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New Edinburgh News
FÉVRIER 2007
The Demise of ‘this’ LRT Design – What
Lessons Can Be Learned?
Readers may be most interested in knowing how their
representative voted and why. The following is a short synopsis
of recent events:
1. Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2006 – Mayor O’Brien proposed an amended LRT,
removing the problematic downtown section. That proposal,
conditional on senior government funding for the truncated
system, narrowly passed 12-11. I supported it since it removed
my own objections to the system design. This was portrayed as a
flip-flop by the mayor because of his statements during the
campaign. Personally, I felt that he took a courageous position.
He tried to fix the major defect of the proposed system. Others
questioned - “how could a system, not serving the downtown,
clearly the destination of choice for most transit riders, make
better sense than a system actually reaching downtown?”
It’s a very good question. I had voted against the full system
in July because of the downtown portion and the effect that this
would have on our downtown. It proposed to add surface trains to
the already congested Albert & Slater Street bus corridors. That
approach was doomed to poor performance and most certainly would
have continued the abuse of those downtown streets. Anyone
familiar with the streets today will admit that they are
unpleasant ‘traffic sewers’ in our downtown. The system proposed
in July would have continued to sacrifice these streets, at
great expense, and yet be susceptible to disruptions for a host
of reasons typical of busy downtowns. The ‘truncated’ system
kept the best of the earlier system and removed its major flaw.
Of course, the North-South LRT would need to connect to the
downtown. But remember that the N-S line was to be the first of
an entire system of LRT lines serving Ottawa, east-west as well
as north-south. Those lines will also need to get commuters to
the downtown. Revisiting the downtown leg allowed Ottawa to
build on a stronger foundation for the future. It appeared that
we were finally going to take a serious look at putting that
downtown link underground. There are plenty of examples of
cities that have neglected their downtowns and paid a heavy
price. We should learn from their experience.
2. Thursday, December 14, 2006 – Council reconvened to consider
whether the funding conditions for the truncated system had been
met. It was my belief that they had. The province had agreed and
the federal Treasury Board Minister, the Honourable John Baird,
had given his written assurance, on December 12th, in the
following terms – “I am pleased to reiterate that the Government
of Canada remains committed to providing $200 million to the
City of Ottawa for public transit infrastructure, even in light
of this new direction (i.e. excluding the downtown portion). You
have my full support.” I voted against abandoning the LRT
proposal. Council disagreed and terminated the agreement by a
vote of 13-11.
Where do we go from here and what lessons should we learn? I
believe that we had the right mass transit technology for the
future. I also believe that LRT will be back with a better
system design. A future design ought to deal with our major
system bottleneck – the downtown – as a starting point. Council
should never again agree to so much secrecy on a major public
works decision. Also, Council should insist on being presented
with all of the options put forward by the responding firms. The
public, and their representatives, ought to see all of the
choices available.
The day that this was being written, Mayor O’Brien announced
that former Minister of Transport, the Honourable David
Collenette, had agreed to chair a “Mayor’s Task Force on
Transportation”. This will be an external advisory body that
will report back to Mayor O’Brien on or before June 1, 2007. Its
mandate is to:
-
Examine the City of Ottawa’s current
Transportation Master Plan and all current or proposed
transportation infrastructure projects;
-
Review available transportation options
including Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT),
heavy rail, High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, new transit
corridors, bridges and facilities;
-
Review proposed future residential and
commercial development plans to assess their impact on
existing transportation infrastructure and future needs;
-
Solicit input from Ottawa city
councillors, the City of Gatineau, the National Capital
Commission (NCC) on their transportation objectives with a
view to ensuring future City of Ottawa initiatives are
aligned with an integrated approach to transportation
planning within the National Capital Region (NCR);
-
Provide a forum – to be defined – to
receive public input and submissions.
-
Make recommendations (short-, medium-,
and long-term) for development of a integrated rapid
transportation plan that alleviates existing East/West
pressures, is scalable to account for immediate and growing
pressures in the South end and provides options to reduce
congestion through the downtown corridor.
Upon review, Mayor O’Brien will then submit
the Task Force Report to the relevant committees of City Council
for consideration.
I am optimistic that Ottawa will get this right. I am encouraged
that Mayor O’Brien has recognized that a negative decision in
December was insufficient. Ottawa needs to develop a consensus
on the way forward. If it takes a little longer to ‘get it
right’, the result may well have been worth the slight ‘detour’
on the way to an improved transportation system for Ottawa.
Princess Road Reconstruction
The City of Ottawa is currently designing a roundabout at the
intersection of Princess Avenue, Rockcliffe Parkway, and Tea
House Road. A public meeting will be planned for March to review
the project details. Construction is anticipated (budget
dependent) for 2007 on the Roundabout, and will include
construction on Princess Avenue/Lisgar Road if details can be
finalized. I expect that the public meeting will discuss both
projects.
Ward Budget Meeting
Consultation in Rideau-Rockcliffe on the proposed 2007 City
Budget has been scheduled for:
February 12th 7:00 pm
Manor Park Public School (Gymnasium)
100 Braemar Street
Mr. Kent Kirkpatrick, the City’s CAO, and other senior managers
will be on hand to provide an overview of the proposed budget
and answer questions. As in the past, this is your best
opportunity to learn directly how City taxes are directed and to
provide your views and comments directly to your elected
representative. I hope to see you that evening.
Jacques Legendre
Councillor, Rideau-Rockcliffe
You can communicate with me at (please include a telephone
number):
City of Ottawa
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa ON K1P 1J1
Tel: 580-2483, Fax: 580-2523
E-mail:
jacques.legendre@ottawa.ca
Web Site:
www.rideau-rockcliffe.com
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