- First of all, my letter to the editor I posted here Tuesday was published under the title “Don’t sell out heritage” in today’ City section.
- The province has completed this really cool pilot project to help low-income people reduce their energy bills by teaching them how to reduce their energy use by being more environmentally friendly and providing them the money to upgrade their homes. This is most definitely the better way to help low income people reduce their energy bills rather than subsidising their existing energy use patterns.
- Looks like Ottawa’s premier neighbourhood festival is getting bigger and better this year, as detailed here and here. Just goes to show when you build a community it can do pretty cool things!
- This might be the craziest development. Maybe it’s brilliant, I can’t decide. It’s definitely not for me, in any case.
- Randall Denley takes another stab at accusing the city of being a bloated whale. Funny, since the Mayor’s tasforce only found $3 million in savings. Just like how Flaherty only found $200 million federally. When will conservatives accept the fact that government is actually remarkably efficient these days? It’s not as efficient as a business of the simple reason that it’s main purpose is to make up for those left behind by the “efficient” economy. It’s frustrating that people believe these things.
- Yay for a basic upgrade to the Carp Road Dump.
- Of course, there is more news on the downtown transit plan for our beloved Ottawa. First, there’s critique that it doesn’t go far enough east and west, respectively. Here’s the problem: we don’t have unlimited funds, so things have to come in steps. How long will those steps take? Turns out those who care about transit think the 23 years planned is way too long.
- The city was crippled this week by the snow that keeps on coming. Articulated buses were stuck in the snow, further showing how a subway works better in this climate.
- So how to make this happen? One person is calling for a transit levy. That would be counter-productive, because people would see the cost directly. But most important of all, the Downtown Coalition is on-board with this plan, and excited to develop around it, making a connected underground city. I think this can be positive if it’s done right. The only fear is that it would ruin street life, but experience shows that it can be a success or a failure depending on how it’s done.
- Here’s my take, in brief. This plan is too slow and doesn’t go far enough, IMO. BUT, I’ve learned my lesson from those who doubted the last plan, that killing a plan because you’re concerned it won’t move fast enough will be counter-productive. We’re best to approve this plan, none of which I don’t like, and then push for it to be implemented faster. And here’s how:
- Sell development rights to downtown building to connect their retail environments to the stations.
- Demand that Union Station be returned to given to the City as the greastest and easiest gift the federal government could give this city. Offer the federal government help in developing a replacement conference centre. Perhaps the unused parking lot behind the Lorne building on Elgin could be used for this and other purposes. In exchange, offer a free connection to the new Metcalfe Street Station.
- Many suburban stations have vast swaths of land attached that belong to the city. There is no better place for development. Apartments, condominiums, and townhouses could be built above or to replace parking lots, and the sale of these development rights could help spur on the development of the transit plan faster.
- All stations should be P3 projects, because people need things like coffee, newspapers, dry cleaning, etc. in convenient places like where they wait for the train. This is where these services could be installed and the rent/sale of the retail space could generate more income for the development of the network.
- Build the rail connection to the Casion de Lac Leamy in Hull and have them pay a premium for it, using the money for other uses.
- Get more than 1/3 of the money from the federal government. They need to ante up because their employees will be the biggest users of this service, by far.
- Most importantly of all, force all companies that provide free or subsidized parking to their employees to offer to pay for transit passes for all their employees. It’s only equitable, and would generate a good deal of income for the transit infrastructure development, and might even attract more users!
That’s the news.
