Jack Hanna
Earth Day party in the park
The place to celebrate Earth Day is at the big CCA party in Dundonald Park (Somerset West and Lyon).
On Saturday, April 22, festivities get started at 10 a.m. and run to 2 p.m. The rain day is Sunday, April 23.
There’s lots for kids. The always-popular bilingual read-aloud story time is at 10:30. That’s followed by a magic show at 11:30. Kids can plant flowers in the park’s gardens, assisted by volunteers, or do a variety of arts and crafts. And they can enjoy free popcorn and gift bags of flower seeds.
For the grown-ups, there is a seed exchange. Bring your seeds and swap with others.
Live music, both jazz and classical, will be provided by Sax Appeal, a quartet that bills themselves as “Canada’s premier saxophone ensemble.”
There will be info booths aplenty. Hear the story of John Leaning, the urban planner who in the 1970s saved Centretown from the bulldozers.
Learn all about pollinators, and how to create gardeners suited to them. Hear about the surprising extent to which plastics saturate our lives, or the NeighbourWoods survey of the health and well-being of all trees in Centretown.
Like to get your hands in the dirt? Hear how CCA volunteers create and nurture gardens in public parks and spaces across the downtown.
There will be displays by the Ottawa Tool Library, Bike Ottawa, and the de-growth group Snails Collective. Ottawa Climate Save, concerned about the environmental consequences of cow’s milk, will offer samples of a plant-based alternative.
The party in the park is sponsored by the CCA, the Dundonald Improvement Group, and the Centretown Community Health Centre.
CCA comments extensively on proposed Kent St. skyscraper
The CCA has commented extensively on the 30-storey skyscraper which developer Taggart wants to build at Kent and Gilmour.
The CCA has argued 30 storeys is far too tall in a neighbourhood zoned for low-and mid-rise.
But Taggart might be permitted to put up a skyscraper – under a loophole in city policies – in return for providing “iconic” architecture and “leadership” in sustainability and energy-efficiency.
Until very recently, Taggart declined to speak about sustainability. The CCA argued that’s not good enough.
When Taggart met with the CCA last month to present its latest version of the design, energy efficiency and sustainability were front and centre.
As well, the developer is incorporating other concerns the CCA has raised, including the provision of affordable and accessible housing, and the potential for big trees on the site.
CCA workshop on new affordable housing
The CCA’s Housing Affordability Working Group will host a workshop on the new affordable housing units – some deeply affordable – that will be part of new developments at LeBreton Flats.
The date is Thursday, May 11, at 12:30 p.m. To obtain the Zoom link, email: jack.2014@icloud.com
Two new towers, of 30 and 35 storeys, will hold a mix of market-rent and affordable units.
The 247 affordable units, about half of which will be deeply affordable, are intended for priority populations under Canada’s National Housing Strategy. This includes Indigenous peoples, veterans, recent immigrants, women and children, and adults with cognitive disabilities.
The big, new housing project will include unprecedented accessibility and energy efficiency. Almost a third of the units will be accessible. The towers will be Canada’s largest residential zero-carbon development, with innovations in harnessing waste-water energy and solar systems.