What’s your dream for Ottawa?

My dream is a city that is truly bicycle friendly AND safe. This past year has been a scarey one for bicyclists. Ticketing bicyclists added insult to injury. My dream is a city that vows to insure no further cyclists need to be put in danger because of the design of our roads and lack of signage or barriers to protect riders. Sunday rides are awesome and need to be expanded into spring and fall. Let’s help everyone leave their cars behind and join the two wheel revolution. We save the environment as well as cut down on obesity issues tjat are a growing health concern. Montreal is an excellent example of what is possible to make a city cycle friendly. My next issue is: Are we truly Child Friendly?

To dream big, let’s think small. I’d like to see Ottawa become a more compact city with densities high enough to support public transit. I’d like to see Ottawa’s neighbourhoods define local culture and individual identity that would make them all into places worth visiting on that public transit system. And I’d like to see us begin to recognize and celebrate the trust and co-operation that already functions in our community, to encourage more people to reach out to each other and to work toward common goals. Imagine that!

My dream for Ottawa is to be the best city in the world to live, work and fellowship. I would like to share this quotation by Margaret Mead: “Never Doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

My dream for Ottawa would be to keep this beautiful city( the most beautiful in the world) free of Crimes, Street gangs, Violence and Drugs. A City where family values will be prioritized, where all senior citizen and people in disability feel safe to enjoy their life!

Je rêve d’une ville où il n’y a pas de crimes, de violence de toutes sortes, une Ottawa sans gangs de rue, sans vendeurs de drogue, sans maison de Cracks qui tuent les jeunes, une ville où les personnes agées se entent bien en sécurité, les personnes handicapées sont bien servies selon leurs besoins, une ville où l’itinérence n’existe pas, où la pauvreté n’existe pas. Enfin, la ville où il fait bon de vivre en toute sécurité avec nos valeurs familliales dans la diversité et la transparence!

I dream of Ottawa redefining car access through shared access of vehicles, sequentially and serially. This will make driving less likely (each seat-km-min, vs. each car, will be paid for), more accountable, and less sprawlish (fewer cars to be parked, and the time a car is parked each day greatly reduced). Neighbourhoods will be walkable again, and kids will be allowed to play and travel on streets by themselves again, experiencing true independence. People will naturally favour local destinations (vs. big-box centres and “campuses”).

I also dream of a new regime of local taxation, in which most local shared-cost functions are charged via fees (e.g., water/waste water, vs. flat-rate, as new green-box program is) rather than all paying regardless of own “footprint.” Only those costs related to activities to be encouraged (education, libraries, sidewalks) will come from general revenues. This goes for infrastructure, which should be charged via annual infrastructure charges related to frontage (think how little units in high-density housing will be charged!) vs. the present system based on property values.

Finally, I dream of a waste recycling system (all trash eventally) that is organized by the block, where everything will walked over and dropped off with a person who sorts and packs it for more organized, rationalized pick-up, including items that can be sent to neighbourhood workshops to be repaired rather than dumped. Also, the price of all items bought new will include a fee based on the item’s ‘footprint’ based on lifecycle and ease of repair/upgrade.

I can see a day where the effluent coming out of the sewage treatment plant is cleaner than the input – you can drink it!

I can see a whole network of electric buses powered by microturbines and fuel cells. There is finally LRT and it too is powered by electricity.

People still cycle but its much safer with the new discreet bike lines that have been developed for every main street.

There are two new foot bridges over the rideau river.

Council has managed to balance its budget, and Landsdown has been turned into a world class, internationally renouned public space – football never got there.

There are farmer’s markets throughout the city – more people are living with 100 mile diets, and a whole new industry of clay pots andcontainers has replaced the old styrofoam and packaging which as been banned.

The union mission has finally closed, apparently the social services in the city have made it redundant.

Jim Watson is the new mayor, he’s put on a few pounds though.

Crystal ball is getting hazy agin’

My dream for Ottawa is a great city, devoid of uninspired office towers designed solely to house as many bureaucrats as possible for the least possible cost. Currently, these eyesores that dominate the skyline serve only to bolster claims that this city is, at best, boring if not ugly. Similarly, prominent buildings like 24 Sussex Drive and the Governor General’s residence will not have air conditioners sticking out of windows, crumbling brickwork and plastic sheeting covering the windows to keep the drafts out.

In 2049, Ottawans and Canadians will recognize that buildings like 24 Sussex and the GG’s residence are not just luxury abodes, but are symbols of the vital role their residents play in our daily lives. Members of Parliament will see the merits of spending taxpayers’ dollars on beautiful federal buildings and not confuse fiscal responsibility with short-sighted tightfistedness. All Canadians will recognize that beautiful architecture in the national capital is a symbol of the nation’s pride in its resourcefulness and passion for its democratic institutions. People from all around the world will see Ottawa as worthy of the title of National Capital.

I see an Ottawa where the rivers and the canals become destinations, with more places to pause, play and celebrate. I see gathering places alongside our waterways that invite us to many different ways of appreciating and interacting with these beautiful and important waterways, and that help us connect with each other as well. For a start, I see public washrooms and fountains. And then hubs with cafes, playgrounds, small staging places for buskers and other entertainers, covered platforms for yoga and meditation, learning places to educate people about the history and ecology of the rivers. And still lovely, quiet, undisturbed, stretches as well, of course! These would all serve our own community and visitors to Ottawa as well. There would be better connections between the Ottawa river and the communities alongside the parkway so they could better access the river by foot, bicycle and bus from their neighbourhoods.

I also see transit stations as lively hubs for services and entertainment. Vendors would have small booths offering many convenient services for people traveling by public transit. Bus tickets and bus passes, for a start, as well as daily newspapers, drycleaning drop-off and pick-up spots, mini-grocery booths with eggs, milk, diapers and other oft-needed items; bakery booths with muffins and croissants and coffee! And buskers welcomed and encouraged to enliven the place with their talents. The transit stations would offer a place of security, convenience and community life.