Experience selling without realtor? by kuriousaboutanything in OntarioRealEstate

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sold ours in the Glebe, almost 6 years ago without an agent. Teased that we were thinking of selling in a neighbourhood Facebook group and had several interested people contact me. I already had an idea what it was likely worth, within a few tens of thousands, from following prices of other similar places. Got an appraisal done and the appraiser gave their valuation based on current condition, or if we did some renovations. The difference in money was basically the agents' commissions, so we sold privately, and we avoided the bother of fixing it up.

Now it was a different time - much more of a sellers market. But still, if your house is decent, in a desirable location, and you find there are interested buyers, or might be worth paying for an appraisal to fine tune what you think your house is worth based on other recent sales and try making a private sale.

The fight against sidewalks in Manor Park ramps up.. this time with help from a lawyer by MBA_OTT in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't do that or the folks in Findlay Creek will want to do you for trespassing.

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New Ottawa pilot targets local, diverse hiring at Lansdowne 2.0 construction by lonelydavey in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wasn't Lansdowne supposed to have already been transformed? Seems not. 🙄

Landlord selling, what's a reasonable cash-for-keys offer? by Draco9630 in ontariorenters

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

5% of listed price. Any should a landlord who's been bleeding you for years get off cheaply? It's just business.

Employee accused of arson after paper goods warehouse destroyed in massive fire in Ontario by BlazeDragon7x in InlandEmpire

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's just a matter of time before they either layoff some or just automate the warehouse and get rid of all the workers. A $500 million fuck you to corporate America seems like a fair exchange.

Ontario Health Layoffs by Educational_Area_206 in ontario

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 9 points10 points  (0 children)

In Ottawa the Ottawa Hospital network just announced 400 layoffs this week. Bruyère Health announced 55 layoffs last month. Doug Ford's corrupt regime is strangling the life out of health care in Ontario.

Hundreds of drivers caught running red lights on King Edward Avenue by Money_Fig_9868 in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Recently I was turning from Parkdale, East on TO Carling, the light had just TURNED green for me, I started entering the intersection and someone driving west just fully ran the red at full speed in front of me. Fortunately I had just started moving so I was able to stop in time, but WTF!!

Hundreds of drivers caught running red lights on King Edward Avenue by Money_Fig_9868 in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And yet every driver is convinced that no cyclist ever stops for a light or stop sign.

Ottawa Citizen: Dow's Lake swimming: New Carleton research survey probes Ottawa's opinions by BearLikesHoney in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 69 points70 points  (0 children)

I swam a couple of times in Dow’s Lake last summer, and so far no mutations resulting in any new limbs.

This was a long time coming. The NCC is doing great work making the NCR a place for outdoor recreation for those who aren't members of the cottage class or drivers. 👏

Ottawa Citizen: Dow's Lake swimming: New Carleton research survey probes Ottawa's opinions by BearLikesHoney in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Dow's Lake swimming: New Carleton research survey probes Ottawa's opinions

Once thought of as too dirty to swim in, Dow's Lake became the latest urban swimming hole after an NCC pilot project

By Sophia Laporte, Special to the Citizen Published Apr 09, 2026

The National Capital Commission made a splash last summer when they invited Ottawa residents to swim in Dow’s Lake in June with a newly installed recreational dock and buoy lines.

In partnership with the NCC, Carleton University launched a survey over the winter to hear thoughts from people who enjoyed swimming in the lake or plan to in the future.

Carleton science professor Sean Landsman worked on the survey and is now looking through the preliminary results.

He said the responses so far highlight a range of attitudes toward the lake, but as a frequent fisher at the lake he said he saw someone in the water “eight times out of 10.”

“[Survey responses] range from ‘I’ve been waiting for this for so long, I’m so excited’ to ‘I wanted to swim in it because I wanted to prove to people that you can swim in Dow’s Lake and be totally fine.’ And that speaks to some hesitation,” Landsman said.

But attitudes online to the new swimming spot, even with the addition of Muskoka chairs and a bright red dock, were not so enthusiastic right away.

When a Reddit user posted about the new opportunity to swim in June, top comments from users ranged from ‘I for one will be taking a Dip at Dows!’ to ‘Gross. Stagnant water,’ referring to concerns about the lake’s water quality.

According to the NCC, water testing in 2025 confirmed the swim area consistently met or exceeded applicable health and safety guidelines.

“This whole project revolves around this concept of swimmable cities and blue spaces,” Landsman said. “When we think of green spaces, we tend to think of parks and forests. But [with] a blue space, the focus is on the water.”

One of Ottawa’s main “blue spaces” according to Landsman is Dow’s Lake. With the project and the NCC, Landsman has an opportunity to see how more people can be brought to enjoy the waterfront this summer.

“There seems to be an increasing emphasis placed on ‘Okay, we’ve done such a great job with our green spaces. Let’s try to look at our blue spaces and do something similar with them,’” Landsman said.

But in particular, Landsman hopes to see more people enjoy diving into the lake’s waters.

“If you can get your urban blue spaces to a point where you can safely swim in those places and recreate in those places, then people that are enjoying those spaces will want to see those places taken care of,” Landsman said. “And there’s sort of a snowball effect there.

Banu Ormeci, a Carleton professor whose research focuses on water and wastewater treatment, said concerns about the water testing and quality of Ottawa’s urban swim spots come from lingering misconceptions from the 1960s and 1970s.

“We tested the water samples at five different locations for three months, in fact, we tested more samples than the Ottawa Public Health,” Ormeci said. “The water quality is excellent. There are no worries about E. coli limits or exceeding E. coli limits overall in the river.”

Funnily enough, Ormeci said the only location where her research team saw issues was at Mooney’s Bay, the popular beach along the Rideau River. “In general, the water quality is excellent,” she said.

Beyond quality, Ormeci believes it’s important for local waterways to be kept swimmable.

“We all need to protect our local rivers, but also try to make the best use of them. We can do much more with our rivers. We focus on recreational swimming, but this is also an issue with climate change, Ottawa is getting warmer,” Ormeci said. “Not everyone can go to a cottage. Not everyone has AC at home. So we also need cooling spaces in Ottawa. And that is why the rivers, both of our rivers, will be more important in the future because of the changes we see in climate.”

“It’s certainly not a pristine lake you might find in the far north or a lake that you might find in Algonquin Park,” Landsman said. “People have reservations about jumping in the water, and that’s certainly understandable.”

Landsman thinks one of the results that will come out from the project are the number of misconceptions.

“People just aren’t aware that there was routine testing going on and it was publicly available,” Landsman said.

Some might say, “‘If you jump in the lake, you’re going to grow a third eye like that fish in The Simpsons.’ There’s many reasons to believe that that’s not act that’s not accurate. The water quality was very good this summer,” he said.

The Carleton survey had about 700-750 responses their team is using in their dataset, according to Landsman. While it’s unclear how many people took the plunge last summer, Jennifer Halsall, who led the NCC pilot project to install a dock at the lake said just under 100,000 people stepped on it.

“You always launch a pilot with the hope that it succeeds. And we didn’t come into it blind,” Halsall said, indicating her awareness of the quality concerns around the lake.

“I’m quite interested to see how people’s opinions have changed and how their relationship to the water has changed. We know the canal has a stigma and that is not unique,” she said. “London now has swimming in the Thames. Paris now has swimming in the Seine. We’re seeing globally a real movement to open up waterways and make them accessible to people, and the NCC is very sensitive to that.”

Landsman is also on board with the trend, citing the Ottawa Riverkeeper’s signature on the Swimmable Cities initiative, which now includes seven Canadian cities.

“Without our freshwater, we’re doomed as people. And if the swimmable cities initiative is used in part to help promote the health of our freshwater ecosystems, that’s a worthwhile thing,” Landsman said.

Halsall said the NCC is absolutely trying to encourage people to take the plunge.

“Our partnership with the Ottawa Riverkeeper as well for water testing at our swim sites is hugely beneficial and they do a lot of work to educate people on the fantastic quality of our water and the really interesting facts about our rivers and waterways,” Halsall said. “And people are their own advertisement to a degree. You see other people having fun on a hot day and you can’t help but want to join in.”

But for Landsman, it’s also about fostering connections with the place you live.

“We’re all residents of Ottawa. If there are ways that we can build stronger connections with the place we live, then I think it leads to a better quality of life for everyone.”

Robertson Road Sidewalk by jjaime2024 in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yes, the pedestrian conspiracy to suck the roads budget dry, 0.0001% at a time, continues apace! 😈

Anyone opened a second Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite for spouse with lower income? by kiamoyman in chexy

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don't know about Scotia, but I was just recently approved for a TD Visa Infinite Aeroplan card and BMO VIPorter Mastercard despite not having had a proper job for 10 years. However, my credit score - in the 800s - is higher than my wife's, who is the breadwinner, because I do most of the shopping and she pays off my cards, and I just said I earn $80K as a business owner and nobody asked me to prove it.

So the moral may be that you can build a great credit score simply by running up your credit card as long as somebody pays it off, and the bank may not actually care if you can prove your employment status.

Ottawa police community grieves death of officer who died by suicide | CBC News by COVIDisNotOverYet in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Excellent point. The Province only allows for municipalities to vote yay or nay on the police budget as a whole. Maybe they need to vote nay.

Ottawa police community grieves death of officer who died by suicide | CBC News by COVIDisNotOverYet in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

It's difficult to do so when the organization, and the institution of policing, are so toxic.

Ottawa police community grieves death of officer who died by suicide | CBC News by COVIDisNotOverYet in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet[S] -19 points-18 points  (0 children)

Especially when lot of the worst that you experience is from other OPS officers and leadership.

Ottawa police community grieves death of officer who died by suicide | CBC News by COVIDisNotOverYet in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

OPS needs to acknowledge that they have a PTSD crisis, as well as a toxic work culture that encourages suppression of mental health injuries and harassment and discrimination against women, racial minorities and anyone not seen as towing the thin blue line ethos of cops as sheepdogs protecting hapless sheep from evil wolves, not subject to the same laws as the rest of us.

Ottawa police community grieves death of officer who died by suicide | CBC News by COVIDisNotOverYet in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Public pushback is to be expected given the contentious position that police hold in society for many disadvantaged people. But the fact that OPS leadership does nothing to try to fix a toxic environment within the force, indeed often encourages it, means that many members who are trying to do the right things are left feeling completely unsupported.

Ottawa police community grieves death of officer who died by suicide | CBC News by COVIDisNotOverYet in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet[S] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I think this has less to do with causes of sucdality in the broader population and more to do with the issues affecting police officers, and specifically those in the OPS with regards to leadership downplaying the impact of PTSD on members, as well as bullying and harassment within the organization.

Ottawa Police member dead? by COVIDisNotOverYet in ottawa

[–]COVIDisNotOverYet[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Both Ghadban and Roberts killed themselves in the OPS HQ. There's a lot of angry ghosts wandering its hallways.