cycling in Ottawa, design, downtown, Dows Lake, Experimental Farm, housing policy, intensificatioin, interprovincial transit study9 Comments

Planning in Ottawa, the Clint Eastwood Version

Westsideaction

Last week the packed Urban Forum lecture heard and saw Dr David Gordon from Queens expound on planning and urban design in Canada’s Capital, 1800-2000. Note the cut-off year: amalgamation; also removing the necessity to venture views on current plans such as the LRT. He reviewed planning over the century using professorial wit and hectoring. His theme was drawn from spaghetti westerns, particularly The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. You’ll see the various planning efforts allocated to these categories in the picture below. Indeed, reviewing the outline below will give you a very complete summary of the plot. Like any … Continue reading Planning in Ottawa, the Clint Eastwood Version

Uncategorized4 Comments

Traffic calming at a very large scale

Westsideaction

Councillor Hobbs from Kitchissippi is putting forward a long-verdue motion to transportation committee for the city to have a 40kmh speed limit. While this is referred to as a residential speed limit, I’m not sure if it would apply to local busy streets like Bronson or Scott which have 50kmh limits. I must say I am quite opposed to this universal 40kmh speed limit. Yup, opposed. Note, this is sarcasm. Not because it is too slow, but because it is still wa-a-a-a-y too fast. There is a world-wide movement to stop the total domination of public space by motorists. One group is called Twenty is … Continue reading Traffic calming at a very large scale

Bayview-Carling CDP, CDP, Claridge, condos, Dalhousie, design, hintonburg, intensificatioin24 Comments

What to do with a highrise (proposed)

Westsideaction

Right on the boundary of Hintonburg and Dalhousie, which is to say in the heart of the west side turf this blog purports to cover, at the intersection of Breezehill and Somerset, Claridge is proposing a 28 storey highrise. The adjacent mainstreet is lively; the views of the downtown superb. No doubt the 28 floor request is an opening gambit. If he actually gets it, bonus for him. But I suspect he will be quite happy to get 18. Why 18? Because that’s the height of the 30+ year old apartment a block west at Bayswater. Funnily enough, opponents of … Continue reading What to do with a highrise (proposed)

Dalhousie, hintonburg, oc Transpo, Uncategorized6 Comments

Spagetti dinner on the No 2 Bus

Westsideaction

  It was a hot and sunny four o’clock as I left Loblaws in Westboro. My two cloth bags didn’t seem to have much in the line of groceries – yogurt (on sale!), cheese blocks (on sale!), oranges (on sale!) and a few other things already forgotten —  but still set me back seventy two dollars and change. Heading out the door I heard, then saw, the bus just taking off. That’s fine, I thought, the next one will have fewer people on it. Number two’s come constantly. Ahead of me, just short of the bus shelter, was a young woman … Continue reading Spagetti dinner on the No 2 Bus

DOTT, LRT, OLRT12 Comments

Not inspiring confidence

Westsideaction

The City held an open house last night on the OLRT. There wasn’t anything new there that you wouldn’t know about if you read the papers and this blog. I did feel a sense of  insincerity about it though. Quickly announced, not much content, a quick visit from Hiz Honnor: I got the feeling the event was held so that some lawyer could point to it later on, at a hearing, saying “See, we had lots of public consultation, blah blah blah”. Rather more disturbing was the number of minor errors on the display boards. Many of them I have seen before, … Continue reading Not inspiring confidence

Uncategorized2 Comments

Making streets livable

Westsideaction

Streets take up an enormous amount of our public space. Currently, we dedicate most of our public space to moving and storing automobiles. In the Dalhousie neighborhood, on Elm Street, there is a little park due for a city refurbishment in 2012. At the public meeting, and again in correspondence, I suggested that if the park is so small, if the neighborhood is really short of greenspace, if it is economically impractical to buy new parkland for millions of dollars, then why don’t we do something simple like remove some of the street in front of the park and turn … Continue reading Making streets livable

Arizona, streetscaping16 Comments

Strip Mall loses its parking lot

Westsideaction

I have never seen another North American city with as many strip malls — Mac’s Milk Plazas — as Ottawa. There are so many of them they become characteristic of the city. It’s harder to notice something by its absence, but keep your eyes sharp when visiting  other cities. Do you see as many strip malls? Sure, you see some, but not to the abundance we have here. Indeed, some Canadian cities severely restrict them or have no zoning provision for them at all. What would happen if Ottawa rezoned every strip mall as a five storey building? Well, there would … Continue reading Strip Mall loses its parking lot

Uncategorized

Darwin Casino Suggestion a Real Crapshoot

Westsideaction

There’s still something morally questionable about getting excited over a casino for downtown Ottawa (or the Casinoadium out in Kanata). It’s not enough to have “sin taxes”, we’ve got to provide the venue for the sinning and advertise to encourage people to come stay at a Motel 6 and lose their money. Isn’t it enough that we already send buckets of cash to Ottawa? I wonder if in another 30 years people who gambled away their savings will be joining war detainees, unwed mothers, and aboriginals in suing the governments for the “wrongs” they suffered. So what’s the alternative? How about a … Continue reading Darwin Casino Suggestion a Real Crapshoot

design, streetscaping, traffic volume3 Comments

Islands in the … asphalt

Westsideaction

It’s easy when in one’s home city to fall into the trap of the local mindset. For example, our traffic engineers seem to get really excited, in a negative way, whenever the local natives lobby for features in the middle of the street. “Can’t be done” they chime, “it’s unsafe”. Or we won’t be able to plow the streets. Or some such excuse. Because they really are just excuses. After all, are the streets there to serve the adjacent businesses and residents or are they there for the convenience of through traffic? Uh, no, you don’t have to answer that question. Every engineer … Continue reading Islands in the … asphalt

Arizona, cycling in Ottawa, DOTT, LRT, NCC, OLRT, Uncategorized

Phoenix LRT (part iii) The Video

Westsideaction

Let’s go for a trip on the Phoenix LRT. The video at this link takes 10 minutes to play. The link may not be live, ie you may have to copy and paste to your browser. http://youtu.be/D3EANU4FmiI Leave the window size small, as the video is low resolution, taken from a handheld digital camera while sitting behind the driver. The Phoenix LRT is 20 miles long (32 km), and has 28 stations. It opened in Dec 2008. Ridership in 2011 averaged 40,600 pax per day. The peak day carried over 60,000 pax. The trains are two-car train sets, thus the … Continue reading Phoenix LRT (part iii) The Video

Arizona, Carleton U, downtown, LRT, O-Train, OLRT1 Comment

Phoenix LRT (part ii)

Westsideaction

In the downtown Phoenix transit plaza there were these brightly coloured display boards. From a distance, I thought they were route maps or timetables. Upon closer inspection, they proved to be laser-cut metal sheets. Each one showed a subway or rail transit map from the major cities of the world. I felt a bit – discomforted – inspecting these. Was little Phoenix trying to cast itself in the Big Leagues, rather like Toronto (used to) cast itself as “world class” which simply proved it isn’t? Was it pompous? Or was it just Public Art? The station closeup (above) shows a number … Continue reading Phoenix LRT (part ii)

Bank Street, Bronson, downtown, LeBreton Flats5 Comments

City wins battle; Mayor losing the war

Westsideaction

Last night the City held a public meeting to tell residents all about the plans for Bronson. Well over a hundred people turned up. All were glum, and subdued. Resigned. Was I alone in sensing the seething resentment beating inside those winter coats? Recall that Bronson was widened from a street to a road back in the late 50’s. It was a bad road back then. And it only got worse. It’s bad for motorists. It’s bad for residents. It’s bad for landlords*. It’s bad for anyone who tries to walk along Bronson’s pathetic sidewalks. It’s life threateningly bad for … Continue reading City wins battle; Mayor losing the war

Arizona, LRT, OLRT3 Comments

Phoenix LRT station designs

Westsideaction

Phoenix has a somewhat different climate from Ottawa (why else would I go there in February?) and their LRT station designs have different functions. Mainly, they provide shade. The stations are simple raised platforms, about 16′ wide. Metal sails overhead provide dense shadows; tubes and fins provide dappled shade. Stations all along the 20 mile line were built on a common design.Most platforms had greenery, in the form of vines growing up between wire meshes. The mesh protects the greenery from damage, and provides support. Think of it as an ultra-thin hedge. Similar wire mesh fences have been installed between patios on … Continue reading Phoenix LRT station designs

Bayview-Carling CDP, Claridge, condos, Dalhousie, DCA, design, hintonburg, infill, intensificatioin

From low rise to high rise …

Westsideaction

The Dalhousie and Hintonburg Community Associations will be holding a joint open house on Tuesday at 7pm at Tom Brown Arena where interested people can see just what the City is planning for the industrial and vacant lands along the OTrain corridor. Most of the emphasis will be on the area north of Somerset Street, to Bayview Station, which is shown in the illustration below. Those are 30+ storey office towers on the top centre, opposite Bayview Station; the blueish buildings are already approved by the City and NCC as part of the LeBreton project (so don’t fret, we’ll all be dead before … Continue reading From low rise to high rise …

Uncategorized2 Comments

Ottawa robo-calls misdirecting citizens

Westsideaction

Hundreds, possibly thousands of Ottawa residents are being misdirected by robo-calls. Innocent book readers are being directed from their local Hazeldean library to drive all across the city just to get their books. Only to find out, once they get there, that their books actually miles away, back at Hazeldean. Library spokesperson Pierrette Poutine confirmed that the City Library’s robo-caller is misdirecting readers through mischievous phone calls that direct far west end residents all the way to an alien place called The Glebe. Bobbi Rae, a reader, complained that thousands of her acquaintances that seek to borrow books through the InterLibrary Loan System are being misdirected to  places where their ILL books … Continue reading Ottawa robo-calls misdirecting citizens

LRT, O-Train, OLRT9 Comments

OLRT to the Airport — Not

Westsideaction

It appears the City of Ottawa is once again sloughing off easy expansion of the rail infrastructure in favour of more roads to the suburbs. Extending the O-train to Riverside South? Along an existing unused rail right of way? Where fields of houses are the main farm crop? Where long term plans call for rail eventually? Using the 3 Talent trains that are already on hand and soon to be declared surplus? Nahh, premature to consider such expansion. And of course, the line would go right past the Airport but not into it. Someday, there might be a shuttle bus from the airport … Continue reading OLRT to the Airport — Not

Uncategorized9 Comments

LRT revisions affect the west side

Westsideaction

The City will shortly be considering some revisions to the downtown LRT project. The mainstream media focussed on the Rideau Station, which has been moved slightly east (main entrance no longer under the food court, but under the now-vacant lot immediately east of the Rideau Centre). But what are the changes that will affect us west siders? First, the portal. That’s where the surface track running across LeBreton Flats goes into the cliff face near the Juliana apartment building on Bronson, and then continues under the downtown along Queen Street. Previous plans had the tracks enter the cliff face in a typical train-tunnel entrance. The … Continue reading LRT revisions affect the west side

Claridge, condos, hintonburg, housing policy, infill, intensificatioin, O-Train, somerset street10 Comments

Claridge application for 1050 Somerset West

Westsideaction

Claridge is proposing a new condo tower for their site at Breezehill and Somerset Streets, just west of the O-Train corridor. The site is between Devonshire school and Somerset, in the old Chinese market store (which was Acklands AutoSupply before that). (Pending zoning approvals etc the store is being renovated and rented out to a dollar store). Immediately to the west of the site is a four storey red brick office building, opposite that is the 18 storey residential tower that looks like it might date from the sixties or early seventies. Here in a nutshell is the neighborhood context: The left picture, a … Continue reading Claridge application for 1050 Somerset West

Arizona3 Comments

Signs of the times

Westsideaction

Do our signs inform or amuse travellers to here?  Recall the “joke” about every bridge in Ottawa having the same name: The Pont Bridge. Here is the sign at the entrance to the Elks Opera House in Prescott, Az. At least the villains in the performance were safe from Frontier Justice: You do have to pause a bit at the condition ” unless otherwise authorized…”  Does that apply to any license to carry a concealed or unconcealed weapon?  Would someone unlicensed hand in their gun to the usher like someone might check a coat? But wait, there’s more: here is a sign … Continue reading Signs of the times

LRT, OLRT, Transit, Uncategorized

How to make a train out of a bus

Westsideaction

As home to one of the few extensive bus rapid transit (BRT) networks in North America, we tend to forget what a marvellous system we have. Cities such as New York, which we yearn to emulate for its pedestrianizing activities, and its new bike ways, struggles to get bus lanes on regular streets let alone a bus-only road network such as we have in Ottawa. Our BRT is closer to a rail-transit network than the typical bus-on-streets-in-mixed-traffic that most urban transit systems are still stuck in. Our largely grade-separated transitway makes it frequently faster to take the bus than to drive a car, … Continue reading How to make a train out of a bus

Uncategorized1 Comment

Get paid to ride your bike …

Westsideaction

    I met this cyclist on a pedestrian bridge in Utah. At first what caught my eye  was the number of instruments on his handlebars. Getting closer, the abundance of gear became more visible. Why so many cellphones?   Turns out he worked for AT&T. His job was to cycle through the city according to a map, stopping every 100′ to take readings as to cell phone signal strength. Was the download speed what was promised and what customers’ expected?   In the back panier was a battery and stuff to power his phones. It had enough power to … Continue reading Get paid to ride your bike …

Bayview-Carling CDP, bike path, City Centre, condos, cycling in Ottawa, design, infill, intensificatioin, O-Train, somerset street15 Comments

Lonely house on the parking lot

Westsideaction

The area along the O-Train corridor has undergone lots of changes from its original industrial beginnings. Occasionally, an old building survives. Notice that it has a real slate roof, there are few houses or buildings left in our neighborhood with slate roofs. In this case, it probably was to provide additional fire proofing from the sparks that flew out of the many steam engines in the area. David Jeanes tells me this may have been the home of Ottawa Stair Works. Probably built right after the Great Fire in 1902, the building then faced Somerset Street which was not yet elevated up on the … Continue reading Lonely house on the parking lot

design, intensificatioin, Uncategorized3 Comments

Over arching concern

Westsideaction

As land values increase and it becomes more urgent to maximize development potential. This necessarily causes architects and developers to focus on the space above driveways. The result has been a spate of “carriageways” or porticos. Sometimes these are on large buildings, such as Claridge has built on the Flats and is proposing for the project at Richmond/Kirkwood. Recall too that Ashcroft is proposing two pedestrian porticos from Richmond into the Our Lady of the Condos site. Here is a simple driveway entering a tiny courtyard with six or so garages. The “flatiron” rooms above it are interesting. It is … Continue reading Over arching concern

bike path, cycling in Ottawa, pedestrians, streetscaping8 Comments

Signs of the times

Westsideaction

  The City ascribes geographic omniscience as a characteristic of cyclists. How else could one explain the total lack of street signs or directional signs along the City’s multi-user paths (usually called “bike paths”). In contrast, vehicular motorists are considered by the City to be geographical ignoramuses. How else could one explain the provision of street signs on every corner of every street, no matter how minor the street or how few places (if any) there are on the street? Sarcasm aside, there should be street signs along pedestrian and cycling paths. They should be installed using similar criteria to regular street signs, ie at every … Continue reading Signs of the times