13. Brother, can you spare a dime?
OC Transpo will launch a low-income pass next spring after thousands of customers demanded a cheaper option for people who can’t afford a full pass.
At $57, the monthly EquiPass will cost about half of what the full adult pass would cost.
Advocates wanted OC Transpo to reduce the EquiPass price to bring it closer in line with the seniors pass ($43.25 in 2017) and community pass ($42.25), but the city says the provincial government would have to chip in money to bring the price down further.
14. First-past-the-post is first in council’s heart
Ottawa will keep the first-past-the-post format for the next municipal election and maybe longer.
The province gave municipalities the option of using ranked ballots for the 2018 election.
For the City of Ottawa, switching to ranked ballots meant spending $3.5 million more for the 2018 election and a council decision was needed right away.
No council member suggested changing to ranked ballots in 2018 or subsequent elections.
Steve Kanellakos, Ottawa’s new city manager, is photographed at Ottawa City Hall after city council unanimously voted him into the position.
15. The return of Steve K
The respected deputy city manager who left Ottawa to take the top job at the City of Vaughan was coaxed back to town in February to replace Kent Kirkpatrick as city manager.
Steve Kanellakos hit the ground running by meeting with dozens of staff, councillors and outside stakeholders to collect feedback on how to run a more efficient city bureaucracy.
Employees told him to reduce the internal red tape to get projects off the ground. Kanellakos responded with a plan that he said flattened the reporting structure and empowered staff to make decisions without getting stymied by levels of bureaucracy.
The city cut 75 managerial and 102 unionized staff positions, and shuffled the senior management team.
Ottawa Public Health is using a cheeky poll to get people to help it to choose the designs that will appear on the wrappers of Ottawa 2017 condoms.
16. Getting ready for ’17
There’s much anticipation about Canada’s 150th birthday.
The city rolled out a number of its “signature” events, including Red Bull’s Crashed Ice, a two-day music festival, a multimedia show in a new downtown LRT station, a culinary experience 50 metres up in the sky, and North America’s first appearance of La Machine, large-scale machines from France that will invade the streets in late July.
It also announced a $250,000 fund to help Ottawa’s homegrown festivals promote themselves to the thousands of tourists expected to visit next year and gave the green-light to creating campgrounds at 11 city properties over the Canada Day weekend.
And it installed a five-metre-tall cauldron in front of city hall that will be lit at a special celebration on New Year’s Eve.
Even Ottawa Public Health appears, ahem, excited.
The city’s public health department launched a cheeky poll to get people to help it to choose the designs that will appear on the wrappers of official Ottawa 2017 condoms.
“Gear up for fun,” says one with hockey equipment, while another pitched at festivalgoers says, “Don’t spread more than love.”
And people say Ottawa is the city fun forgot.
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
