Hello Ottawa

STATISTICS OTTAWA

NUMBER

• 15 metres

• – The height of the new ferris wheel at Winterlude. For comparison, the largest ferris wheel in Canada is Montréal’s La Grand Roue at 60 metres.

• Lynn Saxberg of the Ottawa Citizen is really up in arms over it. She calls it ‘puny’ and  notes that riders don’t even get a 360° view because of the opaque side panels.

• ‘Winterlude's new ferris wheel is cold and underwhelming’

•  

OTTAWAN OF THE DAY

• Darlene Garner Kuehn

• The registered psychotherapist and PhD in expressive arts therapy is the lead in running the Ottawa Mission’s Expressive Arts Program, which just launched a one-of-a-kind exhibit of art by hospice staff and people in palliative care. 

• Natasha O’Neill at CityNews    Photos

QUOTE

• Asking a government bureaucracy to find a way to punish itself for poor performance is a daunting task

– Randall Denley in the Ottawa Citizen on the resistance at City Hall in paying compensatation to riders who are suffering with OC Transpo’s problems.

• ‘Ottawa debating how to punish itself for OC Transpo service’
   

SPORTS

🏒 NHL Ottawa Senators 3 – Carolina Hurricanes 4, yesterday

• 

  PLEASE SUPPORT THE OTTAWAN

  the ottawan was launched in 2020 as the daily answer to the questions: What’s going on? What should I do? Where is somewhere good to eat? Please consider joining the many other readers with a monthly, annual, or one-time donation to keep the ottawan on its mission. All annual or one-time donations over $60 include an ottawan or historic logo t-shirt of their choice.

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  WHAT’S GOING ON AT CITY HALL

  Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee
  Thursday, February 5 at 10:00 am

  • Development Charge Exemption Amendment - Rural Unserviced Storage Structures
  • Mud Creek Municipal Drain (Part Lot 1, Concessions 1 and 2) – Appointment of Engineer
  • OtMud Creek Municipal Drain (Part Lots 4 and 5, Concession A) – Appointment of Engineer
  • Zoning By-Law Amendment – 7628 Flewellyn Road
  • Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment – 635 and 891 Jinkinson Road
  • Infrastructure Agreement and Area-Specific Development Charge for Shadow Ridge (Greely)
  • Official Plan Amendment – 1700 Richardson Side Road

  Agenda
   

  Planning Advisory Committee
  Wednesday, February 4 at 5:30 pm

  • Planning, Development and Building Services Annual Work Program
  • Official Plan Update – Growth Projections and Growth Management Strategy
  • Development Application Studies and Plans By-Law: Terms of Reference

  
  Agenda

  

  WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

  ♻️ Need a new recycling bin? Go pick it up yourself. Now that the Province has kicked the City – and all cities – out of the residential recycling business, the new contractor will not provide delivery of replacement recycling bins. Miller Waste Services now requires residents to fill out a request form and, if approved, will give out an address on where to pick it up. – Natasha Baldin in the Ottawa Citizen

  ↪ Black bins are being phased out. All recycling can be placed in blue bins – but each one needs to have only its category.

   

  🐕 The Bruce Pit dog park will be closed next Monday to Friday. The closure is required by Hydro Ottawa so it can cut back vegetation from its equipment. The associated parking lot on Cedarview will also be closed, says the National Capital Commission.  – Ted Raymond at CTV Ottawa Dog Park list

  ↪ Your dog may be confused and not understand why it cannot run around Bruce Pit next week so THE OTTAWAN has a translation of this news item for you to read out:

  Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark arf. Bark bark Hydro Ottawa vegetation maintenance work bark bark bark bark arf, bark bark bark bark bark.
   

  ℹ️ The former Ontario Travel Information Centre at the boundary with Québec on highway 417 may be saved by the local tourist bureau. Destination Prescott-Russell and the Prescott-Russell Development Corporation have requested the province allow them to own and run the Center. The Province closed the facility last year, reasoning that most people were only stopping to use the washrooms and not viewing travel information.  – James Morgan in The Review

   

  🦖 The City of Gatineau has removed a transit poster over complaints that it is an anti-Black stereotype. Intended to combat harassment against Société de transport de l’Outaouais employees, the series of posters depicts various people wearing a dinosaur mask intimidating workers. 

  A director of the Black Mental Health Coalition said the poster with a Black woman wearing the mask, ‘perpetuates racist stereotypes passed down from generation to generation: that Black people are violent; that Black women are angry, aggressive and uncontrollable’.  The City says, ‘In the interest of responsibility, consistency, and preventing any potentially negative interpretations, it seems preferable to remove this image’. – CBC

  

  THE DAILY POLL

  Did you ever use that Ontario Travel Information Centre on highway 417?

  🔘 Yes, it had valuable travel information.

  🔘 No, but had I needed local information, I would have.

  🔘 Of course. When I needed the washroom.

  🔘 I have never seen the need to travel to Québec by road.

  🔘 Bark bark bark bark arf. Let the dogs use the washroom. Bark arf bark bark.

  • 
    Previously in ottawan polls:

  • We asked, ‘Have you ever visted the Diefenbunker?’

    • 36% Yes

    • 27% No

    • 10% I was there when the bunker was in operation

    • 9% You could not pay me to go that deep underground

    • 18% I’m buying multiyear season’s passes just in case there is need for an immediate emergency visit. For the art.

    •  
      Commentary

  ▪️ “Love the bunker. Too bad so many of the furnishings were tossed. It is a fabulous place to explore!”​​​
  
  ▪️ “A great piece of history — would love to visit it at some point soon.”​​​ 
  
  ▪️ “It’s such a neat place! My husband, our teen, and I really enjoyed it, but our tween wasn’t impressed.”​​​
  
  ▪️ “Hope to someday ...”​​​
  
  ▪️ “Loved the Diefenbunker. Such an interesting place.”​​​
  
  ▪️ “I visited it once during Open Doors Ottawa. It was very interesting and I highly recommend that everyone visits it at least once to learn about it.”​​​
  
  ▪️ “Would love to go there along with visiting the Kin Winery next door.”​​​
  
  ▪️ “I am not fond of ‘caves’ but I managed ok - my British friend loved it! It was truly a blast from the past.”​​​
  
  ▪️ “Loved it, even before it became a wonderful Escape Room!!!”​​​
  
  ▪️ “Ah! the ‘Cold War'. Those were the good old days!”​​​
  
  ▪️ “Visited when it was still in operation (lived in Carp). My dad snuck us into a guided tour meant for employee families. Have visited since it became a museum, such a cool place!”​​​
  
  ▪️ “It’s a time capsule, and well worth a visit.”​​​
  
  ▪️ “Everyone who grew up in in the west end went there I think.”​​​ 
  
  ▪️ “They have an awesome escape room down there. Definitely recommend if you’re into that sorta thing!”​​​
  
  ▪️ “Brought back memories. Very well done. Too bad we no longer have any civil defence plans. No sirens to even warn us so we can seek shelter.”​​​

  

  HISTORIC OTTAWA LOGO T-SHIRTS

  Ogilvy’s Department Store T-Shirt Charles Ogilvy Limited began as dry goods shop on Rideau Street in 1897, and ended its reign as Ottawa's greatest department store in 1992. Help support the ottawan by buying one of our historic logo t-shirts. Shop for t-shirts

  

  THE ROLLING THREE DAY CALENDAR

  Is there an event we should know about?
  Please use our easy event submission form

  ✳️ Means change from previous edition

  WEDNESDAY

  • ✳️ City of Ottawa summer camps are available to view from today. Registration goes live on Thursday, February 26 at 9 pm. There’s a video explaining how to start a Wishlist.

  • ✳️ Elevator Theatre Company’s production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County begins its run at the Gladstone Theatre (until February 14). (Little Italy) 

  • Ottawa Fringe Festival’s undercurrent festival is back (today through February 14). See brave new theatre from Ottawa and beyond at Arts Court.(Downtown) 

  • Drowning Girls opens at Kanata Theatre's Ron Maslin Playhouse, and runs until February 14. (Kanata)  

  • Bring your current project for an evening of creativity and conversation (plus good food and drink) at the KNERDY Knit Night at the Hintonburg Public House. (Hintonburg) 

  • East into the evening with The Robo Lounge’s Jazz at Five, featuring vocalist Michèle Castonguay and pianist Karl Nerenberg. (The Glebe) 

  • How do Birds Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast Winter? Learn about the connection between TV's long running Survivor and the way real life feathered creatures make it through the cold months. (Kanata or virtual) 

  Cinema

  • ByTowne Cinema: The Voice of Hind Rajab, Arco, Vie Privée (A Private Life) 

  • Mayfair Theatre: Sound of Falling, No Other Choice, Anything That Moves

  Gigs

  • Rare Groove Wednesdays. Atomic Rooster

  • Mars Aspen EP Release Party. Rainbow Bistro

  • Jocelyne Baribeau. National Arts Centre

  • Bluegrass Wednesdays with Maple Hill. Red Bird

  • Sun Dried Flies, Sun Temple, Shirley. House of TARG

THURSDAY

• The spotlight will be on local artists and arts leaders tonight at the Arts Ottawa Award Ceremony. Tickets are on sale now. (Downtown)  

• Nonna’s Famous Pizza has invited one-of-a-kind vendors over for a Made with Love Market from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Pick up something for your love and grab a delicious mocktail for yourself. (Little Italy) 

• Urban Art Collective’s Third Annual Not Your Typical Valentine’s Market at the UAC’s new space on Bayswater will also give you a peek into the artists' studios (Hintonburg)  

• Galerie St-Laurent + Hill presents Vernissage: Shaelynn Trednick’s The Weight of Quiet (Lowertown) 

• The Drowning Girls continues at the Ron Maslin Playhouse (Kanata)   

• Ottawa Fringe Festival’s undercurrent festival continues at Arts Court. (Downtown)  

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: Vie Privée (A Private Life), Arco 

• Mayfair Theatre: No Other Choice, Sound of Falling, Anything That Moves  

Gigs

• East Coast Folk Girlies - Writers Round

• Bingo. Broadhead Brewery

• Open Mic. Stray Dog Brewing

FRIDAY

• The Born in the 70s, Raised in the 80s, and Got to Party in the 90s PARTY says it all, really. (Orléans) 

• Get new spines for the bookshelf (plus video games, board games, puzzles and DVDs) at the Elmdale Public School BookFest, today through Sunday. (Fisher Park) 

• Comedian Alex Mackenzie headlines Meridian Theatres Centrepointe.

• Get ready for drama, excitement, and family fun at the Acclaim Pro Wrestling: Friday Night Fever show at Dom Polski Hall (Centretown) 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: Father Mother Sister Brother, Staff Picks: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Arco 

• Mayfair Theatre: The Secret Agent, The Choral, The Room 

Gigs

• Ed Lister Group with Petr Cancura. Night Oat

• Laylit. Gridwrks

• Murray Kinsley & Wicked Grin. Hard Rock Ottawa

• Four Eyed Muscle Man Album Release. Avant-Garde Bar

• Gowan. Bronson Centre Music Theatre

• Happy Hour with Peter Hum. The Robo Lounge
   

There are winter carnivals and festivals in all directions this weekend: 

• Carp  

• Greely 

• North Gower 

• Ottawa: Winterlude, Barbegazi

• Manotick  

 

JUST ANNOUNCED / NOW BOOKING

• The Spring sessions of Alliance Française virtual French courses begin in early March.

• Last year, SnowBall: A Cool Winter’s Eve raised $19.000 for the Snowsuit Fund. This year's event returns to the Royal Geographical Society at 50 Sussex Drive, for cocktails, dancing, and samples of food from Ottawa's best chefs. It's the Snowsuit Fund's largest fundraiser of the year, and you don't want to miss it. 

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BUT, ONE MORE THING ...

• We have all seen architectural drawings of proposed developments and they always look so positive and magical, yet once the project is built that magic is lost. 

• Antirender.com will accept a photo and, using artificial intelligence, redraw it as if it was a regular Tuesday in November, say.

• This story is about how the City’s planning and housing committee is considering a request by the National Capital Commission to cancel the Preston Street extension into LeBreton Flats and instead approve the Commission’s plan to build a pedestrian and cyclist bridge which connect with the proposed Sens Arena entertainment district.

• The first photo is from the Commission’s LeBreton Flats Master Concept Plan. The second is what antirender.com thinks it will look like on an average day. 

• Magical!

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the ottawan is written and edited every working weekday by Martha and Darren. Is there something that Ottawa should know about? Email to us at hello@theottawan.com. We read every single comment.