Together, we can keep this list growing. None of these achievements are possible without an engaged constituency pushing us, and the City, to make the transformative changes we need make Ottawa a more healthy, beautiful and compassionate place.
You can find our 2018 Election Platform here
At our office’s request, city staff have dug up and rectified the long-standing flooding issues that would occur at the catch basin at O’Connor and Glebe Avenue. This has been a longstanding problem in the area, but we’re glad to say that the new drainage has eliminated the extended pooling we used see after rainfall at this location.
Electric buses are coming to Ottawa. This past year, we were happy to work with Somerset Councillor Catherine McKenney and city staff to have OC Transpo launch an electric bus pilot. We'll be quickly scaling this up with federal support, with the purchase of 74 battery electric busses and charging infrastructure in 2022, and a total of 450 electric busses by 2027.
Something that our team campaigned heavily on in 2018, the Ward Council serves as an advisory group that allows residents from each community to collaborate on important issues. The first Ward Council Meeting took place on January 31st, 2019 and since then they have met several times to discuss important matters.
The City of Ottawa's Official Plan provides a vision for the future growth of the city and a policy framework to guide the city's physical development. In 2019, the City of Ottawa began a multi-year process to develop a new Official Plan. The plan was approved by Council in October of 2021.
For too long miserly property owners have been allowed to let derelict buildings sit vacant for years without penalty while their property values plumpen. We campaigned on a new regulatory approach that would better police and penalize this behaviour, and can confirm that such a regulatory approach is now being reviewed by staff.
The Bank Street Canal Bridge is an iconic structure for Capital Ward and for the city, and it serves as an important link between the various communities on each side of the Rideau Canal. Bank Street is home to residential buildings, shops, restaurants, offices, community buildings and, of course, Lansdowne Park.
In April of 2019, our office worked with environmental advocacy groups and city staff to have Council unanimously declare a climate change emergency.
A return of a boarded rink in the Glebe has been an important topic in the neighbourhood, as there are no other facilities suitable for outdoor hockey, ringette and other activities in the immediate area.
We worked with community advocates through Vision Springhurst to bring a beach volleyball court, 3 new pieces of exercise equipment, a ping-pong table, and a bench by the basketball court to this very popular spot. We were able to use cash in lieu of parkland funds for these improvements, as well as coordinating with the lifecycle replacement of the children’s play structure. We have also committed funding toward a new public dock at Springhurst Park, a project which should be going to public consultation this winter, pending the necessary permits.
Our office has worked with staff and the community to support a redesigned park at O’Connor and Fifth Ave, beside the fire station. The park will include new shade trees, an accessible picnic and games table, benches with low impact exercise stations, a winding pathway, pergola and climbing trellis screen, and bike parking. Construction is planned to start in spring of 2022, and will be financed through cash in lieu of parklands funds from development in the ward.
Lansdowne has been a thorny issue for the city, for Capital Ward and for the Glebe for many years. If we want to get Lansdowne right, we need to decide what it is Lansdowne should be: A Place for People. A Place for Families. A Place for Mobility. A Place for City Life. We released a visioning exercise to this end. During our time in office we have also resisted attempts to further privatize Lansdowne, and to further buy into the P3 model for this site.
Traffic Calming measures are seasonal (and some non-seasonal) measures installed on our streets in trouble spots to encourage safer driving—getting people to slow down, respect stop lines, stay out bicycle lanes, etc. Our office has worked hard to implement such changes throughout the ward and continue to add new traffic calming methods throughout our community
Our city is not doing nearly enough to see affordable units built in Ottawa—but it is doing more than enough to facilitate the development industry’s investments. There is a popular lie that all that is needed to solve the affordability crisis is to help developers to build more. We know, however, that more supply alone does next to nothing to ensure affordability. We have written at length about this in our submission on the Official plan, which can be found here. Despite the city falling short, especially on direct capital investment, we have made some progress.
Ottawa is a winter city. The weather dictates that we must endure months of snow, ice and cold temperatures. While the city and residents may acknowledge this, we can do more to embrace it. If we are to be the most prosperous, sustainable city we can be during the winter months, we should enact policies that will let residents live full, rewarding lives during winter. We must remain devoted to mobility, health and wellbeing, as well as the environment. Current city standards do not put a priority on winter mobility, or on mental health, safety or economic activity during winter months.
Advocating for better regulation of ride sharing services was a key plank of our 2018 election platform, and we have taken every opportunity thus far to do just that.
We have committed $2M in cash in lieu funds toward the long awaited community center at Heron Park. Construction is expected to start this spring, and includes demolition of the existing field house, and remediation of the soil. The community association has consulted extensively on the optimal design and function for the community center, and this fall visited a similar facility in Barrhaven to brainstorm and exchange ideas. Our office was also able to support an enhanced splashpad at Kaladar park this year, with construction starting this spring and completing in the summer of 2022.
The Bellwood boulder, a large piece of granite schist that was unearthed during the construction on Bellwood Avenue in Old Ottawa South this summer, was moved to Windsor Park behind the bus shelter at Riverdale with support from our office. This glacial erratic, which weighs more than 15 tonnes and had been in the same spot for approximately 15,000 years, was a rallying point for neighbors who came together to have relocated somewhere prominent nearby.
It took two tries at city council (the second one after a successful intervention at the board of health), but we were able to get a motion passed that saw Ottawa City Council finally add its voice to calls on the province for seamless access to 5 permanent employer paid sick days, extended to 10 paid sick days with financial support from the province during a declared infectious disease emergency.
The Ottawa Police Service budget is the fastest growing budget line in the city; its growth has far surpassed inflation rates, which has seen the budget triple in size over the last 20 years. The need for alternatives to police-led emergency responses in Ottawa is also clear. The brutal killing of Ottawa resident Abdirahman Abdi is but one example of a situation where a non-police led intervention would likely have led to a different outcome. We have made concerted efforts to see money reallocated to fund both preventative measures that would better address the root causes of crime, as well as alternative models to emergency response.