Mobility is a human right. I think about this when I walk or bike through our city. I certainly thought about this a lot this morning, when I joined one of our residents to do errands via ParaTranspo and experienced some of her daily frustrations at delays.
Zoning has always been political. It protects and regulates our city, helping to ensure that we build complete, safe communities. But the decisions about what a city builds, who gets to live there and what amenities are allowed to develop nearby have often been made to exclude, rather than include.
Imagine living in your apartment for decades, faithfully maintaining your home and paying your rent on time. And then out of nowhere, you get an eviction notice from your landlord, claiming that they need to do extensive renovations and that you must vacate the premises.
“You can't rely on bringing people downtown, you have to put them there.” That is a quote from the great Jane Jacobs from her seminal work, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. I have been reflecting on that statement a lot lately, as we work to revitalize Ottawa’s downtown core in the face of post-COVID workforce changes.
Last week we hosted a virtual meeting with neighbours to discuss policy initiatives our office has worked on since our community safety meeting last summer and introduced neighbours to service providers from Belong Ottawa, Centre 507 and the Centretown Community Health Centre. These are the slides from our presentation during the meeting.
In the waning days of the convoy occupation in Centretown, a sign that got popular at counter-demonstrations included the cheeky slogan: “Make Ottawa Boring Again.” Soon after, a local resident had the expression printed on t-shirts, with proceeds going to Minwashin Lodge, Cornerstone Housing for Women and the Canadian Hate Network.
Happy International Women’s Day! The theme this year is Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress. It is a good opportunity for us to look back on everything we have gained and where the struggle for equality continues.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
The issue of how to promote development that benefits the entire community is a thorny one. On one hand, we are in the midst of a housing crisis, and we don’t have nearly as many homes as we need for a city that is growing.
Well, winter is undeniably here. The cold snap has been great for winter sports, including skating on the Rideau Canal (while it lasted!), but my thoughts always turn to people experiencing homelessness in this weather. City staff have been working around the clock to ensure that no one must sleep outdoors in the frigid cold. I have been supporting this work as a member of the Emergency Shelter Crisis Taskforce.
Happy New Year! I hope you were able to get some downtime and the ability to connect with friends and loved ones over the last couple of weeks. I am back from a family trip and gearing up for a busy few weeks at City Hall and in the community. While things have been relatively quiet since I last wrote to you, I wanted to update you on a few key issues.
I was surprised and frustrated to learn that by-law had begun issuing tickets for the use of megaphones during the Palestine solidarity rallies that have been happening weekly downtown. I have attended many other authorized and unauthorized rallies, virtually all of which used megaphones.