Wellington Oracle

According to Judi Varga-Toth, her Credible Edibles café just may offer the “greenest lunch” in Ottawa. Already known for its use of locally-sourced organic ingredients, the café has recently teamed up with Gary Watson Cycling Courier to deliver school lunches to Turnbull School on Fisher Avenue.

Though her café just passed its first anniversary, it’s not the first green partnership for Varga-Toth’s young business. Since last summer, Credible has been a leader in the Green Buildings and Workplaces Challenge, a program run by local non-profit group Ecology Ottawa. The café has a reputation for putting the environment front and centre in its business practices, so much so that Jess Wells of Ecology Ottawa calls it a “shining example of a workplace committed to minimizing its ecological footprint however possible.”

Bike courier Gary Watson is a long-time courier who has been using pedal power to make deliveries since the 1980s, and recently added a cargo bike (shown above making a delivery on Wellington Street) to his fleet, enabling the kind bulk of delivery service needed by food service clients.

Business owners along the Wellington strip may be able to take advantage of Watson’s routing now that he has customers in the area. Delivery runs coming from Centretown to outlets like Herb and Spice currently see him returning empty to his Bank Street base “but we’d love to offer our east-bound capacity to Hintonburg and West Wellington businesses with customers downtown”, Watson says.

Close-up views of the cargo bike’s features can be seen here.

The Oracle recently joined planner Michel Frojmovic in a walking tour of Hintonburg and one of the chief attractions was this latest addition to the Armstrong Street skyline. Phil Castro’s house on a 12 foot lot has attracted attention from such commentators as Maria Cook and Vicky Smallman.

We love the look of the building, especially the way it is bookended perfectly by the matching wood-frame houses on either side.

Frojmovic pointed out that Hintonburg is the only neighbourhood within the greenbelt where such eclecticism in architectural styles would be allowed, much less embraced.

We think he’s right, and we’re sure we are not the only ones eagerly looking forward to the next Hintonburg building that breaks with convention.

Lights out for the number 18?

This just in from Champlain Park resident Marc Chenier:

Last September, as part of TransPLAN 2009, OC Transpo cancelled route 18 west of Lebreton. This has meant that for many west end neighbourhoods, there is no longer a direct transit link to downtown. Further, for many people, the connection between many east and west end neighbourhoods that used to be available through route 18 is no longer possible.

This has had a disproportionate effect on seniors, many of whom are not in a position to undertake the 20 minute walk to a Transitway Station. As a result, many of them are unable to go out in the community and participate in activities at local seniors’ recreation centres, do their shopping, or attend other social events. (more…)

Editor’s note: this article by West Wellington resident Allegra Newman first appeared in Spacing Ottawa.

As condo after condo is planned in the Wellington West neighbourhood, intensification is seen as an inevitable by many local citizens. City of Ottawa planners and councilors promote intensification all the while musing on the increased tax base a new seven storey condo will provide.  Citizens begrudgingly accept that the new condo development, whether in their backyard, on their street, or in their neighbourhood  will increase traffic but they also hope that the new developments may encourage new businesses and increase public transit and community services.  But what really is driving this move to intensify our cities?

The promotion of urban intensification, or densification or infill as it is otherwise known, can be attributed in part to the popularization of the urban planning theory of Smart Growth.  Smart Growth theory promotes the construction and reconstruction of compact communities in the center of the city, as a more sustainable approach than continuing urban sprawl.   Smart growth communities are transit oriented, bicycle and pedestrian friendly and promote local jobs and services.<!–more–>

Smart growth policies and practices, struggle with how to densify an urban neighbourhood and still make room for diversity and equity.  Although equity is part of Smart Growth in theory, it is often a challenge in many communities in practice.  In thinking about the multitude of new construction taking place on Wellington and Richmond roads there is an absence of even a glimmer of affordable housing and instead the heightened popularity of the area is increasing the costs of housing and rental units and pricing many long time residents right out of the market and the area.

One land use planning tool prescribed by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to compensate a community for allowing increased height and density in their neighbourhood is Height and Density Bonusing.  In exchange for increased height that surpasses the zoning by-law, developers are required to provide a service or benefit to the community as negotiated by the municipality.  For example, an additional two storeys would require the developer to set aside a space inside the building for affordable housing, daycare facility or restore a local park.  Some European countries have incentives to trade density for green roofs and other environmental services.  Toronto and Vancouver have long established histories of using density bonusing to encourage the developer to give back to the community.  The City of Ottawa does not yet.  Density bonusing policies must be written into a municipality’s Official Plan in order for it to be used as a development tool.

Since the early 1990’s the City of Ottawa has made intensification part of its planning strategy.  In the proposed Official Plan, the City has established density targets that it hopes to reach through intensification.  In the Wellington West neighbourhood, intensification is hurling along but there seems to be an absence of other aspects of Smart Growth.  Where is the increased access to transit, bike lanes and affordable housing?  How is the intensification of our neigbourhood actually limiting sprawl into the greenbelt and beyond? Why are City staff not encouraging the use of tools like density bonusing to give back to the community?

Oracle theatre review by Wayne Current

On January 14th I saw my first-ever gay rap opera, Bash’d, at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre. To be honest, I wasn’t at all sure what to expect from this show. Would this production be a campy comedy? A politically-driven hip hop performance? A love story?

Impressively, the performance is a compelling blend of all three.

Written and performed by Chris Craddock and Nathan Cukow, this is the story of two men Jack (Craddock) and Dylan (Cukow) who meet and fall and love as teenagers. The first part of the performance is about being a gay man in a small town, the pain of coming out to your family, and the giddy joy of finally finding real community after moving to the big city.

After the passage of the Civil Marriage Act (2005), Jack and Dylan decide to get married. Of course, despite the new law, currents of homophobic violence still run deep in Canadian society. This is made evident in an emotionally powerful scene where Jack is brutally assaulted. As the second half of the performance unfolds, we see the impact of this violent act on the couple; the fear, the anger, and then, unexpectedly, something more – a desire for revenge. (more…)

The team behind last summer’s smash hit “Countries Shaped Like Stars” at the Ottawa Fringe are set to take scenes from their next project — “Tales from the Belly of a Whale” — to  Hintonburg this upcoming Saturday as part of a salon evening at Cube Gallery on Hamilton Avenue.

We’ve discussed the amazing creative force of MiCasa Theatre before in these pages; and this time around we’ve got audio from both of the MiCasas –Emily Pearlman and Nick Di Gaetano – as they discuss the  the way the take artistic inspiration from the concept of “not being wasteful”.

The evening will also feature music from Ottawa songwriter John Gillies and spoken voice artist Kel Parsons.

Image by Johnathan Marshall

At approximately 3.00 PM on December 3 the intersection at Wellington and Hamilton was the scene of a multi-vehicle collision as a grey 4-door sedan careened through both lanes of traffic, striking two vehicles and causing a delivery truck to inflict further damage as it came to an emergency halt in the middle of the roadway. No serious injuries were reported.

The driver of the grey sedan then sped away from the scene, shedding pieces of his damaged vehicle and gas from a ruptured fuel tank as he raced down the back streets of Hintonburg. The recovered pieces included a front bumper with the license plate still attached. (more…)

-This article by Michel Frojmovic originally appeared in Spacing Ottawa on November 20, 2009

The “public-ness” of public space is a loose concept. Public sidewalks are – in principle – meant to be accessible to and enjoyed by members of the public. That’s pretty simple. However, we are less likely to appreciate that the public right-of-way extends well beyond the edge of paved roads and sidewalks. A good portion of your front lawn is probably not exactly “yours”.

Municipalities put in place carefully-worded by-laws and regulations to minimize or prevent the obstruction or privatization of sidewalks. Yet, in a higher-density, inner-city commercial mainstreet environment, these rules seem to create as much tension as they resolve.

Public space is regularly used for commercial gain. For-profit places of business regularly “use” public property, both restricting its use to paying customers, as well as profiting from the use of property it does not own. At the same time, the result is often a lively animation of the street and a general enhancement of the overall street experience.

A tour of Wellington Street West illustrates the variation in the use of public space.

Placing a couple of tables and a few chairs on the sidewalk is a relatively innocuous use of public space. The absence of a railing or permanent patio and the obvious transitory nature of this use make it quite benign. In this sense, it is a simple and harmless way of enhancing the street and adding to the level of public interaction. However, without the appropriate permissions and fees, it is also an illegal encroachment of pedestrian access to sidewalk space, and an unfair commercial gain at the expense of public property. It is worth regulating this type of use? (more…)

-By Heather Marie Scheerschmidt

“To make the best possible show, the work has to be rigorous, it has to have attention to detail, and it has to have a desire for excellence.” We’re sitting in Emily Pearlman’s living room and Nicolas Di Gaetano is talking about the idea of do-it-yourself (DIY) theatre. “Even if it is fucking DIY punk kids putting on a show where they do all the lights themselves, it still has to be excellent…you have to put your best foot forward even if your best foot only cost $300.”

MiCasa, the theatre company Nick and Emily formed in January, is part of a renewed cultural interest in DIY art forms. DIY is about controlling the means of production, producing independently and, well, learning to do things yourself. The roots of DIY are punk, which is why there is often something edgy or avante garde about DIY art. And punk has an important influence on the kind of work Emily and Nick do together as MiCasa.  “I play a lot of instruments, and I love being in bands…I want to run a theatre company like a band” Nick laughs, “not only is it hip and cool but it’s the only way I know how to do things!” (more…)

The planning partnership that held the community workshop in October to come up with ideas for a more pedestrian-friendly, better-designed Parkdale Avenue has produced a short questionnaire that local residents can fill out in order to add their opinions into the results of the process.

The survey really does only takes a few short minutes, even though instead of strictly just “checking boxes”, respondents are encouraged to give subjective responses such as “what are your three favourite places along Parkdale, and what do you like about them”.

The results of the survey will be presented on 2 December 2009 at the Parkdale United Church (429 Parkdale Avenue). The evening will begin at 5:30pm with a meet-and-greet session, followed by a formal presentation of the plan at 6:30pm.