Somerset Ward mailer volume 8: Protecting indie music promoters and upcoming community events

Dear neighbour,

I hope you are as thrilled about the sunshine as I am. It has been so great to cycle to work at City Hall every day and see the number of people on bikes increase exponentially.

Festival season is well underway – last Friday I was at Lebreton Flats to help officially launch the Ottawa Children’s Festival. And earlier in the week, I was at the NAC for the official kickoff to Italian Week, which will take place on Preston Street in June. Right now is peak flower season and expect the area near Dow’s Lake and along the canal pathways to be packed with Tulip Fest visitors. It is such a pleasure to see the city come alive in this way.

Dear neighbour,

I hope you are as thrilled about the sunshine as I am. It has been so great to cycle to work at City Hall every day and see the number of people on bikes increase exponentially.

Festival season is well underway – last Friday I was at Lebreton Flats to help officially launch the Ottawa Children’s Festival. And earlier in the week, I was at the NAC for the official kickoff to Italian Week, which will take place on Preston Street in June. Right now is peak flower season and expect the area near Dow’s Lake and along the canal pathways to be packed with Tulip Fest visitors. It is such a pleasure to see the city come alive in this way.

At last Wednesday’s City Council meeting, we had a few contentious conversations. One was about the timeline for implementing the High Performance Development Standard – a series of environmentally sound building regulations that will have a significant impact on mitigating climate change and improving construction standards. Did you know that full 45% of Ottawa’s emissions come from buildings?

Unfortunately, Council opted to pause implementing these new standards, in an effort to harmonize our own policies with new legislation we are expecting to come down from the provincial government. I hope that this will not cause too much of a delay.

The climate crisis can’t wait any longer for us to get serious about reducing GHG emissions. And better built homes save owners and renters serious money. The new Ottawa Community Housing building on Gladstone is net zero and tenants only pay $15 a year in energy costs. (Yes, you read that right.)

Another big issue that we discussed at Wednesday’s council meeting is the city’s new Nightlife Economy Action Plan, which passed unanimously. I introduced an amending motion (which passed unanimously) to add specific recognition of and support for Ottawa’s independent music promoters and performers. We have lost so many small music venues in our city over the last few years, and I wanted to ensure that up-and-coming musicians will get a chance to benefit from any investment in our nighttime arts and entertainment scene.

I have been receiving your emails with concerns about the city’s proposed new garbage bag tag system. We are collecting all of your questions and will get answers from city staff. The proposal doesn’t go to the Environment Committee till next month and then it will have to rise to Council. Our office is determined to ensure that your voices are heard, and your questions are answered before the city makes a final decision on this issue.

Hope you can enjoy the gorgeous weather this week and I hope to see you out in the community.

Warmly,

Ariel

—-

First Baptist Church plant sale

Calling all plant lovers! First Baptist Church (140 Laurier Avenue West) will be hosting a plant sale on Saturday, June 3rd from 10am to 12pm to benefit local refugee support.

A better Lansdowne

Over the next two months, there will be a lot happening with the proposed Lansdowne 2.0 re-development. Lansdowne 2.0 proposes to build three skyscrapers and additional retail space in order to raise funds to build a new event centre, re-build the north side stands and make some changes to the public realm in the park.

There are serious concerns about the proposal, and we do not think city council should approve it, as is. However, if we make some improvements to the proposal—including enhanced public realm improvements; preservation of greenspace; thoughtful and respectful development; a proper transportation plan; and deeply affordable housing—we can move toward the original goal for the Lansdowne Park redevelopment: a thriving, urban village.

With that in mind, Councillor Shawn Menard has launched a new website: A Better Lansdowne. There, you can learn about the Lansdowne 2.0 proposal, our five improvements for the plan and some background information on the Lansdowne P3 deal.

Sign the petition for a better Lansdowne 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.  

Complete the survey today!

Minto Park sale

It’s that time of year! We’re excited to announce that this year’s Minto Park Sale will be held on June 10, from 9am to 3pm at Minto Park. The sale is a beloved Centretown tradition, and we’re pleased to bring it back for this year. The annual no yard, yard sale is a great opportunity to bring out all your odds and sods and see if they can find new life with another neighbour.   

To fill out a request for a table, please fill out the form below. If you have difficulty filling out the form, or are unable to do so, please reach out to us at [email protected] . Please note that tables will be booked on a first come first serve basis. FILLING OUT THE FORM DOES NOT GUARANTEE A TABLE SPACE – you will receive a follow up email with more information, and to confirm your space. If there is sufficient interest, we will open up a wait list.

You can find more info, RSVP and register for a table here.

Ottawa Health Coalition: Public Hospital Vote

The Ottawa Health Coalition is organizing a public referendum – a community opinion vote – to ask people to express their wishes on the plan to privatize our public hospitals’ core services. Our communities have spent a hundred years fundraising and volunteering to support our local public hospitals and build services closer to home. Now the Ford government is planning to take thousands of surgeries and diagnostic tests out of our local public hospitals and privatize them to for-profit hospitals and clinics. We don't need to privatize. Operating rooms in our public hospitals are closed evenings, weekends - sometimes even permanently - due to underfunding. For-profit privatization is a fatal threat to our cherished system of Canadian public health care for all and is more expensive. We believe we can stop this if we work together.

We believe many people support our public hospitals, so we will be asking: Do you want our public hospital services to be privatized to for-profit hospitals and clinics? Yes or No

The referendum will be held in community voting stations across the province on Friday May 26 and Saturday May 27, staffed by volunteers. We will also be organizing workplace votes and roving ballot box votes in as many places as possible throughout the month of May. In early May, people will have the opportunity to vote online at www.publichospitalvote.ca

More information is available at www.publichospitalvote.ca and www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca

Please reach out to [email protected] and help us defend our public medicare system.

Latest posts

Construction season begins, zoning bylaw updates, new tree program, culture plan review, and more!

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.

Concerns in Chinatown, Centretown Drain Heroes, school boundary changes, and more!

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. 

Open Letter to the OCDSB Board of Trustees in re: Elementary Program Review

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

Share this post

Take action

Sign up for our Newsletter
Contact our Office
Upcoming Events
Contact 311