Trimming help wanted with SJAM Winter Trail within our forest

Looking for volunteers who would be able to help in trimming small bushes and branches along the proposed 2016 Winter trail within the NCC forest. This forest trail will be joining up with the main Sir John A. MacDonald (SJAM) Winter trail network which be running along the SJAM Parkway.

champlain-woods-x-ski-trail-2016 — 2016 Proposed SJAM Winter Trail within the NCC – Champlain Park forest area

If you can help with the trimming of buckthorn bushes and small branches along the edges of the proposed Winter trail in the NCC forest please send your email to champlainpark@hotmail.ca with your contact information and you will be added to a mail listing. This list will be used to contact volunteers with dates and times for trimming parties. If you are available, your help will be greatly appreciated.

We plan to start trimmings on Sat Oct 22 weekend and continue with additional weekend mornings over the next few weeks as required.

Please contact Adrian Bradley is you have any questions: 613-722-2248;

Project Details

Work involved
– trimming back buckthorn brushes at base where possible
– trimming over head branches of bushes
– trimming over head branches of small trees
– placing and spreading all trimmings flat on the forest floor away from the trail (as there will be no chipping provided). Placed so they don’t stick up for safety purposes

Equipment:
– No mechanical equipment will be used
– Only manual garden tools will be used. i.e. Small garden saws and garden clippers.
– Volunteers asked to provide their on equipment, suggest wear garden gloves and safety glasses

When?
– Will be staring late-October 2016
– We expect trimmings to take place at various times over a 3 week period

Steps for this Project Activity:
– All volunteers will be asked to sign our waiver form when they sign up as volunteers

Benefits: The trimming of Buckthorn bushes and small over-hanging branches along the edges of the proposed Winter trail in the NCC Forest is to ensure the accessibility and safety of all users of the trail. This work has been coordinated with agreement between the NCC, Nakkertok and the CPCA’s sponsored activity approval.

Other Trail related

SJAM Winter Trail grooming fund

If you wish to contribute, any amount however small would be most welcome!
For donation details for SJAM Winter trail grooming fund please check here.
This is a crowd sourced funding initiative which has a closing date of November 14, 2016.

Review of Ontario Municipal Board – November 9

Subject: Review of Ontario Municipal Board
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2016 13:50:38 +0000
From: Yasir Naqvi, MPP (Constituency Office) <ynaqvi.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org>

Dear friends,

Thank you for your interest in the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

Along with you, I have long advocated for changes to OMB to ensure community-inspired development. I am proud that the Ontario government has undertaken a comprehensive review of how the OMB operates and its role in our province’s land-use planning system to help make it more efficient and more accessible to all communities.

As part of the review, our government is consulting the public on possible changes to the OMB that, if adopted, would:

Allow for more meaningful and affordable public participation;
Give more weight to local and provincial decisions and support alternative ways to settle disputes;
Bring fewer municipal and provincial decisions to the OMB; and,
Support clearer and more predictable decision-making.

As the MPP for Ottawa Centre, I have often heard from residents that the OMB must be reformed so that it can better serve the unique needs of our community and incorporate better land-use planning principles. To provide your ideas, I invite you to be a part of the Ottawa consultation on Wednesday, November 9, 2016.

Consultation details:

Wednesday, November 9, 2016
5pm – 9:30pm
St. Anthony’s Banquet Hall
523 St. Anthony Street, Ottawa (off Preston Street)

The changes under consideration would improve everyday life for Ontarians by providing easier public access to information about the OMB and its processes through an expanded Citizen Liaison Office. The proposed changes would more clearly specify what can be appealed to the OMB, in addition to the mechanisms through which the OMB hears these appeals.

For more information on how to participate, and to review the public consultation document, please visit http://www.ontario.ca/OMBreview.

Please feel free to distribute this consultation information widely. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office at ynaqvi.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org or 613-722-6414.

Sincerely,

Yasir

Yasir Naqvi, MPP
Ottawa Centre

LRT Stage 2 Presentation Materials Available

If you’re interested in maps and station plans of where the O-Train will go, more of them are now available online. Though for our neighbourhood, it’s pretty well settled that it will be in the existing transitway trench beside Scott street.

– Alex

From: Stage2 – Etape2 <stage2@ottawa.ca>
Date: October 4, 2016 at 11:48 AM
Subject: Stage 2 LRT September 2016 Public Consultation presentations now available online/Les présentations des consultations publiques de septembre 2016 sur l’Étape 2 du TLR maintenant accessibles en ligne

Thank you for joining us at the Stage 2 Light Rail Transit (LRT) September 2016 public consultations. For your reference, please go to the link below to access or review the presentation materials.

Click on this link September 2016 Public Consultations. Scroll down to the end of the page and you will see the September 2016 Public Consultations header with links to each presentation.

Regards,

The Stage 2 Team

Merci de vous être joint à nous lors des consultations publiques de septembre 2016 sur l’Étape 2 du Train léger sur rail (TLR). Veuillez aller au lien ci-dessous pour accéder aux présentations.

Cliquez sur ce lien : Consultations publiques de septembre 2016. Allez au bas de la page, où vous verrez la rubrique Consultations publiques septembre 2016, qui s’accompagne de liens donnant accès à chaque présentation.

Recevez nos salutations distinguées.

L’équipe de l’Étape 2

Ottawa BudgetSpeak 2016 – October 13

Invitation

You are invited to BudgetSpeak, a consultation focused on moving resident-identified priorities forward.

When: Oct. 13, 2016, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Jean Piggott Place, Ottawa City Hall

Please RSVP

In preparation for both the 2015 and 2016 Budgets, City Councillors Chernushenko, Fleury, Leiper, McKenney and Nussbaum hosted a series of consultations with residents to get a better sense of their priorities – and the funding options – for the municipal budget. The hundreds of residents who participated in these sessions consistently ranked transit affordability, provision of social services and safe mobility for all modes of travel as their top priorities.

With these priorities identified, this year’s consultation will focus on the “how” instead of the “what”. It will consist of short plenary presentations on all three issues, roundtable discussions and advice from residents to their councillors on what specific initiatives could usefully be considered for inclusion in our 2017 municipal budget deliberations at committee and council.

Quick links

More information – http://www.tobinussbaum.ca/news-events-actualites-evenements/updates-mises-a-jour/budgetspeak-2016

To Register – https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/budgetspeak-2016-parlonsbudget-2016-tickets-28006939510?utm_term=eventurl_text

Feel free to contact our office if you require any further information.

Thanks,

Lisa Baird

Councillor’s Assistant
Office of Councillor Jeff Leiper, Kitchissippi Ward/Ward 15
City of Ottawa – Ville d’Ottawa
t: 613-580-2485
e: lisa.baird@ottawa.ca

There are also larger posters available:
budgetspeak_poster_en_oct-13.png
budgetspeak_poster_fr_oct-13.png

SJAM Winter Trail Grooming Funding

I just came across a tweet from @SJAMWinterTrail mentioning their new web site http://www.wintertrail.ca/ with information about the Sir John A. Macdonald parkway riverside multi-use pathway trail winter snow grooming project and a request for donations. There’s also a related crowd funding site at https://fundrazr.com/SJAM.Winter.Trail, which makes nice use of the trail map as a progress indicator.

The Winter Trail web site is nicely done; besides a crisp concise look it has good coverage of the topic and related questions. If you hunt around the Internet, you can find a video about the trail, which includes our local neighbour Dennis, at https://twitter.com/SJAMWinterTrail/media or on YouTube:

I definitely appreciate the easier walking of a groomed trail in winter, particularly after an ice storm makes the uneven foot pounded snow path treacherous or a heavy snow confuses the solid walking path with soft trails left by skiers. Judging by the very popular test last winter, the skiers enjoy it too!

– Alex

NCC Ottawa (Civic) Hospital Relocation Survey

The NCC is consulting the public about the new location of the Civic hospital. Since one of the locations is the nearby Tunney’s Pasture campus, and it’s a locally used hospital, I think it’s worthwhile to point out the NCC’s survey, which is available until October 6th. Have a look at:

http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/property-management/what-we-manage/ottawa-hospital-site-review

– Alex

Friendly Reminder – Tree Planting – September 17, 18

Hope you can make it!

Come plant trees in the NCC forest, Sept 17-18.

The National Capital Commission and community groups in Champlain Park have struck an agreement to foster a healthy forest between Pontiac Ave and the Parkway. In the spring the NCC removed buckthorn and felled dead trees that were possible hazards along pathways. We will plant trees in these cleared spaces to support the gradual succession of the flora and fauna towards a mature forest.

Come with your shovels near the north entrance to St. Georges’ School, between 9 am and 4 pm Saturday and 9 am and 2 pm on Sunday. Contact Daniel Buckles if you have any questions: 613-807-8048; dbuckles@sympatico.ca

Kitchissippi Ward Forum – September 18 Reminder

Just a reminder that the forum is happening this Sunday. See the original post for more information, including the now known guest speaker.

– Alex

NCC and Civic Hospital Site – September 22

From: “Yasir Naqvi, MPP (Constituency Office)” <ynaqvi.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2016 7:53 AM
Subject: NCC Land Review Consultation for Civic Hospital Location

Dear friends,

I wanted to share with you that the National Capital Commission (NCC) has announced the list of potential federal sites for the new Civic Campus of The Ottawa Hospital, as well as a series of draft criteria upon which each site will be assessed. I urge you to take part in the consultation process in person and/or online.

The NCC is consulting public sector partners, stakeholders as well as the general public on the potential federal sites and draft selection criteria.

Public Consultations:

You can have your say at the NCC’s public consultation:

An open house and presentations on September 22, 2016, at the Canadian War Museum
– 3 pm–9:30 pm — Open house
– 7 pm–8:30 pm — Presentations and Q&A session
An online survey, available on the NCC’s website from September 22 to October 6, 2016

Find out more details on the sites being reviewed and the selection criteria here:
The Ottawa Hospital (Civic Campus) Site Review
The Ottawa Hospital (Civic Campus) Site Review Public Consultation
NCC Board approves site selection process for The Ottawa Hospital (June 28, 2016)

This is a very important issue in our community. I have heard often from my constituents that we need the Civic Hospital to remain in the downtown core to provide essential emergency care. Ottawa needs a trauma centre that is accessible by emergency vehicles and by transit. It is very important that we all have a say on the future of our community’s healthcare.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office: ynaqvi.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org or 613-722-6414.

I do hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Yasir

Yasir Naqvi, MPP
Ottawa Centre

Tree Planting – September 17, 18