Weekly News Review: Château Laurier fire, Bixis may be coming, vending machine libraries and more!

Photo courtesy of jennyBunz on Flickr.

We were blacked out last week (plus I was on vacation) so this edition of the Weekly News Review will go back a little further that the past week. A fire at the Château Laurier made for $250,000 in damages. No one was hurt; the fire was apparently caused by a food heating tray set up for breakfast in an executive boardroom.

It seems like it’s been another successful year for Bluesfest but a few changes have made some citizens unhappy. Both bikers and photographers fell victim to unannounced changes in policy.

Surprised you haven’t seen the Bixi rental bikes out this Summer in downtown Ottawa? Ottawa and Gatineau city councils and the NCC put up $1.2 million for the proposed contract that would see the service begin with 500 bicycles at 50 stations, 32 in Ottawa and 18 in Gatineau, mainly in the downtown cores to begin with. However, officials say the terms of the proposed contract appear to have scared off bidders.

In other biking news, with the city replacing all its parking meters in favor of pay-and-display terminals, it’s decided to get creative with the meters and retrofit them for proper post-and-ring bike racks. The new bike posts will be up in many areas downtown – from the Byward Market to Booth Street.

Another group not pleased with the Federal government’s decision to make the long-form census optional: Ottawa’s city council. The council passed a motion last week asking the federal government to reconsider its decision to scrap the mandatory long-form census and replace it with a voluntary one. Mayor O’Brien stated that the city needs accurate data for city planning and that the data was going to get collected one way or another.

Have you heard about the vending machine libraries? Two library kiosks can be found at the foyer of the Hunt Club-Riverside Community Centre. They are the first of its kind. They work just like vending machines and are apparently quite popular. At last count, almost 1,700 items have been checked out since the program began in April. Some other wards would like to follow and acquire their own kiosks. But while they seem to be popular with the public, these should not be considered replacements for libraries.