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Chianello: Hume's retirement leaves hole in Alta Vista race
Peter Hume’s two-decade-long city council career started and ended with Lansdowne Park. When Ottawa city council wanted to demolish the Aberdeen Pavilion in 1991 because it was deemed too expensive to...
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Council restores, ups development charge for affordable housing
Ottawa city council has voted to restore and slightly increase the portion of development charges that are earmarked for affordable housing. After the introduction of the 2009 bylaw, the city phased in...
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Nominations close for Oct. 27 municipal election
It came down to the wire for some candidates entering the Oct. 27 municipal election race. Nominations for mayor, city councillor and school board trustee closed at 2 p.m. Friday. A record 124 people...
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Chianello: Watson's idea for councillor-sports commissioner is offside
Jim Watson is a big believer in tourism. He comes by it honestly, having spent a couple of years as the CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission. Still, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize...
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Council temporarily funds 11 new school crossing guards
Council voted Wednesday to spend $38,500 from the city’s “unforeseen account” to temporarily fund 11 adult crossing guards at school locations across Ottawa. School boards identified 12 locations where...
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Ottawa city council notebook: Last meeting before election
Ottawa city council has approved the rezoning of Chaudière and Albert islands, as proposed by Windmill Developments, for a much-anticipated mixed-use project on the old Domtar lands. Somerset Coun....
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Ottawa Voted: So … what happens next?
The votes have been cast and the victory speeches given. So, now what? A truce in the sign war Candidates and their weary campaign volunteers are fanning out across the city to start collecting...
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LRT realignment a signal moment for Peter Clark
THE EXIT INTERVIEWS When Ottawa’s city council next sits, eight familiar faces will be missing. The Citizen sat down with some of the departing councillors — some who chose not to run in the recent...
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Reevely: Bill would neuter Ontario Municipal Board
City councillors who’ve moaned for years that they’re helpless to control controversial development projects could soon get all the power they’ve said they wanted. A private member’s bill from rookie...
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Chianello: Bit by bit, Watson consolidates power
If there’s one thing you should take away from city council’s freshly tabled — and scintillatingly named — governance report, it’s this: The position of deputy mayor is not a real thing. And it’s...
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10 ways city hall might change (or not)
The governance review — a weighty tome that looks back on the past term of Ottawa Council and also casts forward to the next four years — was tabled Wednesday at the final meeting of the 2010-2014...
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Saying goodbye: Ottawa councillors bid farewell to city hall
Eight councillors — who together have served for a total of 137 years on municipal and regional governments — bid farewell Wednesday at a laughter-and-tear-filled meeting at Ottawa City Hall. In...
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Chianello: Is council becoming less accessible and transparent?
Fewer committee meetings. Cancellation of travelling public sessions on rural issues. A potential increase in secret gifts to elected officials. These are all recommendations our freshly sworn-in...
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Chianello: New council shows early promise
An amazing thing happened Wednesday at this term’s first city council meeting. Councillors discussed, debated and disagreed on the specifics of a 289-page governance review for more than two-and-a-half...
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Rookie Mitic throws fundraiser to pay off campaign debt
Hours after his first city council meeting, rookie Innes Coun. Jody Mitic held a small fundraiser Wednesday night to “help pay off some of the campaign bills.” Mitic says he is several thousand dollars...
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Video: Chianello sees city's new gift registry as a big leap backwards
Ottawa City Council has decided to increase their gift disclosure threshold, from $30 to $100. The Citizen’s city affairs columnist Joanne Chianello says it just doesn’t make sense, given that the...
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Chianello: An argument to bring back written minutes of council meetings
Only in a process-obsessed town like Ottawa would people be interested in the disappearance of detailed minutes at council minutes. But according to Coun. Keith Egli, at least some of us are wondering...
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Council rejects planning committee recommendation for Vanier infill
Ottawa city council has rejected a planning committee recommendation that could, at least in the short term, spare a Vanier street from a proposed infill development that some residents don’t like....
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More cash for gangs and snowplows in Ottawa's 2015 budget
Ottawa city council is pumping an additional $2 million into a special reserve fund for winter maintenance cost overruns. And because the annual snow-clearing budget has been blown year after year,...
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Tenants call for rules to force 'timely' repairs (with video)
For Jamie Gartshore, a young mother living in the Heron-Walkley area of south Ottawa, the squeamish feeling that comes with seeing cockroaches in her apartment kitchen has become routine. “We have a...
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