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HELLO OTTAWA

Yesterday in an item about Hydro Ottawa, we mentioned that landlines will still work during a power outage (usually).

Reader Paulette wrote us and said ‘If your landline provider is through Rogers or another internet service, your landline will not work during an outage’.

Paulette is correct – when your landline is provided by Bell fibre or Rogers or some other ‘voice over Internet’ company, the phone uses the Internet and doesn’t work when your router is not powered.

But by landline we meant the old fashioned plug-into-the-wall copper wire phone. That kind of system was created before most homes had electricity so the wires are powered by the phone company itself. 

Here at the ottawan Towers, we accepted a deal with Bell last year to upgrade to fibre Internet on the condition that they would not cut off our (copper) landline. However, Bell’s publically stated policy is that they will not install or support the old lines any longer. 

It ended with a standoff in the driveway as the Bell installer said he had instructions to replace the phone line regardless and would not install the fibre Internet unless he could replace the copper phone line. We sent him home. So, when the power goes out the internet does too, but (for now) our direct line to pizza delivery is still open. 

Correction

We posted an incorrect link yesterday about the Ottawa driver who received a ticket after turning right on a red light. You can find the story here. Apologies.

– Martha and Darren

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It’s not just chocolate. But chocolate is included.

TODAY’S LINE UP

•  Ottawa Stats
•  City Hall Agenda
•  What Ottawa is Talking About
•  Events
•  Deals of the Day

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OTTAWA STATS

CITY HALL AGENDA

What’s going on at City Hall

Ottawa City Council
Wednesday, February 7 at 10 am

• 11.1 That Council approve that the ditch infill at 4633, 4634, and 4652 Anderson Road be exempted from the revised ditch alteration policy
• 11.2 Direct staff to undertake a pilot study to ascertain the efficacy of automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras as a road safety improvement in Ottawa’s rural villages
• 12.1 That Council approve an amendment for 780 Baseline Road to permit the development of two mixed-use residential high-rise towers
• 12.2 That Council approve an amendment for 16 Edgewater Street rezone the site
• 13.1.1 Amendment to the Master Drainage Plan for Western Development Lands, Village of Richmond
• 13.1.2 That Council approve an amendment for 1867 Donald B. Munro Drive to prohibit residential development
• 13.1.3 That Council approve an amendment for part of 1980 Phelan Road West to prohibit residential development
• 13.1.4 That Council approve an amendment for 1961 Sarsfield Road to prohibit residential development on the retained lands, and to permit a lot coverage of seven per cent for accessory structures on the severed lands
• 13.1.5 That Council approve an amendment for 5812 Malakoff Road to prohibit residential development on the retained lands, and to permit a lot coverage of six per cent for accessory structures on the severed lands
• 13.1.6 That Council approve an amendment for 5084 Canon Smith Drive to prohibit residential development on the retained lands
• 13.1.7 That Council approve an amendment for 5497 Manotick Main Street to permit a low-rise apartment as an additional use on the property
• 13.2.1 That Council approve an amendment for 991 Carling Avenue to permit an extension of the existing on-site parking lot as a temporary use, for up to three years
• 17.1 Social and Economic Prosperity Review
• 17.2 Police Services Board Chair Compensation - increase honorarium to $54,000

📋 Agenda

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

🐉 Ice Dragon Boat Festival

•  The Ice Dragon Boat Festival has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to warm temperatures. The event was scheduled for this Friday and Saturday, with over 80 teams and 1,600 participants registered. (Ted Raymond at CTV)

🚌 OC Transpo

•  Residents in Blackburn Hamlet can now try out the new bus-on-demand service from OC Transpo each Sunday. In this trial, the buses don't run on a schedule but residents can book a pick-up and drop-off between two Route 28 bus stops, or to and from Blair Station and the Gloucester Centre. Booking is either through an Apple or Android app or the telephone, but not through the website. (CBC) (Info page and apps)

💰 Community Partners Insurance Programme

•  The City is leaning towards keeping the affordable insurance for local groups that use City facilities. The Community Partners Insurance Programme covered insurance for community groups in the days of the Ottawa Carleton Regional Municipality. After amalgamation in 2001, the list was fixed – new organizations had to arrange their own insurance, sometimes in the tens of thousands of dollars. Last November, City staff recommended taking everyone off the programme in the name of fairness but several councillors will be trying to expand it to all groups at today’s Council meeting. (Elyse Skura at CBC)

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MORE FROM THE OTTAWAN

• 🍺 Our Ottawa-Gatineau Craft Brewery Map

•  

• 🏆 The Best Of Ottawa Awards 2023

•  

• 🎧 Best Podcasts from Ottawa

EVENTS

Is there an event we should know about?
Please use our easy event submission form
 

Today

•  Happiness Habits 613 and Ottawa City Run Club present a free run to mark Heart Month. Meet at Beyond the Pale (250 City Centre) at 7:30 pm. Everyone Is welcome.

•  If your French skills are rusty, join the French Conversation Group at OPL St. Laurent branch for conversation in a relaxed setting.

•  ByTowne Cinema: Ru, Memory, Origin

•  Mayfair Theatre: Freud’s Last Session, The Boy and the Heron, Koyaanisqatsi
  
  Gigs

•  Trivia Night. Pour Boy

•  Trivia Tuesday. Irene’s Pub Restaurant

•  Tuesday Trivia. Broadhead Brewery

•  Charlotte Cardin - 99 Nights Tour. TD Place Arena

•  Trivia Night. Royal Oak pubs

•  Trivia Night. Moose McGuire’s Orléans

•  Pizza & Poetry. Spark Beer

Tomorrow

•  The Historical Society of Ottawa presents History of Ottawa’s Caribbean Community with author Dave Tulloch. The virtual presentation explores the lives of people from the Caribbean, who over the last 70 years have made their home here, in one of the world’s coldest cities.
   
•  Today's Doors Open for Music program is all about The French Harpsichord in Germany, with Ottawa musician Suren Barry delivering a programme of German composers influenced by French music. If you wish to attend, don't forget that the concert is at noon.
   
•  The NAC’s Hip Hop Theatre Festival continues with Twisted, a 21st century update on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
   
•  ByTowne Cinema: Run, Origin, Dawn of the Sea - 4K Restoration.
   

•  Mayfair Theatre: The Boy and the Heron, Mad Dog Morgan
  
  Gigs

•  Jazz Nite with the Aardvark Big Band. Bar Robo

•  Beats & Boards. Art House

•  Prime Rib Big Band. Irene’s Pub Restaurant

•  Vocal Jams with the Gerri Trimble Trio. Montgomery Scotch Lounge

•  Phew Pkew Pkew, MVLL Crimes. Dominion Tavern

Thursday

•  For the duration of Winterlude, Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau has become Snowflakes Land / Le Domaine Des Flocons, where you’ll find fun for the whole fam. Tube slides, a maze, face painting, and free hot chocolate are just a few reasons to go. Today from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. The action continues through Sunday and again next weekend.
   
•  Kai Thomas’ best selling novel In the Upper Country won the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, was shortlisted for both the Govenor General’s Award for Fiction and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and is gaining more fans every week. As part of OPL’s Black History Month programming, Ottawa’s English Poet Laureate Jamaal Amir Akbari leads a conversation with Thomas about his work, and the audience will have a chance to win a copy of the novel. It’s happening for free in the Chamber at OPL Nepean Centrepointe branch, but you must register.
  
  If you can’t make it in person, the event will be live streamed on the OPL’s YouTube page.
   

• ByTowne Cinema: Ru, Origin, The Teachers' Lounge

• Mayfair Theatre: Freud's Last Session, Koyaanisqatsi
  
  Gigs

•  The Song is Queen! Avant-garde Bar

•  Elliott Brood, Loon Choir, Bastards and the Buzzards. Rainbow Bistro (limited tickets at the door)

•  SH-BOOM. Montgomery Scotch Lounge

•  Maïa Barouh. National Arts Centre

Just Announced / Now Booking

• Afro music fills the house with Juice: Season 2, An Evening of Afro Music, featuring OK Naledi, Jessie Simmons, and Taapz, plus DJ Del Pilar. Les Lye Studio Theatre, Meridian Theatres @ Centerpointe. Thursday February 15.

• Bring the kids to the Musical Ride Open House (10:00 am to 3:00 pm on February 24). Free, but donations to the Ottawa Food Bank will be gratefully received.

DEALS OF THE DAY

BUT, ONE MORE THING ...

Andrew King at Ottawa Rewind can always be counted upon to find the perfect item for this spot. Today is no different: ‘Our ups and downs: finding Ottawa’s oldest elevator”. Although he did ruin our opportunity to make an ‘ups and downs’ pun. And that really pushes our buttons.

King discovered that the first elevator in Ottawa was at the ‘🎶 Meet you at the Met’ Metropolitan department store in 1950. The Met is now the Indigo in Rideau Centre, and the original elevator has since been replaced.

The second oldest is still operating and ... we can’t spoil it. Read on.

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