Spring Cleanup 2022 – April 23

Time to limber up and to get ready to stoop, scoop, lunge and squat our way to a cleaner community!

It’s a great way to get some exercise and help make our neighbourhood beautiful at the same time.

When: Saturday April 23rd (in case of rain Saturday April 30th)

Where: meet outside the Champlain Park fieldhouse at 10am and pick up a garbage bag and gloves. We’ll also provide snacks to tide you over!

What: Choose a part of the neighbourhood and pick up any garbage you see and make our neighbourhood clean and beautiful. Dispose of the garbage bag with your normal household garbage/recycling/composting.

For posts about Spring Cleanups, see Category: Spring Cleanup

[Cleanup Poster]
Spring cleanup CPCA.pdf

Spring Cleanup 2022 Coming Soon – April 23

Neighbourhood Spring Clean-Up 2022 is Coming!

Time to limber-up, and to get ready to stoop, scoop, lunge, and squat our way to a cleaner community. What a great way to get some exercise and to help make our neighbourhood beautiful at the same time.

Planning is underway for Champlain Park to host the return of the “Cleaning the Capital Program”.

The date for the event is being planned for April 23rd, with a rain date of April 30th, so mark your calendars!

More details for Champlain Park’s activity will follow in the coming days, but if you want to learn more about the overall program please visit: https://ottawa.ca/en/living-ottawa/environment-conservation-and-climate/community-environmental-and-beautification-programs/cleaning-capital-program#background-information

In the meantime, while we await the return of this community-wide program, everyone is encouraged to do their part, at their own pace, in cleaning-up their piece of our little oasis here in the heart of Ottawa. If you see some trash around your home or on your street, just pick it up and dispose of it in your regularly scheduled garbage collection, or in the public bins.

So stay tuned, and we’ll get you more information soon about our rendition of Ottawa’s “Cleaning the Capital Program”.

Spring Lawn Raking Time?

From Daniel Buckles…

Time to rake your lawn? The warm weather may be prompting you to start raking, but pollinators, like bees and butterflies, would rather you wait for a bit. They overwinter in dead plant material, and need time to wake up and start their lifecycle. A general guideline is to wait until temperatures are consistently above 10 C. This will help protect habitat, and a healthy overall garden ecosystem. Other tips (from various websites):

  • move leaf piles to a corner of the garden and leave them undisturbed for a while
  • don’t smother the soil in beds with mulch until it is generally warm. Mulch blocks in-ground nesting bees and other beneficial insects.

Neighbourhood Watch Bulletin for 2022-03-31

One topic item : increase in impaired related charges in March

If you’re interested in helping out, see our Neighbourhood Watch Page.

To make a police report :

  • Contact Cst. Darren Joseph directly (west of O-Train, Line 2) at josephd@ottawapolice.ca or 613-236-1222, ext. 5871.
  • Contact Cst. Stephanie Lemieux directly (east of O-Train, Line 2) at lemieuxs@ottawapolice.ca or 613-236-1222, ext. 5290.

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25% increase in impaired related charges in March

Impaired driving is not only criminal; it is dangerous to all of us!

Since January 2022, the Ottawa Police Service is seeing worrisome increase in impaired driving.  A total of 146 impairment-related charges have been laid between January 1st to March 30th, 2022. In March alone, there were 54 charges laid, as opposed to 43 in March 2021.  Nearly half of the drivers charged with impaired driving were involved in a collision. 

These numbers are worrisome for road safety for motorists and vulnerable road-users as we move into cycling season and the return of the eScooters downtown. On average, every 1.3 days, a collision happens as a result of an impaired driver. “Even a small amount of alcohol or drugs can impair the ability to operate a conveyance” says Sgt Troy Froats.

Of double concern to police is an increase of inexperienced drivers being investigated for impaired driving.  Drivers with a graduated licence are not permitted to have ANY alcohol in their system. Those who do are subject to fines and 3, 7 or 30 day driving suspensions for having a blood alcohol concentration above 0.  If you are going to a party, make it a habit to plan a sober ride home.

Herongate Call for Gardening Donations – March 20

Our environment people work on the “bring your own tools” model for our projects (we don’t have storage space), but we do welcome donations of soil, rocks, leaves in the fall, money, etc. to Champlain Park projects. However, we’re happy to encourage the Herongate people in their gardening work, so if you have some extra old tools…

Subject: Call for gardening donations
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2022 15:35:51 +0000 (UTC)
From: Herongate Tenant Coalition <herongatetc@gmail.com>
To: Champlain Park Community Association <champlainpark@gmail.com>

Dear Champlain Park Community Association,
Please share far and wide with your members in Ottawa!

Do you have gardening supplies like tools, stakes, or seeds lying around you aren’t using anymore? Support Herongate gardeners by dropping off gardening supplies on Sunday, March 20th between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM at the corner of Baycrest Drive and Cedarwood Drive.
Continue reading “Herongate Call for Gardening Donations – March 20” →

Neighbourhood Watch Bulletin for 2022-03-14

HATE CRIMES UP

A hate crime is a criminal offence committed against a person or property which is motivated by hate/bias or prejudice based on race, national or ethnic origin, disability, sexual orientation, or other similar factor. Hate Crimes create fear and mistrust which can deeply impact our community.

Today, the Ottawa Police Service Hate and Bias Crime Unit released its 2021 annual statistics that show an increase of 43.6% for reported hate-motivated incidents. “This is a troubling trend considering not all hate-motivated incidents are reported to police,” said Ottawa Police Sgt. Ali Toghrol
Continue reading “Neighbourhood Watch Bulletin for 2022-03-14” →

Blasting at Tunney’s Pasture

Just so you know what’s making that loud thump noise every few hours, and other sound effects, we received this message from Steph at councillor Jeff Leiper’s office…

With help from Yasir’s office, our message got through to the government team overseeing the construction at the heating/cooling plant at Tunney’s currently. We asked about the work, to be sure, and any ways to get a timeline/notifications on the work. Here’s the response we got:

“From now until the end of March 2022, the construction team will be conducting controlled blasts at the site on weekdays from 8:00 to 4:00 Monday to Thursday and from 8:00 to 1:00 on Fridays. There will be no more than one per hour. From time to time there may be hoe ramming done on site as well to break up rock.

Members of the public interested in learning more about the ESAP project or asking us a question by email should visit https://nationalcapitaldistrictenergy.ca. There is also a contact us page on the site which allows people to ask questions directly to the construction team.”

I would suggest those with concerns get directly in contact with them through that page. I suspect the major disruption is coming from the hoe-ramming, in addition to the blasting. I know our power is limited in a project like this, but I nonetheless wanted to pass on the information to you and neighbours as soon as we got it.