Jack Hanna
Stop idling vehicles
CCA’s new Climate Change Working Group will tackle the issue of idling vehicles.
“We thought the experience with the hundreds of idling trucks [during the occupation] gives us a political opening to update the bylaw,” said Chair Darlene Pearson. “Ottawa’s existing bylaw is ridiculously slack compared to other cities.” The group also hopes to work with other community associations interested in dealing with this issue.
New heritage rules coming
Residents can learn about and comment on revamped rules for heritage buildings in Centretown at the city’s public meeting to be held on Tuesday, March 22, at 6:30 p.m.
The updated rules will apply to heritage buildings within the two existing Heritage Conservation Districts (HCDs) in Centretown. The Centretown HCD is huge, stretching from Elgin to Kent. The smaller Minto Park HCD comprises the buildings facing the park.
CCA was closely involved in creating the new draft heritage regulations, holding discussions with city staff from the earliest days and providing written input.
In the years ahead, there will be enormous pressure to erect big new buildings in Centretown. From the CCA’s experience, heritage regulations are one of the most powerful tools for getting the sensitive development we want and avoiding big inappropriate buildings.
To register for the city’s public meeting, go to: ottawa.ca/centretownheritage
Big Earth Day celebration
CCA’s annual Earth Day celebration will be held in Dundonald Park on Saturday, April 23, with activities for all ages.
Knowledgeable folks will offer advice on gardening and plant care, how to move toward a plant-based diet and how to turn waste into food by growing avocados and basil. There will also be displays about trees, bees and more.
Kids will have the opportunity to get their hands dirty and work with the CCA’s volunteer gardeners to plant seeds and annuals, and an indigenous elder will lead a spiritual ceremony.
For more info, see: www.centretowncitizens.ca
Gov’t in the housing business
The message from speakers at a recent CCA panel discussion is that federal and provincial governments dramatically abandoned rent- geared-to-income housing programs in the 1990s. If the housing crisis is ever to abate, governments must return with funds and construction cranes.
“When upper levels of government don’t invest in housing,” said Councillor Catherine McKenney, “we have ever-expanding waiting lists, people falling into homelessness at alarming rates and people sleeping outside. That’s the reality.”
“Housing is a human right,” said Katie Burkholder Harris, executive director of Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa. “You cannot leave it to the private market. The private market will never meet human needs.”
Ishbel Solvason-Wiebe, executive director of the Social Housing Registry of Ottawa, said that about 12,000 Ottawa households are on the waiting list for affordable housing. To cut that list, she recommends two approaches. First, there should be an affordable housing benefit, so people can afford existing rents. Second, governments need to build about 6,000 affordable housing units in Ottawa.
For a video of the workshop, search on YouTube for: From Homelessness to Housing: CCA Community Workshop.