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Construction Projects Will Help Pedestrians In Manotick, Richmond

By Ward 21 Councillor Scott Moffatt

We are now just two months away from the municipal election. Under normal circumstances, I would have to cease these columns during the election campaign but since I am not a candidate, I can carry on communicating with you throughout the next couple of months as long as I don’t dabble in the municipal election. This should not be a problem but feel free to let me know if I step out of line.

I will start off this week with some local construction news. A Commence Work Order was recently issued for the previously announced sidewalk renewal project on the east side of Manotick Main Street, from O’Grady Street to Bridge Street. This work is scheduled to be completed by the end of October. Another project slated to begin shortly is the mid-block signalized pedestrian crossing on Perth Street, between Gamble and Shea.

Moving on from local construction to a major construction project, I did want to take a moment and share with you some comments from a recent City of Ottawa media release concerning the ongoing LRT Public Inquiry. The following is taken directly from that media release, and I feel it summarizes the issues the City has been dealing with.

“The City of Ottawa has presented its closing statement in the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Public Inquiry, outlining the City’s strong desire to hold to account the private contractors responsible for the historic and ongoing failures in the design, construction and maintenance of the LRT.

In its statement prepared by the City’s counsel for the Inquiry, Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP, the City focused on the Commission’s core mandate, which is to identify the circumstances and contributing factors that led to several problems with the Stage 1 LRT, including several breakdowns and derailments.

Ottawa residents are rightfully frustrated that the LRT has not always lived up to expectations. Although the Project was completed on budget, unlike many similar projects, taxpayers have continued to bear the burden of private sector failures in the operations of the Confederation Line. It is the City’s strong desire to ensure RTG and its subcontractors are held accountable for the multiple failures in design, construction and maintenance.

In closing, the City of Ottawa’s submission includes several recommendations, including:

•            An independent review of performance, deductions and the administration of the payment mechanism could be conducted in the first year of service.

•            The Project Agreement should have more specific requirements for early engagement by the maintainer.

•            The City should clearly communicate with Council when it plans to report and about what, at the outset of a project.

•            The process for funding and cost sharing of megaprojects should be reorganized to reflect the complexity of the project and to account for procurement and delivery risks.

The City looks forward to the Commission’s Final Report, and hopes that the recommendations will enable the City, its public and private sector partners to deliver better transit for the people of Ottawa, while holding the companies who broke their contractual obligations to account.”

Fall Cleaning the Capital Campaign

Nothing is more spectacular than the fall coolers in and around Ottawa. This September, help make those views in your community even more enjoyable by registering for Cleaning the Capital.

Thanks to nearly 30,000 participants, the spring campaign was a big success with over 890 projects registered and approximately 24,000 kilograms of waste collected. Since Cleaning the Capital began in 1994, over 1.6 million volunteers have participated, and it is estimated that over 1,350,000 kilograms of waste has been removed from our public spaces.

Registration is now open until Friday, September 30 and can be easily done online. You can choose from a variety of public spaces to help clean up, such as community parks, roadsides, and shorelines.

Here are some important dates for the fall campaign:

  • August 15, 2022: Registration opens
  • September 15 to October 15, 2022: Fall Cleaning the Capital campaign
  • September 30, 2022: Registration closes
  • October 31, 2022: Deadline to submit your online cleanup report

Starter cleanup kits are available upon request. To learn more about the campaign or register your project, visit ottawa.ca/clean.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please email me at Scott.Moffatt@ottawa.ca or contact me by phone at 613-580-2491. For information on Ward 21 issues, please visit TeamTwentyOne.ca.