urban compass by steve collins
- Police strike ends in Rio de Janeiro
- Dad plays porn instead of 'Smurfs' at kid's party
- Panetta defends military budget plan
- Federal construction study plagued by silence
- Psychiatric test for triple-murder suspect
- Hefner son arrested in domestic violence case
- Justice Breyer robbed at West Indies vacation home
x
Pros & cons of Ottawa’s growing population
February 13, 2012
Putting Ottawa on the scale to weigh the risk and rewards of an increased population.
The Smart Car and the Hummer
February 06, 2012
It may seem like water torture for some taxpayers as they contemplate a proposed 74 per cent increase in water and sewer rates over 10 years to pay for the city’s long-neglected infrastructure.
Kept waiting again by OC Transpo
January 23, 2012
There’s a not-insubstantial chance that you’re reading this while you wonder when (or if) your friggin’ bus is coming.
Feeling a draft in fat city
January 16, 2012
As the federal Liberals, who lost their jobs as the official Opposition in May, huddled at the Ottawa Convention Centre over the weekend to plot a new employment strategy for themselves, they weren’t alone.
Beware quick-fix technology
January 09, 2012
Whenever a new gadget is touted as a miracle solution to all your problems, beware.
Ottawa wakes up and smells the pepper spray
December 12, 2011
Before the riot gear and pepper spray came out, Congo’s shambolic election, in which observers allege abundant fraud and two presidential candidates have declared victory, wasn’t exactly top of mind here in Ottawa.
Lobbyist registry is no cure-all
December 05, 2011
City councillors last week sweated the details of a lobbyist registry intended to shed light on who is bending their ears and those of city staff on upcoming decisions.
Bronson plans put squeeze on pedestrians
November 28, 2011
Like Bank Street and Preston before it, Bronson Avenue is scheduled for a major ripping-up next year as outdated sewers and water mains are replaced.
Paving parkland to put up a parking lot
November 21, 2011
While cities across Canada mobilize courts and police against protesters camped in their public spaces, Occupy Ottawa continues to enjoy both remarkably mild weather and tolerant authorities.
November cruellest month for pedestrians?
November 13, 2011
If you get where you’re going on foot with any regularity, you likely already keep a sharp eye out for drivers who might not be doing the same for you, but you probably didn’t notice things get three times worse out there in the past week.
Hey, bus driver — chill out a little bit
November 07, 2011
Welcome aboard OC Transpo: “If you don’t shut your f---ing face, I’m going to put my fist in it!”
Watson takes popularity prize home
October 30, 2011
It seems we really, kinda, sorta like Jim Watson. (OK — 66 per cent of us, plus or minus 4.9 per cent, nineteen times out of twenty.)
Geese: 1, City boy: 0
October 24, 2011
“And will the geese have guns, too?” That was my friend Theresa, genially disgusted to hear I was going hunting.
Occupy Ottawa starts small, vague
October 17, 2011
Occupy Ottawa, the local version of the Occupy Wall Street movement, got off to a laid-back start Saturday, as an estimated crowd of 500, signs, flags, kids and dogs in tow, assembled in Confederation Park.
Cities have pocketbooks, too
October 03, 2011
All the major parties in this provincial election campaign have offered up platforms salted with pocketbook promises, whether it’s the Tories and NDP pledging to take HST off your hydro bill, or the Liberals proposing to chip in on your post-secondary tuition.
Transit riders deserved less spin
September 26, 2011
It’s been a bumpy three weeks on the buses as riders have absorbed the delays, crowding and general confusion wrought by that $20 million hit to service, and efforts to sell the changes to the public may have actually made things worse.
Police accountability should also be transparent
September 19, 2011
Last week was not the best one for Ottawa police, as the Ontario Special Investigations Unit laid assault charges against two officers in the arrest of a homeless man and a judge considered allegations of cellblock mistreatment in a woman’s lawsuit against the force.
Another election, then a well-deserved break for voters
September 12, 2011
You could be forgiven for not greeting the latest infestation of election lawn signs with anything approaching enthusiasm.
Adding up commuters’ lost hours
August 29, 2011
It might not be the most welcome reading for those of us clinging to the last of summer vacation, but a Statistics Canada report on commuting released last week tallied and analyzed the growing chunk of our lives we spend getting to work every day.
Raising the price of dissent
August 22, 2011
As they faced continued opposition to the new stadium and associated development at Lansdowne Park, city council last week suggested a pretty unsporting solution.
Life without wheels is great if it’s by choice
August 15, 2011
Most of the time, I like being carless, saving the costs of insuring, maintaining, parking and feeding a vehicle, and missing out on the aggravation of the automotive horn-and-middle-finger parade.
In search of a light and a safe place
August 08, 2011
John O’Mara wasn’t at his best last week. He’d hardly slept since witnessing the death of his friend Henry (Hugo) Belmore, a fellow resident at the Ottawa Mission, who was stabbed on Rideau Street July 31.
Who’s afraid of a little heat?
July 25, 2011
We’re getting a reprieve not only from the past week’s sodden, record-threatening heat, but also the low-level alarmism that rolled in with it.
Tomorrow’s tunnel and today’s lane
July 18, 2011
The vote was unanimous, and people seemed to like the conceptual drawings. Last week’s council meeting on the $2.1-billion LeBreton-Blair light rail line was a mostly mild, uncontroversial affair.
Loosening up inside the fence
July 11, 2011
We don’t enjoy a reputation for cutting loose here in the nation’s rules factory.
Volunteers help make Bluesfest sing
July 04, 2011
Record crowds for this year’s Will-And-Kate-Plus-300,000 edition of Canada Day booked the hotels solid, choked OC Transpo and kept police and paramedics hopping in the heat.
You don’t have to be crazy to live here ...
June 27, 2011
Not many city dwellers were likely shocked by a new study, published in Nature, which seems to show that our brains function differently than those of our rural cousins when we’re under stress. Living in cities appears to be changing us.
Building an aboriginal day for all
June 20, 2011
Trina Mather-Simard was already having a hectic week of last-minute errands before someone rear-ended her in the Tim Hortons drive-thru Thursday.
OMB makes convenient villain
June 13, 2011
The Ontario Municipal Board came in for its customary share of opprobrium last week when it handed developers yet another victory over the city, this time over expansion of the urban boundary.
Songs are more than a nice tune
June 06, 2011
Last June, city council voted to team up with the Ottawa Sports Entertainment Group and give Lansdowne Park a radical makeover.
_
| F E A T U R E D S P O N S O R S |
MORE GREAT SITES
Metronews.ca:
READ THE PRINT
EDITION ONLINE:
EDITION ONLINE:
Copyright 2001-2012, Free Daily News Group Inc.