There is a mixed use development proposed for the corner of McRae Avenue and Scott Street. This is right across the street from the new Farm Boy store, which is also in a mixed use complex (one office tower 7 stories, … Continue reading City Tot Lot with Pee Post
Windsor, ON, is also in the process of building a new hospital. They propose a 10-storey building with numerous wings upon which additions can be appended. Like all artist conceptions, there’s an abundance of space coloured green, and of empty … Continue reading About that new hospital site …
Recall that the Confederation Line will extend westward to Lincoln Fields, maybe by 2023. From there, the line will split with one pair of tracks running on to Baseline Station, and the other going to Bayshore. Of necessity, therefore, only every … Continue reading Track splitting on the Phase 2 LRT lines
These are exciting days for sidewalk superintendents as the big beams for the new Bayview LRT Station were put in place. The beams are precast concrete: The design of the structure is the same as Booth Street overpass / Pimisi … Continue reading Construction Updates – Bayview Station, Trillium Line
So here’s a pic of the new O’Connor cycling track, separated from traffic in many places by curbs and flex posts. This car driver obviously took to heart our city’s focus on flexible use of space, and parked his car … Continue reading Flex Use of a separated cycle track
I noticed this sign on Catherine St in downtown Ottawa. LaBottega Nicastro is of course part of a local Italian grocery chain. The sign reminded me so much of the (more-)famous Italian food experience called Eataly. Here’s one of their … Continue reading Bringing Italy Home
aka Naboo. Continue reading At the Villa Balbianello
Around this time last year I was staying on an organic Agri-turismo in Piano di Sorrento, Italy. The Slow Food market is what we would call an organic farmers’ market. The agri tourismo itself was small, and located high up … Continue reading Slow Thanksgiving
ALT seems to be a trendy new word. Here’s how it applies in downtown Ottawa. We now have an Alt sidewalk. Go on, go walk on it today. The Alt Hotel occupies part of condo building on Slater. The building … Continue reading The Alt Sidewalk Design
Sidewalk toilets interest me in inverse proportion to the City’s denial that anyone ever needs one. Alas, I didn’t have time nor inclination to scope out these Boston ones, but they look expensive: My faves remain the Portland Loo’s. Cheap. … Continue reading Sidewalk toilets
I have mixed feelings about “sharrows”. While they do remind people who drive that there are also people who ride bikes … and they do suggest where it might be best for people to ride their bike … I simply … Continue reading Marking shared lanes
On a stop-over in Montreal’s Le Plateau neighbourhood I noticed how well their curbside planters thrived. Is it fertilizer? Watering regularly? Deep soil? Or just that they have someone to care for their trees and plants? They don’t hesitate to … Continue reading Curbside Planters are the New Parks
You can whine about the decreasing greenness of our city, or you can get out and plant. Many community associations have a greenspace or gardening committee. Hopefully they do more than just hold meetings. And while lobbying for more green … Continue reading Guerilla Gardening
I noticed this artwork installation in front of the SOHO Champagne condos. There is a security camera on the wall behind it. Continue reading Gummy Bear Artwork
There is a value to coming back time and time again to upgrade existing cycling facilities. We do that naturally with cars, but for cycling … surely just building something once is enough? I think that is one reason we had … Continue reading Improvement must be constant
Can you fight city hall? Well, you can try. above: artwork hanging in hallway outside the hearing room pretty much sums it up At the OMB it is hard to “out planner” the entire city planning department, or the developers … Continue reading Fun and Games at the OMB, 5/5, Can you fight city hall?
Amongst the boredom Throughout the hearing, I was surprised at the lengthy boring testimony, with day after day of “turn to binder 4, tab 77, typed page 23 but handwritten page number 26, point C, ii, point four, third line … Continue reading Fun and Games at the OMB, 4/5, Humour breaks out
The Hearing, part ii One of our arguments was that the city designated ten stub end streets running off Preston for low rise housing, ie the two story houses there now, and with intensification, allowing for four floors. The only … Continue reading Fun and Games at the OMB, 3/5 the hearing goes on and on and ..
The Hearing (part i) Our lawyer had the one side of the central microphone stand. She was backed up by our hired planner, our transportation expert, and a few local residents. The other side of the microphone stand held the … Continue reading Fun and Games at the OMB, 2/5, on Expertise
This past winter I learned first hand how the OMB works. I was an appellant (notice my new legal vocabulary !) Over the next few days, you can see our case unfold in glorious slo mo. Readers with a high … Continue reading Fun and Games at the OMB, 1/5, what was the issue?
No, it’s not Christmas tree trimming, although will come soon enough. The view in Little Italy the other day was much more Star Wars like. Instead of sending someone to climb the long-dead tree, the operator sat comfortably in a cab at truck level, and sent up this multi-positional arm. The claws grasped the tree trunk: A lengthy chainsaw blade whipped out in an arc from under the claws, slicing through the tree in less than a second. Obi Wan should be jealous as it looked like serious competition to a light sabre. In about an hour, the rest of … Continue reading Tree trimming in Little Italy
Wandering around the west side by foot and by bike reveals new wonders perhaps missed because the summer heat made me slothful. Here’s the stone walls along most of the aqueduct through LeBreton Flats. They were restored / rebuilt about 20 years ago, but the City sorta benignly neglected to maintain the bank sides and landscaping ever since. Many of the trees have died (for lack of water, since they were planted in giant “pockets” underlain with impermeable fabric so the roots can’t get to the water table). The view below is from the new Booth Freeway overpass, which offers never-before-seen … Continue reading Wandering around the west side (ii) the historic aqueduct
The new Bayview Station on the Confederation Line will be built up high on the new bridge in the same place as the old transitway bridge. It will have a curbside entry from Albert Street at the east end of … Continue reading Underpass at Bayview Station
The soaring overpass on the Booth Freeway provides a nice pedestrian view down into the future Pimisi (formerly LeBreton) Station on the Confederation LRT Line. This pic shows all the footings for the foundations, one floor below track level. Pimisi … Continue reading Wandering around the west side (i) view into Pimisi Station
Remember those moving staircases in Harry Potter? Some cyclists and pedestrians may be forgiven for feeling they are in a fantasy world when approaching Bayview Station. The pathway was here yesterday … now its gone. It’s over there ! No, it’s … Continue reading New MUP Pattern at Bayview
