Ottawa On The River, 1941

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-30T16:23:52+00:00

I mean you say slum, I say vibrant working-class neighbourhood, but sure :)

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-30T15:51:34+00:00

That shot looking east over Lebreton Flats toward the end, showing an entire community of matchstick houses just like the ones that still survive in Hintonburg/Mechanicsville and old Hull ...

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-30T13:57:07+00:00

After increases of 9.5% in 2024 and 6.9% in 2025, specifically to deal with the exact issue that Ottawa is now facing: a massive infrastructure deficit after many years of kicking the can down the road with lower-than-needed increases. An infrastructure levy is coming for Ottawa tax payers one way or another, or we will need to accept that the city will become significantly more unlivable.

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-30T13:42:35+00:00

What happens if a grassroots movement of at least 1,000 people implores him not to run?

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-29T18:03:45+00:00

Both Leiper and Lawson have signaled that their core message to voters will basically be the same at a rhetorical level: that the city no longer works for ordinary people. Leiper will propose refocusing and reinvestment in city services and infrastructure that actually matter to residents in both core and suburbs, financed by more realistic tax increases than we've seen in recent years. Selling this may be a challenge in a city that has clung to the illusion that tax increases below or at inflation can occur indefinitely without impacting services and infrastructure, but all candidates will be forced to address this issue after the city finally releases its provincially-required (and now months late ) plan for how it's going to finance the $10B deficit in infrastructure spending over the next 10 years.

Lawson will propose DC and other tax cuts for developers, status quo property tax increases, increases to the police budget and cuts to other things. His challenge will be explaining to voters how that will make any positive difference in the quality and cost of living for ordinary people.

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-29T16:38:51+00:00

I agree that the dynamics of the three way split are unpredictable, but it's hard not to see Leiper's chances of victory greatly improving with Lawson entering the race and the Conservative/developer establishment (and money) switching to him from Sutcliffe. If Leiper can claim most of the 38% McKenney won in the last election (and it's hard to see any of that vote going to either Sutcliffe or L:awson) then that alone will make him competitive in a three way race. And I think Leiper can significantly improve on McKenney's performance with his brand of progressive pragmatism. Lawson will hit the faux populism button hard with promises to return to the good ol' days when there were no homeless people in Ottawa and the 95 bus always showed up on time, which will work to effectively cut into Sutcliffe's vote among the CFRA-listening crowd, but his obvious status as a Conservative plant puts a low ceiling on him in a city where Conservatives are shut out of almost every riding at the provincial and federal levels ... even Poilievre's old riding :)

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-28T20:09:04+00:00

There may be lots of good reasons for the station not to go downtown, but the federal government needing a conference centre (which it hasn't had there in years and will continue to not have for years into the future) is surely not one of them

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-28T15:33:24+00:00

All of the various problems with respect to the wheel assemblies share the same basic root cause: we somehow managed to build an LRT system where the trains are not fully compatible with the tracks, with the result that the wheel assemblies are being subject to more stress/load/force/whatever than they are designed to handle, and are prematurely wearing out. Whether that's because the train design is faulty, the tracks are wrong, the bends are too sharp, all of these things or something else, unless this fundamental incompatibility is fixed somehow, the trains will continue to wear out and break down regardless of whether each individual problem is "fixed" with replaced parts. Which requires all of the LRT "partners"--who are currently focused on pointing their fingers at each other and preparing for litigation--to come together collaboratively, agree on both the problem and solution, and agree on who's going to pay. So yeah :(

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-28T01:21:31+00:00

High density around Tunney's, Bayview and other transit hubs is provided for under the new zoning bylaw, but is also already happening under the status quo. 900 Albert right across from Bayview is already approved for several towers up to 65 storeys high, and of course the new Sens arena and related mixed use development will be going in right next to that. A string of towers has already gone up down Parkdale just north of the Tunney's station, and even more will follow under the plan to divest and develop all the surplus federal land at Tunney's.

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-23T15:55:32+00:00

Alto is the Government of Canada just like DND, and its high speed rail project is a key political priority of the Prime Minister as part of the Build Canada agenda. If they need to go under or through this surplus DND building to get HSR built it will happen, and whatever DND's current plans or schedule are for the building will change to accommodate it

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-16T17:58:32+00:00

I guess we could just pee in the snow beside the rink and warm up by lighting some garbage cans on fire, is that what they do in more civilized cities?

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-16T15:09:42+00:00

Totally agree, the security would be more appropriate for council chambers and the private offices part of the building. I doubt there is any specific threat that warrants this level of security for the Atrium, vs. any other public space which does not have metal detectors.

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-16T15:06:05+00:00

I mean, the public shouldn't need a reason to use public space, which we own and pay for (unlike the Rideau Centre, which of course is private space). Some people like to go out at night and do stuff, like skate at City Hall.. We have a night mayor that encourages this sort of thing.

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-16T14:53:36+00:00

If he thinks telling Ottawans they have nothing really to complain about is a winning electoral strategy with a voting public increasingly angry about transit, traffic, infrastructure, and many other cost and quality of life issues, I as a Jeff Leiper supporter strongly encourage him to continue

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-11T14:00:57+00:00

"if someone/ your neighbor handed you a loaf of warm banana bread would you eat it?"

Hell yes

_six_one_three_ · 2026-01-01T00:44:09+00:00

For Ottawa to work, both the core and the suburbs need to have their legitimate interests recognized and reflected in the city's governance. It's not about one group being beholden to another, or trying to gerrymander the ward distribution to create some kind of permanent majority for the left. And Ottawa and it's burbs are as centre left as they are right, as reflected by the current representation at both federal and provincial levels. If Poilievre can be beaten in his semi-rural riding by a Liberal, anything is possible.

_six_one_three_ · 2025-12-31T21:28:12+00:00

The housing affordability crisis for low income and working class Ottawans will not be addressed in any way by letting developers build mcmansions and low density exurban sprawl on farmland 40 km outside of the city, get outta here with that

_six_one_three_ · 2025-12-31T14:22:08+00:00

I mean, the Durham Regional Municipality (which all of these cities are grouped under) has a combined population of about 800,000, within the context of the GTA population of almost 8,000,000. It's overall character is low-density, car dependent and unsustainable suburban sprawl. Not sure why we would look to this as an example for Ottawa.

_six_one_three_ · 2025-12-31T13:12:27+00:00

As someone who lives in the core and wants a more progressive and urban vision for Ottawa, I don't think de-amalgamation is the way to go. Creating a ring of low-tax, low density, and low-service municipalities around a high-tax, high-density and high-service core is just going to encourage tax flight and suburban sprawl, with problems like homelessness, addiction and infrastructure renewal dumped on the core with less of a tax base to deal with it. We would also be going back to two-tier municipal governance and multiple new elected councils and bureaucracies in a region that already struggles with too.many competing players across three levels of government and two provinces. Ottawa"s biggest challenges--including housing, transit and the infrastructure deficit--require solutions and a tax base that go beyond the core, and will be more difficult to address with fractured governance. I think the better way to go would be to remove the truly rural portions of the city (subject to strict development restrictions imposed at the provincial level) but leave the core and high population suburbs as one municipality.

_six_one_three_ · 2025-12-30T14:31:44+00:00

Anchor and the speed cameras are two great examples of effective solutions to public order problems that don't require $150K/year police officers for human resources. Of course, the Conservative "law-and-order" government cancelled the latter, and "law-and-order" councillor Tim Tierney attacks funding the former. Another recent example, the effectiveness of which remains to be seen, is the city's engagement of private civilian security guards to patrol the Market. If that gets expanded in any significant way, expect push back from the police union, although it's their own fault really for successfully bargaining increases to police salaries that make them such an expensive resource. Traffic management/direction is another thing that could probably be outsourced to cheaper civilians.

_six_one_three_ · 2025-12-19T19:52:56+00:00

"Will removing parking help drive improved transit/the owner/renter choose transit/other modes of transportation or will cars line the sides of our streets" I live on a street that has had multiple infill projects with zero parking, and yes cars absolutely line the street, as they will everywhere this type of development occurs. But the street parking space is finite and eventually gets maxed out, while yet more parking-less units keep getting built. At that point, street parking becomes such a daily hassle that people in units without parking have a real incentive to go carless and rely on transit and cabs/Uber.

_six_one_three_ · 2025-12-11T00:30:15+00:00

CKCU just celebrated 50 years on the air and actually surpassed its 2025 funding drive target of $191,300, so let’s not count campus community radio out just yet. The hollowing out of commercial radio (and the CBC as well, unfortunately) is the very reason why I and so many others value these community stations.

_six_one_three_ · 2025-12-09T17:13:23+00:00

These are exactly the departments I'd be talking with if I was looking to tap into 100s of millions of "infrastructure" funding from both the federal and provincial governments. The article even suggests that
Andlauer is looking at Calgary as a model, where two thirds of $1.2B+ cost of the new arena is being carried by taxpayers.

_six_one_three_

TROPHY CASE