Could you be Ottawa’s first night commissioner?

Good morning!

It’s a pretty big week at city hall, with all sorts of fascinating meetings coming up. The response to the LRT inquiry, whether to lower speed limits on certain streets, bringing in a new head of the police board… It’s quite a bit. The new council is really starting to put down a marker for what it does, and doesn’t stand for.

Why don’t we get to this newsletter thing

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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Weather Report

Monday: +12 🌡️ +3 | 🌧

Tuesday: +13 🌡️ 0 | 🌦

Wednesday: +12 🌡️ +3 | 🌦

WEEKLY LOOKOUT

🚂 LRT inquiry: The light rail subcommittee will debate city staff’s plan to implement the recommendations of the LRT inquiry. About a third of the recommendations have been implemented so far, with the rest to be completed by the end of the year.

🛣️ Transportation committee: Will debate whether to implement sidewalk designs on all new projects that stay flat for pedestrians, while still allowing vehicles driveway access, instead of sloping toward the road making them difficult to pass for pedestrians. The committee will also debate lowering the speed limit on sections of Woodroffe Avenue and March Road, as well as starting an office to deal specifically with speed and red light camera ticket processing.

🚔 Police services board: They will officially welcome a new chair, psychiatrist Dr. Gail Beck. The board will also debate whether to approve budget increases for two contractors for a new Barrhaven police station. A project management firm would see their contract double from $1.1 million to $2.4 million, while an architecture firm would see an increase of about 50 percent from $6.3 million to $9.4 million.

COOL THINGS

Could you be Ottawa’s first Night Mayor?

What happened: This year the city is looking to appoint a “night commissioner” — your last name does not need to be Gordon, but it might not hurt — to oversee a program to improve the city’s nightlife. It’s all part of an “Ottawa nightlife economy action plan” which hopes to boost the city’s entertainment economy. The first step is to empower a night commissioner to champion the overnight economy.

• The city lists possible names for the post including: “Nightlife Commissioners, Night Tzars [sp], Night Mayors, and Ambassadors of the Night.” (We at the Lookout tend to prefer “ambassador of the night” because it sounds like it might come with an official cape of office.)

The plan: The city wants to have an overarching plan for developing nightlife — defined as what happens between 6 pm and 6 am. The city said it had focused on developing the daytime economy, so “nightlife activity is often addressed in a reactive, versus a proactive manner.”

Concert hall: Most of the plan is about setting up the commissioner’s office and getting various consultation processes going, but one concrete idea is to build a mid-sized concert hall of about 1,500 to 2,000 seats. Right now the city is stuck with either large venues (the Canadian Tire Centre, the NAC) or small venues (the Bronson Centre).

• The dream of a downtown concert hall of medium size goes back to at least the mid-2000s, and while there was some progress, the project never came to fruition.

The numbers: A report the city commission estimated about $2 billion is spent overnight in the city, while daytime spending was about $5.5 billion. Locals are responsible for the bulk of that, pumping in 84 percent of the nighttime total, or $1.3 billion.

Jobs dip: In 2001, 38,000 people worked at 4,600 “nightlife-related” businesses. The pandemic saw nightlife employment drop 8,820 jobs, or 19 percent. And overall, compared to other cities, “Ottawa’s nightlife sector represented approximately six percent of total jobs — the lowest share of nightlife jobs compared to five major Canadian cities.”

• Vancouver has the highest share of nightlife jobs in the country, with 11 percent.

OTTAWA BY THE NUMBERS

🚧 110: The age, in years, of a retaining wall near the Ottawa Rowing Club that needs to be demolished and replaced. [CBC]

🗳️ $1.1 million: Last year’s municipal election cost this much less than expected. Most of the savings came from needing fewer COVID prevention measures than expected and a lower number of mail-in ballots requested by residents. [CTV]

PUBLIC SERVICE

Strike continues, sides blame each other

What happened: The strike of 155,000 federal public servants continues this week with the two sides unable to come to a deal over the weekend. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) said negotiations were being held up by the government, which they said was responding too slowly, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, the federal minister for the department overseeing negotiations, countered that the government had been at the table for weeks hoping to get a deal, CTV reported. Both sides are accusing the other of dragging their feet by taking days or hours to respond to offers and counter offers.

• The government has offered a nine percent raise over three years, while PSAC has countered by asking for 13.5 percent over the same period. Remote work policies are also a key sticking point after the government ordered workers back to the office two or three days a week.

Calling for Trudeau: The union wants Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to get personally involved to move the talks along, according to CTV.

Stepping up: PSAC said it would move some of its picket lines to more strategic locations than just office buildings, to places like ports and other federal infrastructure, The Canadian Press reported.

Vote total: Of the 120,000 PSAC members eligible to vote for the strike, only 42,421 cast a ballot, CBC reported. Of those, 80 percent voted in favour of striking. The number was revealed in a complaint to the labour relations board, which found there may have been some irregularities in the strike vote — voting days were changed mid-vote, and not all members were properly informed — but they were not enough to consider overturning the vote.

• (The other 35,000 workers are members of a different bargaining unit and voted in a separate process, the numbers of which haven’t been made public, CBC previously reported.)

NEW LOCAL JOBS

Check out the new open positions in Ottawa.

1. Video editor/farm hand at Tom Green’s farm

2. Directeur/trice des ressources humaines à Mouvement d'implication francophone d'Orléans

3. Public housing officer at Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation

4. Change manager at Rideau Transit Maintenance

5. Partnership analyst at Canadian Institutes of Health Research

THE AGENDA

☔️ More rain is coming this week, which could mean the Ottawa River will rise further. Levels had stabilized over the weekend, but have yet to decline significantly. [CTV]

🪿 The Department of Defence building on Carling has been overrun by Canada geese. Every year for breeding season, the former Nortel campus is overrun with the national birds, who can be quite aggressive. [CBC]

🚨 A 46-year-old man has died, after he was struck by a driver allegedly fleeing police in Westboro. He died after about a week in hospital. [CTV]

🚍 OC Transpo is running on its spring service schedule now. The biggest changes are to routes 12 and 15 which have reverted back to their old routes. The full list of changes can be found on OC Transpo’s website. [CTV]

🏥 A Belville woman received a life-saving kidney transplant from her future sister-in-law. [CTV]

🚒 Firefighters rescued three people from the Ottawa River after their kayaks flipped near Lemieux Island. [CTV]

👨‍🚒 …Another crew rescued a dog who had jumped into the Rideau Canal and couldn’t get out from the high walls. [CTV]

EVENTS

What to do this week

Music

🪐 Echoes of the Galaxy, Monday 7:30 pm: It’s all your favourite sci-fi music in one place. Put on by the Ottawa Pops Orchestra at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 355 Cooper St. Tickets start at $20.

Food

🌸 Cherry Blossom Festival, Wednesday 6:30 pm: A celebration of the Sakura, Japanese for Cherry Blossom with a Japanese-inspired food and drink menu. At Chef’s Paradise, 1314 Bank St. Tickets $158.

☕️ Charity Coffee Hour, Thursday 5 pm: The Women in Business at Sprott are hosting a coffee night to raise money for Dress for Success Ottawa and celebrate a year of successful community building and learning. At 642 Somerset St. W. Tickets $12.

🇧🇪 Best of Belgium Beer Pairing Dinner, Thursday 6 pm: McClelland Premium Imports are hosting a dinner with curated Belgian beer pairings. There’s a three course meal and four beer pairings. At Craft Beer Market, 975 Bank St. Tickets $81.

Other

⛵️ Sailing, a unique way to explore the world, Wednesday 7:30 pm: Ron and Doris of Advantage Boating share their stories of their adventures sailing through the world, and how you too can sail the globe’s waters. At the Nepean Sailing Club, 3259 Carling Ave. Tickets are free, but donations will be accepted.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• A dog found abandoned this winter by the side of the road is enjoying life in a new and loving home. [Ottawa Citizen]

• The 67’s managed to keep their season alive with a huge third-period comeback. [Ottawa Sun]

• You don’t want to miss the broth at this brand-new ramen restaurant in the city.

• The city hopes a new ad campaign will cut down on vehicles idling in town. [CTV]

• For $20 you can Buy-A-Board at the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary as they work to re-open the long-closed boardwalk. [CTV]

• Atlético Ottawa drew 1-1 against Winnipeg’s Valour FC over the weekend.

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

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Today’s photo comes from Michèle Lanoue, who captured it a few weeks ago (trying to catch up on all these early spring photos!) as ice flows under the Alexandra Bridge.

Do you have a photo you’d like to share with the Lookout community? Send it in!

OTTAWA GAMES

Congrats to everyone who got last week’s Ottawa Wordle, the answer was UNION, as PSAC, the federal public service union that is on strike.

For this week’s quiz, we thought we’d have a little fun. In its memo about its new nightlife plan, the city spelled it “Night Tzars,” what would be the correct spelling of this (honestly, pretty funny) job title?

The first five people to write in with the correct answer will get their names mentioned in the next issue.

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