Hot Topics
Residents of Bay Ward, along with the rest of The City of Ottawa, have a few shared issues which are central to any municipal election: Transit, infrastructure upgrades or repairs, cycling, taxes and trash collection/green bin, just to name a few.
Beyond that, there are ward specific topics such as the ongoing development of the new DND Campus (former Nortel Campus), flooding, park space, traffic/speed near schools (such as Woodroffe Avenue Public School for example), the lack of a secondary access road to Britannia Village (in the event of an emergency, for example), the narrowness of Carling Avenue at the rail crossing near the Shirley’s Bay Complex. There are also issues that by themselves are less expensive to correct, but aren’t any less important, such as potholes in or adjacent to roads, dead trees (mature or new), sidewalks that aren’t accessible due to curbs not being lowered, or the simple need of a fresh coat of paint.
Issues can change on a regular basis and I would ask fellow residents of Bay Ward, my neighbours, to submit issues that they may have. Bay Ward is the second largest urban ward in the city (by area), so the best way to address issues is to work alongside residents and partners. Common issues that are received will be summarized on this page and in turn I will provide my personal thoughts. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons I cannot begin to try to address any issues unless the voters of Bay Ward elect me as their councillor.
Infrastructure
We obviously need to build more infrastructure because of our expanding city. We also need to take care of our existing infrastructure, we can’t “rob Peter to pay Paul.” Carling Avenue for example has been ripped up and resurfaced so many times (and is again seeing that process this year), but the same problems keep coming back, perhaps it’s time to do more than just resurface, let’s fix the problem.
Leading up to the 2014 election, I often heard from a few residents who received “promises” of road/sewer repairs by the late Ron Kolbus, some over 15 years ago. Regardless of why those projects weren’t completed previously, it took my raising them during 2014 election debates that some changes started to happen.
We need to be proactive in maintaining our city, not reactive.
Cycling & Transportation
There are numerous modes of transportation, but as I have previously touched, we can’t focus all of our limited resources to just one mode. Absolutely cycling is an important mode of transportation and we are seeing creation of bike lanes and other measures. My greatest concern is areas where cyclists, especially children, are cycling on roadways that are riddled with pot holes for example and that cyclist needs to swerve to avoid a pothole, putting themselves into traffic and the potential for an accident. Back to my earlier point, while expansion is positive, we can’t neglect what we already have.
Since the 2014 election, as an example, we saw some construction on Richmond Road, between Carling Avenue and the bridge over the Sir John A. MacDonald Parkway. Though it was beneficial that a Eastbound segregated bike lane was installed, the roadway itself was not repaired and therefore those same safety issues are still present, especially in the Westbound direction.
Taxes
I’m a resident, I pay taxes and I dislike them as much as anyone else. They are a necessary evil though and aren’t likely to disappear anytime soon.
All kidding aside, no one likes to see their taxes go up, whether their income goes up 0% or 10%, any tax increase still stings. That being said, not many people want to see their services cut either, or fees for such services drastically increase. Finding efficiencies will only go so far, eventually taxes and/or fees increase or services decrease.
Without knowing the full figures, I can’t accurately commit on which way I would vote regarding taxes. I for one don’t want to see them increase drastically, but I also do not want to see our core services, such as first responders (public safety) be cut drastically. We need to work together with all of our partners to find a happy medium between tax levels and service delivery.
Britannia Village Access
On a few occasions there has been incidents that have blocked vehicular access to the village via Britannia Road. Given the large number of residences in the village, along with the water filtration plant and yacht club, there needs to be a secondary access for vehicles, especially in the event of an emergency. The last thing anyone wants to see, for example, is a large delay for paramedics to access a patient in need in the village if Britannia Road is blocked by an incident.
Park & Green Space
While building parks or expanding green space in growth areas makes perfect sense, I question doing so while neglecting our existing spaces.
For example, the park structure at McEwen Park (McEwen Avenue & Ambleside Drive) was removed prior to the 2014 election and the renewal did not happen within the same year. As an added example, there are areas where the residents cut the grass on public lands more often than the city does.
There are numerous park structures that are in disrepair, is it fair for one area of the ward to get a brand new park while another area gets an un-maintained one?
The Britannia Beach/Park Area, including the parking lots, have been in disrepair for years. Also for years, there have been draft drawings circulating showing plans to convert an entire parking lot to green space and slightly expand the other existing lot at the cost of many mature growth trees. As it is, especially during the summer festival season, there is not enough parking and local streets are filled with cars, to the irritation of some residents. There has also been chatter of rebuilding and reopening the former safety village. Both of these projects need to be planned effectively, together, in order to better the area for the future.
Traffic Near Schools
Few would argue against making things safer for our most precious resource: children. While the areas around our schools should be safe, we also need to ensure that those who need access are still able to do so.
In our ward we have more than one school along the Woodroffe Avenue corridor – with Woodroffe Avenue notably being a main artery between the Sir John A. MacDonald Parkway, Highway 417 and points further South. There is no “one size fits all” approach as different schools have different dynamics.