Thursday April 7, 2022
What Ottawa is Talking About – 7 April 2022
▪️Samuel de Champlain and Zibi Annini’s statues get new homes on Nepean Point. The two are part of a new viewing platform that overlooks the Ottawa River, Gatineau and Parliament Hill. Zibi Annini’s – that's a nickname, by the way – statue is being returned from Major's Hill Park where it was moved 30ish years ago, Champlain’s statue was previously at the highest point in the park and will continue to hold his astrolab upside down. [Ottawa Citizen]
+ Same Article: The National Capital Commission will run a wheelchair-accessible shuttle from downtown Ottawa to Gatineau Park this summer. Details to come.
▪️8th Line Road golf course may return to agricultural use. This almost never happens – developers turn farm land into golf courses all the time, in some cases later turning the golf course into housing. But the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee has approved zoning the former Poplar Grove golf course into farmland. [City of Ottawa]
▪️Condé Nast Traveller has a new story on what to do when visiting Ottawa. Nothing you don't know – live in Ottawa two months and you'd be able to identify all the same places. They did mention that Heartbreaker’s Pizza has ‘some of the best natural wine offerings east of Toronto’, which is a nice tip. We find it really hard to find natural wines in Ottawa. [Condé Nast Traveller]
▪️The other day, we linked to a Carleton University student's opinion of Ottawa in the Maclean's University Rankings issue. Today, it's the University of Ottawa's turn. The student says that the best cheap lunch to be found is No Forks Given’s delicious vegan chicken burgers. [Maclean’s]
▪️Nearly $8 million of donations intended for the Trucker siege is unaccounted. The company appointed by the court to hold money donated to the GiveSendGo crowdfunding site says over $20 million was raised, but where nearly $8 million went is uknown. It may have been paid out to protestors, or spent on protesting costs, or possibly refunded. [CBC]
▪️A reminder that a Zoom hearing on tearing down the beautiful Alexandra Bridge is going on next week. The National Capital Commission makes it very hard to find out how to participate – just check out their ’engagement’ page. But you can write them a comment here. There is a hearing by Zoom on April 12 (in French on April 13), but, shockingly, you need to fill out a survey 48 hours before they will tell you what the Zoom address is. You can contact people running the project at Alexandra@iaac-aeic.gc.ca. Tell them obscurity does them no favours. [CTV]
