Hi neighbour,
I hope you are enjoying the sunshine today. Thank you to all of you who have already sent letters to Premier Ford and to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark, to demand that Ottawa get the funding we need to fight (and eventually solve) chronic homelessness. This is a rare situation where the Mayor, city council and the community sector are aligned. We all agree that #OttawaNeedsMore.
Hi neighbour,
I hope you are enjoying the sunshine today. Thank you to all of you who have already sent letters to Premier Ford and to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark, to demand that Ottawa get the funding we need to fight (and eventually solve) chronic homelessness. This is a rare situation where the Mayor, city council and the community sector are aligned. We all agree that #OttawaNeedsMore.
There are lots of opportunities to have your voice heard on city policy right now, including the OC Transpo route review, Ottawa’s wildlife strategy, and Lansdowne 2.0. When citizens participate in these processes, we build a more equitable and vibrant city for everyone.
I am looking forward to next week, when the Planning and Housing Committee will hear from Carolyn Whitzman about a new report that she is releasing with the Alliance to End Homelessness on how Ottawa can scale-up non-profit housing on public land. Brigitte Pellerin gives us a preview in today’s Ottawa Citizen, and I suggest you give it a read.
Hope you have a restful weekend and get a chance to enjoy the weather!
Warmly,
Ariel
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#OttawaNeedsMore
This week, Ottawa found out that we will be receiving a mere $845,000 increase to our provincial homelessness funding, or just 0.4% of the province’s budget commitment of $202 million dollars. Toronto will be receiving 60 times as much increased funding as Ottawa. Yet, we are the second largest city in Ontario. More than 2,000 people stay in an emergency shelter in Ottawa every night. Our family shelter system is more than 350% over capacity and we now have a waiting list to access emergency shelter, let alone housing.
Council Approves the Transportation Master Plan
This week Council approved part one of the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) which includes the policies that will guide decision making on Ottawa’s transportation network over the next two decades. These new policies will address growth, climate change, road safety and complete streets.
You can learn more about the new TMP here.
Open office hours: today from 2-4 pm
Join Councillor Troster today from 2pm- 4pm for open office hours at Drip House (692 Somerset West)! Come and chat about what you want to see in the neighbourhood, issues you've noticed and all things Somerset Ward!
Synapcity: Navigating Our City
Join Councillor Troster this Sunday April 30th from 12 noon to 5pm at Nepean’s Benjamin Franklin Place for Synapcity’s civic education event, Navigating Our City. During the event, citizens will learn how to navigate our civic infrastructure, understand organizations working in the city, and ultimately create positive change in their communities. The event will feature organizations and individuals working hard to create in the city and will end with a panel of City Councilors from across the city. The event will be filmed as part of a new TV Ontario docuseries based on Dave Meslin’s book, Teardown: Rebuilding Democracy From the Ground Up.
Register now to hold your spot!
Ottawa Indie Bookstore Crawl
The Ottawa Indie Bookstore Crawl, a three-day event supporting Ottawa’s independent book retailers is starting today and going until April 30th at 5:00pm. Ottawa’s book lover community can collect stamps when they visit Ottawa’s six independent bookstores. After collecting a stamp from each shop, one lucky winner will win $150 to spend at Ottawa’s indie bookstores!
More information about the event can be found here.
Have your say on OC Transpo routes
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been significant changes to how often and how many customers use transit. Considering this, and the upcoming opening of Stage 2 O-Train extensions, there is a need to review the transit planning principles that are used to shape the bus route network. These principles are things like how far you walk to get to a bus stop, how frequently the bus runs, and the maximum number of people on the bus. Once this review is complete, OC Transpo will have an updated service planning framework. This will guide potential changes to the bus route network in 2024, and beyond, that may be considered in light of changing travel patterns and O-Train expansion.
Garbage disposal reminders for move-out weekend
Move-out weekend for Carleton University and University of Ottawa students is coming up! This can often bring questions about proper waste disposal.
If you’re a tenant who is moving out, please remember that garbage is collected bi-weekly.
Check the online collection calendar at Ottawa.ca/Collection for your pick up day and talk to your landlord to know where to place large furniture for disposal.
Keep items in good condition out of the landfill by giving it away or swapping it for something new. Visit Ottawa.ca/WasteReduction for a list of organizations or search the Waste Explorer to find retailers near you who accept the items.
Wildlife Strategy Review
Human-coyote interactions in urban and suburban settings have continued and now have a higher profile than in 2013. Given that the Wildlife Strategy has not been fully implemented and has been in place for a decade, the City is reviewing the strategy while specifically examining options to address issues with coyotes. The recommended review would determine whether updates or other changes are required to the Wildlife Strategy.
Residents are invited to review the existing Wildlife Strategy and provide feedback on its recommendations and implementation. The public is also asked to complete a short survey to help provide insight on the City’s current Wildlife practices. The survey will remain open until June 30, 2023.
Lansdowne 2.0
The Lansdowne 2.0 project team has developed a robust engagement strategy to ensure that the public gets the chance to voice their ideas, input, and perspectives on the project.
The consultation will last several months and is going to include a series of online and in-person surveys, a newsletter, community consultation workshops, business consultation workshops, as well as a number of pop-up engagement activities. These will provide residents and businesses with the opportunity to learn more about the project, ask questions, and provide feedback.
The first opportunity is the Concept Plan survey for the Lansdowne 2.0 project. The survey is an important step in the public engagement process and residents are encouraged to provide feedback on the project's concept plans.
You know what they say, there are two seasons in Canada: winter and construction. And just as all the snow is finally drying up, you can expect to see cranes, diggers and other heavy equipment all over Centretown. Living through construction can be enormously frustrating, but the benefits of major infrastructure investments in the downtown core will improve our quality of life for generations.
I have been hearing a lot from people in Chinatown, who are very concerned about a dramatic increase in public drug use over the last two weeks. Two issues have really created a perfect storm – one where the cause and the solution are entirely in the hands of the provincial government.
To the OCDSB Board of Trustees:
As you can imagine, I have heard from many parents and members of Centretown school communities on the impact that the proposed new elementary boundaries would have on their families. This is not a matter of municipal jurisdiction, and I respect that both OCDSB staff and trustees must make difficult and often unpopular decisions.
I am also aware that this is all happening in a climate of austerity, where decades of underfunding have left our school communities in increasingly precarious positions, limiting the ability to substantially respond to many of the challenges we see in our schools.
I would be curious to know why the board has chosen to only hold in-person consultations outside of the urban core, given the profound impacts that the school boundary proposal has on urban families, as well as the board’s expansive portfolio of available spaces within downtown Ottawa.
While I have heard from community members on a range of issues, and profoundly empathize with the challenges that this review poses for their families, I’ll confine my comments to issues that intersect with my position as a city councillor representing Somerset Ward.
The key theme I’ve heard about from families is about the walk to school. One of the things that brought me to Centretown years ago was the idea that my child would be able to get to school on foot or on a bicycle. In my time as a councillor, I’ve worked with families at Devonshire who loved that their kids could walk an easy 400m to school, but wanted to make sure all students were safe as possible crossing Preston and Somerset. We were able to secure a crossing guard for this intersection, but it took a long time.
The reality is that the Ottawa Safety Council simply will not have the resources to meet the need for crossing guards at the many major intersections that children in my neighbourhood are being directed to cross. I’m especially concerned about the traffic safety concerns that children who are being redistricted to Mutchmor from Devonshire will see, having to cross Preston, Carling, and Bronson.
I’m hearing from parents that the new route is something they would not feel comfortable sending their school-age children to walk or bike since it crosses three major streets. While Carling and Bronson will eventually be re-constructed by the city, we’re still years away from these projects being designed, funded, and built. Moving them up the list would still leave us years away from the kind of structural safety improvements that would make the kind of changes that would make parents feel safer sending their kids to school on foot.
Our Official Plan and our Transportation Master Plan support the expansion of active modes of transportation, including walking and biking. I have heard from many parents who love that Devonshire provides them with the opportunity to foster their child’s independence by sending them to bike or walk to school, either on their own or as part of a bike bus.
I’m very concerned that the impacts of this review in Ward 14 would put more kids on school buses or in cars, not fewer. This would seem to run counter to the boundary review’s stated goals—to mitigate socioeconomic disparity across schools, to keep kids in their communities and to bring high quality French and English education to every neighbourhood.
Regardless of the choices that trustees take, I want to be sure that the concerns in my community are fairly accounted for in the review and we that can reach a consensus. It seems that MPP Catherine McKenney’s request that the boundary for Devonshire be moved from the LRT to Preston Street may help mitigate many of the transportation safety-related concerns that we have both been hearing about.
I would be pleased to discuss any of the feedback I’ve received and wish you luck as you continue to tackle this incredibly challenging issue.
Sincerely,
Ariel Troster
Councillor, Somerset Ward