design, Lisgar Street, parking6 Comments

Mispriced parking

Westsideaction

  The City continues to devote enormous sums of money every year to providing free parking spaces for motorists to store their cars. Public rights of way are a limited commodity, yet the City insists that the highest and best use for these rights of way is not for street trees, wide sidewalks, or other “people” and environment benefits. The above photo is taken on Lisgar, looking west. The intersection in the distance is Bay Street. Note that all the parking spaces in the foreground are empty, at 10am on a weekday morning. The City charges for parking here, as it is … Continue reading Mispriced parking

Uncategorized5 Comments

Sex on the West Side

Westsideaction

There isn’t a photo in today’s post. It’s all text. Sorry. I was part of a long conversation on the weekend past, dealing with the potential ramifications of the recent Court decision regarding prostitution. Recall that prostitution per se is legal; however, communicating for those purposes is not. If the laws are struck down, if new ones are required, what should we do? Note that these opinions below come from a reaction to changing circumstances and are not that I am advocating for change. Prostitution is complex, I favour controlling/regulating it to avoid nuisance to others. While these points are not strictly … Continue reading Sex on the West Side

Uncategorized2 Comments

Electoral miscellany

Westsideaction

I made a post earlier in the civic elections about a candidate’s election platform that I thought was relevant to this readership. It promptly generated “comments” that seemed to me to be less than genuine, and more like spin. I notice the same thing for the Citizen commentary, which has been quite on the mark and perceptive, particularly David Reevely’s Greater Ottawa posts (don’t read this as being I agree with all of his views). The “comment” responses to his posts have the same “spin” tone to them. It’s a game I don’t really want to play. After the election, I might … Continue reading Electoral miscellany

sidewalks, streetscaping, Uncategorized

Acts of faith

Westsideaction

  Some neighbors got together to plant bulbs along Preston. The 200 daffodils and 200 tulips were bought by the Preston BIA and the buying/planting delegated to the Dalhousie Community Assoc. The Somerset Chinatown BIA also bought bulbs to refresh the flower beds along Somerset near Empress. These will be planted in the next week or so. About seven beds were planted along Preston Street. We chose areas with new, smaller shrubs where the soil would be easy to dig up. The bulbs should bloom before the shrubs leaf out. We don’t know if the bigger shrubs will block out too much light for the … Continue reading Acts of faith

pedestrians, sidewalks, streetscaping2 Comments

Posterior sight

Westsideaction

  Getting our traditional mainstreets rebuilt into a more pedestrian and neighborhood friendly format has been a long but ultimately rewarding task. It took eternal vigilance to fight off the naysayers, the city minions who thought facilitating rush hour commuter traffic was the ultimate city goal, those  residents and business people who felt that the highest duty of the city was to provide free storage for private cars … but there were many delightful moments too, and significant victories, and the fine quality of the finished streets is a tribute to all the hard work, coöperation, and trade-offs made over the years. The progress … Continue reading Posterior sight

hintonburg, parks, west wellington

Slow Miracles worked here

Westsideaction

  I last posted about St Francoise d’Assise school in August, showing the new playstructures installed but lacking finishing details to permit the kids to play on them. I figured they would be open by time school opened … or shortly thereafter … but a recent cycling trip detour to see the finished structures revealed them in virtually the same condition as August. Are contractors waiting until Dec 31st? In delightful contrast, two small enclosed playyards are open right beside the daycare LeCarrefour. They are surfaced in a soft material that cushions falls, drains well, and reduces the tonnage of sand dragged into the school in shoes, … Continue reading Slow Miracles worked here