Weekly newsletter: September 24, 2024
Welcome to the last full week of September! It’s officially autumn and “PSL szn.”
The beacons and buttons for the pedestrian crossover on Longfields at St. Mother Teresa High School have been taped off due to a malfunction. Staff are currently waiting on a part to arrive before repairs can be completed.
Though the regulatory signage is not covered, some pedestrians may be confused about the button being covered. Please be kind and yield to those trying to cross.
Staff are hoping the repairs can happen in the next week or two.
Journée des Franco-Ontariennes et des Franco-Ontariens
Le mercredi 25 septembre est la Journée des Franco-Ontariens/ennes. Célébrez en vert et blanc et soulignons les contributions importantes de la communauté francophone à Barrhaven et Ottawa!
À l’origine anniversaire de la levée du drapeau franco-ontarien, le 25 septembre est devenu la Journée des Franco-Ontariens/ennes en 2010. Le drapeau est devenu un symbole officiel de l’Ontario en 2001.
Le drapeau franco-ontarien sera levé à l’hôtel de ville (édifice historique, entrée de la rue Elgin) demain à 8 h 30.
Une proclamation sera présentée par le maire Sutcliffe afin de reconnaître officiellement cette journée comme étant la Journée des Franco-Ontariens/ennes à Ottawa.
Nous invitons les résidents à participer à cet événement!
New garbage limit
New three-item garbage limit takes effect next week.
The City’s three-item garbage limit takes effect Monday 30 September. For Barrhaven East residents, the first day of the new limit is next collection day, Tuesday 1 October.
The limit applies to garbage only. Residents can still place unlimited amounts of recycling, compost, and yard waste at the curb.
One “item” can be a garbage container with multiple bags, a single bag, or a bulky item like a nice chesterfield or an ottoman. Any of them may be combined to form three items.
(Yes, I’m aware of the faux pas about the unavailability of 140-litre containers in the city. The largest containers available for sale in Ottawa are mostly 121 litres.)
Enforcement of the new limit will begin with education and communications in October and November. Crews will still collect the excess items, but a reminder tag will be left at the residence advising of the new limit. Actual enforcement/refusal begins in December.
Residents with excess garbage may purchase yellow bags from select retailers. The City’s website currently lists only Home Hardware locations, but that was for the old yellow bag programme for small businesses.
For residential yellow bags, the locations available will be expanded, which staff will share publicly later in October (why it wasn’t timed with the launch of the limit is beyond me). The small business yellow bag programme will continue to operate.
The new garbage limit is part of the Solid Waste Master Plan, a major update to the city’s waste collection strategy, approved earlier this year. The Trail Road Landfill is expected to reach capacity in 10 to 15 years. Up to 50 per cent of what ends up at the landfill can be recycled or composted.
The Solid Waste Master Plan includes options for after the landfill reaches capacity, like a new landfill, using a private landfill, export, and incineration.
Long-time readers of the newsletter will know several Councillors and I favour a waste-to-energy incinerator with mixed waste processing, which was discussed in a newsletter issue earlier this year.
With the Municipality of Pontiac in Québec recently abandoning their incinerator proposal (likely because Québec banned the import of garbage from Ontario), the timing is right for Ottawa to step up and be a regional player in garbage processing and its downstream benefits.
Modern incinerators are not the soot-spewing polluting factories of the 20th century. They give garbage extra life as an energy source, and the residual ash can be used in asphalt. Extra life means a lower carbon footprint!
Understanding the provincial approval and regulatory process takes about 10 years, staff are now actively working on the next step of the Solid Waste Master Plan, that will determine what happens after the landfill is full.
The new garbage limit solves a problem that doesn’t truly exist and has the potential of bogging down an efficient service with new administration. This is likely because the original staff report notes most Ottawa households already fall far under the new limit.
But I should note that Ottawa has always had generous garbage limits, and the new limit is still generous compared to almost every other municipality.
Staff do expect a temporary increase in illegal dumping for the first three to six months of the new limit, including at residential condominiums with common pads, based on the experiences of other municipalities. According to staff, additional resources have been provisioned to manage the issue.
Please note there is no change in next week’s collection date, although Monday is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
O-Train Line 1 service
R1 buses replace trains on two occasions in the next two weeks.
To facilitate software integration and connection works with the Stage 2 LRT extension to Orleans, rail service will be suspended and replaced with R1 bus service:
Sunday 29 September, 8:00 am to 12:00 pm
Saturday 5 October, 6:00 am to 2:00 am (all day)
Additionally, transit service will operate a weekday schedule on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Monday 30 September.
Get help clearing snow
Applications for the Snow Go and Snow Go Assist programmes now open—deadline to apply is Friday 29 November.
Do you or someone you know need help clearing snow from a driveway or walkway because of age or disability?
Administered by the Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre↗, the City’s Snow Go program matches older adults and residents with disabilities, with an individual or contractor for hire, to clear snow from driveways and walkways at an affordable rate.
Snow Go is a referral service only, and residents are responsible for paying the individual or contractor directly at a negotiated rate.
The supplementary Snow Go Assist program provides financial assistance to low-income older adults and residents with disabilities who have been referred.
Approved applicants receive an up-to-50-per-cent subsidy towards the cost of snow clearing per event, with a season maximum of 250$. The amount paid may vary depending on the number of applicants and available funding.
Interested residents may contact the Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre at 613-591-3686, extension 3, for more information and to receive an application.
The deadline to apply for the 2024-2025 winter is Friday 29 November.
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Thanks, as always, for reading! Until next week.
-Wilson