77-81 Park Avenue

Park Avenue was one of a handful of streets reconstructed at the south end of the Golden Triangle last year, along with the pathway in that stretch on the West side of Queen Elizabeth Drive.

Going along Park in October, my curiosity was piqued by this interesting front entranceway to an otherwise typical three-unit Centretown townhouse at 77-81 Park.

Interesting, to say the least!

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

Laurier Optical moving

Laurier Optical has been a familiar site at Elgin and Queen street in the second floor of the Central Chambers building for a number of years. A sign in the window advertises the store is moving two blocks West, to 50 O'Connor, as of February 1, 2011.

I wonder what will take its place...

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

Through the Bridge

I haven't been spending as much time skating on the Rideau canal as in the last two years, but when I do I still take lots of photos! Here's one looking through the side of the Bank Street Bridge:

I was on my way back from picking up some tasty local beef from the Fitzroy Beef Farmers cooperative, who do a dropoff at Bank and Sunnyside when the Ottawa Farmer's Market is out of season.

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles, and Rideau Canal posts under the label Canal]

Floods close Centretown Community Police Centre

On Friday, members of the community received the following notice:

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 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 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 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.

I wish him the best in his efforts to find a new location for the Community Police Centre.

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

New community garden coming to Gladstone & Bronson

[Note: this site will not be used for a community garden. I jumped the gun and accidentally got the local media into a frenzy. Oops. There are still opportunities for a community garden in this area, including one that has been approved at McNabb Park - September 2012.]

Here's a view of Bronson Avenue looking south at Gladstone, from the Images of Bronson post from last March. Straight ahead is a bus stop at the corner for OC Transpo route 85, and to the left is a vacant lot. Behind that is the building containing re-Cycles community bicycle shop and George Brown & Sons memorials.

This has been flagged as a Rescue Bronson Avenue problem intersection, and will at least be getting pedestrian countdown signals in 2011 (PDF), but the crossing time is still very long, with five lanes on Bronson and a very wide three lanes on Gladstone.

Here's a view looking out the window of the re-Cycles shop. You can see that there's a fair amount of space between the sidewalk and the fence. This has led many people to wonder why isn't there a bus shelter at this stop, when all three other directions have one?

Reflection on Kent Street

While taking some photos of the existing Place de Ville "Podium" building, which is proposed to be demolished for a new office tower at 300 Sparks (mid block of Sparks, Queen, Kent, Lyon), I also took photos of the Mariott. On my way back to my bike, I snapped a couple shots of 240 Sparks' renovated entrance on Kent (before moving on to Bank and Queen, where I snapped last Monday's post post). While I was trying to take a photo of the suspension device for 240 Sparks' new glass wall, I inadvertently got a good shot of the Mariott in the reflection.

The Podium building houses the former three-screen Capitol Square cinema, which replaced the celebrated Capitol Theatre. You can read a bit more about the Podium building at Spacing Ottawa, and in Alain Miguelez' book on the history of screens in Ottawa, A Theatre Near You.

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

80 Florence - Chinese Community Building, part 3

Welcome to the big reveal--the final part in the series on the renovations to the exterior of the apartment building at 80 Florence, the Chinese Community Building.

In the previous two parts, I covered the former look and construction progress of the tower and of the ground level.

In this post, I've got a bunch of before-and-after angles, and some other views of the new look. Here's the view in mid-construction with the now-closed Stinson & Son/Main Garage in the foreground at Kent and Gladstone, in mid-October:

And here's a similar angle last week: the exterior uses two different shades of beige and light red brick to add variety to the view. The beige is contrasted by vertical stripes of blue-green window fixtures.

My take on the Laurier Segregated Bike Lane

Edit: see also Kate Jaimet's push for the Segregated Bike Lane in an editorial in Friday's Citizen

I sent the following message (sans photos) tonight to Citizens for Safe Cycling's public discussion e-mail list in advance of CfSC's Board meeting, where they will be considering their position on the Laurier Segregated Bike Lane pilot project (see ottawa.ca/bikelane). You can view the message in the archives here. It is unfortunate that nobody on Council seems to want to champion this project.

I will not be at the [CfSC Board] meeting tonight [where the Board will be considering whether or not to support the Laurier Segregated Bike Lane pilot project], but I hope that CfSC's Board chooses to support this pilot project and would like to share my thoughts on the topic.

This proposed lane goes entirely across Centretown, from the Rideau Canal to Bronson, and as President of the Centretown Citizens Community Association (www.centretowncitizens.ca) I have heard many concerns from residents.

These concerns are not unfounded, but as CfSC's policy on bike lanes states, these issues must be addressed. On Tuesday, the CCCA's Transportation Committee met with the City's SBL project manager, Colin Simpson, who explained how these issues would be addressed. The committee was satisfied and will be recommending to the CCCA's Board of Directors that the CCCA support the project.