It’s not only the infrastructure that needs an overhaul

Re; One-time suburb needs infrastructure overhaul, Louisa Taylor, The Ottawa Citizen, October 15, 2010.


While the three candidates opposing Peter Hume for councillor in Ward 18 have different platforms they all agree on one point, along with an increasingly large number of residents. After 19 years with Hume at the helm, it’s time for a representative on council who cares for and respects Ward 18 and it’s residents.

Candidate Clinton Cowan says that “After 19 years, the position of councillor has changed to ward boss rather than city employee….Hume doesn’t respect the wishes of the community.” Hume says these accusations are “patently untrue” and points to the long list of endorsements he has received from residents as proof that’s not the prevailing view on the street.

Hume goes on to say “Ask the people who live near the proposed new bus garage, for example, and they’ll tell you I’m there for them.” But it wasn’t quite like this on the ground. The first time the community really had an opportunity to state its concerns over this garage occurred early this year when an open house was organized to inform people about plans to expand the “proposed” bus garage, when construction was already at an advanced stage.

Concerns were raised forcefully by members of Riverview Park Community Association as well as the local residents Hume refers to. At this time Hume was not too accepting of the communities concern, preferring instead to identify mediation steps that did little to address residents’ concerns directly.

As it turned out, residents were far from satisfied by these offsetting benefits and Hume and the city have now had to take additional measures in order to minimize the negative impact that the “garage mahal” will have on the community. These new measures have not come without significant cost to the taxpayer and will not be in place for some time. Details of the land swap arrangement between the Ottawa Train Yards landowner and the city have not been made public other than to indicate that the deal also involved transfer of a substantial sum of money to the developer.

The developer seems to have benefited from this negotiation two ways: firstly, the contiguous area of land resulting from the exchange will make it easier for Ottawa Train Yards to expand this already large shopping mall; and secondly the owner has new cash in the bank besides.

Despite his claims to the contrary, some of Hume’s votes on council have been against the interests of many of his ward residents but clearly in the interests of developers; for example his endorsement of the Alta vista Transportation Corridor (AVTC) and his abandonment of the international design competition to redevelop Lansdowne Park.

As Clinton Cowan says, “It’s time for a Fresh Start.”