Walking is one form of exercise that is available to all of us, even during COVID lockdowns. But walking can be difficult, even dangerous, during an Ottawa winter.

The Council on Aging (COA) in Ottawa has a reporting program called Snow Moles in which local residents describe walking conditions in their areas, especially after a snowfall. These reports ( pdf COA Bi Weekly Report 2 Snow Moles (399 KB) ) are sent bimonthly to the City. And right now the City of Ottawa is reviewing its current winter maintenance standards — making snow mole reports more vital than ever.

Extract from the City of Ottawa Heritage Evaluation Form report to the Built Heritage Committee December 10, 2019

The Ottawa Tennis and Lawn Bowling Club and its grounds are rich in history.  The clubhouse reflects early 20th century middle-class life in Ottawa and is associated with individuals and an organization who are notable in Ottawa’s past. As an integral feature along the shore of the Rideau River, and part of the Old Ottawa South community, the clubhouse and grounds are part of the history of sport and society in Ottawa.

The City of Ottawa has released its new draft official plan and is seeking public input. The Official Plan provides a vision for the future growth of the city and a policy framework to guide the city's physical development.

You can check out the full plan, or see one-pagers with corresponding feedback forms describing how the draft plan addresses key topics, on engage.ottawa.ca. City planners are seeking the public’s feedback via surveys posted alongside the one-pagers. These surveys are open until February 17, 2021.

The City of Ottawa is seeking public feedback on the Electric Kick Scooter Pilot, following its first season.

The City of Ottawa draft New Official Plan is now available for review on the New Official Plan website. On the city website, you will find the different sections of the draft, a series of one-pagers on key topics, as well as a series of feedback forms.

The deadline for participating in the City's 15-minute neighbourhood survey has been extended to September 15, 2020. If you haven’t yet had a chance to take the survey, please take a few minutes and do so.

https://engage.ottawa.ca/the-new-official-plan/news_feed/15-minute-neighbourhood

The City survey questions deal with the 15-minute neighbourhood, one of the core concepts for the new Official Plan and asks residents to prioritize the importance of things like schools, clinics, parks and transit. It takes more than access to services to make a neighbourhood a viable, livable 15-minute community though.

A new survey on the City’s Engage Ottawa website needs our input as City planning staff moves forward with its vision for our future. The City survey questions deal with the 15-minute neighbourhood, one of the core concepts for the new Official Plan.

The survey asks residents to prioritize the importance of things like schools, clinics, parks and transit. It takes more than access to services to make a neighbourhood a viable, livable 15-minute community though.

The City of Ottawa is seeking comments on the planned footbridge over the Rideau River joining Carleton University & Vincent Massey Park.

Our local gardening group has had an unusually easy beginning this spring season with the Covid outbreak. My spouse Mike and I took over the job of coordinating this group which was so ably done by Winnie Pietrykowski and Brian Ure for the last four years.

An unprecedented video-linked joint session of Planning and Agricultural and Rural Affairs committees on the proposed expansion of the urban boundary took place this week. Public delegations were included on zoom, a first for City of Ottawa meetings. Many other residents followed via live-stream.