The roof of the parking garage at Bronson Place has lots of greenery planted, including some thriving trees. The roof includes an indoor pool area and an outdoor totlot with soft floor. Continue reading Green Roof – Bronson Place
Centennial School on Bay St near Gloucester. Playstructure demolished by work crews. Continue reading Out with the Playstructure
There is a community association for the neighborhood bounded on the east by Bay St – on the north by the Ottawa River – on the west by the O-Train tracks – and the south by Carling Avenue. Called the Dalhousie Community Association (DCA) after the now-retired ward name for the area, the association concerns itself with planning, traffic, and social issues in this mixed income changing neighborhood that incorporates both “Chinatown” and “Little Italy”. Their Annual General Meeting is tonight at 7pm at the Dalhousie Centre, corner of Empress and Somerset, 3rd floor. Free cookies. I’ll be baking my … Continue reading DCA – AGM Tonight
Ladder truck 11 at Fire Station#2 on Preston Street on Monday afternoon. Practice is about all the firefighters could do, since the street was total backup all the way from Albert to Carling. Continue reading Fire Station #2
A view of Minto Place podium green roof, this one showing an area with public access. The three tepee skylights are over the pool over the Hasty Market; the larger skylight on the right is over the main lobby/concourse. A similar green roof is barely visible in the background on Constitution Square. Access to the roof is from the slightly larger tepee skylight which houses a stair up from the pool deck. I think it is interesting to note how much of the green roof is actually decking and other “not so green” features. Continue reading Green Roofs in Ottawa
The City still has not announced where the new main branch library will be located. Councillor Chiarelli has said on Ken Gray’s blog The Bulldog that he fears it won’t be at Bayview. Apparently it will be on a site that is currently a full city block of parking. If it is located near the downtown core on a block of parking lot, I truly hope it isn’t just another low rise such as this city favours so often, but is the base of a residential building. This would move us toward our goals of a sustainable, smart-growth city. A … Continue reading New Library – Current vs Future Neighborhood
Snowdrops (?) blooming this week in the Experimental Farm, near the magnolia trees. Continue reading Spring blooms at the Ex
quality work … looking south on Booth looking north on Booth Chado and his Cousin Eddy run body shops on Booth Street between Somerset and Gladstone. Let me clarify that these are automotive body shops, thus legitimate enterprises. If you double click on photo one, you may notice a row of demised trees along the front of the building. Also evident are abandonned tires and what appears to be the remains of a Subway restuarant bench. Photo 2 shows a tree stump, all that is remaining of a city boulevard tree. There is another one by the Insurance deductible sign. … Continue reading Uglification Award
aquaduct east of Booth Beirut Flats When Urbandale or Minto or one of the large reputable developers begins to build out a new suburban neighborhood there is usually some park amenities available with the first phase of the project. Then each year the parkland is further developed as more houses are built. These builders do not say “this is a twenty year buildout, we will do the public landscaping when the construction is all finished…” Developers realize that to entice residents there have to be amenities from day one, with tangible promise of more amenities to come. Contrast that with … Continue reading Bureaucrats are not Marketeers
original Z6 revised Z6 The Z6 is a condo building to be built at the corner of Balsam and Booth, facing St Anthony’s schoolyard and the yellow brick convent. Photo 1 shows the 5 storey building orignally proposed for the site, having 26 units. The second photo shows the building “downsized” to 17 units, only four floors now, with the rounded cornice line at the front now removed. Construction is to commence 1 May with completed scheduled for spring 2010. Immediately to the left of the Z6 are a series of land parcels owned by Fanto. They applied for rezoning … Continue reading Shrinking Condos
Recall that in late fall, 2008, the NCC reconstructed the pedestrian and cycling path along the south side of Dow’s Lake (along Commissioner’s Park). The new path is wider and in many places a foot higher, which should reduce puddling. There are more bench sitting areas too, set back from the path. Workers are busy this week cleaning up the unfinished details, including laying cobblestones between the path and the Queen Elizabeth Driveway. Continue reading Landscaping Goes In, Dow’s Lake pathway
Preston Street businesses and nearby residents are in for another chaotic year. Construction is starting now on the street, and we will be in for a repeat year of holes, mud, dust, and surprises. As evidenced from the two sections of street that were largely finished in 2008, the results should be worth it. The wider sidewalks will improve street function. The streetscaping is desperately needed. The BIA is introducing Luigi on construction signs and advertising to add some personality to the situation. I hope Luigi survives the construction and continues to play a role in the community. Continue reading Luigi Makes Appearance on Preston Street
The Parole Office meeting was last night at the Bronson Centre. Meeting FormatCorrectional Services tried to have a series of little workgroups, but was talked out of it. Work groups are find when a large percentage of the attendees share a certain knowledge level, but when facts are scarce this format serves to create little silos of (mis)information and keep people unaware. The question and answer format instead allowed people to get some additional information and judge the agendas/merits of others and their opinions. The wiki format wins hands down in this case. The ProsThe moderator was excellent. I found … Continue reading On Parole – The Meeting
After putting out the full blue box of bottles/cans/tetrapaks I went looking for the Glad bag of household garbage. The garbage can in the driveway was empty. I went into the kitchen, and discovered the little plastic bag from Luciano’s was stuffed rather full of household garbage. Once I gathered up the wastecans from the bathrooms and bedrooms, I still had barely half a green bag of garbage, and this is in a household of two adults, one teen (with a weekend crowd of five more teens living in). So I cleaned out some stuff that I otherwise hadn’t yet … Continue reading Composting Thoughts on Garbage Collection Day
Earlier this week I posted some pictures of Mr Beaver’s work on trees near the aquaduct. These trees are on Booth Street, between the CCOC apartment building and Laidlaw CoOp. Obviously not a beaver, but it must have been one hungry rabbit or mouse to do this much damage. I will keep an eye on these trees this spring. Hopefully they will survive. Continue reading Tree Trimming from the Bottom Up
City Living is renovating their housing units along Albert St. They were originally built in 1980 as the first part of rebuilding the LeBreton Flats neighborhood. Jim Watson, once and possibly future mayor of our fair burg, was recently on-site for a photo-op (when else do politicians come out into the real world?). I thought it interesting that the Citizen story mentioned energy efficiency as part of the renovations. The renovations shown in the picture are exterior. New wood product siding is being put over the stucco exteriors. They are adding house wrap first, which reduces drafts and moisture infiltration, … Continue reading City Living Renovations (Lite)
The City Centre Tower, constructed about 1965, lost its red letters around the roof line last week. Nothing was left but the dirt on the brickwork. Yesterday and today workers on scaffolding were cleaning the brick. In the photo, the north wall to the right has already been cleaned; and work continues on the east wall. Double click on the picture to see it up close. Continue reading City Centre Tower
The Tailrace, aka Bronson Creek, flows out of the Fleet Street Pumping Station at the eastern end of LeBreton Flats. Bronson Creek was until a few years ago the private property of The Bronson Corporation. It is used as a whitewater kayaking course. The kayakers have already been out this season. On Wednesday, a member of the club was adjusting the gates the kayakers pass through. The kayak course is another hidden gem in the West Side area, and well worth putting it on your evening stroll, dogwalk, or cycling route. Continue reading Tailrace Kayaking
The Sir John Carling building is a large gray office slab rising out of the eastern edge of the Experimental Farm between Dows Lake / Prince of Wales Drive and Carling Avenue. Built in 1967, it is certainly a more-attractive building than many government cubicle farms. The distinctive brise soleil screens on the exterior (only on the west and south sides, the picture shows the east side without sun screens) were inspired by the trendy architecture of Brasilia, and promoted by the then minister of agriculture (Hees??), if my ageing memory serves me right. The Feds plan to demolish the … Continue reading Sir John Carling Bldg – demolish vs conversion
The Bayview Station isn’t part of the original bus transitway; it didn’t exist until 2001. It was built because the experimental O-Train service, using the existing rail tracks, needed a transfer point for passengers. From day 1, city planners assumed it was only a transfer station from buses to train. Little or no walk in traffic was expected. Yet anyone frequenting the station notices a continual stream of people walking into the Station. They come from the office and industrial buildings on City Centre Avenue, the residential areas to the southeast and southwest. They have worn paths accross the fields … Continue reading Bayview Station – What’s It For?
“NO! I think not.” That was the answer. You’ll find the question further below. The Parole Office has been controversial for some years now, since it opened at its Gilmore/Elgin location. Where was it before then? For a long time it was located on Kent St at Albert, where the third tower of Constitution Square was recently completed. Back then there was a small office building there, occupied by the National Film Board. Apparently the NFB arty-types didn’t exactly appreciate the Parole Office’s clientele in the lobby. After that, the Office was located at Bank and Queen, above Laura Secord’s. … Continue reading Parole Office Shuffle (2)
DOTT refers to the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel project. I sit on the public advisory committee, with a particular interest in the LRT project from Bronson to Tunney’s. Under the current plan, Tunney’s will be the main place for bus users from the west to transfer to the LRT trains which will run roughly along the current transitway alignment to Bayview, LeBreton, and the downtown. Eventually the LRT train service will be extended further west to Lincoln Fields. The City has come up with two concepts for how the bus users will transfer to the LRT trains. Keep in mind … Continue reading DOTT – Tunney’s Pasture Transfer Station
Sanguiccio is a strange word to English eyes, but if you say it fast enough it sounds like someone with a strong Italian accent saying sandwich. Owner Genio Ienzi is opening his sandwich shop at 183 Preston Street (the former Muscle Madness location) to cater to the strong take out market. He is supporting other local businesses too: his meats come from Luciano’s Fine Foods. Genio is currently negotiating with a small artisan baker to supply buns — pannini — and specialty loaves of bread. When talking to Genio, he gave me a sample of his last slice … Continue reading Sanguiccio
The Preston Street streetscaping project starts up again soon. Preliminary work by Rogers, Bell and Enbridge is already underway. Heavy construction begins on the sections south of Oak Street on April 14 (after Easter weekend). Work on the section from Spruce north to Albert Street begins the beginning of May. The intersections of Preston and Albert, Somerset, Gladstone, Beach, and Carling may not be given their decorative paving until 2010. The City is holding a public briefing to remind residents and businesses of the scope of the project and what is being built where, on March 31st at … Continue reading Preston Construction Starts Soon
