Peds on Weds: Part 4: A history of sidewalk design in Ottawa

Today for the fourth and final entry of the sidewalk-design series, I'm going to give a history of sidewalk design, starting at the establishment of the original City of Ottawa, in 1855 (and earlier!). In part 2 of this series, I already gave a "little history" of the Toronto-style sidewalk design, relating specifically to how they became standard back to the establishment of the current amalgamated City of Ottawa in 2001. This followed part 1, in which I described "Toronto-style" sidewalks and the problems they're meant to address, and part 3, in which I discussed some of the issues the Toronto-style sidewalk itself has faced.

Today's entry starts with the West Ward Market, built in 1848 by Nicholas Sparks. This was used as Ottawa's first City Hall, roughly where the NAC is today.

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The first municipally-built sidewalks in Ottawa actually predate the City of Ottawa's 1855 incorporation: by-law number 37 of the Town of Bytown, approved the 23rd of September, 1850, was "To authorize the expenditure of £75 in making a Plank Sidewalk, S. side York Street":

Flashy bike

Near the end of December as the Rideau Canal skateway was agonizingly close to opening, I went on a Bike Ride along the canal one night to take some photos of the canal. With my bike resting on one side of the Bank Street bridge, I took a picture of it. Realizing I'd accidentally got it when the flashing purple lights were off, I took another. At the suggestion of a friend, I made it into an animated gif, and it works pretty well!

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Peds on Weds: Toronto-style sidewalks part 3 - the downsides

There has been a fair amount of criticism of the Toronto-style sidewalk design since it was made the standard in the City of Ottawa in 2006, just as there have been various challenges implementing it. As with any standard, you can't please all of the people all of the time, especially in a constrained physical environment like Delaware Avenue, below:

In the first part of this series, I described what "Toronto-style" sidewalks are and how they're supposed to work. In the second part, I detailed the rather technical history of how this sidewalk design, also known as "ramp-style vehicle access crossing", became standard, following through minutes from post-amalgamation City of Ottawa through to 2006.

Feedback about the design started as soon as the sidewalks on Delaware (pictured above) and Holland Avenue were installed for the pilot project. Since then, the design has also received its share of criticism from various sources. Today I'll be discussing these criticisms, and other issues the standard has encountered. I'll finish the series next week with a review of alternatives, starting with how Ottawa's sidewalks have been designed through the ages.

Yellow again

It's been a couple years since I last posted photos of yellow houses in Centretown, but this little one on Gilmour just east of Salisbury Place, in the Golden Triangle, is just so adorable, with its green trim:

It's a bit dominated by the also-well-kept house next to it, not to mention the highrise of 20 Driveway looming behind it.

Over in the west part of Centretown, on Florence Street, is another yellow house that had escaped my 2010 inventory:

I recently noticed on Holmwood in the Glebe a house that bears a striking resemblance to the first yellow house I blogged about, which was on Arlington. Perhaps this one on Holmwood is what the house on Arlington could have looked like in an alternate universe.

Another yellow-ish house in Centretown is the Embassy of Armenia at Delaware and Robert, which is also notable as it's part of Doors Open Ottawa 2013.

I likely won't get around to a standalone Doors Open post this year, so this will have to do. Find all the info you need at ottawa.ca/doorsopen, or get a hard copy of the guide at your local Bridgehead. Doors Open 2013 will be this Saturday and Sunday, June 1-2, 2013.

One last (hopefully) blast of winter

The weather forecast suggests that we'll be getting another 20-centimetre blast of snow in the next couple of days. This might be my last chance this year to get some of my winter-related photos out before trying to forget that season and focus on spring and summer. So here goes.

Here's an inuksuk I built outside Bridgehead on Elgin after a snowstorm in December. It was one of those ones with really sticky snow. A couple of days after falling, that sticky snow had hardened into snow you could cut chunks from.

That was actually from the storm pictured below on Gladstone, where the snow 'flakes' were the size of frosted mini wheats. I hope this week's storm doesn't bring us this heavy stuff:

Peds on Weds: Pathway plows along the canal

Since the canal is not yet officially closed for the season (though it's "Temporarily" closed as of this morning), I figure a post about walking conditions along the canal is timely.

While the NCC doesn't plow any of its pathways*, the City does. And I don't just mean that the City clears snow from City pathways—the City also plows the NCC's pathways along the canal, both on the Queen Elizabeth Driveway and Colonel By Driveway sides. The plows used aren't necessarily the same as what we're used to seeing on sidewalks, though. Here is the Argyle entrance to the canal in the south end of the Golden Triangle, and a plow is going by:

Zooming in, perhaps you can see the trailer being pulled behind the vehicle?

Peds on Weds: L'Es try something different (or not)

Recently some workers have been spotted on Laurier Avenue affixing drywall to the central podium section of the l'Esplanade Laurier office tower:

Stepping back a bit, both literally and figuratively, the building is a full-block structure surrounded by Laurier, O'Connor, Gloucester and Bank streets.

The last signs of urban rail in Centretown

[Sorry about the lack of posts. The Bluesfest Bike Park, while fun, is always a big interruption, and I'm just now starting to catch up on things. Hopefully I'll be back up to three posts again soon!]
Previous streetcar references on this blog have either been historical (such as the 50th anniversary of the last streetcar in Ottawa, or dealing with wooden streetcar rail ties dug up as part of major road reconstructions.

Streetcars were, of course, a part of daily life in Centretown from the 1890s up to April 20, 1959. this Canadian Encyclopedia article gives a concise overview of the history of streetcar technology.

Along with the streetcars are their less-celebrated accompanying infrastructure, including wires and the poles that held them up. These were all removed in the months and years after the streetcars stopped rolling. Here's a photo from the end of July, 1959, of workers removing the trolley poles at Confederation Square in the shadow of the Parliament buildings:

Peds on Weds: No ifs, ands or buttons

Today is Wednesday, which brings with it the weekly Peds on Weds post about walking issues. Being the second Wednesday of the month, tonight is also the monthly meeting of Walk Ottawa, the upstart pedestrian advocacy group. At tonight's meeting there will be representatives of the City's traffic signals department to take questions from the group.

I thought this was a good time to share what I know about how pedestrian traffic control signals work in Ottawa. I don't necessarily agree that this is the way things should be, but it is the way they are.

One of the biggest sources of confusion among pedestrians has to do with the signals and the buttons. Here's a traffic post at the top of Elgin at Sparks, which looks innocent enough:

What you can't see from the above angle is that there is a button for pedestrians to request the walk signal on the other side of this same post:

Joe Cassey, 1926-2012

Last Friday, longtime Centretown resident Joe Cassey passed away.

I had the pleasure of meeting Joe when I interviewed him in 2009 for the video celebrating the 40th anniversary of the CCCA. The video was debuted at a special event in April 2010 where the four couples featured in the video (Joe & June Cassey, Nan and Tony Griffiths, Maureen and Mike Cassidy, and Elspeth and Jim Menendez) were each given a special CCCA Legacy Award for getting Centretown organized in the first place back in 1969. Here are Joe and June with their certificate:

As a result of that interview, his is one of the voices that tells the story of the community association's beginnings in 1968-1969 in the video:

Joe was born in 1926 in Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) Ontario, and served in the Navy in World War II.

He subsequently moved to Ottawa in 1959, and in 1968 moved into a house at the end of Cartier Street with his wife June, where the couple became famous for giving the best parties in Centretown, for which Joe did most of the cooking himself. The house dates to the late 1800s and served as a branch of the Bank of Ottawa from 1911 to 1919:

Just months after moving in, Joe and June learned that their house might be demolished (as previously described in the video, starting at 2m50s) in order for the City to run offramps through the neighbourhood as a replacement to Pretoria Bridge. This was part of a greater scheme of proposed massive downtown road projects including the 17-lane downtown distributor.

The fight to protect the Pretoria Bridge (and the neighbourhoods) involved many existing and nascent community associations banding together to form the Federation of Citizens' Associations (described in the video at 9m19s). As Joe recounts in the Video, he felt it was important that these efforts be recognized, which they were with a plaque that named the associations following the reconstruction of the bridge in the '80s:

After helping to found the community association, Joe succeeded Mike Cassidy as alderman for Wellington Ward (the Eastern half of what is now Somerset Ward) in 1973-1974, where he worked alongside Britannia Ward Alderman Marion Dewar, another community-based representative who treated the position as a full-time job.

Joe worked on many issues, including improving conditions in rooming houses (he told me of a pair of young women who had to use a garbage bag for a door or be kicked out if they complain to the landlord) and raising awareness of gay issues.

In the following municipal election, Joe made an unsuccessful bid for the Board of Control, coming in fifth in the race for four spots. A 1974 issue of the Centretown News covered his candidacy, as well as that of Marion Dewar who did get on the Board of Control that year, eventually to become Mayor of Ottawa: (click to view full size)

In 1976, Brian Bourns, who played a central role in the development of the Centretown Plan and who is still active in the CCCA, was running for a second term in Wellington Ward. Joe instead put in a successful bid against incumbent alderman Don Lockhart in Capital Ward, just on the other side of the Queensway. Here is an ad of his that ran in the December 1976 Glebe Report (PDF) days before the December 6 election:

The same issue has a profile of Joe on page 6. Already by this time he had served on community associations, the FCA, the Air and Water Pollution Board, the Regional Housing Committee and the Youth Services Board.

As he told me in the interview (mp3, 0m36s, 585KB), he got some criticism for not living in the ward. June recounts, at the end of the clip, that Joe's response was "Do you want an alderman who works in the ward or one who sleeps in the ward?"

Joe later served as President of the Central Canada Exhibition Association (he credits Nancy Smith for saving the Aberdeen Pavillion from demolition) and as the founding Chair of the Ottawa Congress Centre.


I didn't meet Joe until long after all this activity, but every time I stopped by he was always in the mood to talk.

I visited him in hospital a month before he passed away and he was still on top of current events at City Hall, asking me one by one for the latest news on each of the files. He was quite a force and I am glad to have known him.


Arrangements are to be held at Hulse, Playfair and McGarry (McLeod and O'Connor) this evening and tomorrow. Details are at Legacy.com, as is the virtual guestbook. Donations in memory of Joe can be made to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation.

Rideau Canal Skateway now open for the 2012 season!

The Rideau Canal skateway opened at 10am on Sunday morning, with the NCC announcing it just an hour before. The rest area at Fifth Avenue/Holmwood is picture-perfect, with a fresh layer of snow on the evergreens. The ice is so glassy smooth that you can see the canal amenities reflected in it!

Of course, no NCC event would be complete without a hokey media event. Two of the official Winterlude mascots, the Ice Hogs, were out on the ice behind the speaker at the podium (as captured hugging adorably in a photo by CBC reporter Alistair Steele via Twitter). One of them climbed the stairs to raise the green flag, making the opening official. (Unfortunately my photo is from a bad angle to see the flag, again, but Steele got a good photo of that, too)

Lansdowne Christmas Market

The Ottawa Farmer's Market is having its final Christmas Market in the Aberdeen Pavillion today, from 9am to 3pm. I went to the previous one two weeks ago, and was surprised by the number of vendors:

I was told that many farmers couldn't make it because the December market dates were scheduled after they had planned their planting seasons. Nevertheless, there were nearly 100 vendors last time!

In related news, the Glebe's roadwork is finished for the season, and Kettleman's, the infamous Glebe bagel shop kitty-corner from Lansdowne Park, is back open after closing for renovations a few weeks ago. Be forewarned, though: walk, bike, or maybe bus there. The traffic on Bank Street (and, for that matter, inside Kettleman's) is quite heavy! Nevertheless, support local farmers, artisans, and businesses by making a quick trip to the nearest farmer's market to Centretown, and the last one at Lansdowne this year.

As always, admission is free to the Lansdowne Market, but parking is in effect. They will exchange your parking chit for a $5 voucher at the info table if you do manage to drive there.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Scratch that

A week or so ago, I was heading down Bank Street in the Glebe, taking some photos of the construction, when out of the corner of my eye I saw this kid tap the recently-poured curb with his skateboard. I figured he was trying to tell if it was hard enough for him to step on it to get to his friends. Then he picked up a piece of gravel, which I figured he was going to toss, as boys do.

Instead, he bent down and started scratching something into the not-yet-hardened curb. Since I was taking photos anyway, I conspicuously aimed my camera at him and took his photo (as you can tell, I've blurred his face). That got him to stop, and hopefully he's learned his lesson and won't do it again.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Ottawa Earthquake anniversary. Where was I?

Special Thursday post: Today is the one-year anniversary of the magnitude 5 earthquake that rocked the Ottawa area on June 23, 2010. This morning I woke to many messages about where people were during an earthquake in my Twitter feed, and since Twitter reads reverse-chronologically, I'd thought I'd slept through an earthquake this morning until I saw the original question from the Ottawa Citizen's twitter account asking people where they were last year.

I was on a private tour of the former OBE Media Centre on Bronson just south of the 417(the "Bronson Shops"). During the earthquake, we were on the lower roof. Since the building is right next to the queensway, a couple of us thought there were just some big trucks driving by. Centretown's northern skyline (beyond the lowrise zones) is visible beyond the Queensway.

But Jack Corry, the OCDSB's area supervisor was with us on the tour and told us that it was in fact an earthquake. We got to hear the live updates from schools across the city over his radio, including schools closing in the western suburbs and pleas from the head office for schools to stop asking for how to proceed while they figure out a plan.

I'd organized the tour (which consisted of Jennifer McKenzie, OCDSB trustee for Somerset and Kitchissippi and now Chair of the school board, Jack, my friend Richard Guy Briggs and me) because of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation's plans to buy it and demolish it to straighten the 417 Bronson offramp (currently cars continuing straight must jog south at Bronson and wait to turn left, which backs up traffic all the way to Gladstone). When I was attending McNabb public school, every day I'd see the building as the school bus came off that ramp and turned north on Bronson, so I was always curious what was inside.

I took hundreds of photos of the inside and plan to post them in a series sometime, but I wanted to get something up for the quake anniversary. Richard posted some photos on his site, and URBSite has a post on the history of the building.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Old tree, new tree

I took this photo back in 2009, during the Great Glebe Garage Sale. I was struck by the juxtaposition of the new tree planted in the mulchy hole where the old tree (now in pieces in the background) had been. I've been keeping this post as a backup in case I didn't get around to preparing a post on time; as Spring continues to gestate and evidence of winter gets further behind us, I'm less worried that it'll look out of place.

I wonder if the man walking past was thinking the same thing?

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Buried natural gas pipeline

[I ran out of time to prepare a more topical post, either Museum of Nature Opening Day part 2 or CCCA updates for Tuesday's meeting (some are listed at www.centretowncitizens.ca), so here's one of my backup posts. Enjoy!]

I'm still going through my old unsorted photos, many of which are outside Centretown. These are harder to file because outside Centretown I generally restrict my photos to more obscure things, which are inherently harder to categorize.

Take, for example, this natural gas marker at Patterson Creek (O'Connor and Linden Terrace), where I've photographed before. The Ottawa Gas marker looks to be at least a couple decades old.

I took the photo last winter, but never got around to filing it. I feared that if I did, it would get forgotten and I'd never post it (so many of my photos suffer this fate!). So before I forget, here it is!

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

McDonald's on Bronson: the plywood gem

This is a McDonald's. It's on Bronson Avenue, seen in June. It has a distinctive roofline--in this case in red and white, but also seen with brown roof tiles and yellow beams, and it has a large freestanding sign out front with golden arches that sticks out prominently in front of the store.

This is an automotive service centre (Midas, 450 Bronson). It's also on Bronson Avenue. It has a rectangular shape with flush aluminium siding, large raised lettering of the name of the centre and uses a red band to provide contrast to the grey of the rest of the building.

Pretoria Red Light

On Wednesday, the CBC had an article that the City of Ottawa is increasing the number of intersections with red-light cameras.

Back in early February, I had spotted one being installed at Elgin/Pretoria Bridge and Queen Elizabeth Drive, an intersection I find myself in every now and then, though admittedly rarely during rush hour.

Technically in the Glebe, but Pretoria Bridge is certainly important to Centretown.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Rideau Canal 2010: The second half

In the last post on the Rideau Canal Skateway, I shared photos from the first few days that the canal was open, and focused on what was new for 2010.

But last weekend, the canal was only open from the Mackenzie-King Bridge to the Bank Street bridge. Since then, it has opened past Bank Street the whole rest of the way. More importantly, the sky has opened up, giving us those cheerful bright days and majestic sunsets that keep me coming back onto the ice.

Up until today (Saturday), the canal was closed past Bank Street. Here at dusk, the BeaverTails chalet in the closed section at Bronson Avenue is all closed up. A crescent moon shines above.

At the Dow's Lake pavillion, the igloo-shaped change huts are ready for activation. The tire tracks in front evidence the preparation.

Between Bank and Bronson, the rose and lilac sunset shines through the silhouettes of pine trees alongside the canal, which was still closed to skaters when I took this photo.

Under the heading of 'what's new in 2010,' there's some work being done along the pathways to repair the crumbling walls of the canal. There's a stretch about halfway between Bank to Bronson on the Queen Elizabeth Drive side, and another stretch right where the leg to Hartwell's Locks meets Dow's Lake along Colonel By Drive. The respective pathways are closed and detours are in effect for pathway users.

I had already gone by here a few times this afternoon until I noticed the lamp resting on its side along the retaining wall.

I took another photo of kids playing on the banks of Pig Island, which was a great winter fun shot. But on another skate past, maintenance workers were reinstalling the tall flags. I couldn't help taking a photo of the partially-obscured flag as it read "le Pig".

Today, the parts of the canal past Bank Street, to Bronson, Dow's Lake and Hartwell's Locks, were all opened up, and the skateway was very popular--So much so that a layer of snow had accumulated from people's skate blades, which had to be cleared mid-day by the sweeper machines. Here they are making a pass across Dow's Lake.

Also in the maintenance arsenal this year, as mentioned in the previous post, is a zamboni an ice-resurfacing machine with a 60-foot-wide blade. Here it is seen in the maintenance machine pit, with the blade extensions folded alongside it.

What's really remarkable about this shot (click to enlarge, as always) is the horde of tiny skaters going along Dow's Lake. Yes, it's just a perspective thing, but the machine looks sixty feet tall, too!

This photo is actually from the opening day, taken at the BeaverTails at Fifth Avenue, but it got misplaced on one of my camera cards. When I went past, the girl was already standing like that; the photo pretty much took itself. There weren't too many people buying BeaverTails on a Thursday afternoon...

...but nine days later on a bright Saturday afternoon, the crowds were tremendous!

Here are some folks skating under the Bronson bridge, past what is apparently chalet number 1. Bronson bridge is no longer under construction as it was last year, which has good and bad effects. On the good side, we no longer have to worry about the terrible visibility and ice conditions under the scaffolding. However, one's attention, no longer focused on the ice, now is freed to take in the ugly view of the freeway overpass-type bridge (thankfully not in clear view in this photo).

Today we again got one of those spectacular, majestic sunsets, with rolling clouds painted in ethereal colours. I had to stop and just stare at it for a few minutes. The sunset does a wonderful job of framing the dome of the Lady Aberdeen Pavillion in Lansdowne Park. Click the photo to view it in full resolution and glory.

So that pretty much sums up the highlights from the couple hundred photos I took so far in this year's Canal season. While I'll still be skating as much as I have this last couple weeks, I hope to turn my blogging attention back toward roads and buildings.

If you're still hankering for Canal-related posts, click on the Canal label.

What's new on the Rideau Canal Skateway in 2010

The Rideau Canal, allegedly* the world's largest skating rink, and verifiably an UNESCO World Heritage Site, opened its skateway for the 41st season on Thursday.

If you're planning on going out, be sure to check out this page, which says whether the canal is open, how much of it, and what the conditions are (currently listed as poor).

Here's a tour of what's happening this year so far:

First of all, the Canal is only open from the NAC to Bank Street, just over 4 kilometres. See? Fence at Bank. At least this year they kept the stairways on the inside of the fence--it was a long walk last year to the next set of stairs when the ones at Bank were closed!

Not much happening until Fifth Avenue. Here they're loading the souvenir hut onto the ice.

A minor detail, but an important one: they added stairs to the near side of the washroom trailer at Fifth Avenue. The heavy traffic on the stairs on the other side, combined with the heavy traffic on the stairs up to the roadway, made it dangerous to go to the loo last year.

Ever seen a sixty-foot-wide zamboni ice-resurfacing machine? Now you have. (I haven't seen it in action yet)

Edit January 2011: Article on the machine in the Citizen: click here

Fans of the proposed Midtown Footbridge will be keen to see the footprints crossing the canal between Second Avenue in the Glebe and Herridge Street in Old Ottawa East.

And after many years, they finally moved the stairs at Patterson Creek so they are right in front of the doors of the heritage chalet. They've also upgraded these and many more of the stairways to the sturdier new metal design.

Pretoria Bridge is no longer under construction. Really I just like the bridges along the canal.

The canal also has a new pet this year. This muskrat has been hanging around the ramp at Concorde, diving underwater for weeds, then bringing them back up to snack on. This photo may not be the best, but I wanted to give the little guy some space.

The skate rental place is, of course, still there. You can rent those red sleds, too. I'm pretty sure they've modified the front steps from last year. Definitely different from two years ago. The skate rental/sharpening place at Fifth Avenue is only open on weekends. The one at the NAC is open all week, as will be the one at Dow's lake once the canal is open that far.

And red flag means the end. The north end is not yet open, but it's most of the way there. Since all the salty stormwater flows out through this, the narrowest part of the Canal, it's often the last bit to open. The snowbowl is not happening this year, but the skateway is not likely to go all the way under the bridge due to the aforementioned diffculty to attain sufficient ice thickness.

What are you waiting for? Go out there and enjoy it!

^ Ironically, despite being founded to settle arguments about superlatives, the GWR website bears no reference to such a record