Tax break for new airport hotel gets tie vote

Good morning!

Be careful out there today. The city has declared a “significant weather event” because of overnight freezing rain of ice-storm levels. While they have not declared a parking ban, expect road and sidewalk clearing to take longer than usual today. A parking ban may also come into effect sometime later. Be sure to check the city’s Twitter feed to get the most up-to-date information. And if you can, it’s probably best to stay home today.

The Easter long weekend is coming up, and I hope everyone is looking forward to the long weekend.

With that in mind, a bit of housekeeping around here as there will be a few changes to the publishing schedule next week: There will be no Monday edition of the Lookout next week, and Tuesday’s City Hall Insider will be pushed back a week to April 17. If you’re a Capital Eats subscriber, there will be no Tuesday newsletter, but the Thursday issue will be free for everyone.

Let’s get to it.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

Consider forwarding this to your friends so they can discover the Lookout. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free.

Weather Report

Freezing rain warning

Wednesday: 0 🌡️ +4 | 🌧/❄️/🧊

Thursday: +11 🌡️ -2 | 🌧

Friday: +3 🌡️ -7 | 🌤

CITY HALL

Committee splits vote on airport hotel tax break

What happened: The city’s finance committee voted 6-6 on whether to give a new airport hotel a $13-million tax break over 25 years. The tie vote means council will still get a final say on whether to approve the grant, CTV reported.

• Council will vote next week on whether to approve the grant or not.

Mayor opposed: Mayor Mark Sutcliffe was one of the six votes against giving the money. He said in a Twitter thread before the vote he wouldn’t vote for the proposal because he didn’t believe the city should be giving money to specific business developments.

Vote breakdown: The councillors voted down interesting lines, with Matt Luloff, Laura Dudas, Cathy Curry Glen Gower, Rawlson King and Catherine Kitts voting for the motion, and Tim Tierney, Jeff Leiper, Riley Brockington, Shawn Menard, George Darouze and Sutcliffe voting against it, according to CBC’s Kate Porter.

The proposed plan: Last year, the previous council approve a “community improvement plan” for the airport that would allow for tax grants to be given to new developments. If approved, the Alt Hotel would get a tax break of $520,000 per year for the first 25 years it was in operation.

• The hotel would be off the hook for $13 million in property taxes, three-quarters of its expected $17.4-million tax bill over that time.

Program review: Sutcliffe said he wanted city staff to narrow community improvement programs to “focus on affordable housing and other urgent priorities,” rather than giving private businesses tax breaks.

OTTAWA BY THE NUMBERS

🏢 13.2%: The office vacancy rate in downtown Ottawa last quarter, an all-time high. Ottawa’s rate is lower than Montreal’s and Toronto’s, which were 16.5 and 15.3 respectively. [CTV]

🧊 10-20mm: The amount of freezing rain expected to fall by tonight. [Environment Canada]

OUTSIDE DOWNTOWN

💐 The community of Stittsville is mourning the death of longtime local news photographer John Brummell. [Stittsville Central]

🚒 A family escaped with just the clothes on their backs in a Manotick house fire that claimed the life of their upstairs neighbour. [CTV]

🗳️ A proposed change to east-end federal ridings would move Blackburn Hamlet into the Ottawa-Vanier riding. [Orléans Star]

🚒 The deputy fire chief threatened to fire a non-binary firefighter stationed in Barrhaven if they spoke out about being choked by a colleague. [Ottawa Citizen]

🚔 Police in Brockville are looking for witnesses to an incident involving a woman at the YMCA pool. Emergency responders needed to rescue her from the pool and perform CPR. She remains in thospital. [CTV]

🚨 A driver in a car was killed in a crash with a tractor trailer in Petawawa on Highway 17. [CTV]

💐 Two people have died in a house fire that broke out Thursday night in Kingston. [CBC]

CONVOY

Commission recommends apology, compensation to convoy victims

What happened: The city failed to protect its residents during the convoy, and owes meaningful apologies and compensation for the people directly affected by the protests, a new report recommended. The Ottawa People’s Commission, headed up by citizens and focused on listening to the stories of residents, also recommended the city hold public town halls to hear from residents if it is going to rebuild trust, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

• “While there are those who suggest the community should ‘move on’ and ‘get over it,’ [the commission] believes it is essential and urgent that the City of Ottawa and other governments provide a substantive — indeed transformative — response, acknowledging the failures, redressing the harms and taking actions that build assurance that the shambolic response to the convoy occupation will never be repeated,” the report said.

Poor communication: The commission found the city and police did a poor job of communicating with residents, and seemed to ignore the people who were most directly affected.

• “The people realized there were unanswered questions. They very much realized that the community’s viewpoint and perspective was not being sought, was not being incorporated into decision making, was not informing police actions. And that felt wrong,” commissioner Alex Neve said, according to CTV.

Investigate the police: The report recommends an independent investigator be appointed to look at the actions of police throughout the convoy. Particularly, the commission said the allegations that police were sharing intelligence with convoy organizers.

Overall, the report had recommendations in eight key areas:

• Rebuilding trust;

• Upholding the right of Indigenous peoples;

• Protecting human rights;

• Prioritizing support for vulnerable groups;

• Keeping the community safe;

• Improving responses to emergencies;

• Addressing hate and advancing inclusion;

• Be accountable.

You can read the full report and its recommendations at the OPC website. The first part of their report can be found here.

Other convoy news

⚖️ Convoy leader Chris Barber dropped a motion to have all his charges thrown out. The motion wanted the mischief and other charges abandoned because a prosecutor mistakenly released Barber’s cell phone record in full. [Ottawa Citizen]

🚨 Hearings began in a legal challenge to the government’s use of the Emergencies Act during the convoy. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association argued the government didn’t have enough evidence to invoke the Act’s powers. [The Canadian Press]

HOUSE OF THE WEEK

Did somebody say penthouse? This condo in Hintonburg near the Ottawa River offers great views of Gatineau and downtown, with three bedrooms, and ensuite soaker tub, two private outdoor spaces and plenty more, it’s got lots to offer.

Check the listing to see how much it costs.

THE AGENDA

🍽️ Meals on Wheels and other community programs for seniors in the region had to cut services or raise prices because the provincial government ignored their requests for more funding. Low-income seniors and other vulnerable people won’t be able to access as many hot meals or receive transportation to medical appointments. [Ottawa Citizen]

🐣 Most government services will be closed over the Easter long weekend, with rec centres on modified schedules. Most places to shop will be closed Good Friday, but open Easter Monday (Check their websites to be sure!). [CBC]

🪧 As the education workers strike at Carleton University drags on, faculty and librarians have signed an open letter supporting the students on strike. [CTV]

🏥 A nurse facing liver failure because she was accidentally stuck by a contaminated needle on the job has received a new liver from a living donor in Ottawa. [Ottawa Citizen]

🚨 Ottawa police need help identifying a man wanted for taking part in an assault at the Rideau LRT station last week. Three other men were already arrested. [CTV]

🇺🇦 Fleeing the invasion of their country, these Ukrainians have found new lives in Ottawa far from the violence. [CBC]

🐀 The prime minister’s official residence at 24 Sussex is so full of dead rodents the air quality inside may be a health risk. [Ottawa Citizen]

⚖️ Carleton University professor Hassan Diab is on trial in absentia in France for a 1980 bombing. Diab was in a French prison until 2018 after it was ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to take his case to trial. [CBC]

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• Longtime LiVE 88.5 host David Schellenberg announced he’s no longer with the station. [Facebook]

• A new season of the Pizza Safari kicked off with a Westboro classic, and a ByWard Market favourite.

• I don’t know how to introduce this one nicely, but here’s a video of a bunch of rats fleeing a garbage truck near a Fisher Avenue apartment block. [CBC]

• Relatively new ByWard Market restaurant Zups said it was abruptly forced to close. [Facebook]

• This is one hungry raccoon who was spotted making the most of some local trash options. [Reddit]

• This German wine is a classic, and one you might want to revisit in our food editor’s latest Retro Review.

• A wild turkey was spotted meandering about in Centretown. [Reddit]

• Want to have your announcement featured? Contact our partnership team for more info.

CAPITAL EATS

The Pizza Safari returns for another season

The pizza safari is back and this season I’ll be reviewing a few new, new-to-me and well-established locations and I hope I touch on a few spots that you enjoy.

I begin with the 30-year veteran in Westboro. They have a new location on Richmond Road and as large a pizza menu as you’re likely to find in Ottawa.

They offer 37 different pizzas, from the Ottawa style that we all grew up with, to the wood-fired Neapolitan style. They also do a credible job with all the other casual foods we’ve come to love from burgers and fries to wings and a broad range of sandwiches and salads.

SPORTS

🥅 They’re still in it mathematically, but winning all five remaining games won’t be enough for the Sens to sneak into the playoffs. [Ottawa Sun]

🏒 With their hopes of a playoff spot nearly out of reach, it’s about time to start looking back at what went wrong with the Senators’ season, where things fell apart. [Sportsnet]

⚽️ Atlético Ottawa are once again running a pay-what-you can promotion to sell out their home opener this spring. [Ottawa Sun]

OTTAWA GAMES

Congrats to Adam, Jeannine, Chantal, and Cohen who all got this week’s Ottawa Quiz correct. The coldest April 2 on record was in 1911.

Do you know where today’s Ottawa Guesser is? Here’s a hint, it’s at a very specific spot on a highway within the boundary of the city. The first five people to respond get their names mentioned in the newsletter.

LATEST COVID STATS