Tuesday February 22, 2022
What Ottawa is Talking About – 22 February 2022
▪️The first act of new Police Board chair Eli El-Chantiry is to cancel public delegations at the next Board meeting. A Police Services Board meeting was scheduled for February 28, which has been cancelled for a new one on February 24. This will be a one way session, with delegations banned. [Ottawa Police Service (PDF)]
▪️The Hunt Club Road forest is the subject of the lastest Fulcrum podcast. From the students’ newspaper at the University of Ottawa, the podcast deals with a BMW dealership’s proposal to pave into the forest. The land is owned by the Ottawa Airport, which is happy to sell. [Fulcrum Podcast]
▪️The City won't have enough time to test its four new electric buses in all Ottawa seasons before all 74 vehicles in the order are delivered. The City's auditor general says ‘the City will not have enough time to retrieve fulsome data from the pilot project and may not have sufficient time to plan the successful integration of the next 74 electric buses.’ The City's Press Release says ‘he performance requirements defined for the buses are aligned to key variables and parameters of industry research and a sample of municipalities undergoing their own electric bus transformations.’ Pretty much the same thing ... [Auditor General Report (PDF)] [City Press Release]
▪️A reminder that the deadline for standing and funding at the Province's inquiry into the O-Train is February 28. If you are someone that the inquiry considers essential to their investigation – a transit rider's group, engineer, etc. – the inquiry will pay for time and materials, and grant access to their documents. The general public will be able to speak on May 25 and 26. But wait – the general public will need to register. On a website. In March. We'll try to remind you then. [LRT Inquiry]
