Category: Ottawa

Ottawa, pedestrians, streetscaping, walkways

Sparks Street Mall SOUTH (part iii)

Westsideaction

The Burlington Church Street Marketplace had mostly older buildings along it, which gave it character and an attractive pedestrian scale. Sparks has lots of older buildings, plus some new office buildings which should generate lots of pedestrians. I did not notice any Burlington buildings with tinted-almost-black windows, like our public broadcaster. Nor was there a block of storefronts facing an indoor mall and turning their backs to the outdoor mall, a la 240 Sparks or D’Arcy McGee. The Burlington indoor mall met Marketplace outdoor mall at right angles, with corner stores facing both, complete with big windows and operable doors … Continue reading Sparks Street Mall SOUTH (part iii)

Ottawa3 Comments

reader help wanted

Westsideaction

I know someone heading to Florida for a vacation, and wanting to know what things to see that would appeal to an urbanist, or an urban fantacist. You know the stuff, nifty new or old neighborhoods, innovative architecture. Area being visited is Orlando to Miami, both coasts. I suggested rocket park at Cape Canaveral.  Miami Beach art deco, its famous parking garage, and Lincoln Mall. In Orlando, Disney’s Celebration Village. In Fort Myers, the offshore beach and urban passeo. If you have suggestions, let me know in the comment section or email me EricDarwin1@gmail.com. You can be brief, no need to … Continue reading reader help wanted

Ottawa, streetscaping, walkways5 Comments

Sparks Street Mall — SOUTH (part i)

Westsideaction

I was delighted to see the more proactive role taken by the Ottawa Sparks Street Mall for the New Year’s Eve celebrations. While I cannot say whether the crowds justified the event, or if it broke even, it was valiant marketing and so necessary to revitalize this mall. It made me think of another urban mall I visited in the fall: Burlington VT’s Church Street Marketplace. I don’t know when it was inaugurated  but I suspect the late sixties or seventies, and it appeared to have the original brick pavement: Most of the centre area of the mall is left open, … Continue reading Sparks Street Mall — SOUTH (part i)

Bronson, Ottawa, roads, somerset street, streetscaping, walkways4 Comments

Maybe the temporary on Bronson should be permanent

Westsideaction

The noisy work crews on Bronson have taken a winter break. They need one. It must be dispiriting for them to be reconstructing Bronson in the same dysfunctional 1950’s pattern of urban abuse. Our city is sometimes like a dysfunctional family, where the mistakes of the prior-generation parents are doomed to be repeated by the so-called adults of the present. Here’s a view of the Bronson-Somerset intersection prior to the construction. Note the big yellow signal lights we so love to festoon above the traffic lanes, suspended on long metal arms in turn supported by freestanding metal posts, sometimes known as “street furniture”. For … Continue reading Maybe the temporary on Bronson should be permanent

Ottawa7 Comments

Confederation matters (ii) – the Place de Ville Monopoly

Westsideaction

Place de Ville is a huge winner in the Confederation Line LRT scheme. Dreams of an “underground city”, or “path” system popular in Toronto and Montreal are now dead. Downtown residents and workers will have to enjoy the minus 40 winters, the high-humidity summers, and slushy in between seasons. In the City’s proposed design for the Downtown West station, there was an outlier platform entrance to the west and south of the Queen Street alignment. It was basically a pedestrian tunnel that ran west from the Downtown West underground platform to emerge somewhere along the west side of Lyon Street, … Continue reading Confederation matters (ii) – the Place de Ville Monopoly

Confederation Line, downtown, LRT, Ottawa2 Comments

Confederation matters (i)

Westsideaction

The new Confederation LRT line stations for downtown Ottawa — as proposed by the winning consortium — are very different from the previous designs worked out by the City. The City’s previous designs were very big on safety through environmental design. To that end, the downtown tunnel stations had a upper level mezzanine with the ticketing functions, that was then open to the track level one floor below. In quiet hours, someone on the mezzanine could eyeball the trackside waiting areas. People waiting on the platforms could be confident that someone could see them easily from the mezzanine. All that … Continue reading Confederation matters (i)

condos, design, infill, intensificatioin, Ottawa6 Comments

The tale of the virgin developer, the tiny apartment building, and Christmas presents under the Balsam

Westsideaction

From time to time, development applications appear that raise more questions than they answer. The one at 13 Balsam is for me such an application. The applicant is an Italian small-business owner, a newbie to development. He owns a single lot, upon which he proposes to build a five storey apartment building. It would have an elevator, and all of 8 apartments (4 two bedroom; 4 one bedroom). The ground level would consist of a building lobby and the rest of the ground level would be at-grade parking, presumably closed in a garage. The application has only this one elevation, no floor … Continue reading The tale of the virgin developer, the tiny apartment building, and Christmas presents under the Balsam

Ottawa4 Comments

Stairway to Nowhere

Westsideaction

For me, one of the defining pieces of urban infrastructure in Ottawa are were the spiral staircases on the MacKenzie King Bridge. I can’t say I ever used them much, but they were so unique, so visually interesting, so “fun” looking. And now they are gone. Why are they gone? The official reason is structural decay. Hard to argue with that, eh? But I suspect other forces were at play. One is handicapism, where everything has to be designed to be universally accessible (except for roads). During the construction of the new convention centre nearby, a straight staircase and an … Continue reading Stairway to Nowhere

Ottawa4 Comments

Walking with Crackers

Westsideaction

Walking along Primrose, then along its extension east of Bronson (which is called Lisgar) I was following an uninteresting trail of debris. This debris is left by Crackers. Crackers is not a dog; Crackers is the dog’s human companion. Crackers is a half-good dog caretaker. Half good, because s/he picks up after the dog. Poop, then scoop. Into nice little tidy bags. These bags are then discarded  in their gift-wrapped state, along Primrose and Lisgar. For example:   et So, you get the pattern. But here is what makes the case, well, crackers. Right along this stretch of curb is … a … Continue reading Walking with Crackers

downtown, Ottawa, pedestrians, streetscaping, walkways

Playing Pedestrian in the Middle

Westsideaction

It’s easy to make excuses why sidewalks so often don’t meet pedestrians’ basic needs. And sometimes there are genuine instances of “falling between the gaps” Like this one Here the view westwards, along Lisgar: .Do you see it? Try this view, looking eastwards on the same sidewalk: In the foreground of pic two is Hudson Park, condo by Charlesfort. It has a wider-than-normal sidewalk, about 6′ instead of the regulated 5′. Which is good, because the walk is busy. The brick condo is by Domicile. The Domicile condo widened the walk in front of their building with cobbles and a … Continue reading Playing Pedestrian in the Middle

cycling in Ottawa, LRT, OLRT, Ottawa, pedestrians2 Comments

Side effects of the LRT construction

Westsideaction

Assuming that the LRT project about to announced on Wednesday at City Hall won’t be saying “the bids were too high, and as your fiscally prudent mayor, I am therefore cancelling it” …I think we can assume it will be going ahead. To construct it, the City is applying to close part of Old Wellington Street. Finding Wellington is rather like searching for a moving target when it crosses the Flats. Recall that the current Wellington runs down from Parliament, past the Archives building, intersects with Portage Bridge, and swings through the Flats to cross Booth and Vimy and then … Continue reading Side effects of the LRT construction

Ottawa6 Comments

Hickory – Adeline Street ped-cycling bridge

Westsideaction

It doesn’t have the glam or excitement of the big river crossings of the Somerset-Donald connection through Strathcona Park; nor the curvilinear crossing of the Canal at Fifth near Lansdowne Park. But for West Side residents and cycle commuters, news of the Hickory Street bridge is very welcome. It goes to Transportation Committee on Tuesday for approval; but it probably was already included in the 2013 budget approved last week. The Hickory Street bridge goes over the OTrain cut just north of Carling Avenue. It connects the next-to-be-reconstructed-by-the-NCC multi-user path (MUP) on the east side of the cut, with the coming-in-2014 … Continue reading Hickory – Adeline Street ped-cycling bridge

Ottawa3 Comments

Condo Tower deja vu all over again

Westsideaction

Claridge has proposed the highest building in Ottawa for 505 Preston, the corner of Preston and Carling. Now they have a new face for it. But the new face looks decidedly familiar.  The Claridge Icon comes in about 42 floors; it would be 30% higher than the Soho Italia, approved for 500 Preston. Recall that when Starwood Mastercraft first proposed Soho Italia it had a design derived from the Aqua Tower in Chicago:   Below, is the Soho Version:   However, once they acquired a larger ground plot, Mastercraft Starwood changed the building to a more prosaic glass tower. Many Councillors expressed … Continue reading Condo Tower deja vu all over again

Bronson, Ottawa, road diet, streetscaping4 Comments

Will Art on Bronson be better than lipstick on a pig?

Westsideaction

Bronson is downright butt ugly. And it’s unsafe too. Now the City proposes putting some public art on the street verges to “humanize” the experience. The City didn’t believe the community when we lobbied for a better, safer design (see previous Rescue Bronson stories). Instead they opted for a remake of the 1950’s horror show version. That nightmare unfolds daily.  Can public art be more than putting lipstick on a pig? Battered and bruised community residents came into the Bronson Centre earlier this month seeking to find out. Seven artists had proposals on display. The City had “steered” the artists to … Continue reading Will Art on Bronson be better than lipstick on a pig?

Ottawa2 Comments

In Vanier perhaps?

Westsideaction

Okay okay, don’t kill me. I shouldn’t have suggested a suitable neighbourhood for a street address like this.And yes, I realize I am working on the assumption most people will mis-read the word. But it does take a lot of self-confidence for people to accept a street name so likely to be understood as something else. But it is fun to postulate where it might be, if it was … Continue reading In Vanier perhaps?

Ottawa1 Comment

Markings of things to come

Westsideaction

Before much of anything happens in this city, survey crews mark out the scene of the crime change. I recently noticed two markings. One is along the OTrain corridor. These markings appear to delineate where the OTrain is being double-tracked in spring, 2013. Double tracking will be required for some portions to handle the additional train sets and more frequent service. Alas, the trains will run very slowly on the double track section between Gladstone and Bayview as the city is not [yet] building Gladstone/Little Italy station. Users will have more frequent, albeit slower, service on the Bayview-Carling segment. The … Continue reading Markings of things to come

bike path, Boston, cycling in Ottawa, Ottawa

Cycle tracks, beginning and end of

Westsideaction

In a previous post on cycle tracks (segregated cycling lanes set back from the general motor vehicular traffic, sometimes protected by parked vehicles)  –illustrated with pictures from the Cambridge MA cycle track installed a number of years ago — a reader inquired for more details on how the track segments begin and end. Ever mindful of faithful readers, here are two ends, alpha and omega: And just for completeness, the middle: Continue reading Cycle tracks, beginning and end of

Ottawa

Give a dog a drink

Westsideaction

We’ve all seen doggy bowls outside stores and restaurants, subtly encouraging dog owners that it’s “all right” to come in an shop, the pooch will be OK. Here’s a drinking fountain with the usual adult-height spray; and a lower child-height / wheelchair height. But press the top left button, and the doggy-height bowl delivers fresh water that hasn’t been left standing around  where it might be dirty. And no sharing doggy saliva either. I know more than one little child that would have been delighted to get down on hands and knees to try out that nifty low bowl. Continue reading Give a dog a drink

Ottawa10 Comments

95 – 101 Norman Street: blockbusting begins

Westsideaction

Norman is a little dead end street, lined with small single family homes on the south side, and a mix of homes and a defunct garage on the north side. Vehicular access to the street is from Preston only, beside the Black Cat Cafe. It’s a narrow street, not cute in the generally accepted way in its current form. But it is home to many families. And most importantly, it is surrounded by many similar streets stretching between the OTrain greenway corridor and the government office complex along Rochester Street. The last few revised plans from the city actually showed the … Continue reading 95 – 101 Norman Street: blockbusting begins