The NCC chose for the Flats a model of lowish podiums (7 stories) with mid rise towers above (another 7 stories, 14 floors in total). Portland’s South Waterfront is decidedly much more highrise. It is, no doubt, what Ottawa planners have wet dreams about when they imagine the Preston-Carling area in 30 years time with its snowstorm of highrises. I very much doubt we will achieve that. I gather the NCC and Claridge are negotiating to abandon the rest of the existing low and mid rise LeBreton Flats plan (east of Booth Street) to build much taller towers on the remaining … Continue reading Building LeBetter Flats, part 8, Portland South Waterfront residential buildings

Last night in Red Square:   The number of smart phones and pad devices is interesting. Continue reading New Year’s Eve, EastSide Edition

So I whine a lot about planning in Ottawa. That other cities do better. Such cherry picking is easy. It’s time to acknowledge some things done right. Let’s go down to Elgin Street. The new office building on Elgin Street, opposite City Hall and the Courthouse, may forever be referred to by oldies like me as the “Friday’s Roast Beef building”. Being sans expense account, I won’t gain familiarity with the new occupant of the historic old house, Beckta’s. Others may refer to it as the place where the concert hall isn’t. While I was there just yesterday, damn if … Continue reading On Elgin street: Doing better, still room for improvement

Public Works has a huge old warehouse that runs from 1010 Somerset (just west of the Plant Rec Centre) all the way south to Gladstone Avenue, along the east side of the OTrain corridor. Cycling along the OTrain pathway offers a closeup view of the brick and concrete building, most well known amongst locals for the “stone graveyard” at the Somerset end. It is quite difficult to see the east side of the warehouse, as it backs up against the numerous dead end streets of Little Italy. The neighbours abutting the warehouse itself have formed their own micro-association called BLISS – Believe in … Continue reading Goodbye to big old warehouse

In Ottawa, in this era, placemaking is something for planners to talk about, but Must Not Be Implemented, lest anyone think we have big thoughts. Nice Enough is almost going too far. Have you noticed how often newish strip malls and big box plazas are trying to look like they are a real place? Some, like Mashapee Common (featured here last year) are quite successful in trying to create a new townscape. More often, though, “architects” and developers simply graft on the appearance of something cute and villagey onto a regular strip mall. We previously looked at the horrid “downtown” … Continue reading Placemaking, facadism, ignoring opportunities, etc.

City streets with centre boulevards can be found in many places. Usually they exist primarily for traffic planning purposes – to allow space for and to direct cars to turning queues; sometimes just to separate opposing directions of traffic. Most, like Carling Avenue in Ottawa, have minimal landscaping: some grass, mostly weeds, and occasionally a few trees struggling to grow in the gravel road base since top soil is rarely employed in tree planting. As city traffic and planners said when planning the reconstruction of Carling near Dow’s Lake: if you want pretty, talk to the NCC. This is gradually … Continue reading On separating cars from cars

After too many years of writing this pathetic blog that no one pays attention to, I’ve decided to shift focus away from urban planning and development on the west side of Ottawa, to something more topical. Vampires. What do you think of the above photo as the new “snap of author” pic for the blog? It’s not really me, of course, just a random photo of an elderly gent, somewhat overweight, picking — or sharpening — a tooth in the mirror of a superannuated pickup truck. Oh, that truck might look familiar to those of you who watch TV or … Continue reading West Side Vampires

  We hear a lot about the proposed ped-bike bridges proposed for the Rideau River at the east end of Somerset; and over the canal at Fifth. And that’s ignoring the problem-plagued bridge over the Airport Parkway. And the not-yet-existant Hickory Bridge over the OTrain that was supposed to open LAST December. But there may be another one in progress that certainly slipped under my radar.  Out behind the War Museum on LeBreton Flats was a rickety old bridge surface over a dam-type structure in Ottawa River. The surface had holes in it, and has been fenced off from usage … Continue reading Unheralded bike-ped bridge under construction?

  Preston Street is being extended from its present northern terminus at Albert, out across the Flats to the current transitway. This is supposed to open in January 2015, ie 2-3 months from now. After an intersection with the current transitway, it will cross over the aqueduct on a sort of culvert. The steel pieces of the culvert are out there now. They will be placed in the aqueduct to prevent the roadbed from filling the canal and crushing the giant water pipes there. The historic aqueduct starts at the Ottawa River just west of the War Museum entrance at Vimy … Continue reading Preston extension about to leap the Aqueduct on the Flats

OK, guideway is fancy RTG-talk for what the LRT  — soon to be known fondly as the O’Train — Confederation version — drives on. You know, railway tracks. They are rather appropriately being stored at Bayview Yards, the historic rail yards of Ottawa. Here’s some pic:   Continue reading LRT Guideway arrives

Naked Streets are ones stripped of the many motorist-oriented clues such as signage, curbs, and lighting that allow/encourage motorists to speed up (because they create certainty) and which transfer the risk of driving onto pedestrians, cyclists, and adjacent residents. By removing signs, etc, the motorist is now supposed to have to pay more attention to his surroundings, reading the clues, and adapting behaviour to the specific environment. I have seen many of these “in action” in Europe.  My current opinion is that they may work where pedestrians outnumber motorists, but once there are a fair number of motorists then the … Continue reading Naked Streets invite Trouble

  I was really struck by how green Seattle is. Not just green-grass green, but how respectful it was of large-scale green plants. The picture above is not a typical street. Much of Seattle has been yielded over to the almightly motorists who seem to have a real hate-on for trees. But there were quite a few neighbourhoods and areas of the downtown with lots of trees. Imagine Sussex Drive or the Market with trees of this size. Trees do grow just fine in cities, not that one could guess that in Ottawa, but they require decent size planting beds, … Continue reading Seeing Seattle (vi): real trees in the downtown

The above signage was painted onto the sidewalk, at an intersection, just as I wondered which way I was to cross the street. Several downtown walking paths were identified. If in Ottawa, they could guide one to Parliament, or the ByWard Market, etc. There weren’t very many of these red signs, but where they were they were obvious and useful. Wayfinding is a reasonable municipal expenditure in areas with lots of visitors. Ideally, they would also be found in other neighbourhoods, useful for visitors and locals alike. Seattle has a mild climate, and street people naturally gravitate to nice places with … Continue reading Seeing Seattle (v): signs you don’t see in Ottawa

  I snapped this door sign on a burger resto in the Columbia Gorge. Decent of them. Continue reading Some places remember

  This isn’t the skinniest sidewalk we’ve ever featured here, but it certainly is curious. It’s on Clyde Avenue, beside the Canadian Tire store. The sidewalk on each side of this “intersection” is regular 2m or so width. Nice enough, in its typically minimalist way. The little island in the centre of the intersection also shortens the crossing legs and lets pedestrians assess danger from approaching vehicles in two stages. I approve. This is the private entrance to a private property, yet there is no [depressed] curb along the street. It is a curious hybrid of driveway entrance and road … Continue reading Skinny sidewalk

  Spotted on Woodroffe Avenue (near the public library at Carlingwood) this speed feedback sign reminds drivers of their actual speed. It would have been much more useful with a copy of the posted speed limit sign below it. The City didn’t install this sign, it is funded somewhat privately by the Councillor (using his budget, I presume).  Like bus shelters, roadside benches with advertising, or garbage cans with advertising, it combines civic benefit with private advertising. I have no problem with this. If the City were to officially do this themselves, sans advertising, the sign would be much more … Continue reading Privatizing road calming

Coming Sept 14 is a great chance to get rid of those old electronics that clutter your house (and mine) and raise money for a good cause, the Save Little Italy appeal to the OMB. Here’s the details: Continue reading Mark your Calendars

  There are a few examples in the Market area of Montreal-style exterior staircases, but they are few and far between. There’s also a spiral stair on a house on Lisgar, and then I spotted this one in the Glebe/Ottawa South. Hurrah for an interesting front stair ! Continue reading Montreal-style front stair arrives in Ottawa

The Grand and Toy stationery and copy shop chain has retired from the retail storefront market. I have spent many a dollar there over the decades, and its demise means the disappearance of yet another [formerly] Canadian business. Storefront copy shops are now big-chain US brands. Ottawa will look increasingly like a generic North American downtown. One thing I won’t miss are the large window wraps that turned the glass into seldom-changed advertising bland-assity. Maybe, just maybe, we will get tenants in the spaces vacated by Grand and Toy that have windows and something interesting to see as one goes … Continue reading Mixed blessings as an old retail friend vanishes