A Tale of Two Consultations

The City of Ottawa has embarked on two different paths for consulting with the public for the future of Ottawa.

The first path has been in the works for the past four years as the City has embarked on a new CDP for Centretown.  The Centretown Citizen’s Community Association, Heritage Ottawa and the CCOC have been on this since day one.  On the other side of the coin has been the developers who also have a vested interest in what the future of Centretown will look like and what can indeed be built and where it can be built.  Now this is a very strange coin as it has three sides – the 3^rd side is the City, what is it they want to see happen in the downtown core?

The Planning Committee will be tabling the Final Draft of the Centretown Community Design Plan on March 26^th.  Earlier in February the City revealed what is to be the CDP that will define Centretown to the CCCA, the CCOC, developers and other interested parties. What happened at the ‘reveal’ was very interesting.   It was clear from this meeting that the three sides of this discussion would not be able to agree on what the final outcome would look like.  In fact I can say that the only agreement in the room was that the City got what it wanted leaving everyone else to throw up their arms and say “what the heck did we just spend the last four years working on?”  The comments I made on behalf of the CCCA are found here as posted on the Centretown news website, http://www.centretownnews.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3694&Itemid=94.  Whether this outcome is the initiative needed for the community and developers to work together to change the CDP  is yet to be seen – but they start with one common reaction of disbelief and dumfoundedness.

The second path is for Liveable Ottawa, planning the entire city well into the next 20 years.  On first glance this consultation seems to be achieving what it wants.  Thousands of online surveys have been completed and over 200 people participated in a consultative process ranging on a wide scope of topics. The public consultation was very well organized and it kept to the timetable that was promised – a very good start to this process.

I have had my concerns about the representation of urban Ottawa on the Community Panel for a Liveable Ottawa, and it seems that others in the core have as well.  About half of the attendees represented the urban centres of the city; they came to have their ‘urban’ concerns heard.  Rural and suburban residents split the other half taking part.  In this process what surprised me is that urbanites are not that different in what they want to see Ottawa become.  And I think the rural residents felt comforted by comments from urbanites who feel that rural Ottawa has a character of its own that should be protected.

What happens to either consultation is yet to be seen. The Centretown CDP will be hard fought for by the community and developers against a city plan that did not take into consideration any suggestions from either side.  The whole city will have to wait until the city releases the preliminary report based on comments and surveys submitted for what a Liveable Ottawa cold look like.  From my observations, it does not look like the City will be able to ignore or sidestep what the citizens of this City are saying.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker, on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97 and at www.robertdekker.ca.  Please follow me and send me your thoughts on this and other posts to rob@robertdekker.ca.

Hope and Opportunity Pt. 2 The City of Ottawa Edition

Welcome to Hope and Opportunity Part 2, the City of Ottawa edition

The City of Ottawa filled a huge chunk of ‘hope’ this week with the announcement of the consortium that will build the Ottawa LRT, now being dubbed the ‘Confederation Line’.  The $2.13B project is now full speed ahead to 2017 when construction will be completed and 2018 when the trains will start running.  This certainly has been a long time coming, especially since the cancellation of the North-South line as part of the 2006 municipal campaign of Larry O’Brien.  What has come out of that is a vibrant LRT plan with Phase I putting down tracks from Lebreton to Blair that will move commuters faster than they have moved before.   Most of the construction will take place from 2015- 2017, the start of construction is at the yards where the trains will be put together and later maintained.  With any cost overruns on the shoulders of the consortium, you can bet that finishing early might also mean a reward.  The possibility of trains running for Canada’s 150^th has been down played by the Mayor but I have a hunch that we could see Mayor Watson in 2017 (as he ends his 2^nd term as Mayor?) celebrating an early and on budget LRT running through Ottawa on Canada Day.

Earlier this week I tweeted whether the running of LRT in Ottawa or the Ottawa Round table on Green House Gases (GHG) will come first.  The responses I received all considered the LRT the safe bet.  So here lays Ottawa’s opportunity – I am just not sure if the city wants to embrace it.

Professionally I have been involved with RFP’s for contracts in cities in Canada where a GHG Analysis is part of the RFP process.  The GHG Analysis forces companies to examine the GHG effect that the proposals have on the environment and climate change. Looking into whether the City of Ottawa requires this I found no evidence of it.  In the Plasco waste-to-energy plant, there is no word on the GHG effect this project would have.  I know that if there was an analysis done and the result came out negative (and this is good) you can bet this would have been mentioned.

Back to the Ottawa GHG Roundtable, here is some background on this.  The Ottawa Air Quality and Climate Change Management Plan is ending in 2012, only a few days away.  There is no plan to replace it.  Earlier this year a GHG Round table was proposed to take place before the end of the year.  The Chair of the City’s Environment Committee, Councillor McRae has been quoted as saying on the issue “we will provide information in due course”.   Our Mayor has not provided any evidence either that he would like to see this Round table as a priority.

There is set to be a construction boom with LRT, condos and other development projects that will spring from the LRT, it is time to have our city lead the nation on GHG analysis and green construction initiatives.  The start to this is a GHG Round table and recognition from the Mayor, Councillor McRae and the rest of City Council that this is important and action is needed.

You can help and add your voice to the #ottghg message by visiting http://ecologyottawa.nationbuilder.com/ghg_concerned_citizens and let @jimwatsonottawa and @councillormcrae along with your own councillor know through twitter and by calling their offices you would like a GHG Round table.

This is one opportunity that cannot slip through our hands.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97. Please follow me and send your thoughts on this and other postings.

Gone? Not Really…

I cannot say I was surprised by the announcement by Premier McGuinty to resign last night.  When I saw the first tweet from Toronto Star Queens Park reporter Robert Benzie just after 6pm I knew the end was only a few minutes away.  Nor am I surprised that Queens Park will be prorogued, you see McGuinty doesn’t really want to leave.  So now he is gone, but not really…

This move makes it easier for him to stay and work without having to report to anyone.  He will not report to the Opposition MPP’s because Queens Park will remain dark until who knows when.  McGuinty will not have to report to the voters of Ontario because by the time there is another election he’ll be gone (for real).

The moves last night are merely another way that the Ontario Liberal Party will control the message and the Parliament of Ontario.  With QP closed for business the government will no longer be held to task for the Gas Plant closure, ORNGE, eHealth, the deficit and lack of Job Creation plans.  For the present time, no longer will the government have to face any consequences for their actions.

Hopes that the Lt-Gov. of Ontario will deny the prorogation are slim.  Both the PC Party of Ontario and the Ontario NDP have asked for the legislature to remain sitting to deal with the important issues facing this government and Ontarians.  The move made last night was a selfish move on the part of the Ontario Liberal Party to remain in power and continue to control the message and the direction of the government.  I am not sure they noticed, but the direction they have been taking Ontario is not the right path for a prosperous Ontario.

In Ottawa Centre and across this province the message will be of a better, growing and healing Ontario under a Tim Hudak PC Government.  Whether it comes tomorrow, two months or in 6 months, I and all my PC Party Colleagues will continue to bring to voters the PC Party Paths of Prosperity.  So while as long as Dalton McGuinty remains at the helm of Ontario for at least another 5 months Ontario remains at the mercy of the waste of billions of tax dollars that this government has orchestrated.

I am looking forward to continuing to knock on doors in Ottawa Centre and bring a message that “Yes, Ontario can lead again”.  Step 1 has been taken by the Premier, Step 2 will come, but not until the Ontario Liberal Party feels they are truly ready to face voters of Ontario.

But alas, Ontario will not truly be ready to be a leader in Canada until McGuinty is REALLY gone as is the Liberal Party of Ontario as the governing party.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97
. Please follow me and send your thoughts on this and other postings.

If we had waited they still will have come to build

A few years ago the City of Ottawa embarked on the Mid-Centretown Design Plan which morphed into the Centretown Design Plan (CDP).  The CDP is now going to the Planning Committee for approval this fall, perhaps as early as September.  The City has been working with the Centretown community, the Centretown Citizens Community Association (CCCA), individual residents and the developers to create what they hope will be a strong guiding document for the future planning of Centretown.  The CCCA itself has been working on the CDP for over two and half years.

There was a period of time when the City of Ottawa waived development fees in hopes that it would draw developers’ downtown, and did it ever!  There was a flurry of applications to the City before the window closed on the waiver of development fees.  Since August 1^st 2011 the City has reinstated Development fees for approved site plans, the good news is that the City’s new fee structure has not dampened the developers’ interest in putting up new buildings in Centretown.

However during the months leading up to the reinstatement of development fees the City was working in two parallel worlds, one where there were outdated Planning Act Zoning by-laws and another where they were dreaming of the best way to design a downtown community. But while there were two Cities of Ottawa, the developers only concerned themselves with what they could do in the old world of planning.  Community groups were hard at work trying to surf through the hundreds of pages of the proposed CDP and then the DRAFT CDP ensuring the document would be fair for everyone – developers AND residents.

Looking back, the City was trying to have it both ways, talking up the CDP, perhaps hoping developers would embrace it and design to the future (but not enforceable) guidelines.  Recent Planning Committee decisions refer to the CDP, however the decision to grant an application was based on guidelines the City was trying to replace.

Now, back to the opening paragraph where I mention the work towards a CDP is now close to 30 months.  I know the City wants to get it right; they want to make sure they have the ‘perfect’ planning document for Centretown, but 30 months?  So I have a thought, how long do you think it would have taken IF the City froze all applications for Centretown UNTIL it had a Centretown Design Plan approved and in place following August 1 2011?  Not 30 months that is for sure.  In fact I am pretty sure that we would have been long down the Centretown Design Plan road and probably avoided a few costly appeals to the OMB.

While this idea is too late for Centretown, there will be other Design Plans for the Planning Committee to consider in Ottawa that would benefit from a delay in applications if only to speed up the Design Plan process and have the right plan in place sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer: The CCCA has filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board over the City of Ottawa’s approval of an application by Claridge for 96 Nepean.  I am Co-Chair of the CCCA Planning Development Review Committee and Chair the working Committee for our OMB Appeal.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97. Please follow me and send your thoughts on this and other postings.

Developer wants; Community wishes; and Political Will

 

Within one week there were two meetings about the future of future development in Ottawa and Centretown.  A “Tall Buildings Summit” was organized by Ottawa DNA (Twitter: @OttawaDNA web:  www.ottawadna.ca) This meeting had developer input with Neil Mahotra of Claridge Homes and Alex Munter presenting a ‘healthy’ city point of view.  It was an interesting meeting and when talking about Tall buildings the popular view was that they have to be done right in order to have the positive effect they are meant to have.

On Wednesday night (May 30 2012) the community lent its collective ear and listened when the Centretown Citizens Community Association (CCCA) hosted a public meeting on the Centretown Community Design Plan (CDP).

There was a distinct interest in the topic as over 150 people attended the meeting at the McNabb Community Centre; a few were turned away as the room had reached its capacity.

The meeting, organized by members of the CCCA Planning Development Review committee brought in CDP consultants George Dark and Eric Turcotte, Graeme Hussey of the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, Nancy Oakley from Heritage Ottawa, Brian Bourns and the CCCA’s Judy Forrest to speak about the CDP and their perspectives on the plan.  Some City staff was in attendance as was Somerset Ward Councillor Diane Holmes.  Of the 150 about one-third had been involved in previous CDP meetings, clearly this meeting was of interest to many following the advertising done by the CCCA but also by a CDP issue of the “Centretown Buzz:” at the beginning of May. The articles are found at http://www.centretownbuzz.com/.

Brian Bourns started the evening with a historical viewpoint and the original Centretown Plan from the 1970’s.  This was followed by a detailed presentation from George Dark.  Judy Forrest presented the CCCA’s three main concerns (after stating what was supported in the CDP):

1. Drastic change in height of buildings
2. Heavy emphasis on mixed use buildings with 50% mixed use too high
3. Secondary Main Streets

Two presentations from Graeme Hussey and Nancy Oakley were followed by a very respectful question and answer for the panellists.

A few developers were spotted in the audience; they did not speak or ask any questions.

What really impressed me the most was the way the questions were asked and the comments that were made leading to the questions.  There was an understanding of the CDP by the community members.  The questions ranged from Greenspace to Green  Roofs, the OMB and current buildings that are either under construction or at planning committee.

I got the impression that like the OttawaDNA meeting, the residents were not against tall buildings and development the residents just want it to be done right.  Examples of the Tribeca building bordered by Lisgar/Metcalfe and Nepean and the proposed 68 Cooper Street were held up as buildings  that have negative effects.  Regarding the Tribeca building there are infrastructural issues (and being investigated) being faced by surrounding existing structures. AS proposed 18 story building at 68 Cooper plans have no set back or green space and in drawings provided by the builder show a neighbouring buildings’ green space as its own. Little or no visitor parking planned for 68 Cooper will have effects through the neighbouring streets.

Clearly there is concern from the community that developers will not abide by the CDP.  The crowd challenged the political will of City Council to abide by the CDP and listen to the concerns of the residents whether the Councillor represents voters outside the downtown and urban centres.

The CDP is planned to go to the Planning Committee in the fall followed by a full vote at City Council.  Comments are being accepted by the City through the summer

There are few links to read more about the CDP:

http://midcentretown.wordpress.com/

http://www.ottawa.ca/en/city_hall/planningprojectsreports/public_consult/mid_centretown_cdp/index.html

Via Twitter you can read about the two meetings by searching the #Ottdna and #CCCAcdp hashtags for the twitter conversations that took place those evenings.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97. Please follow me and send your thoughts on this and other postings.

Brian McGarry: A Life in Caring, Loving and Death

The Ottawa Citizen in a preview of Brian McGarry’s new book entitled “From Paupers to Prime Ministers: a Life in Death” suggested that the most interesting chapter was the 6th entitled “Quirky Stories”.  While the stories were certainly quirky and fun to read, I would recommend that when reading Brian’s book you start with Chapter 11, “Looking Back”.  It is there that by reading this chapter and then skipping back to the start you understand why and who Brian McGarry is and the importance he has in Ottawa.  Starting at the end with an understanding of why Brian is the type of person he is allows you as you read the book to enjoy the stories, anecdotes and personal trials that he shares from the 1^st Chapter right through to the end.

The stories of his family, work and business are told in a personal home style that is as if Brian is telling you the story and you are there listening with great fascination.  You get a sense of how busy a life Brian has had just working with Charles Hulse and Keith Playfair to make Hulse, Playfair and McGarry what is it today while fending off the corporate funeral homes.   It is hard to see where the time was found to raise two families, give so much to the community and also be a successful municipal politician.

“From Paupers to Prime Ministers” is a tale of a changing National Capital Region, how being home to our Prime Ministers in life, in power and in death shapes Ottawa and the leaders in it.  The stories at times seem farfetched, but Brian tells the stories with his local charm and humility.  Even in written form, Brian does not dishonour anyone that has caused him any pain or financial hardships.  He keeps some names and identities private as if still after all these years that have passed Brian maintains a calm decorum that allows us to know what he has fought against, but that we don’t really need to know their real identity.  That being said I would still really like to know who ‘Tricky Dicky’ is!

The book comes in a set of two volumes, the first is the story and the second is the photo album that works as a great pictorial edition of his life and work in Ottawa along with that of the Hulse, Playfair and McGarry Funeral home.  The photo album has wonderful photos of the State funerals from William Lyon Mackenzie King (1950) to Jack Layton (2011).  It also traces McGarry’s life from his childhood to the present as a leader in our community.

The book gives a glimpse into the life of a man that has given so much to Ottawa and continues to do so today.  Those purchasing the book are asked to also contribute to the Queensway Carleton Hospital ‘care grows west’ campaign.  At the book launch, all the proceeds from the sale of the book went directly to the hospital.

“From Paupers to Prime Ministers” is now available in book stores across Ottawa and online.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97. Please follow me and send your thoughts on this and other postings

 

Black, White and Read all over

I am trying to find out who has been putting my newspaper on a diet.

I LOVE to read the newspaper; maybe it stems from my days as a 12 year old delivering the old Scarborough Mirror with my wagon full and then going collecting for the papers every two weeks.  For those that remember, those collection cards with tear away tabs for weeks paid are now for history – but that is when you got to know your neighbours and when a payment was a click away it was because I punched a hole in a card.

I’m back from my youthful flashback – I do not usually get to read my paper until late at night.  If the headlines scream at me when I get my paper from the front door I’ll take a look at it, but I normally don’t have the luxury of sitting down for 30 minutes to scan the paper before getting the day underway.

Yesterday my Sunday Citizen has 32 pages (including the ads).  The Previous week’s edition had the same and today’s paper has 28 pages.

Are we now past the days where we would spend our Sundays (and Saturday mornings) taking an hour or two read the paper?  Is it tablet in bed instead of the New York Times?  I do have a tablet and use it to read news items found on Twitter or through the apps downloaded, but it doesn’t replace the paper and ink I look forward to reading each day.  I also depend on my computer for access to the news service websites. The tablet merely supplements my daily news fix and usually the apps I download come from papers I don’t get at my front door.  I have a number of friends that are slowly going 100% online or are already there.  I am not sure I am ready to make that leap.

I think that the National Post may have had it right when they did not publish on Mondays through the summer last year; they did maintain an online edition though for the latest news.  Is that where the print business is going?  Reversing a trend where more was key to readership?  Are less printed editions going to save the industry?

I long for the days of having more pictures of events, longer series of investigations.  Today we have links for photos, videos and longer and more detailed investigative stories.  I know they enhance the experience but rarely do I go to the links.  Yesterday gave in and I went online to see photos of the Ottawa Comicon at the CE Centre from Saturday hoping for many photos of attendees dressed up in costume, there were 15 plus one video.

I don’t know what the long term future of the newsprint business looks like, but please don’t deny me my 3 hours on a Saturday or Sunday morning.  To fill my weekend reading I now have to load up on The Ottawa Citizen, the Ottawa Sun, Globe and Mail along with the National Post as I get my fill of the smell of newsprint and ink I so love.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97. Please follow me and send your thoughts on this and other postings.

Paying it Forward

I spent a few days last week with a friend who writes a column for Sun Media, we talked about his editorial calendar and what he does to come up with his topics.  As his column will mostly focus on Ontario politics it is a simple task to come up with his weekly column.  He added though that the columns that give him the biggest satisfaction are the one that recognize those that perform heroic duties or give back to their communities with little expectation or want of payback.

I have written in the past of a generous Ottawa, it is time for a follow up

I recently was profiled by Debby Simms for the work that I am doing in the community and hoping to accomplish through my political affiliations.  Through Debby’s post in her blog found here http://debsimms.com/2012/04/06/the-love-you-take-5-minutes-with-rob-dekker/ I have been able to connect with others that believe as I do in community and political activities.    I believe strongly in the ‘what goes around comes around’ theory and I also that we should celebrate and pay forward those that do terrific work in our cities, communities and neighbourhoods.  In Ontario over 800 Million volunteer hours are completed by 5 million Ontarians annually, equally over 400k full-time positions!

Christine Taylor of Ottawa was recently named as a recipient of one of 18 June Callwood Awards in 2012 to deserving individuals and organizations in Ontario for their volunteerism.

Christine was given the award for her seemingly limitless energy in organizing volunteers in the Ottawa area to completing over 4000 hours of volunteer community work through her Year to give campaign (www.year2give.blogspot.ca) where she, as her Twitter profile (@Year2Give) writes “ My goal is to see what impact one person can have and on how many”.

Another Eastern Ontario recipient of the June Callwood Award for 2012 was William (Bill) Countryman of Prescott.  He has been a volunteer with the local fire department for almost 60 years. As truck captain, he is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days of the year. Added up, Bill has given more than half a million hours towards keeping the people of Prescott safe from fires.

For the entire list click here http://news.ontario.ca/mci/en/2012/04/june-callwood-awards-2012-recipients.html

There are many ways to recognize the contributions of your friends, neighbours and colleagues for the hours they pour into their communities.  In Ontario there are many Honours and Awards presented, they are found here http://www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/english/citizenship/honoursandawards.shtml.  In Ottawa Volunteers and community contributors are recognized through the City of Ottawa Civic Appreciation Awards nominations placed through this link on the City of Ottawa website http://ottawa.ca/en/city_hall/volunteerservices/civic_appreciation/.  For my readers outside of Ottawa or Ontario search for ways you can recognize the work of others in your community.

I hope this inspires you to give time and energy to your community.  In Ottawa, Volunteer Ottawa has a volunteer bank of opportunities found here http://www.volunteerottawa.ca/vo-clean/index.php?/eng/.

If you are searching for that perfect way to recognize a volunteer, it may be a simple as saying “Thank you”.

To Christine, Bill and to everyone that volunteers…”Thank you”.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97. Please follow me and send your thoughts on this and other postings.

The Love you Take: The 5 minutes I spent with Deb Simms

I recently spent a few minutes talking community involvement and politics with Deb Simms, who has a wonderful blog I love to read.

Here is Deb’s blog post following our discussion.
Enjoy the read and make sure you read more of what Deb has written

http://debsimms.com/2012/04/06/the-love-you-take-5-minutes-with-rob-dekker/

2011 Ottawa report card on Homelessness

The 2011 Ottawa Report Card on Homelessness was presented by The Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH) April 3rd at the Ottawa Mission.  It was the first time the report has been delivered in such a setting, and it was very appropriate as the men who rely on the Mission are some of the statistics that make up the report.   The report card has been a fixture for housing providers for the past eight years.  For the 1^st time since the start of the report card the city of Ottawa received an “A” rating for creating 739 affordable housing units last year, the result of  $14 million dollars being pumped in to the Housing and Homelessness investment plan.  The creation of the 700+ units is expected to deliver better results for 2012.  That is where the good news ends.  More people, longer stays and less money cover the remainder of the report card giving the City a D+, F, A and F.    The full report is here: http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/documents/ReportCardOnEndingHomelessnessInOttawaJan-Dec-2011.pdf

The Ontario budget is not going to help, the freeze on social assistance and delays on the cild tax credit are going to make affordable housing more unaffordable for those that the affordable housing model was built for.  Ottawa has the 3^rd highest rental rates in the country, the freezes and delays in benefits will leave less money for food, clothes and other essentials.

I wrote in December (http://redheartbluesign.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/collective-benefits-of-ending-homelessness/) about the need for a National Homelessness strategy  that addresses the growing number of families, women, men and youth that find themselves without enough to live above the poverty line.  We must call on Premier McGuinty to stop the reduction  of social assistance benefits and we provinces must work with the Harper government to continue and expand the At Home/Chez Soi program after 2013.

It is only through this cooperation can the gap be narrowed and that in subsequent report we will see improvements in the ATEH Report Card for Ottawa.

I can be found Twitter @robertdekker and on Facebook at http://tiny.cc/n5l97. Please follow me and send your thoughts on this and other postings