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There are more, of course, but these five questions are particularly noteworthy as city hall enters an election year with some major decisions on the horizon.
How long will the city wait for its electrified train system?
The city will continue testing trains on the Confederation Line until it’s ready to put the $2.1-billion transit system into service. When that is, we don’t know.
The city doesn’t know when it will start running the Confederation Line LRT. It isn’t even sure when it will get the keys from the Rideau Transit Group. There should be a better indication by the end of January of when RTG will finish building the $2.1-billion electric train line. RTG won’t meet its May handover deadline, which is probably no surprise to people who have kept track of the progress at major LRT construction sites downtown. The good news is RTG has installed about 70 per cent of the tracks and all 335 poles for the overhead catenary system. All 10 traction power substations — the small buildings that convert the local power supply into the voltage needed to run LRT — have also been installed along the guideway. OC Transpo has its LRT operators in training. How many people will abandon their cars and choose an LRT-backboned public transit network? That, too, is unknown.
How deep does the city get on LeBreton Flats?
The RendezVous LeBreton proposal for a new arena, which is partially seen here in architectural renderings.
Considering the debates that have happened in Edmonton and Calgary, it’s remarkable that the City of Ottawa has kept a fairly low profile on the development of a new NHL arena. The City of Edmonton contributed money to a new arena where the Oilers now play. The City of Calgary has been wrangling with the Flames over funding for a new hockey facility. Until recently, the City of Ottawa took a spectator’s seat while the National Capital Commission and the Ottawa Senators-led RendezVous LeBreton Group negotiate over an arena-anchored development at LeBreton Flats. Mayor Jim Watson and city manager Steve Kanellakos are now at the negotiating table representing Ottawa, trying to insulate municipal taxpayers from large expenses that could come with building a new mixed-use community. With Senators owner Eugene Melnyk sounding the warning bell over the viability of the club, the next skate to drop might be the city’s financial involvement in professional hockey — and possibly keeping the team in Ottawa.
What’s the next chapter for a flagship library branch?
The selected site for a new central library at 557 Wellington St., near the intersection of Albert and Commissioner streets.
There was momentum over the past two years on the central library project. Then, silence. The city didn’t think it would take this long for the federal government to decide if it should join in the construction of a $168-million super library at the eastern edge of LeBreton Flats. The project will move into 2018 on pause, mostly because the city hasn’t heard from the government. With a new library, the city would need to find about $95 million to fund its share of a joint project with Library and Archives Canada. The city hasn’t sent a financial plan to council because its waiting to hear what kind of facility it would build. Council needs to get moving on this big-ticket decision and put shovels in the ground before the cost estimates start creeping up. The city could always build a standalone library without Library and Archives Canada.
Will the city have trouble rolling with the pot laws?
The city will learn where the province’s new Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation wants to put one or more pot shops in Ottawa.
Ottawa is getting at least one legal pot shop when the cannabis laws change this summer. Where the stores will be located will be the subject of conversations between city hall and the new Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation. (The province, incidentally, has a recruiter looking for people to manage the pot sales operation in Ottawa). It’s hard to say how communities will react to a proposal for a government-run pot shop on their streets, but they could put pressure on the city to reject locations if there are sour sentiments. Municipalities want a chunk of the excise tax put on marijuana, and you can bet Ottawa will want its fair share. The two likely candidates for any revenue distribution to the city would be the Ottawa Police Service for enforcing drug-impaired driving and busting illegal pot shops, and Ottawa Public Health for any marijuana-specific programs.
Will municipal voters feel election fatigue by October?
Ottawa voters will go to the polls twice in 2018, with a provincial election in June and a municipal election in October.
Besides a potentially lacklustre mayoral race, the most significant threat to the Ottawa municipal election on Oct. 22 is the Ontario election in June. Election exhaustion could set in by the fall, when most of the current members of council will likely seek another four years at city hall. Voter turnout for the municipal election could be a serious issue. New election rules mean a compressed nomination period, which runs between May 1 and July 27, and a ban on corporations and unions donating to municipal political campaigns. But anyone can contribute to third-party advertisers that promote or oppose candidates, another new feature of the 2018 municipal vote. Jim Watson might not even need a tax promise this time around if no credible contenders offer a competing vision for the capital city.
jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling
查看原文...
How long will the city wait for its electrified train system?
The city will continue testing trains on the Confederation Line until it’s ready to put the $2.1-billion transit system into service. When that is, we don’t know.
The city doesn’t know when it will start running the Confederation Line LRT. It isn’t even sure when it will get the keys from the Rideau Transit Group. There should be a better indication by the end of January of when RTG will finish building the $2.1-billion electric train line. RTG won’t meet its May handover deadline, which is probably no surprise to people who have kept track of the progress at major LRT construction sites downtown. The good news is RTG has installed about 70 per cent of the tracks and all 335 poles for the overhead catenary system. All 10 traction power substations — the small buildings that convert the local power supply into the voltage needed to run LRT — have also been installed along the guideway. OC Transpo has its LRT operators in training. How many people will abandon their cars and choose an LRT-backboned public transit network? That, too, is unknown.
How deep does the city get on LeBreton Flats?
The RendezVous LeBreton proposal for a new arena, which is partially seen here in architectural renderings.
Considering the debates that have happened in Edmonton and Calgary, it’s remarkable that the City of Ottawa has kept a fairly low profile on the development of a new NHL arena. The City of Edmonton contributed money to a new arena where the Oilers now play. The City of Calgary has been wrangling with the Flames over funding for a new hockey facility. Until recently, the City of Ottawa took a spectator’s seat while the National Capital Commission and the Ottawa Senators-led RendezVous LeBreton Group negotiate over an arena-anchored development at LeBreton Flats. Mayor Jim Watson and city manager Steve Kanellakos are now at the negotiating table representing Ottawa, trying to insulate municipal taxpayers from large expenses that could come with building a new mixed-use community. With Senators owner Eugene Melnyk sounding the warning bell over the viability of the club, the next skate to drop might be the city’s financial involvement in professional hockey — and possibly keeping the team in Ottawa.
What’s the next chapter for a flagship library branch?
The selected site for a new central library at 557 Wellington St., near the intersection of Albert and Commissioner streets.
There was momentum over the past two years on the central library project. Then, silence. The city didn’t think it would take this long for the federal government to decide if it should join in the construction of a $168-million super library at the eastern edge of LeBreton Flats. The project will move into 2018 on pause, mostly because the city hasn’t heard from the government. With a new library, the city would need to find about $95 million to fund its share of a joint project with Library and Archives Canada. The city hasn’t sent a financial plan to council because its waiting to hear what kind of facility it would build. Council needs to get moving on this big-ticket decision and put shovels in the ground before the cost estimates start creeping up. The city could always build a standalone library without Library and Archives Canada.
Will the city have trouble rolling with the pot laws?
The city will learn where the province’s new Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation wants to put one or more pot shops in Ottawa.
Ottawa is getting at least one legal pot shop when the cannabis laws change this summer. Where the stores will be located will be the subject of conversations between city hall and the new Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation. (The province, incidentally, has a recruiter looking for people to manage the pot sales operation in Ottawa). It’s hard to say how communities will react to a proposal for a government-run pot shop on their streets, but they could put pressure on the city to reject locations if there are sour sentiments. Municipalities want a chunk of the excise tax put on marijuana, and you can bet Ottawa will want its fair share. The two likely candidates for any revenue distribution to the city would be the Ottawa Police Service for enforcing drug-impaired driving and busting illegal pot shops, and Ottawa Public Health for any marijuana-specific programs.
Will municipal voters feel election fatigue by October?
Ottawa voters will go to the polls twice in 2018, with a provincial election in June and a municipal election in October.
Besides a potentially lacklustre mayoral race, the most significant threat to the Ottawa municipal election on Oct. 22 is the Ontario election in June. Election exhaustion could set in by the fall, when most of the current members of council will likely seek another four years at city hall. Voter turnout for the municipal election could be a serious issue. New election rules mean a compressed nomination period, which runs between May 1 and July 27, and a ban on corporations and unions donating to municipal political campaigns. But anyone can contribute to third-party advertisers that promote or oppose candidates, another new feature of the 2018 municipal vote. Jim Watson might not even need a tax promise this time around if no credible contenders offer a competing vision for the capital city.
jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling
查看原文...
