Saravanamuttoo's candidacy has been unexpected and interesting. But he's still trailing Leiper, and well behind Sutcliffe.

Consolidating alternative support against Sutcliffe gives the city a fighting chance to not end up with another four years of the smooth talking, do nothing, corporate real estate candidate.

If Saravanamuttoo truly believes Sutcliffe is the wrong man for the job, the right thing to do would be to pull out now, and enthusiastically encourage his supporters to vote Leiper.

I'm not in any way connected to any campaign of any kind.

Paywall Bypass

https://archive.ph/CxfzQ

After almost three days later he came back!! We left doors open and left clothes around outside and he came back around 10pm today!! Had to go outside and scoop him up before he ran off and it was very much successful!! Thank you guys for all the support and the resource/suggestions provided :)) Very much appreciated :)) we are so happy hes home safe and sound, no more sleepness nights haha. (next plan is to get him microchipped and to keep a collar on him at all times incase of this ever occurring again.)

Toronto SHOWED UP for last night's big W over England. Almost 19,000 fans in attendance! Let's show up for them on Friday!

They end the 22 game losing streak, 3 shy of the all time CFL record. This win puts them 1-17 for the season.

(The game also had an insane ending, worth watching highlights. The CFL is a great league)

Had a buddy cancel because of a flu so offering up a ticket to anyone who would like to attend. In the 100’s

(I’m 39 and single if that matters to anyone 🤷‍♂️)

The Ottawa Police Service says one of its officers has been charged with impaired driving following an off-duty incident last week.

According to a news release from police, Cst. Clay Berrea, 25, was charged with operation while impaired and operation while having a blood alcohol concentration equal to or exceeding 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood following an incident on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Berrea remains on active duty and was reassigned to administrative duties. Police say he is not currently serving in a frontline patrol capacity.

Im pretty ignorant on a lot of things, these are my thoughts on the city. Any feedback is appreciated

TLDR suburban sprawl is bankrupting the city and keeping rural and urban residents divided on issues the should share common ground on(I’m a rural resident that works in the city)

My number 1 municipal issue is suburban sprawl. It receives almost 0 attention from candidates because there are so many suburban wards which can easily keep rural and urban voters divided on key issues that in my opinion all spawn from irresponsible sprawl.

In Ontario, we lose approximately 325 acres of farmland a day to sprawl.

This style of development is a perfect example of what’s wrong with North American city planning. We build sprawling, car-dependent neighbourhoods that require enormous investments in roads, sewers, water systems and other infrastructure, but often don’t generate enough property-tax revenue to cover their long-term costs.

Look into Ottawa’s infrastructure deficit. It helps explain why the city can keep growing while struggling to pay for the infrastructure it already has.

Suburban homeowners want the best of both worlds: a big yard, room for a garage and access to all their amenities just minutes away. But that lifestyle comes with a public cost that rarely gets factored into the conversation.

One of the most common political talking points I hear is, “I want my government budget run like my household.”

Fine. But downloading costs to the provincial or federal government doesn’t solve the problem. It simply passes the bill up the chain, leaving taxpayers to pay for the same underlying inefficiencies.

-This year, we’ve heard that Ottawa needs to build another Barrhaven to accommodate population growth.

We’re expanding the urban boundary around Bowesville. I support building around the Bowesville LRT station. We should absolutely be building housing around transit.

The problem isn’t that we’re building there. It’s what we’re building there.

Instead of using transit expansion as an opportunity to create denser, walkable, transit-oriented communities, we’re continuing to build more of the same car-dependent suburban neighbourhoods.

We have an opportunity to decide what the area around Bowesville looks like. We can build a community that makes the most of its LRT connection, or we can repeat the same mistakes that have contributed to Ottawa’s infrastructure and transit problems.

We should be asking developers to build communities that work for the city in the long term, not just developments that are profitable to build today.

-Roads are Ottawa’s largest budget expense.

Amalgamation was sold, in part, as a way to reduce administrative costs by consolidating offices and services. On paper, that logic makes sense.

But amalgamation also created a much larger municipal boundary, and the city has continued to expand outward. Farmland, wetlands and forests have been cleared to make room for more subdivisions and townhomes, bringing additional infrastructure obligations with them.

Every new development needs roads, water, sewers, maintenance and eventually repairs or replacement. These costs don’t disappear when the developer finishes construction. They become the city’s responsibility for decades.

Our sprawling development pattern also makes public transit more expensive and less efficient. When destinations are spread across a huge area, it becomes harder to provide frequent, reliable transit without spending enormous amounts of money.

We cannot keep expanding our infrastructure footprint indefinitely and expect our finances to improve.

-If Ottawa wants to address its deficit and infrastructure gap responsibly, we have three options:
1-Drastically raise taxes to pay for the infrastructure and services our current development pattern requires.
2-Build more density so existing infrastructure can support more residents and generate more tax revenue per kilometre of road, pipe and sewer.
3-Cut services and accept a lower level of service for residents.

None of these choices are painless. But continuing to build sprawling, expensive neighbourhoods while pretending the long-term costs don’t exist isn’t a magic fourth option.

We need to grow Ottawa responsibly.

In established neighbourhoods where infrastructure needs upgrades, we should look for opportunities to add housing, build upward and fill in underused spaces. That allows us to accommodate more people without continually extending the city’s infrastructure into undeveloped land.

I’d recommend looking into BuildingIn.ca. They’re doing interesting work in Arnprior around housing and development

-Sprawl has become politicized into car lanes vs bike lanes.

Suburban residents are now a major part of Ottawa’s electorate. And when we build neighbourhoods where driving is practically mandatory, we create a political environment in which politicians can frame almost every alternative as an attack on drivers.

This is where the rhetoric about a “war on cars” comes in.

Bike lanes and bus lanes are vilified for supposedly increasing congestion. But road space is limited, and moving more people efficiently often means giving them alternatives to driving.

This brings me back to developers.

Developers have a financial incentive to build profitable projects. That’s not inherently wrong. But their financial incentives don’t align with the long-term financial interests of the city.

The city’s job is to ensure that development serves the public interest: that it provides housing people can afford, protects valuable natural spaces, makes efficient use of infrastructure and leaves Ottawa financially sustainable.

Instead, we keep expanding outward, taking on more infrastructure obligations and then wondering why the city struggles to balance its budget.

We need to stop judging development solely by how many homes are built or how much new investment comes into the city. We need to ask what those developments will cost taxpayers over the next 30, 50 or 100 years.

If we want a city that can afford its infrastructure, provide reliable transit, protect its natural spaces and build the housing people need, we have to change the way we grow.

That means building smarter, adding density where infrastructure already exists, making the most of transit investments and demanding that developers contribute to communities that are financially sustainable in the long term.

We cannot keep sprawling our way into a bigger deficit and expect a different result.

Saw this flyer for Tim Tierney, it’s very bizarre and looks AI.

A few of us have mentioned Julie Lalonde’s excellent trainings when people have come to the subreddit looking for advice in transpo and street harassment incidents. She has one later this month so popping the registration link here for anyone interested.

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aOjusBQjQbmUa2OBG9ZqrQ?fbclid=PAdGRleAU_jL5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAmZkaWQWUQZcWjyPWzitUSdVZuEJCEIkvOvi5nNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzEyNDAyNDU3NDI4NzQxNAABpyv-FF2QXXzIOh3jGobsC6wH4ojWb0R3d5kmMQJkjTv9KlwGnbFAWdawCjYs_aem_AsRc4Vge_Q-9IbVRiPolCQ#/registration

I find it interesting that Doug Ford visited the Queensway Carleton Hospital yesterday (Oct 15) to celebrate their 50th anniversary. There wasn't much news or promo about it, likely because of the public backlash that it would cause.

QCH is currently undergoing cuts to approximately 120 positions including allied health and nursing staff due to chronic underfunding of the healthcare system. His instagram post seems to suggest that all is fine and dandy in the context of provincial healthcare... Curious to see if anyone else was even aware he was in the community?

Hi Ottawa.

I’m looking for a recommendation for a security home monitoring company. motion sensors on doors and also monitoring to call/send security in the case of a break-in

thank you

I’ve been at the Shoppers on Rideau at Nelson for over fifteen years but the customer service has deteriorated to the point of uselessness. The last prescription I dropped off they just straight up didn’t bother to fill because “it was going to be five days until we could get it.”

I’m looking for recommendations and reviews.

I’d particularly like to know if people have experience with the pharmacies at Loblaws Rideau, the IDA at Rideau and Friel, the pharmacy at UOttawa and the Shoppers at the Rideau Centre. I’m wiling to go farther afield but thought I’d start with the nearest.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/sandy-hill-pedestrian-killed-crash-friel-besserer-ottawa-9.7383270

Someone should let cars know that they're winning the "war".

Looking for a quaint small spot.

Thnks

Can someone ELI5 how this City of Ottawa park swing set renewal is $170,000?