Category: Nature

hintonburg, little Italy, pedestrians, Preston street, sidewalks, streetscaping, Trees6 Comments

Controlling creepy car lots

Westsideaction

One of my pet grievances is parking lots on the edge of the sidewalk. Too often motorists or the lot owner “creep” all the time onto the sidewalk. In the streetscaping treatment of West Wellington the City employed portable planter boxes, planted with currant bushes, to keep the cars back. They didn’t do this for every parking lot. But now, a few years on, I saw these planters being installed in front of yet another used car lot. Bravo! When the lot is redeveloped for urban purposes, the planters can be redeployed. I delighted in noticing that the lot owner was not moving his cars … Continue reading Controlling creepy car lots

streetscaping, Trees

City promotes tree growth

Westsideaction

I’ll forgive you if the above pic is hard to figure out. Here’s what’s happening. Read on to find out why it is important. This tree is planted along Somerset Street. It was planted there sometime in the last 30 years. The curb, now removed, ran right close along the far side of the trunk. There was a four foot x four foot opening the concrete sidewalk, to let the tree breathe and obtain water. This opening was slightly constricted by being paved over in concrete cobbles, and packed down firmly. The four foot square opening was the minimum size tree hole as determined by the City … Continue reading City promotes tree growth

streetscaping, Trees1 Comment

A rooting chance

Westsideaction

  In urban environments trees have  a hard time surviving. Much of this is due to the abuse we inflict on them. Even when a tree well is provided, and a grate on top is installed to permit air flow and water flow while preventing the soil from being compacted. Most new tree grates in Ottawa look like the above picture. It does work, but in a limited way. The City long ago came up with a standard that the minimum opening for a tree to survive in was approx. 4’x4′. Naturally, this minimum opening became the maximum opening. Look at this picture of … Continue reading A rooting chance

sidewalks, somerset street, streetscaping, Trees, Uncategorized5 Comments

Murdered

Westsideaction

This is a followup to yesterday’s post, called Trampled. That public sidewalk shrubs got trampled and mangled in renovations is sad, but then the renovation is a potential good. Less excusable is the downright murder and removal of mature trees. Have a look at this google photo: That mature tree growing by the sidewalk is a maple. It provided a pleasant bit of shade on the exposed sidewalks of the Somerset Street viaduct (overpass over the O-Train track). That it was alive and green last year is shown in this photo: (the tree in question is just above the cyclist’s head and … Continue reading Murdered

Trees6 Comments

Protecting Urban Trees during construction

Westsideaction

My first house was on Booth Street. It was a new townhouse in 1980, built by RJ Nicol. At the curb line was a very large street tree. I selected the my house in part because of the large tree in front. During construction, the approved plans called for its protection by wrapping the trunk in snow fence. The water main trench was cut out to the street a foot or so to one side of the tree. The sewer cut on the other side. Then the gas company came along and when they reached the tree, dug a hole … Continue reading Protecting Urban Trees during construction

condos, housing policy, infill, intensificatioin, Nature6 Comments

Champlain (de-)forest realities

Westsideaction

I went on a walking tour Sunday morning in the Champlain Park neighborhood. This west side group of streets runs north of the transitway, from the Mosque at Northwestern to Island Park Drive. The neighborhood began as a cottage area on the floodplain of the River (the railway tracks, now transitway trench, marked the high water mark of the floodplain). Later, small houses were built in the 1940’s followed by some 2-storey homes. My grandparents lived in one on Cowley. The neighborhood had its quirks, including a lack of storm sewers and inconsistent rear yard grading, which led to frequent basement … Continue reading Champlain (de-)forest realities

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

condos, pedestrians, sidewalks, Trees4 Comments

City-provided sidewalk improvements

Westsideaction

From time to time the City actually does spend some money for streetscaping projects. These projects are designed to “recover” the public space from adjacent property owners that have encroached on it over time, too often appropriating it for parking. Those property owners who have landscaped right out the sidewalk may not be affected at all. Adversely affected will be those who snuck in parking spaces on their front gardens. There have been previous blog posts that show condo and apartment properties widening the sidewalk in front of their buildings as part of the landscaping. See for example this: I think the project … Continue reading City-provided sidewalk improvements

Bronson, cycling in Ottawa, pedestrians, roads, sidewalks, streetscaping, Transit, Trees8 Comments

Public gets chance to Rescue Bronson

Westsideaction

  This flyer is making the rounds of the west side neighborhoods abutting Bronson Avenue. The above photoshopped illustration shows just ONE potential way to improve Bronson so that it meets the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, adjacent businesses and residents, as well as motorists and commuters. There are alternative ways to improve Bronson so that it makes more people happy. Anyone who travels on or across that blighted street knows that the 1950’s thinking that gave us the current “four lane” urban arterial didn’t work. Yet Ottawa seems on the way to fifty more years of a disfunctional … Continue reading Public gets chance to Rescue Bronson

Urban Gardens1 Comment

Gardening in Centretown

Westsideaction

This new garden was installed last week in front of a row house on Lisgar. The corrugated metal (sewer) pipe porch pillar catches the eye, follwed by the bright painted corrugated fence panel on the right. The similar panels on the left of the walk are painted black. The sidewalk is actually at right angles to the public sidewalk, but the boardwalk cover is angled slightly, which adds interest (and possibly, like the NCC stairs along the canal which are also at a diagonal, disorienting…). The garden plantings are in the usual modern style of few plant types repeated in … Continue reading Gardening in Centretown

Urban Gardens

Gardening in Centretown

Westsideaction

This new garden was installed last week in front of a row house on Lisgar. The corrugated metal (sewer) pipe porch pillar catches the eye, follwed by the bright painted corrugated fence panel on the right. The similar panels on the left of the walk are painted black. The sidewalk is actually at right angles to the public sidewalk, but the boardwalk cover is angled slightly, which adds interest (and possibly, like the NCC stairs along the canal which are also at a diagonal, disorienting…). The garden plantings are in the usual modern style of few plant types repeated in … Continue reading Gardening in Centretown

Dalhousie, Nature, streetscaping, Uncategorized

Green green grass of Dalhousie

Westsideaction

This little patch of lawn on Balsam caught my eye. It is greener than its neighbours, and obviously recently raked as it is so clean compared to the foreground bit of turf. A closer inspection revealed its secret. It is synthetic. Fake. Manufactured. I wonder how many times I have gone past it and not noticed; it did not look recently laid. It stood out now because it doesn’t change with the seasons. It is an effective bit of private streetscaping along the public boulevard. Continue reading Green green grass of Dalhousie

Dalhousie, Nature, streetscaping

Green green grass of Dalhousie

Westsideaction

This little patch of lawn on Balsam caught my eye. It is greener than its neighbours, and obviously recently raked as it is so clean compared to the foreground bit of turf. A closer inspection revealed its secret. It is synthetic. Fake. Manufactured. I wonder how many times I have gone past it and not noticed; it did not look recently laid. It stood out now because it doesn’t change with the seasons. It is an effective bit of private streetscaping along the public boulevard. Continue reading Green green grass of Dalhousie

somerset street, streetscaping, Trees

On streetscaping (vi) Trees

Westsideaction

The urban tree problem … Trees in the built-up city face difficult conditions. Among these are tiny porous surfaces around the bases (the city minimum porous surface was 4’x4’ and this became the maximum space, even when room was available); packed earth or paving base as “growing media”; pollution; car damage; snow removal damage from city crews or contractors; hostile property owners who remove street trees; cultural hostility from groups that feel trees are invasive or unlucky; sidewalk repairs that reduce tree wells; overhead wiring and over-zealous “pruning” and trimming by utilities, etc. City standards are sometimes unhelpful. The city may require … Continue reading On streetscaping (vi) Trees

Bayview, cycling in Ottawa, hintonburg, streetscaping, Trees

Potted Tree Planting

Westsideaction

Tom Brown arena got new front entry paving and landscaping courtesy of the water main installation along Bayview Road. The old front entry had a large concrete planter with low walls. Trees in it rooted right into the underlying soil. A sign on it indicated Tom Brown’s ghost or a concerned neighbor maintained the planting bed. The new entry treatment has lots and lots of trees. I love this aggressive tree planting. One tree philosophy, I’m told, is to plant too many trees in the expectation that some will die. Rather than come back and replace them (which is expensive), they just … Continue reading Potted Tree Planting

aquaduct, Dalhousie, LeBreton Flats, Nature, Wildlife

Twilight on the Aquaduct and the … come out to play

Westsideaction

A number of earlier posts show damage caused to large trees in the LeBreton Flats area. The Dalhousie neighborhood hosts a surprising number of animals and birds. These two twilights shots show the local vampires, err, beaver out to prey on unsuspecting urbanites. In the photo with a fine stone-arch bridge in the background, the beaver can be jut seen in the right foreground. Click picture to enlarge. The second picture shows him up close … he was about 20 feet away from me and curious about the flash on my camera. After several shots, he dove leaving only a … Continue reading Twilight on the Aquaduct and the … come out to play

cycling in Ottawa, Nature, NCC2 Comments

Last traces of former rail line

Westsideaction

What may at first glance seem to be a jersey barrier*  in the woods is really one abutment of a culvert crossing on the former CPR (?) tracks that ran west along the Ottawa River where the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway is now. The rail right of way was expanded and converted into a car road allowance in the early 1960’s following Greber’s plans for scenic drives throughout Ottawa. Many of these drives were never completed, but the NCC still holds numerous rights of way undeveloped, waiting for LRT, other transit, or a serious non-recreational cycling network. Toronto, not blessed with the NCC … Continue reading Last traces of former rail line