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GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, OTTAWA

It's the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and the 4.543 billionth anniversary of Earth, and we've seen some interesting things in the past month.

Wildlife has been coming out to explore quiet streets. The air quality has vastly improved. Noise pollution has quieted down.

We're using so much less gasoline that the oil producers have run out of space to store it.

On this Earth Day, it's worth asking how much back to normal do we want to return?

Should we be devoting so many of the streets to cars and so few to bicycles and pedestrians? How many of us really do work better from home than commuting? 

A mere two weeks ago, the City approved adding a commercial parking lot to a new apartment building on Lisgar Street.

City Councillor Glen Gower wondered at the time, "Does reducing parking make people use transit? Probably better transit makes people use transit."

The take-away from that is: not only is the City expanding the use of cars, they have no idea about why people use cars or not. They're just winging it.

We can't start again, but maybe we can start anew.

We’ll see you tomorrow — Martha and Darren

 

STATS

Weather: Chance of flurries, high of 4°

Number: 7,500. Number of civil servants diverted to processing new response benefits. [CBC]

Ottawan of the Day: The Kid, an unknown child who donated his life savings of $33.65 to the Ottawa Food Bank. Inspired, local restaurant Union 613 donated $3,365. [Apt13]

Quote: “Bleak
” – University of Ottawa student Chris Wright on job prospects for student work for students [CBC]

 

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

There have been 899 confirmed cases of COVID‌-19 in Ottawa and 25 deaths.

Ottawa Public Health says if you need to go to the hospital with something non-COVID-19 related, you should do it [Ottawa Citizen]

Woman buys hospital staff PPE gear to protect her quadriplegic husband [Ottawa Citizen]

Mother & daughter team organising mask creation [CBC] [Army of Masks]

  + Related Orléans and Stittsville women organsing sewing headbands and scrub caps

  + Related CTV Ottawa has compiled a list of places in Ottawa to buy personal face masks

Urban indigineous leaders say the Feds are excluding them from COVID-19 response [CBC]

Long-term care workers union says COVID-19 is a wake-up call [CTV]

Property maintenance businesses can open May 1 for works that are safety or sanitary related, but not for aesthetic reasons only, or involve fences or decks [City of Ottawa]  

COVID-19 is giving us weird, vivid dreams says Ottawa psychology prof  [CBC]

The Federal Prison Watchdog has no idea how many prisoners have contracted COVID-19 [CBC]

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IN OTHER NEWS

Jury trials suspended until September
Other court dates may still be operational, so don't skip your hearing without checking [CBC]

Architect Ryan Koolwine talks about intensification in Ottawa neighbourhoods
“[They say] if we lower the construction cost, we’ll get buildings with cheaper rent. There’s no proof of that whatsoever. [M]any condo developers want to build as cheaply as they can — the cheaper they build, the more they profit. [Ottawa Magazine]

Shopify the third-most valuable company on the stock exchange in Canada
Bricks and mortar shops going online has been a boon to the company [Ottawa Citizen]

Carleton may have much smaller classes or go online only next Autumn
The physical layout of campus may also be rejigged [Ottawa Citizen]

Police make arrest in four-year-old rape
The victim was thrown off roof, ignored by passers-by, and turned away from shop who 'didn't want trouble'. [Ottawa Citizen]

Rideau Street closed until end of 2020
Scheduled work on Rideau Street includes improved sidewalks, cycling and transit facilities, benches, bicycle parking, pedestrian lighting, landscaping and more [City of Ottawa]

OPS have budget problems
Cops losing money after cancellation of event policing and background checks [Ottawa Citizen]

 

LIVESTREAMING

? 6pm Bilingual folk chansonnière Kristine St-Pierre sings soul-searching ballads   [NAC]

 

THINGS TO DO

? Brave Kids Art Club: free, 20 minute weekday, art classes,taught by Brad Woodard of Brave the Woods, a design and illustration studio in the US. It’s fun for kids (and, um, kids at heart) and all you need are paper and a drawing utensil.  [YouTube]

?️ Watch The American Nurse for free. The American Nurse explores some of the biggest issues facing America — aging, war, poverty, prisons — through the work and lives of five nurses. It is an examination of real people that will change how we think about nurses and how we wrestle with the challenges of healing America.. [KinoNow]

Cut us and we bleed Ottawa. Reply back to us with your comments or suggestions. We read every single email. hello@theottawan.com