… that staid old Ottawa had a Sexapalooza… I really didn’t.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… you should never Tweet while drunk.

Our former mayor apologised yesterday (at the unveiling 0f his official portrait at City hall, no less) for Tweeting about “spics” while he was watching the GOP debate the other night.

From his Twitter account @Larry_OBrien1, O’Brien tweeted “#cnndebate The spics are getting way to much airtime!”

At a ceremony Monday evening in which his portrait was being unveiled at Ottawa City Hall, O’Brien admitted the tweet, which he later deleted, had come from him.

“That was obviously a tweet that was ill thought through and I did the mea culpa and certainly I regret it,” said O’Brien. “There is no excuses.”

“…is no exuses”? I hope that’s a typo!

And I’m serious about the Tweeting (or Facebooking or blogging) while impaired. Never, ever do it. But I can’t help but think that this is a possible explanation for the former Mayor’s behaviour. He should most definitely know better… he’s a pretty sharp guy.

I can picture the setting. Mayor Larry is sitting in his La-Z-Boy, watching the GOP debate on his 72 inch 3D LED TV, cradling his third tumbler of 30 yr old single malt on the table beside him. When, through that old single malt fog, he hears something in the debate that spurs him to pull out his Blackberry (I don’t see him as an iPhone kinda guy) and hurriedly pounds out his Tweet before he forgets the moment.

Can’t you picture it too?From the holy-crap-it-must-be-a-slow-news-day file…

On this very same CBC page is a story that we, as responsible and thinking citizens of the world should be on thew edges of our seats over!

Economic crisis in Europe? Petty issue!

Upcoming American election? Who cares?

Climate change? Meh.

The question that Canadians and others on this wee, blue planet are REALLY so fricking anxious to know the answer to is….

WHO SHOULD HOST PIPPA MIDDLETON’S FIRST SIT DOWN INTERVIEW?

WTF is a Pippa??

Sigh. We. Are. Screwed.

Sigh.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Really?

From the Mayor on Twitter:

@JimWatsonOttawa: Rink of Dreams looks amazing with sens and #ottcity logo – grand opening at 530 pm Wednesday night! Come by for a skate and hot chocolate!

I’m sorry, but I cannot be the only Ottawan who his scratching their head over the wisdom of the City spending a cool quarter million on an outdoor rink! The total costs have doubled but the Mayor assures us that the City won’t pick up the cost overrun.

The City of Ottawa says taxpayers aren’t on the hook for cost increases for the Rink of Dreams.

The cost has doubled from $1.2 million to $2.4 million because of engineering problems, including dealing with the soil in front of City Hall.

However, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said the city won’t be pitching in more than its $250,000 commitment, with the rest of the cost covered by the Sens Foundation.

Well, that’s super. But I still don’t get the need for this. Yes, the Canal is closed some of the time, but really, are we to believe that toursists will flock to City Hall to skate on artifical ice if the Canal is unavailable? No way. They want the Canal experience and aren’t going to be convinced into “pretending”.

I have thus far been pretty supportive of most Council decisions to this point. But this isn’t one of them.

And no, it isn’t because of that ugly logo in the middle

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

…HOOP SNAKES HAVE INFESTED OTTAWA!

I knew that this day may come… but I did not imagine that it would be so soon… perhaps post-apocalypse… but not now!

Seen from the window of my building… absolute PROOF of a deadly winter hoop snake. I’ll start watching for missing person reports… surely the beast took some unaware soul out for a walk in the snow this morning.

So sad.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… since the Ontario municipal elections. Time flies.

So how have things gone here in Ottawa, anyhow? Has the School Board addressed some of the issues around communication and transparency?… issues that I campaigned on last year. Are they any closer to solving their long-term infrastructure deficit?

Has the City Council lived up to its early promise given its new Mayor and several new Councillors? Are our local reps reaching out to their communities to a greater extent? Are they implementing into policy what they are being told?

Lots of questions. And maybe they are a bit unfair, a bit premature maybe? Like, give them some time, Trashy!

But guess what? I’m not here to slam our new and returning Trustees and Councillors – rather, I praise them!

Or at least some of them.

OCDSB Trustees
Some have performed better than others. That’s a given. This term has seen a few Trustees rise as cream does to the top. They are very active and effective in their use of social media. Some are also very active in engaging their constituents the old-fashioned way; by holding meetings and forums. They listen and they act.

In other words, they are carrying out their roles well and their communities should be proud.

Others, not so much.

Bronwyn, Bronwyn, Bronwyn. I had hoped that campaign last year might have twigged you to the fact that you need to be more actively engaged with your Zone! But where have you been? You need to get out more. Hit some School Council meetings. Some school events (woulda been nice to see you at the book sale on the weekend) wouldn’t kill you either.

If you need examples to draw on, talk to some of your colleagues like Mark, John, Donna and Cathy. You could learn a thing or three.

City Council

Overall, I’ve been pleased with what I have seen coming out of City Hall…. especially from my own councillor, Peter Hume, who seems to have solidified his position on Council as the one who speaks for the City vis à vis development and planning issues. I especially liked what he said a few weeks ago to the Ottawa Real Estate Forum – zoning by-laws are zoning buy-laws. Deal with it.

“We believe that community design plans are incredibly important. They are designed to tell you where height is and is not appropriate. And we believe they are not jumping-off points. Once we complete a community design plan, and we zone appropriately to the heights that are designated in the plan, it’s not a jumping-off point for more.

Wow. A Councillor standing up to developers. What a concept.

I do, however, wish that Peter was integrated into social media. It appears that the newbie Councillors like Steve Desroches, Mark Taylor, Tim Tierney, Mathieu Fleury and Stephen Blais have caught on to itand have carried on with what they started duuring their successful elction campaigns; that is to use Twitter and Facebook to engage in a two way conversation with their constitutents and the wider City community. And Council vets like Eli El-Chantiry have caught on too! Kudos to them!

But Councillor Hume is a smart cookie. He’ll figure it out eventually.

So overall, I’d say that from my own backyard point of view, high marks go to my Councillor but lower marks to my Trustee. But hey, she has three years to make it right…

From a City-wide point of view, I have been happy with the attempts at better engagement shown by many of the Councillors – and the Mayor as well. There have been some policies and developments that I have not been particularly enamoured with (e.g., the OC Transpo changes, the decision to cease the publication of detailed minutes, how Lansdowne has been handled)… but… ya can’t keep everyone happy all of the time, right?

Check back next year for the mid-term review!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… in trying to track down some scumbags who defiled Pleasant Park School (OCDSB: JK -> 6… yeah, little kids) with some truly disgusting graffiti at some point over the past few days.

As in TRULY disgusting. Swastikas. Racist crap. The works.

The police are not likely to be able do anything other than log it as a report and look for similar incidents in the area. This kind of  crap is fairly rare. We have been pretty lucky in our community until now.

So, please re-post, and re-Tweet.  Maybe someone can come forward to the police with any info that may lead to identifying the worthless pieces of sewage who did this.

Thanks.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

As I mentioned in a post a short while ago, the son of a colleague of mine is deep into the field at a musical contest in Korea… in fact, he is now in the final four… in spite of the fact that he is not Korean and doesn’t speak the language!

I’ve been getting Facebook messages from his Mom over the course of all of this, but the story of Shayne’s Great Korean Adventure is pretty much unknown outside Korea and friends and family scattered through Canada and the Philippines.

Finally, after a retired colleague let local media know about what was happening, the story has been picked up by the Citizen.

GO SHAYNE!!!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

As an avid baseball fan, I am sad to say that it doesn’t seem like my adopted city has any real stomach for pro or semi-pro ball on a sustainable basis.

Too bad. I have some great memories taking the kids there when they were young. Helluva stadium for baseball. Easy to get to. The prices were reasonable. And great baseball.

But it’s just not going to work here and it’s the last season for the Fat Cats.

So what does the City do with the stadium? It would be a real shame to tear it down and sell the property to developers to build more condos or big box outlets. We have enough of those things already, IMHO.

Well, the City is being a bit creative in its search for solutions. The fact that they ar going to the public for advice is no surprise. Involving the public is an integral part of any development process.

The innovation is in how they are doing it.

As described in the Citizen today:

At a preliminary meeting in September, interested members of the public will be given information about the site and its surroundings, such as the nearby transit and rail stations, as well as mini-lectures on zoning and what the city’s official plan says may or may not be allowed in that area. People will also be encouraged to share their ideas and staff will identify any common themes that emerge from the discussion.

But Workshop No. 2 in October is when the real fun begins.

That’s when participants will be grouped into teams and given materials to help them actually design a new site. Supplies will include base maps of the area, scaled templates that represent possible features of the site — think apartment buildings, retail outlets, parks — as well as markers, pens, pencils and trace paper.

And no need to worry about lack of architectural skills: the city’s designers and planners will be on hand to give any advice.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

5 pm – This just came to me (I’m a bit dopier than usually today) : Didn’t the City know that this was coming down the pipe (so to speak)? If so, why are these residents hearing about this just now?

Just asking…

___________________________________________________________________

Ottawa council says no lawn & garden watering, pool filling, car washing, or splash pad use in Barrhaven, Manotick, Riverside South. And this may last until August. Wow.

The ban includes:

• Watering your lawn and garden
• Using a splash pad
• Filling up or topping up your pool
• Washing your car
• And any other outdoor use of city-supplied water

There is an old water main on Woodroffe that needs replacing and the City wants to make sure that folks in these areas have an adequate supply of water while the work is being done.

Man, I’d be really pissed if I lived down there and just put money down on a new pool!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Seriously, the Council voted for cutting out the minutes?

WTF?

Why? To save a few bucks?

Instead, they will replace the text with an (unsearchable) audio system:

Adding the new audio records will cost the city about $17,000 a year, a sum one would have thought could be sucked up somewhere in its $2.3 billion operating budget. Instead, councillors decided to invoke the generally-wise principle of not adding a new cost without cutting something to pay for it. As it turns out, they can cut the proper records of public meetings and come out $25,000 ahead. Another good day’s work.

Democracy costs something and information is the lifeblood of democracy. This is not something you sacrifice to save a few dollars.

That is ridiculous!

Detailed minutes are a clear and transparent account of Council’s proceedings, who spoke for what, who spoke against it, etc. This is standard practice elsewhere.  It is important.

I also notice in Denley’s column that Council is reviewing the role of its volunteer advisory committees.

Maybe that is why I haven’t heard back about my applications…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario