By Shannon Moore John Woodhouse can feel every crack and bump in the sidewalk on Bronson. Unlike pedestrians whose feet absorb the changes, he said, his electric wheelchair struggles to move over them, making it uncomfortable and dangerous for him to travel along the street. “I’m very concerned about curbs and the state of the sidewalk, because I’m a four-season driver,” he said. Woodhouse is one of a dozen individuals who gathered on Saturday to discuss changes to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists along Bronson Avenue in the Glebe. “Bronson is such a highway in the middle of the city. It’s very noisy and people like to speed up,” Woodhouse said. “There’s absolutely no concern for pedestrians.” The meeting was organized by the Glebe Community Association and Ecology Ottawa, a non-profit organization that often collects advice from residents on safety issues, to pass onto City Hall. Ecology Ottawa conducted an audit because the section of Bronson from Highway 417 to Colonel By Drive is scheduled for reconstruction when water mains and sewers are replaced between 2015 and 2018. “I think that doing an audit is terrific because you can look at the things that are really problem areas and have them addressed before the construction starts,” said Dianne Breton, chair of the volunteer group Ottawa Seniors’ Transportation Committee. Karen Hawley, the Community Network Coordinator of Ecology Ottawa, echoed this statement. “The whole street will be upended, so we figured that it’s a great opportunity to get suggestions from the community,” she said. Resident Steve Harris said he wants safe crossings on Bronson so that people on both sides of the street feel part of the same neighbourhood. “One of the reasons I got involved,” he said, “is that this road separates this neighbourhood from the rest of the Glebe. It’s a real barrier, because you feel you can’t actually walk across it.” “It’s a beautiful area and it’s just cut off by this street. It doesn’t have to be,” he said. Volunteer and cyclist Les Whitney agreed with Harris. “There has to be connectivity. You really can’t avoid Bronson,” Whitney said. The audit consisted of 31 questions pertaining to sidewalks, bike lanes, curbs, traffic lights, speed limits, bus shelters and more. Resident Jason Vallis lives on Bronson and is mostly concerned about the speed of cars driving by. He has a newborn baby and said he fears for the safety of his family. “I appreciate that it’s a regional road and that it’s an arterial route, but for me it’s the speed and the lack of enforcement,” he said. “This is a dangerous road, and we have an opportunity to get drivers to slow down and realize that people live here.” The speed limit in the area is 50 kilometres per hour, but residents feel that drivers frequently travel at least 15 to 20 kilometres per hour faster. In October 2012, 27-year-old Carleton University student Krista Johnson was killed while cycling on Bronson at Holmwood Avenue. RT @carletonsafety: We’re saddened by the death of CU student Krista Johnson. Deepest sympathies go to friends & family http://t.co/b2b0yMJW — Carleton University (@Carleton_U) October 19, 2012 RIP #KristaJohnson, cyclist killed in #Ottawa on Bronson Ave. #Pembroke has lost one of its best and brightest http://t.co/O7owD4V7 — CJ Frederick (@PoweredbyPoodle) October 22, 2012 While some improvements to Bronson near Carleton have already been made, including brighter streetlights and new bike lanes, residents feel more changes are needed. Coun. David Chernushenko plans to redesign the existing ramps between Bronson and Colonel By, and improve pedestrian crossings in the area. Former Capital Ward candidate Scott Blurton participated in the audit, and hopes to see Chernushenko implement the changes that he proposed in his platform. “Chernushenko planned to turn this into a complete street, which I think would be a huge change. It would be interesting to see how that...
First winter snow takes drivers by surprise, again
By Jesse Winter And just like that, it’s winter. The recent snowfall across Ottawa and the province has, in typical early-winter fashion, sent drivers skidding, sliding and scrambling to any tire shop they can find to get snow tires installed. The rush is as predictable as the first snowfall itself, but for Shaheen Kahn, that doesn’t make the pre-Christmas pressure any less manic. “It’s 18-hour days and then you just drop,” said Khan, a manager at Ottawa Tires Direct. “The snow made it like an avalanche. All the people who were on the fence jumped,” he said. Right now, his shop is doing 60 to 70 snow tire installations a day between their two Ottawa locations. The wait time is about a week, but in order to pull it off, Khan said his crews are going flat out. “We work from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day. Some shops are only open during regular business hours, so their wait times are more like two to three weeks,” he said. At the tire shop’s Scott Street location, anxious customers pile up in the waiting area while the phones ring continuously. Khan’s desk is stacked many feet deep with work orders, and he juggles taking calls from his office phone and cell at the same time. When a customer calls to make an appointment, the answering machine asks them to instead send Khan a text message because the shop is so swamped. Khan’s company rented out the house next to their workshop, and converted it into a “war room.” Boxes of newly delivered rims are stacked in the living room, and the dining area has been pressed into service as a command centre where Khan’s colleagues track everything with spreadsheets. Unprocessed work orders are stuck to the walls and even the ceiling in an effort to maximize space. The kitchen is the only space that isn’t taken over with boxes. “It will be soon, though,” Khan said. “The real craziness hasn’t even begun yet.” Winter tires aren’t mandatory in Ontario, but as Ottawa Police Sgt. Mark Gatien explained, the first snow of the season always takes drivers by surprise. “One of the issues I’ve noticed, and I even saw this myself a couple of times this morning, is people taking corners like it’s still summertime,” Gatien said. “You can watch it unfolding on the road right in front of you, watching someone go into a corner way too fast and then, whoa, all of a sudden they’re in the ditch and they can’t understand why. It happens every year, and it baffles me,” he said. Over the past two days, Ottawa drivers have escaped relatively unscathed from the worst of the recent snow squalls. There were only 15 crashes after Monday’s flurries, but that’s about average for the city, said police spokesman Const. Marc Soucy. Farther west, however, the province is being walloped by a winter storm that has closed roads and forced police to issue bad weather advisories. Near Huntsville, for example, the storm is so bad that the Ministry of Transportation had to pull the snowplows off the highways on Tuesday. According to OPP spokesman Sgt. Peter Leon, bad winter weather often causes spikes in collisions and vehicles in the ditch. By 10 a.m. on Tuesday, police near Orillia were already dealing with a 200 per cent increase in calls. Near North Bay, the cops had more than two-dozen active accident scenes on their hands, and many more were expected. “Based on what we’re seeing on the weather radar, it’s only going to get worse,” Leon said. Back in Ottawa, Sgt. Gatien said that while the city experienced a lighter snowfall so far, that lucky streak won’t last and drivers need to be prepared. “It’s been proven that winter tires give you better shopping distance and traction,” Gatien said. “Sometimes people just can’t afford to have two...
Ottawa shows its winter feet...
By Laurène Jardin Jack Frost nipped at Ottawa’s toes on Tuesday. Car owners scurried to change their summer tires, cyclists changed gears on bikes, and bulldozers cleared the streets in the early hours of the morning. The one thing that united Ottawa residents was the recognition that it was time to change to winter footwear. The Gridlock took to the streets to find out what Ottawans were wearing to keep their toes warm during the coldest day of, what is technically, fall. THE SPECIALIST Paul Shields has owned the Glebe Trotters shoe store since 1993. He is a boot guru, and on days like Tuesday, he is a major asset for the store. Shields imagined that he would have a busy day set out for him after Monday night’s snowfall. Still, the biggest day was last week. “We’ve had some pretty big days already,” he said. “A lot of people buy boots based on the year before, especially if it’s a hard long winter,” he said. “So we don’t even have to get snow to get the ball rolling.” In the following clip Shields shares tips for those on hunt to buy the best boots. THE VOLUNTEER On Tuesday morning, Susie Peters purchased a pair of winter gloves for a homeless man. Winter equipment like gloves and boots are important to Peters. Peters is a volunteer at The Well in Ottawa, a day shelter that hosts women. It is organized by the Church of St. John the Evangelist. Peters’ attitude was so positive that it was very difficult to tell that she had a disability. Winter is not the biggest issue for Peters. “I’m on ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program), and when my friends whine about how little money we have, I have to...
Algonquin College students vote on U-Pass...
By Eddie Ameh Algonquin College students are voting in a week-long referendum to accept or reject the Universal Transit Pass (U-Pass) system. If they vote to accept it, students will pay a one-time discounted transit fare at the beginning of every school year. “After seeing it positively affect students of Carleton, U-Ottawa, St. Paul University and even universities in Manitoba and British Columbia, the Universal Transit Pass system would be a great way to provide affordable and accessible transportation to our full-time students,” said Mackenzie Campbell, vice-president of the students’ association. Campbell said that two years ago OC Transpo put an age cap on student monthly passes, so students over 18 no longer qualified for student passes. Since then Algonquin students over 18 pay almost $100 a month for a bus pass, almost twice the cost of a U-Pass. “The students who take the bus on a regular basis will be getting about 50 per cent discount average from the regular adult monthly pass,” Campbell said. In the first 24 hours of the week-long vote more than 25 per cent of students had already voted — a figure Campbell said is very encouraging. Kyle Waddell, a first-year student, said he voted in favour of the U-Pass because it will help him save a lot more money. “With the U-Pass, you pay at the beginning and you just show your pass. And it’s cheaper.” Student Marleigh Cheaney said the U-Pass would help students because they have other expenses including rent and books. “I think this would be a great opportunity to help students save a little extra money,” she said. Emily Langan, a first-year student, said a U-Pass will be more convenient and cheaper, especially as it comes with the tuition fees. She also...
Warmth or safety: digging through Carleton’s tunnels...
By Nicole Rutherford To combat the cold, Carleton’s students are starting to head underground into the labyrinth of tunnels that connect the campus—but for some students warmth often takes priority over safety. “I don’t feel safe, and as a matter of fact I found myself looking for cameras,” said June Cummings, a frequent tunnel traveller. “We’ve always commented about being alone as women.” In the several kilometres of underground pathways, there are only seven security cameras and other minimal security features. This was revealed after July’s incident of an unidentified man posting a video to YouTube riding a motorcycle through the tunnels. At the time of publication, the university’s director of security, Allan Burns, had not confirmed whether the culprit had ever been identified. Burns responded to questions by email about security measures and why there are only seven cameras in the tunnels. “We are constantly assessing our physical security requirements to ensure we are meeting the needs of the community and are reviewing camera requirements in the tunnels as part of the assessment.” Other security features in the tunnels include mirrors for going around corners and assistant telephones—free phones located throughout the tunnels that call campus security. Carleton student Mack Holliday feels that these phones are more than enough to feel safe. “They’re more secure. I’m usually with a friend in the tunnel. I’m also a bigger guy, so I’m not really that worried.” In general, female students were not so certain. “It would probably make me feel more at ease if you would see a security guard come by every once in a while, especially when 9 o’clock classes let out,” said student Jessica Ranieri. In his email, Burns wrote that security “officers patrol the tunnels on a regular basis and we’ve...