Ottawa’s Service Organizations Benefit Us All
I recently attended the re-opening of Heartwood House (heartwoodhouse.ca) at its new McArthur Avenue location in Overbrook. The former Rideau Street site was perhaps best known as OC Transpo’s lost-and-found facility, yet Heartwood House is a home to a remarkable array of valuable service organizations. These small non-profits benefit from the reduced costs and shared amenities that come from being under the same roof.
While touring the facility and meeting volunteers and employees of the groups located there, it struck me that more people need to know about this gem. We all benefit from the work of the groups at Heartwood House, whether we step inside or not.
These include ACORN Canada (social and economic justice), Anxiety Disorders Association of Ontario, Alternative Learning Styles & Outlooks (free literacy services in ESL and English), Community Laundry Co-operative, Cooperation Integration Canada – French (independence and integration of French-speaking immigrants), EcoEquitable Inc. (sustainable fiscal independence for immigrant and underemployed women), English Language Tutoring for the Ottawa Community, Families Matter Co-operative Inc. (empowering families and individuals with disabilities), Hopewell Eating Disorder Support Centre, and Multifaith Housing Initiative (for those who are or risk becoming homeless).
Green bin support
In the wake of the Auditor General’s damning report on the City of Ottawa’s contract with Orgaworld, I want to stress that diverting organic waste to an appropriate facility remains the right way to go, as does weekly green bin collection and biweekly collection of waste that cannot be composted or recycled.
The real problems lay in the unsupported, over-ambitious initial tonnage targets and a host of other aspects of the poorly negotiated contract, compounded by the unwillingness of council at that time to switch immediately to weekly green bin and bi-weekly residual waste collection. This left us with an unrealistic compostable waste target, no ramp-up period, limited ability to renegotiate targets, and no incentive for residents to switch to green bins, since they sat for two weeks while the rest of the garbage was still going out weekly
I support implementation of all the Auditor General’s recommendations. I support renegotiating or cancelling the existing contract, whichever brings greatest benefit and least cost to citizens. And I will continue to advocate for even greater adoption of the green bin program as the most sensible, efficient, cost-effective and environmentally sound approach to dealing with residential waste.
Construction traffic
Residents near Lees Avenue have been dealing with a series of major construction projects lately and I have been working closely with them and city staff to reduce the impacts of necessary traffic diversions.
This is a taste of things to come over the next two years of Main Street reconstruction, which will require major detours over a number of months. I will work with the project managers and affected community members to identify the least intrusive routes and implement measures to reduce speeds and to encourage safe driving practices. Signage and public communications campaigns will aim to redirect any traffic that has no reason to be traversing Old Ottawa East.
In the end though, we must prepare for two full seasons of major construction and traffic rerouting, keeping in mind that this work is overdue and the end result is something to look forward to. Details will be worked out and shared with residents as we move into late fall.
Councillor David Chernushenko
613-580-2487 | David.Chernushenko@Ottawa.ca | www.capitalward.ca
