August 30, 2010
Several mayoral candidates were out and about and participating in a number of pride events this weekend. While Alex Cullen seemed to be enjoying himself, he’s on record as seriously considering his position in the mayoral race. Money woes have made it hard for Mr. Cullen to launch a solid campaign. Cullen hopes to raise $100,000 plus in an early September fundraiser to keep his campaign alive.
August 23, 2010
Sad news for an eventual Concert Hall, good news for the Arts Court. City council has ok’d the transfer of $12 million that had been set aside for an eventual Concert Hall to renovate the Arts Court and move the Ottawa Art Gallery to Lansdowne Park. While those pushing for a new Concert Hall were obviously disappointed, some councillors like Diane Deane admitted is the city “shouldn’t be sitting on money in the bank when we have cultural priorities and we have cultural money to spend.”
Over the next weeks, Randall Denley has promised to profile some of the better new candidates in this fall’s election - a great idea. His first profile is of someone Denley obviously has in high regard: Ugandan born Lily Obina, who’s running against Councillor Diane Deans in Gloucester-Southgate.
August 16, 2010
If elected, Jim Watson is considering a borough system to ease the conflict continually simmering between urban and rural areas. Watson says: “Amalgamation has been an arranged marriage, and bumpy over last decade. If there are some things we can do to make the decision-making and process of governing more amenable to the people of rural Ottawa, we should keep an open mind.” Is he on to something or is he “rurally wrong” as The Citizen’s Ken Gray believes?
August 9, 2010
We’re getting closer and closer to the October municipal elections and Apartment613 is working on something big (more on that later). The Citizen’s Joanne Chianello has written an article on who’s running for mayor and why. Will it help you make up your mind on October 25th?
As a number of news outlets reported last week, construction along Slater St. created havoc for a number of transit users who, in the end, preferred walking rather than staying stuck in traffic… Will this reflect badly on Bay Councillor and chairman of the transit committee, Alex Cullen or on mayor Larry O’Brien. Will the other incumbents be able to capitalize on this faux pas? Is this proof we ultimately need a downtown tunnel?
August 3, 2010
The City of Ottawa is planning to evaluate one of the more contentious outcomes of last year’s transit strike, as it looks for some help to audit the new OC Transpo scheduling system.
July 12, 2010
There’s now enough mayoral candidates to field a soccer team with a couple of spares to boot. Clive Doucet, councillor for Capital Ward, is the latest entrant to the race, bringing the total number of candidates up to 14. The long serving councillor has often acted as a bit of a gadfly up at city hall, most recently for his opposition of the Landsdowne project. It is expected that his entry will split the left of center vote, although given that mayoral candidate and fellow leftist councillor Alex Cullen was only polling at 16% this May, there may not be much to share.
July 5, 2010
As we reported last week, city council voted 15-9 in favor of the Lansdowne redevelopment. Clive Doucet wants to bring the process to court, others just want to move forward. Councillor Diane Deans, who voted against the plan last Monday, said she thinks “unfortunately, there’s a divided community left in the wake of this decision.” But she added that now that council has made a decision, people need to move on.
All signs pointed to it (
this, for example) and now it’s confirmed: Mayor Larry O’Brien is seeking re-election. In a press conference held on Wednesday outside his downtown condo building, the mayor stated he felt he was the best placed to get things done at city hall. With O’Brien, there are now eleven candidates vying to become mayor of Ottawa.
