[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="328" caption="Should Ottawans know who this man is?"][/caption] Editor's note: Immanuel Giulea is the Founder and Executive Director of the Société Macdonald-Cartier Society. Ottawa’s civic holiday in August is known as Colonel By Day. City Council reaffirmed that as recently as June 9--a decision that underlines the intimate connection between the City of Ottawa and its founder Lieutenant-Colonel John By. In recent weeks, Bob Plamondon has created some publicity around the idea of renaming our venerable and historic Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill. Those in favour of renaming the street argue that the Duke of Wellington never set foot in North America and had no connection to the city. Instead of honouring a relatively unknown figure, they argue, why not pay tribute to our first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald?

Editor's note: this post originally appeared on the author's own West Side Action blog. Last night was the first Public Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting for the Carling Avenue reconstruction project from the O-Train to Bronson Avenue. Scheduled for 2011, its for a complete rebuild of the street: new sewers, water mains, dozens of cable and gas pipes, curbs, sidewalks, lighting...everything. The handout emphasized the following priorities in this order: pedestrian, cycling, transit, vehicle. Of course, the the Technical Adisory Committee (TAC) had first whack at the project and they specified two through lanes in each direction, a bus lane, a cycling lane,very generous turn lanes, etc etc all of which exceeds the available right of way. Now, which elements do we guess might get dropped? No points for the correct answer: car lanes, bus lane, bike lane if room, "2m sidewalk (where feasible)". So much for ped priority. And for streetscaping ... to be added in at the end on the leftover spaces. So, I spent the evening in pleasant dialogue with the city planner and his consultants, educating them as to local pedestrian desire lines, questioning them on traffic volume assumptions, and suggesting the ideal Carling-Avenue-according-to-Eric plan.

The always-excellent West Side Action is two parts into a 5-part series on Bronson Avenue. Bronson was designated as an arterial in the 1970s as part of the Centretown plan, and bears the brunt of north-south automobile traffic in a wide swath of  Centretown,  from Kent/Lyon in the east to Booth in the west. Factors like noise, dust, narrow sidewalks, and limited pedestrian crossings make Bronson a real barrier for foot and cycle traffic, separating Chinatown from points east and discouraging development along Bronson itself. Bronson is slated for reconstruction in 2011, and, astonishingly, the City presented a plan to the neighbourhood that would see engineers actually widen the roadbed, facilitating even greater traffic speed along the road.

It turns out it wasn't just our imagination; Ottawa is experience a mini-boom in fires. According to Ottawa Fire Services, there were 98 fires causing $50,000 or more in damage in 2006; by 2009 Ottawa experienced 143 fires in that category. Definition of  "structure working fires" = $ loss is equal to or greater than $50,000 Year # # of structure working fires 2006                            ...

[caption id="attachment_1694" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Courtesy of meaghan.walton"][/caption] As the national capital, Ottawa is in the somewhat unique position of housing many of the country's significant and historical monuments. For the folks who live here it means that often our daily commutes or routines can end up including references to the country's history, falters, apologies and successes. In many ways we Ottawans are responsible for the nation's collective memory. Today apartment613 is lucky to have a collection of photos from Meaghan Walton-Perreault exploring this theme. Take a look and let ...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="800" caption="Hartman's Piano Lounge in happier times"][/caption]