Near the corner of Elgin and Argyle, pedestrians cut through the courtyard (next to the "Transformer Site" public art installation), hop the planter bed, and continue along the much quieter street. I wouldn't be surprised if many of them continue diagonally across the Museum of Nature's parking lot as well.
For a few years, this space was occupied by the gallery of artist Daniel Richards. This closed in February:
Previously, it was an internet cafe that was shut down in 2007 by the police after it was revealed to be habitually used for illegal activities.
The building sits at one of the most active intersections in Centretown, just a few metres away from Bank and Somerset. The intersection has had a lot thrown at it in the last few years, including two seasons of road reconstruction (since the sections were divided at Somerset), two fires in the building across the street in 2008, and the collapse at Somerset House kitty-corner to it, which remains unresolved.
The bicycle congestion at 288 Bank, and at the much higher-capacity bike racks in front of Hartman's, is a good sign. It suggests businesses have a lot of customers who like to shop locally within Centretown.
On the morning of January 20th 2011, the Centretown Community Police Centre located at 393 Somerset St. West sustained a flood that resulted in the closure of the property. As a precaution to the health and safety of its staff, all persons working within this facility have been requested to vacate immediately.The Centre's boardroom was well used for community meetings, including Somerset Ward community safety meetings, the CCCA's Safety Committee and the City Centre Coalition.
The Centretown Community Police Centre will be closed indefinitely, with the expectation to be relocated within the community once another location can be identified. All volunteers have been requested to remain home until further notice by the officer in charge.
Members of the public can still utilize the CPC's website www.somersetcpc.com to obtain updates.
Cst. Khoa Hoang will continue to meet his commitments within the community, and may be reached at (613) 236-1222 Ext.5287 or email at: hoangk@ottawapolice.ca
The Citizen reports that this was the fourth flood in a year. This is an unfortunate setback for Constable Hoang, who started as our Community Officer just a few months ago after Nathan Hoedeman left to work with Ottawa Community Housing. I met with Constable Hoang in early December to discuss cycling safety issues. Hoang, a commuter cyclist himself, wants to latch on to the Laurier Segregated Bike Lane pilot project as an opportunity to increase cycling education.
These vehicles assembled in front of City Hall.
The ceremony was being held across the grass at the site of the new memorial. Behind the memorial, a gargantuan Canadian flag was suspended from ladders 13 and 24. Many firefighters in dress uniform were arranged to watch the ceremony:
There were many civilians, including passersby and family and friends of lost firefighters.
Most of those, I suspect, were in the seating area in front of the three long rows of firefighters.
Politicians and other officials were kept contained in a stage area. The woman on the grass with the salmon coloured shirt is Louise Carota, who designed the monument.
While those officials were on a stage, the attention was focused on the monument, from which most of the speeches were delivered. Here the contributors and contractors are being recognized. Signs were posted on the monument recognizing the contributors; unfortunately, these have since been removed.
On the other end of the memorial the band played. You can also see many fire trucks parked on Laurier bridge.
Pumper P11B was covered in black ribbons and the lights were covered in black cloth. Members of station No. 11 presented the plaque with the names of firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty. 
This, of course, is just a slice of the memorial. I was pleased that the ceremonies tended to focus on the loss of local firefighters, and on the work involved to get the memorial built. It was very formal and ceremonial. 
For links to relevant sources, including the fund for the next phase of the memorial, please see the previous post on the firefighters memorial.
This year, the ceremonies will be joined by the unveiling of the completed first phase of a new memorial to fallen firefighters. According to the Donor Wall Pledge Form (PDF), "The monument will be a permanent marker to honour Ottawa Fire Fighters who have fallen in the line of duty. It will also be the site for the annual Ottawa Fire Fighter Memorial Service." The campaign to build the monument dates back at least to December 2002/January 2003, when Ottawa's Emergency and Protective Services Committee supported and City Council contributed $1000 to the project. The concept and location of the monument was Approved by City Council in June 2006.
Here's the memorial site, on the far end of Festival Plaza, shortly after breaking ground. NDHQ (National Defense Headquarters) is visible in the background.
On June 1st, they were preparing to pour the foundation block. Behind the fencing, you can see the last bit of the pathway that used to connect to Laurier Bridge.
Ten days later, the foundation had been laid, and the formwork was assembled for the walls of the monument. From this angle, the curve in the back wall is obvious, but looking at my later photos from other angles, it's very subtle. On the right in the background is the stage for the Festival Franco Ontarien 2009:
By late June, work had progressed noticably, as shown in the shot below. Note the sign on the left of the shot, a white circle on a square blue background. There are four of them around City Hall. I've been told they are a universal sign indicating a place of refuge, but I can't find any references on the Internet.
The concrete foundation had been laid, the red concrete walls were erected, and the floor slab was setting when this photo was taken.
A few days later, the floor slab was dry, and work was being done to install the electricals and the pipes for the water feature. You can see the underground pipes and cables stretching around the back of the monument. A concrete pillar contains pipes for electrical connections.
In this view from the other side, we can see some steel rebar sticking out from the foundation slab, presumably to attach to the second phase of the memorial. There are two more pillars in front of the monument. In the centre of the monument is a large concrete feature.
By mid-August, the undeground work was mostly done and the landscaping had begun. A new pathway was built with precast concrete pavers, winding around the monument. See what I mean about the back wall not looking curved from this angle? This monument plays some neat visual tricks that way; artist Louise Carota did a good job of designing it.
Here's a closeup on the pathway. A worker left a large drink container on the wall.
Back at the front, soil has been filled in around the columns with the electrical fittings. Cartier Square Drill Hall is in the background.
Inside the monument are three small concrete blocks sticking out from the floor. A precast concrete paver was laid next to one to judge the height of the blocks once the paving stones were added. You can see the drink container again on the back wall.
Here's the central plinth, with the sun coming down behind. Its shape is reminiscent of a firefighter's crest insignia. Again, some sample pavers were arranged around it.
By yesterday, there were just a few finishing touches left. The firefighter statues had been installed; the pavers had been laid; trees, sod, and flowers were planted; and some holes had been dug along the pathway for more decorative light standards.
The paver pattern inside the monument is pretty interesting. Varying patterns and designs of brick scatter out from the plinth in a radial pattern.
Here are the two statues. You can see lights on the floor of the plinth.
From behind, the ground and pathway follow the sloping back wall, so you can't really tell the wall's height.
The firefighter's hose will actually be functional: it will spray water out toward an archway, which will presumably be built in phase II of the project at a later date. I'm not sure how (or if) it will function until then.
For those interested in Ottawa firefighting history, have a look at this page on Bytown.net, which documents Francis Graham, the a member of Ottawa's first professional fire department, and the first Ottawa firefighter to die in the line of duty (in 1877). Captain John Graham, son of the previous, eventually became Fire Chief, and Station #10 (Old Ottawa South's "old firehall"), was named in Chief Graham's honour, before being decommissioned in 1974. It is the only heritage fire hall still in public hands and publicly accessible.
This shot of Bank Street, looking Northward from Nepean toward the unfinished Mondrian building, was taken before it opened back up to traffic. Just some finishing touches were left to be done on November 27, three days before it officially re-opened:
On December 9, we got quite a whammy downtown with the Chaudière bridge closed, a major snowfall, and a bus strike coming at midnight. While the streets were mostly bare of traffic by 9:30 pm, I plopped my tripod in the snowbank outside of Hartman's and took a few shots of the snowy Bank Street, first looking North to the intersection:
And then South down the street:
Two nights later (by coincidence, also at 9:30 pm), I was at the Bank/MacLaren bridgehead when the big machines came to take the snow away. I stepped out and took some photos from the opposite corner (sans tripod). Incidentally, I'm currently posting this entry from that Bridgehead. They've brought back the one-hour limit on the wireless, which is annoying, as it takes me well over an hour to compose each post.
I'm not sure if the snow clearing department understands that people still ride bikes in the Winter. Indeed, the City is recommending it as one of various alternatives during the bus strike. It's a pity, then, that the relatively new cutout for bicycles on MacLaren at O'Connor wasn't cleared of snow when I last saw it: 
While the Chaudière bridge has partially re-opened, the bus strike and the various snow events continue to impact people's (terrible) driving habits. A police cruiser was stationed on the sidewalk on Elgin and Laurier with its lights flashing, presumably as a reminder to pay attention and drive responsibly.
Snow and traffic aren't the only troubles that the cold spell has brought. On the evening of the 16th, on my way home from a CCCA meeting at City Hall, I noticed a crew fixing a broken water main under Bank Street at Gladstone. Luckily, it happened at night, and didn't require the whole street to be closed to repair, both of which were the case with when the water main broke under Elgin Street in May.
The water was pumped out of the hole and was running around the corner. In the very cold weather, it was hardening into a slush, which was then molded by the tires of passing cars before freezing into ice:
A friend of mine recently decided to move to Vancouver. He invited a few of us over to his place after the weekly dinner to take some things off his hands. This was my first time in his apartment, and I was quite enamored by the view of Centretown from his balcony. I took a number of photos that night, plus a few shots a couple of days later in daytime. Let me tease you with a couple of them... 
The snow crews were removing the snow from Somerset Street West, immediately below us, and I got some shots of them doing their work. This shot is my new desktop at work (as always, click the photo to enlarge), which also makes a good deterrent for potential computer thieves who suffer from vertigo!
