Projects in the Capitale as we prepare for 2017

Construction and renovations everywhere in Ottawa these days as we prepare for the 150th Anniversary of Confederation in 2017. Joanne Chianello had a article detailing all the projects in the Capital and she missed quite a few. Here are some of the numerous projects which will transform Ottawa completely by 2017 and beyond. She called it re-imagining the Capital and indeed she is right.

This year we have seen the re-furbishment of Lansdowne Park and the Stadium at a cost of $42 million dollars.

The New Arts Court building on Nicholas Street which will see the expansion of the Ottawa Art Gallery.

The new Arts Court which will complement the existing Heritage building.

The Innovative Centre at Bayview and the new City Library which is destined for that site.

The New bridge over the Rideau River at Stranheard and the new pedestrian walkway bridge on the Airport Parkway which serves as a gate to the Capital with its modern design.

New bridge over the Rideau River 

Foot bridge over the Queensway at the Train Station

Ottawa Airport Parkway pedestrian bridge

Then  the 2.1 Billion dollar Light Rail System under construction the largest project in the City since the building of the Rideau Canal in 1820.

The expansion of the Queensway which will continue this year, this highway crosses the City from East to West.

The total renovations of all the Parliament buildings and the creation of a Parliament precinct at a cost of 3.2 Billion dollars so far.

The 110 million dollar project to rejuvenate the National Arts Centre built in 1967 for the Centennial of Confederation.

The re-designed National Arts Centre of Canada on Elgin Street in Ottawa.

The refurbishment of the Science and Technology Museum at 88 Million dollars.

The Ceremonial Road (Confederation Blvd) on the Sussex drive area is also schedule to be completed after 2 years of total reconstruction and re-alignment.

Many other road projects, too many to name all are also in the works and then all the new condo towers being built on average 25 floors or more, which is a first for this City given that up to now 14 floors was the limit.

The Rideau Centre re-building and doubling in size should be mostly completed by March 2015.

The re-designed Rideau Centre (partial view) South-East corner

Chaudière Falls Windmill housing project and the LeBreton Flat area with a possible new large complex of National stature but details are sketchy on this one just yet. However it will connect the two city centres over the Ottawa River and the falls.

Finally 2 large monuments on Wellington Street, one to the victims of the Holocaust and the other to the victims of Communism. In both cases the Federal government is investing 3 million dollars each and the remainder must come from private donations.

The two monuments are somewhat controversial since the first one is not to all the victims of the Second World War but to just one group the Jews. Europe has had this debate where the war took place and being inclusive of all the victims appear to be the way to go. As for the monument to Communism and its victims it leaves out the victims of Fascism in Europe and it also appears to concentrate in its presentation only on the Polish victims of Communism.
Commemorative monuments should be for all involved and not create category of victims.

At any rate the Capital is changing very rapidly and becoming a great City no longer a town in Ontario. We have taken a long time to shake the small town mentality considering that changes have been happening since 1955, sometimes rapidly and sometimes at snail pace.

 Parliament in late Wintery afternoon seen from the West 

Can Spring be far away on St-Bridget's Day?

Well if you live in Ottawa on the snowbank Spring is never that close. We just had a further snow fall.  Though we could be living in Rome and experience the floods which plague the City every winter now. This is due in part to the two rivers the Aniene and the Tiber who connect and become torrents has they cross the City. The water is already some 16 meters above its normal level. All neighbourhoods below the famous hills of the City are experiencing some flooding. The sewers of the ancient city have also not been cleaned for decades and many are blocked. Little if nothing has been done to resolve this problem, the government seems to think, it will pass, yes but what a mess.

Yesterday I got news from the farm in Capena just outside the City where Dr. B lives with his wife and where our Nicky and Nora were born. The farm is flooded but not the house and all the dogs are safe.

Our friends L and N live near by but high up on a hill so they are not affected, however entering Rome from their area is complicated as the Via Tiberina which connects with the highway into the city is flooded.

31 January 2014 flooding in Venice 

Pisa, Florence, Turin and many other major cities have experienced flooding, the Alpine Brenner pass which connects Italy to Austria has been closed, a very rare occurrence due to heavy snow fall and now the risk of avalanche.

The Island on the Tiber in the centre of Rome the water of the river is about 16 meters high.

Floods in the Roman Forum area 

Rome Electric Tram 

Here well it's Winterlude, the so called Winter Carnival in Ottawa, lots of skaters on the Canal. Trudging through the snow is not my idea of fun but apparently to some bureaucrat it is.
We also have a few ice sculpture focusing on the First World War, this is part of the Official message to the masses from our dear Prime Minister S. Harper, gee how to depress everyone during a Carnival, I am starting to believe the Tar Sand fumes have affected his brain.

At the same time it was confirmed today that we will have 6 more weeks of winter, of course we will, it would be strange if we did not. This means that warmer weather will come around the last week of March, Oh Joy!  The Candlemas rhyme says: If Candlemas day be dry and fair, the half of winter to come and more. 

Well let's look forward to Spring and more pleasant weather.

Evolution

We returned to Ottawa from Rome after a 7 year absence in August 2011 to discover that Jim Watson had become Mayor, a man of many achievements. He describes himself as a careful prudent man and having met him a couple of times at public events I can also say that he is a nice, decent person, quite affable and easy to speak to. Jim is a home owner and you can sense that he understands the concerns of other citizens since he has the same concerns about living here. Under his mild manner though I suspect a strong will and a man with a plan for our Capital. I see someone with a vision for what Ottawa can become as a Capital. He has brought order to the city management and has made with the help of Council changes beneficial to the Citizens of our City.

Ottawa can be a difficult city to govern, given that it is the National Capital, saddled with several layers of governments, Provincial, Federal and the National Capital Commission. Then the many neighbourhood groups and various other special interest urban groups concerned with architecture, design, etc... Groups love to be consulted at lenght and in details many would prefer if the City Council simply implemented their recommendations as is, in other words our wishes become our command. They wish to govern forgetting that we elected a City Council to do just that.

I remember several projects in the past which generated endless consultations and town hall meetings where every one expressed ideas and concerns but few solutions and often advocated for the status quo. I always came away thinking that we would never see any progress. In any such discussions or consultations there is always resistance, some groups appear against every new idea or project. I am against it and am not offering any solutions, goes the tired refrain.

Years ago, there were consultation on replacing the building on the corner of Rideau and Sussex drive, it had been a department store, architecturally said to be of the Chicago school style, it was finally demolished and replaced by a post-modern condo tower after years of debate. Then there was the Rideau street mall idea which went through several incarnations and consultations. Rideau street still requires work and an extension of the Rideau Shopping Centre has been announced, developer Cadillac Fairview appears to have new tenants and a clear idea of what will happen. However already concerns have been raised about the old Ogilvie store now closed and derelict, will it be restored or pulled down? This is also tied to the LRT Station to be located near this mall extension, already the Ottawa Citizen (OC) is speculating which is not helpful.

Lansdowne Park and the new Casino project or the Light Rail Train (LRT) all produce lots of consultation and endless debate. Hopefully the idea of a new water treatment plant put forward by the Mayor will receive wide support, simply for its positive environmental impact.

Finally, Lansdowne is now going forward and construction has begun. Many opposed the project for a host of reasons, but what do they offer as an other option? The Mayor rightly pointed out that we had to move, Lansdowne had become derelict and an eyesore in one of the nicest neighbourhoods of the Capital. People should look at other World Capitals where similar sites have been transformed through urban renewal, think of Les Halles in Paris.

Each time the media in this case the OC will take sides often against a project on the reason as one reporter puts it; obsessed with process and planning. Does that imply that our elected officials and Mayor will not follow due process, the City cannot plan? Has the media assumed the role of unelected Opposition or Guardian of Public discourse replacing the Citizens? It would seem so.
Some reporters wish to question every word or phrase, looking for hidden meanings or messages, when careful reading of City Council minutes or the Mayor's statements already provide clarity. I see this as a search for controversy where none exist. Twitter encourages this as we saw recently between one OC reporter and the Mayor.

Same for the idea of intensification of the downtown or central core, if we are to make Ottawa a vibrant city after 5PM, we need to bring people to live in the centre and lots of them, to re-invent the old neighbourhoods and give them a new lease on life. It will also save the city money, suburbs call for lots of infrastructure and roads which are costly and required years of financing. It is easier to re-develop a built up area inside the city centre than some far away suburb. A pattern so many cities in Europe and Asia have followed to positive results.

Ottawa is on the cusp of great change, much change has already happened in the last 7 years and much more is coming and far more rapidly. We all need to get into our collective head that we live in a National Capital of a great country and as such we need to think along those lines. Ottawa is not some inconsequential small town in Ontario.

Jim Watson is good for Ottawa and he is a Mayor with vision and we need it. We are on the count down to 2017, the 150th anniversary of Canada an important milestone, Ottawa needs to reflect the country as a whole. Leave behind your view of my street, my neighbourhood first against everyone else. Whenever you oppose a project based on narrow blinkered interests you damage the interests of every community in the city. It also has to be understood once and for all, that we cannot achieve anything if private interests are not brought in or if we refuse to pay for a project. We cannot as a Capital stand still forever until the perfect solution materialize.

The Mayor has promised to hold up on taxes and he has been good to his word. So let's trust his prudent and bold management and go for it.

Food for thought

Carolyn Bennett, M.P., P.C. published this today on a Tweet that I happen to read. Parliament just returned to work on Monday 17 September. I think this is food for thought in the current political context. Some of the 14 points are relevant to our experience. In particular points 1,3,4,7,8,9,10,11,12 and 14. In a democracy it is always important to ask ourselves as Citizens where are we going and what direction is our country taking. Indifference or a laissez faire attitude can be dangerous. People living in advanced develop countries where rule of law is the norm can be vulnerable to slippage in the democratic process. One sign of just such slippage is the low voter turn out at election which is alarming in Canada. Another one is a lack of knowledge of political issues or development surrounding certain political issues and their impact on everyone's lives. This is when things can start to happen without anyone quite understanding or noticing what is going on.


Defining Characteristics of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Source Free Inquiry.co
5-28-3

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:   1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.   2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.   3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.   4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.   5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.   6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.   7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.   8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.   9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.   10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.   11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.   12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.   13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.   14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.   From Liberty Forum   http://www.libertyforum.org