Category: downtown

Carling Ave, CDP, Claridge, condos, design, DOTT, downtown, Dows Lake, housing policy, intensificatioin, LRT, O-Train, OLRT, Scott street, Soho Italia, Transit27 Comments

March of the High Rises

Westsideaction

The City has recently seen a spate of high rise applications and project announcements. Claridge has a number of downtown high rises in the high 20- storey range: beside Bell Canada, on Nepean and Gloucester, and on Queen at Lyon (currently Barbarella’s and a parking lot). There are taller applications too. The first out of the gate* was Soho Italia, proposed for 500 Preston Street near Dow’s Lake. The Soho Italia structure is notable for several features: most of the parking garage is above grade (about 7 stories of it) clad in a perforated black metal screen; the building rises straight up occupying all of … Continue reading March of the High Rises

bike path, Bronson, Carling Ave, cycling in Ottawa, downtown, parking, roads, Uncategorized11 Comments

YES ! to municipal bike tax

Westsideaction

So a City Councillor has suggested we tax bicycles, perhaps by levying a license fee. I suspect he pictures in his mind a miniature license plate, similar to the full size plates that a car has, or what bicycles in the 1950’s used to have. Some places use stickers instead of metal plates, but these are hard to read, and certainly cannot be read while an offending cyclist speeds off into the sunset after his or her dasterly deed. I agree with Councillor Monette. The municipality should license bicycles and indeed all vehicles driving in the City. Right now, the City … Continue reading YES ! to municipal bike tax

bike path, condos, cycling in Ottawa, downtown, Laurier Ave13 Comments

Laurier Bike Lane opens

Westsideaction

The Laurier Avenue separated bike lane (SBL) opened today. Mayor Watson was there, Marianne Wilkinson, and former councilor Bedard: There was a reasonable size crowd to see the ribbon cutting and hear the (mercifully short) speeches. There were some protesters too, objecting to the bike lanes. Two cyclists were wearing helmet cams to film what they see: These paramedics patrolled the path, searching in vain for early fatalities or run-over protesters. The bigger risk might be sunburn on the bum cleavage: There were several cycle-mounted police there too. It just might be possible that Laurier Avenue will have faster medical … Continue reading Laurier Bike Lane opens

Albert St, Claridge, condos, DOTT, downtown, Laurier Ave, LRT, Lyon Street, Minto Place, NCC, OLRT, pedestrians, roads, sidewalks, Transit22 Comments

The devil rides Watson’s new LRT route

Westsideaction

Warning: long post. Go pee or get your coffee before you start reading. After so much huffing and puffing, the City has detailed its final LRT route and station locations, and their costs, to Council and the Public. The most noteworthy change has been to move the tunnel from the “cross country” deep alignment under Albert Street, then Queen Street … to one that traverses the downtown always under Queen. I have read the available material from the City justifying the move. It is a very political document, light on the technical stuff. It’s way more PR oriented than the previous reports. … Continue reading The devil rides Watson’s new LRT route

cycling in Ottawa, design, downtown, NCC14 Comments

Indistinguishable crosswalk lures peds to danger

Westsideaction

The picture is taken from the McKenzie-King Bridge, between the canal and Rideau Centre. The unique spiral staircase on the left is now closed, and will be removed. It is, apparently, not fully accessible. It is being sort-of replaced by the straight staircase on the right, adjacent the new Convention Centre. It has an elevator hidden inside a nifty turned-over ice-cream cone metal shroud, so Everyone can go up or down. But look closely at Colonel By Drive. Notice that peds arriving at the bottom of the staircase on the right appear to have a crosswalk. And on the left side, partially obscured by the … Continue reading Indistinguishable crosswalk lures peds to danger

Bayview, design, DOTT, downtown, LeBreton Flats, LRT, O-Train, OLRT18 Comments

LRT Stations Revealled (part i)

Westsideaction

The design for the Ottawa LRT stations will be shown below. In this post, there will be the inspiration for the Ottawa design, then some initial Ottawa designs both at the surface and in the tunnel sections. In following posts, there will be the detailed station design and layout and approaches to the Tunney’s, Bayview, and LeBreton Stations. Finally, there will be the Rideau Station and Hurdman. So stow your tables, put your seat backs upright, buckle up, here we go: Interior decorators call it the “inspiration shot”, the picture of some other project that captures some of what we want to emulate. The above … Continue reading LRT Stations Revealled (part i)

downtown1 Comment

Exciting Downtown Ottawa

Westsideaction

During the years I pretended to work downtown, I could count on some periodic excitement since the UNHCR was next door and was regularly subject of street demonstrations. An hour ago, it was rather like old times cycling back from City Hall via the Library to come across this demo. The ambulance was there to load up a yellow striped officer. It arrived in a bloody hurry but was reluctant to leave the excitement. On the west side, with the green and black flags, Libyan rebels. On the east side, with green flags and the portraits of the dictator with clenched … Continue reading Exciting Downtown Ottawa

Bayview, DOTT, downtown, LRT, O-Train, Transit8 Comments

Western LRT (part v) Choosing the best route

Westsideaction

The Western LRT study outlined in the previous posts assumes there will be a WLRT and a separate local LRT along Carling should one of the non-Carling routes be chosen for the WLRT. But could the two services be combined? If one of the northern corridors is chosen for the Western LRT, then the TMP identifies Carling as the route for a supplementary LRT corridor. Thus the political process has pre-selected the mode, it is up to the engineers to make it work and be financially viable. If Carling is the route of the Western LRT, then a supplmentary transit service would be required in the northern corridor, … Continue reading Western LRT (part v) Choosing the best route

downtown, sidewalks, streetscaping, Trees2 Comments

Well planted trees

Westsideaction

Here’s another bit of Ottawa sidewalk I like. It’s along Place Bell Canada. Notice how well the curbs protect the trees against snowplows, parked objects, construction vehicles and equipment, etc. The tree trunks are thick, the leaf canopy is generous. The trees appear to be happy and growing. What a difference from so many Ottawa trees so obviously struggling hopelessly along the streets. Hey, it’s a sidewalk worth walking on. Continue reading Well planted trees

downtown, pedestrians, sidewalks, streetscaping3 Comments

Good sidewalk environment

Westsideaction

It’s not “all bad” on downtown sidewalks. I love this bit of private landscaping on Gilmore Street, near Kent. The sidewalk grew a tiny bit wider, which is useful. The precast block wall is attractive and understated, not competing with the building or the street. The modest elevation increase gives more room for tree roots, defines the “garden” space, and helps keep litter out. The densely planted row of trees greens the environment and helps shade the adjacent south-facing building façade. The tough decorative grasses planted along the base puts lots of rich greenery at eye level (for those who watch … Continue reading Good sidewalk environment

design, downtown, parking, pedestrians, streetscaping, WalkSpace4 Comments

From mediocre to worse

Westsideaction

  This post originally appeared in the WalkSpace series at  www.SpacingOttawa.ca. The loss of amenity is noticeable when an attractive bit of the pedestrian realm or sidewalk is adversely affected by adjacent developments. The contrast is less sharp when a mediocre space becomes worse. Yet the result is the same: the pedestrian zone gets impinged and impoverished. I always find the C D Howe building in downtown Ottawa to be an underachiever. The building is somehow less than the sum of its parts. Inside there’s a waterfall, winter garden, soaring three storey spaces, pedestrian bridges, Jetson elevators, retail spaces, food court …. And outside offers an extra-wide sidewalk with some … Continue reading From mediocre to worse

Bronson, Carling Ave, Chinatown, downtown, Laurier Ave, pedestrians, Preston street, sidewalks, Uncategorized4 Comments

More Empty Parking lots and underused streets

Westsideaction

There are turning moments in the urban paradigm whereby all that was “normal” before gets swept away and is replaced by a new version of “normal”. I think we are in the midst of a paradigm shift to a new normal with respect to parking and streets in central cities. We saw this once in the 70’s when the anti-freeway mobilizers successfully beat down the Spadina Expressway in Toronto. This inspired decades of courage to residents of Canadian cities coast to coast to object to road building. It was only a partial victory of course. Freeways were renamed parkways, or arterials. The Hunt … Continue reading More Empty Parking lots and underused streets

condos, cycling in Ottawa, downtown, intensificatioin, Lyon Street2 Comments

Proposed development considers cyclists

Westsideaction

A Toronto developer is proposing a 16 storey high-rise on a lot assembled on Gloucester Street, with some frontage on Lyon Street. It is kitty-corner the octagonal Minto Carlyle building (28 floors) and opposite the Minto-built stacked townhouse block that faces Lyon on the east side. Here is a plan of the ground floor. What I thought noticeable is the attention paid to cyclists. There is bike storage for residents in LOCKERS for 46 residents. These storage lockers are on the ground floor. No word on whether these lockers hold more than one bike. There is also 10 storage lockers … Continue reading Proposed development considers cyclists

500 Preston, Albert St, condos, design, downtown, Preston street, Soho Italia12 Comments

Downtown’s changing skyline

Westsideaction

Ottawa has a curious bunch of downtown buildings dating from the Robert Campeau era (1960’s and 70’s). They all share a certain formula: towers “inspired” by famous buildings elsewhere, usually built on massive ugly windowless podiums, and with no apparent front doors. Consider the Centennial Towers, whose entrance used to be facing a drive through arch, mercifully removed during its last renovation. Or the Marriott hotel, also sitting on a rough concrete windowless podium, its entrance facing a mid-block driveway well concealed from motorists and pedestrians alike. Or the black cube Place de Ville office towers, some of which still have their entrances … Continue reading Downtown’s changing skyline

downtown3 Comments

The finest and the bravest

Westsideaction

I was down at Metcalfe and Isabella this morning just before nine. I noticed this convention of fire trucks outside the police station. Must be big, I thought. The Citizen tells me there was an envelope in the mail room, with “white powder”. Yup, gotta be careful. But not frugal. Seven emerg vehicles for one envelope? And people mock our illustrious mayor for attending any opening, even that of an envelope. His employees make him look like a total amateur. Here’s a view of the finest and bravest from the upper floor of a near by building. One engine has given up … Continue reading The finest and the bravest

condos, cycling in Ottawa, downtown, Laurier Ave, parking, roads, sidewalks18 Comments

Condo, heal thyself …

Westsideaction

  Part of the controversy about the Laurier Separated Bike Lanes relates to who gets to use the street. According to the Bank Street BIA, it’s for cars and deliveries, period. Less strident but still vocal are the various condo owner and management groups in the core. Let’s look at one downtown condo, Queen Elizabeth towers, and their parking issues. Built in 1975 (left tower, 500 Laurier, 238 units) and 1978 (right tower, 530 Laurier,  217 units)  these 26 storey big block condos are a well known downtown presence. For these 455 units there are 455 parking spaces (according to the building manager’s office), … Continue reading Condo, heal thyself …

Albert St, design, downtown, pedestrians, sidewalks, streetscaping, Uncategorized11 Comments

Who sets the street agenda?

Westsideaction

I spent a little bit of time in Montreal over the holidays. I was struck by several huge differences between Montreal’s treatment of downtown streets vs Ottawa’s. In the following photos, notice that the traffic signal lights are pushed off to the side of the road. Their cases and mounting brackets are dark coloured, and very unobtrusive. They are mounted low, not high in the sky. The pedestrian signals, which are relatively rare in downtown Montreal compared to Ottawa, were mounted snugly close to the traffic signals.     The discreet treatment of traffic signals means that the downtown streets are not dominated or given … Continue reading Who sets the street agenda?

Bayview, DOTT, downtown, Plouffe Park, Preston street, Rideau Canal, Scott street, surface water, Uncategorized2 Comments

Finding Fault with DOTT

Westsideaction

The City released its first report on the test bores along the route of the proposed LRT through the downtown of Ottawa (DOTT). There was a lot of confusing fuss over the Campus Station (is there too much rock or not enough? will the tunnel there be bored or cut-and-cover? why would a open-to-the-surface slope into the tunnel cost about the same as a tunnel itself?) and not enough answers. There was also some fuss about the existence of fault lines crossing the DOTT route. Unfortunately, no one seemed to have the time to call an expert or even a geology professor at … Continue reading Finding Fault with DOTT

condos, downtown, housing policy3 Comments

Planning exercise (iv)

Westsideaction

Whilst walking on Somerset near Hartman’s, I saw workers hoisting railings up the side of a building. The hoisting rope was connected to a roof-mounted winch and arm. The rope brushed these satellite dishes, causing one to pivot a bit, and rock. This reminded me of a curious phenomenon that relates satellite dishes to “market” and “social” housing politics.  Here is a social housing building. Typically for Ottawa, it is festooned with satellite dishes. Ditto for the coop seniors apartment building across the street from my house. Or the coop townhouses up the street. Or the ones in Hintonburg. It seems that … Continue reading Planning exercise (iv)

DOTT, downtown, LRT, Transit2 Comments

Boring information: read it here first

Westsideaction

There are many ways to get information in the city. One is file freedom of information requests. Another way is to just ask the workers what they are doing. Each time I go by a new location with one of those boring crews drilling a hole into the street, I stop my bike or walk up and chat to the crew. What are you finding? Is it all limestone down there or are there soft spots? Can you identify fault lines and fissures? Any nasty surprises like big underground rivers? Vaults of money under the Bank of Canada building? Political bodies burried … Continue reading Boring information: read it here first

cycling in Ottawa, downtown3 Comments

Definition of a bike rack, err handrail

Westsideaction

I am glad to see so many cubicle bunnies are cycling to work (well, at least those not taking sick leave) that there isn’t enough parking spaces around 240 Sparks. Cyclists are apparently locking their bikes to the hand rails on the stairs. Now, I think the message from this would be to … install more bike racks?? But no, nothing so sane. The managers of the cubicle farm have decided that English-speaking cyclists don’t realize that these are handrails, or what they are for, so they conveniently posted signs elaborating on their purpose. And some people say Ottawan’s have no … Continue reading Definition of a bike rack, err handrail