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David Reevely 1 days ago
Apartment 613 has a simple but effective graphical representation of the Lansdowne Live vote, showing clearly what we already knew on paper: there's a distinct urban vs. suburban-and-rural split in the result. The divide isn't perfect — Peggy Feltmate of Kanata South and Diane Deans of Gloucester-Southgate are No votes relatively far out; Peter Hume and Maria McRae are Yes votes relatively close to the core — but there's obviously something going on. What that thing is, however, probably isn't simple. One factor is probably a sort of sympathy vote for Glebeites by representatives of other urban neighbourhoods; that's the obvious thing. There's a stronger correlation between No votes and generally being on council's left wing; that does a better job explaining the Nos from Feltmate and Deans, and the Yeses from Hume and McRae. That might also be a proxy for being suspicious of wealthy property developers and pro-sports moguls, and disinclined to support them. One correlation I ...
David Reevely 2 days ago
A heritage architect has quit city hall's advisory committee on heritage buildings after city council's approval in principle of the Lansdowne Live plan. Colleague Maria Cook has the details: Ottawa architect Allan Teramura resigned today from the local architectural conservation advisory committee (LACAC) over city council's nod to Lansdowne Live. "The recent Lansdowne decision has convinced me to resign from LACAC, because
it's become clear to me that architecture and heritage conservation are
issues that city council simply doesn't understand or care about," says Teramura. 'As an
architect working in heritage conservation much of the time, providing advice
to council on these issues just doesn't seem worthwhile," says Teramura, who served for two years in the voluntary post. "I don't see this
action on my part as a dramatic statement by any means, it's really more
about what's a productive use of my time." (Teramura featured in an ...
David Reevely 3 days ago
Happened to be on foot on Kilborn Avenue this morning, on the edge of Alta Vista, where there's a traffic circle as Kilborn takes a sharp curve (near the priests' residence where Bishop Raymond Lahey is staying while he's waiting for his child-porn trial). I didn't have a camera with me, but bless Google, they've got a bunch of angles on it. Here's an aerial. The traffic circle is the white disc just off centre. Bank Street is across the southwest corner and Billings Bridge is just out of frame to the northwest: And here it is at ground level, facing roughly north. And here's one of the signs they put up, a bunch of them facing in all directions, explaining to pedestrians how not to get killed as they try to cross the street: It says: TIPS FOR PEDESTRIANS AT A ROUNDABOUT 1. Stay on the sidewalk/path at all times. 2. Never cross the circular roadway to the central island. 3. Cross only at the designated crosswalks. 4. Look in the direction of the ...David Reevely 4 days ago
The revisions to the Lansdowne Live project that council agreed to on Monday night do two important things, to my eye. First, they dramatically improve it. Obviously if you believe that Lansdowne Park should be almost completely greened, or that having anything to do with private builders in redeveloping it is wrong, the changes won't be enough because no changes could be enough. But if you're not in principle opposed to the arrangement but you didn't like the specifics, the substantive amendments city council passed should go a long way toward satisfying you. One of the big weaknesses in the proposal as it was presented was the vagueness of the description of the retail component. We haven't seen drawings showing much of what it would look like, and what we have seen has been alarmingly glass-and-steel and generic. To be charitable, maybe that was because the artists involved were just trying to depict a placeholder without prejudging the eventual design work. But if you ...
David Reevely 6 days ago
Back at it sometime before 9:30 a.m. Monday, for city council's questioning of Lansdowne Live proponent Roger Greenberg, and then of their staff who negotiated with the Lansdowne Live group — particularly top city manager Kent Kirkpatrick. After that, councillors will debate several dozen motions with various ideas for improving the redevelopment plan. And at the end, we hope, a big yea or nay. <a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=a6a6ba4ff5" mce_href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;altcast_code=a6a6ba4ff5" >Lansdowne live blogging - Day 3</a>
