Friday September 24, 2021

What Ottawa is Talking About – 24 September 2021

▪️City committee agrees to bigger park in new Mechanicsville embassy quarter. The National Capital Commission had their plan to build five new embassys approved with the proviso that a nearby park is larger. City Council votes on the idea October 13. [CBC]

▪️That same Committee endorsed a giant warehouse in Barrhaven. Neighbours fear that the new facility will overwhelm the local roads. The developer has yet to say who will be using the building. [CBC]

▪️Bus driver's union demands that overhang at Westboro station be removed. At the Westboro accident in 2019, three people were killed when the bus veered into the overhang. The bus driver was acquitted of all charges. [Ottawa Citizen]

▪️Kanata ward councillor Jenna Sudds has officially resigned from Ottawa City Council. Council will now need to decide whether to appoint a replacement or organize a by-election. Sudds was elected Member of Parliament for Kanata-Carleton last Monday. [Global]

+ Related Former Bay ward councillor Alex Cullen wants a by-election

+ Related Five Kanata community associations, the Kanata Central BIA, and the Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition want Council to appoint former councillor Marianne Wilkinson to Sudd's seat

▪️IBM plans Cloud Moderation Centre for the Zibi development. Fifty new jobs, some in government security-cleared cloud and AI, will be created. The Zibi development is 34 acres on both the Ottawa and Gatineau sides of the Ottawa River which will eventually house 5,000 people and employ 6,000. [Ottawa Business Journal]

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