Trashy's World

Composting:

Small government and who-gives-a-crap-about-the-environment (often they go hand in paw) folks in Ottawa are all a-steaming about the roll out of the new curbside composting program which is being launched this week.

The complaints are as varied as there are pebbles on a beach. It costs too much. Composting isn’t effective. Why weren’t we consulted. I already have a compost bin in my backyard, so this is a waste of taxpayer dollars…

• Costs too much – at about 77 bucks per household, the start-up costs are far less than what is currently paid for recycling – which is far less beneficial, environmentally, than composting. Much of the operating costs of the program will be offset by compost sales. And program costs should fall slightly as time goes on and more see the program’s benefit by diverting from landfill what can be 40-50% of a household’s waste, by weight.
• Isn’t effective. Not only can a household divert much of the waste they generate from disposal, but there is a bigger impact from an environmental perspective. Less energy is required to transform organic materials into something useful – most of the work is done by micro-organisms. Dry material recycling takes energy to bind paper into bundles, crush cans and to sort our all of the materials. Composting works.
• Why weren’t we consulted? Um, you were.
• I already have a bin. This is a bit trickier. Yes, perhaps the City should have gone door to door asking residents if they already had a bin that they used. But the problem with this approach is that people move and the compost bin should stay with the dwelling. If I told the City in advance that I already composted, didn’t receive a bin, then sold my house to someone who didn’t want to backyard compost, then the new resident may be SOL… but still, yeah, the City might have been wise to do some advance scouting.

Bottom line is that composting – including curbside pick-up – is the best way to divert waste from landfill, aside from not generating it in the first place. And when landfill tipping fees increase dramatically over the next decade, Ottawa will look back at this initiative and say “Hey! we did something right! How about that!”

Tunnels:

Big surprise. Some are saying that the proposed tunnel under the Ottawa city core will run into cost overruns and engineering difficulties. And all this way before a single shovel has hit the pavement.

Well, duh! Of course there will be cost overruns and other problems! Can anyone honestly point me to a major engineering project that has NOT run into these glitches? Hell no!

Carry on – even though I’ll be dead and buried before I see this thing running!

Mayors:

Alex Cullen is the first candidate to declare his intention to run for the honour of being the Mayor of Ottawa.

According to the Shitizen, he promises to raise taxes, oppose Lansdowne Live, support a downtown transit tunnel, and stop the flow of sewage into the Ottawa River.

Run on raising taxes? Hell ya! Nice to see some honestly! Much of the infrastructure in this City is quickly deteriorating due to mayorlarry’s unrealistic promises to not raise taxes. Check out some of the ramps off the 174, the potholes downtown and the sad state of many of the City’s facilities

I especially like this quote:

Cullen criticized his expected opponent, O’Brien, as a “weak mayor” and said that O’Brien’s recent vow — to pre-emptively lock out O.C. Transpo workers if faced with the possibility of another winter strike — was “amazing, astonishing, and absolutely repugnant.”

Yeah, and mayorlarry himself  is amazing, astonishing, and absolutely repugnant!

Bring on the ballot boxes!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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Am I surprised to hear that there are some questions around mayorlarry’s company, Calian Technologies; the one on which he still serves as a member of the Board of Directors.

According to the MotherCorp:

Calian Technologies has seen the value of its contracts with the City of Ottawa skyrocket since the company’s founder was elected mayor in 2006.

Mayor Larry O’Brien still sits on the board of directors for Calian, which supplies technology staff to governments and corporations.

According to City of Ottawa records, the company received $1,837,175 in city contracts for technology staff in 2008 — up more than 10-fold from $167,250 in 2006.

Yes, he does declare a conflict whenever an issue comes up around the Council table that might involve his company, but c’mon, this is just a symbolic gesture. I remember that during my time as a municipal councillor, there were several times when I or one of my fellow Councillors would declare a conflict and leave the room during discussions. Great, but that would not have stopped any one of us from being involved in the discussions in an informal, off-the-record manner. I don’t think any of us ever did anything untoward, but the opportunity was certainly there.

Will mayorlarry be brought under some scrutiny for this – yes, probably. But will he lose his job before his term is up or be subject to a criminal investigation? No way. As was seen during the Kilrea trial, mayorlarry has many resources and knows many folks in this burg. And this will discourage anyone from launching anything serious.

We’re stuck with this joker for a while longer. I can only hope that the voters of this town remember this. And the Kilrea thing. And the transit strike. Etc.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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Of course he was found not guilty… was there ever any doubt?

I’m not a lawyer but it sure seemed to me that the prosecution had a weak case to begin with and did not do enough to compensate for it.

Guilty or not, did mayorlarry do it? Probably. But one thing is for sure, his chances of being re-elected in 2010 is likely next to nil.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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Police have called off the search for something that several folks saw bright lights seemingly crash into the Ottawa River.

Given that the helicopters, boats and divers have come up empty-handed, whatever it was that made its mysterious appearance and disappearance is up for grabs. But I have some suggestions as to possible identity of what crashed and burned.

1. Mayorlarry’s future as mayorlarry
2. Dany Heatley’s future as an Ottawa Senator
3. Stephen Harper’s chances of a majority government – ever
4. A UCM (unidentified cabinet Minister) who dared to RSVP “yes” to the invitation to the Mulroney 25th anniversary bash next month
5. The next Conservative Communications Director falling from the heavens
6. Thor – the thunder god – smiting Ottawa with yet another bolt of lightning
7. Michael J. Fox in a Bricklin
8. David Miller jumping – or being pushed – from a plane
9. An OC Transpo bus taking a really wrong turn off the bridge… and failing to call out the stop
10. Barack Obama making a secret visit back to Ottawa to pick up a few more of those yummy maple cookies

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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When is punishment not punishment, but revenge? I was reading a number of the comments on the cbc.ca site that related to the horrendous abduction and murder of that little girl in Woodstock. Not at all surprising was the amount of anger in those comments.  To kill a child is a terrible and evil act and those responsible must be brought to justice.  But many on the site were calling for capital punishment. And again, this isn’t surprising given the nature of this crime.  But is this justice or simple revenge?  As a deterrent, we see by looking to our neighbours to the south that executing criminals doesn’t work.  And are we not letting them off rather easy? Regular readers will know that I’m not a believer in an afterlife per se so I don’t think these animals will be judged at some point after death.

‘Tis better to cage them up for the rest of their lives and effectively rather than literally taking away their right to exist.
I have a button stowed away somewhere that says: Why do we kill people to show that killing people is wrong.

But if my daughter was the victim, would I hold true to these beliefs?

o    Why do the Harperites insist on continuing these ridiculous attack ads? Do they not realise that the only segment of the voting population is that which would have already voted for them in any case? The only folks who believe the rubbish coming from the PMO are those who are one or all of the following:

o    From Alberta
o    From Saskatchewan
o    From B.C, outside of the urban areas
o    Low level of education
o    Rural residents
o    NASCAR fans
o    Robots

Now, don’t anyone flame me for suggesting that all folks from AB are NASCAR-lovin’ rednecks who have a poster of Stevie on their outhouse wall… I don’t mean that!

Anyhow, most of we Canucks are tired of these attacks. Let’s back away from that for a while and show some civility, shall we?

Hey – Justin Trudeau has a nice perspective on this matter too.

o    The Brian Mulroney Commission: Who cares!!! I personally didn’t much like the guy when he was PM but I’m watching the proceedings while sitting on a bike at GoodLife the other day and I watched a full 30 minutes of the “cross-examination” of ol’ Bri explaining that he DID pay taxes on the full amount just NOT in the taxation year in which he was given the funds! What? Is this the best scandal that we Canadians can dream up?

Drop it. There are more juicy things going on, like…

o    The Larry O’Brien criminal trial…. though from the sounds of things, the defence lawyer is tearing Kilrea a new hole on the stand.

I woulda loved to have been there today when Bulldog Baird took the stand.  I cannot stand that guy and would have liked to have seen him squirm a bit.

Is O’Brien guilty? Probably. Will he be judged so? Probably not. But it makes for good entertainment…

o      Lastly… dump Gary Bettman and bring in someone who has an ego smaller than Baffin Island and a hockey sense that is more developed than a Bedouin farmer.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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The phasing in – according to the Citizen:

No word on dates… but I’m guessing we’ll see the O-Train and the 80 & 90 series routes back as early as late next week. Here’s hopin’!

OC Transpo has a tentative plan for restoring transit service as quickly as possible, but a return to full service will take some time. Mechanics are working to bring all the buses back, but vehicles that haven’t had significant maintenance in more than 50 days can’t all be put on the roads immediately.

This is OC Transpo’s tentative plan for which routes will be back first.

Weekdays

Will operate during their regularly scheduled day, including rush hours:

• O-Train

• All school routes, numbered in the 600s

• Rapid transit routes 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 101, 102 and 106

• Major routes 2, 7, 12, 14, 85, 86 and 118

• Peak employment route 105

• Van route 123

• Early morning routes 824, 825, 830, 835, 837, and 873

Will operate evenings and mid-day only, outside of rush hours:

• Routes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 16, 18, 87, 111, 112, 114, 115, 116 and 117

• Local black routes numbered 121 through 178

Will not operate immediately:

• Green express and rural express routes

• Red rush hour routes other than 102 and 105

Saturday & Sunday

All routes that normally run on weekends will operate at full service.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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Both sides have agreed to binding arbitration with everything on the table!

This is GREAT news – however, I will blog a bit later about how pissed I am that it took this long!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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So, the strike is finally going to be addressed by the House.  Rona Ambrose has stated that she is ready to introduce back-to-work legislation.

The surprising turn of events came after a flurry of activity beginning at Queen’s Park yesterday when Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty called on the federal government to intervene and end the strike.

“I think it’s gone on for too long,” Mr. McGuinty told reporters.

“It affects our most vulnerable citizens. It’s dramatically affecting our economy at a time when we can’t afford to have these kind of things get in the way. So my advice to the federal government is you’re going to have to come to grips with this.”

Yes, but it is not only the most vulnerable citizens who have been hit by this. My family and I are by no means “vulnerable”, but our stress levels are at all-time highs due to the stoppage. Life can, at times, be stressful and we deal with that. But adding the strike to the usual cocktail of kids, work, et al has truly pushed both Colleen and I toward the brink. Our work hours are out of whack due to the necessity of taking carpools. When the carpools aren’t available (as is the case for the next week for Colleen since her driver has gone on a vacation), then there is the added stress of dropping the kids off AND picking them up as well as fighting the traffic and paying $15/day to park reasonably close to her building.

We are ALL vulnerable… it’s just that some are more so than others.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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Just saw this comment on the cbc.ca story about the City changing its bargaining position (whatever that may mean).

Go Larry Go – The city is behind you all the way (although you may not know it) and we support you and the city in not letting the OC transpo workers and their union enslave us to their demands. Spring is coming, commuting will be a bit easier, and we can keep them (the union sheep) on KD as long as necessary.

Eh? Spring is coming? In Ottawa? Isn’t it the 25th of January?

I think the poster is either the most optimistic soul in the NCR, or he or she has spent way too many hours in the -30 weather sans chapeau.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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The, uh, City “Council” is meeting today to discuss wassup with the negotiating gerbils and their minions.

Although I am a confimed and happy atheist, I say to these folks – GO FOR IT! What the hell!

In a note to city council Friday announcing the failure, Mayor Larry O’Brien put the blame squarely on the union.

“The federal mediator has suggested that since the parties continue to be so far apart on their demands there is no benefit in continuing mediated talks at this time,” the mayor wrote.

Meanwhile, the breakdown in talks has the public calling on councillors and calling on God.

About 35 people attended a special prayer service Friday night at St. Joseph’s Parish on Laurier Avenue East in downtown Ottawa.

“We were trying to think of a way we could respond,” said pastoral associate Mary Murphy. “A prayer service seemed the most logical because it is based in faith and we believe faith can make a difference

Mayor Larry O'Brien and Councillors Jacques Legendre, Diane Holmes, Peggy Feltmate, Christine Leadman, Peter Hume, Maria McRae, and Clive Doucet in discussion at City Hall during an emergency city council meeting called to discuss the OC Transpo strike on Saturday. Photograph by: Garth Gullekson, The Ottawa Citizen

Above – our elected representatives hard at  burning the Saturday away. My question: where are the rest of them? Still in Whistler?

Oh – and good to see Peter “the disappearing man” Hume in attendance – makes me all tingly to see that he is doing his damnedest to look after we poor saps that used to take the 149 and 148!

Way to go Petey!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

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