Celebrating our community volunteer organizations
Together, we built a better Old Ottawa East
JOHN DANCE
While we tend to focus on pressing issues, once in awhile it’s worth stepping back and taking a look at the Old Ottawa East (OOE) community organizations and their volunteers who are truly worth celebrating.
To this end, we provide a two-decade perspective on the successful efforts by volunteers of The Mainstreeter, the Community Activities Group of OOE, the OOE Community Association (OOECA), and other local organizations to inform and engage the community, to provide programming and social events and opportunities, and to positively shape the form, amenities, and infrastructure of OOE.
The Mainstreeter
The Mainstreeter, OOE’s “community voice,” has become a stronger and more colourful “voice” since 2006 when it was also full of news and community events and people, but was about half the number of pages that it is now.
The Mainstreeter is now in its 41st year and provides factual stories on the community that can’t be found anywhere else, a diversity of opinion pieces, celebration of the accomplishments and lives of residents, and, amongst other things, a means of promoting the community artists and activists.
Included in the many recent accomplishments of the paper are the annual A Walk of Art outdoor art tour and exhibit; support of Indigenous reconciliation; and two e-newsletters that keep people informed between issues of The Mainstreeter, including The Sidestreeter, a new digital publication covering news and events across Ottawa’s urban core communities.
Community Activities Group
OOE’s Community Activities Group (CAG) has continued to provide excellent community programming for adults and kids all year-long and throughout the vacation periods, much to the delight of children and their parents.
In 2012, CAG successfully raised funds to completely renovate the Brantwood Park fieldhouse thus providing a key amenity space for a great variety of activities, including canoeing which CAG “launched” a few years ago.
Most of CAG’s programs are staged at the Old Town Hall – which has also had some notable improvements like better accessibility – but some programs are offered at Brantwood and Springhurst parks.
OOE Community Association
OOECA provides a forum that encourages citizen participation and discussion within the bounds of democratic procedure of matters concerning the community. The association’s work involves activities such as participation in the City’s planning processes, promoting sustainability, protecting heritage, protecting and enhancing parks and green space, addressing transportation needs, and, overall, improving the quality of life for OOE residents. It’s a broad mandate and one that requires working with elected representatives, government staff, and others like local businesses.
Comparing today’s OOE “built-form” with that of two decades ago reveals numerous positive changes. For instance, Main Street is now, for the most part, a two-lane 40 km/h roadway with wide sidewalks and bike lanes for all but the southbound portion between Hawthorne and Graham avenues. Main Street’s transformation from a fast four-lane commuter throughway improved the life of residents.
The community association fought hard for the Main Street improvements and OOECA’s participation in the creation of the OOE “community design plan” and the resulting “secondary plan” provided part of the basis for the Main Street improvements and for considerably increased intensification and many new businesses.
The community’s growth was within the constraints of well-consulted-upon restrictions on what could be built on Main and Hawthorne and within the “institutional lands,” which now embrace Greystone Village, Corners on Main, the repurposed Sisters’ residence, and the new Grande Allée Park with the Forecourt Park to come.
Protecting the Community
Another key achievement was OOECA – along with other community associations and allies – fighting a very long but ultimately successful battle against the Alta Vista Transportation Corridor which was proposed to be built through the Lees Avenue green space, now known as the People’s Park.
Other examples of OOECA successfully fighting against poorly-consulted-upon plans include stopping a massive parking lot being built on the People’s Park property; reducing the proposed heights of mid-rise residential buildings in Greystone Village; modifying the uOttawa playing field so that the river pathway wasn’t detoured away from the river; defeating a proposal to remove the eastern part of Lees Avenue, including the uOttawa campus, from Capital Ward; and ensuring the preservation of the Brantwood Gates.
Sustainable Living Ottawa East – the environment committee of OOECA – has also had a profound impact on the community. The Rideau River Nature Trail; the Children’s Garden, the community gardens; and the Farmers’ Market all were conceived and given life by SLOE. Also, its “Deep Green” initiative resulted in key sustainable features of the Greystone Village development.
With the support of our City councillors and City staff, the community association successfully pushed for active transportation improvements such as the Flora Footbridge; bike lanes on the McIlraith (Smyth) and Pretoria bridges, along the new LRT line, and elsewhere; and safe pedestrian crossings of Colonel By Drive.
Community Engagement Events
All three major community organizations run regular events that promote sociability and shared values. For example, CAG’s very successful summer BBQs, the “Main Event,” The Mainstreeter’s hugely popular “A Walk of Art” outdoor art tour and exhibit and OOECA’s support of the annual Brantwood Gates remembrance ceremony all help to build a sense of community. Similarly, the community association sponsors and organizes all-candidates meetings for our various elections and contributes to healthy pursuits like the Rideau Winter Trail.
In addition to the efforts of the major organizations, others – such as the Brantwood Hosers – help to make Old Ottawa East a desirable place to live and play. At Brantwood Park, the Hosers annually create and maintain one of the best and most friendly outdoor rinks in the city.
Others informally organize local walking groups or directed activities like removal of invasive plants along the river and annual spring cleanups of the river shoreline and parks. Various church groups have numerous programs that benefit both those within Old Ottawa East and beyond.
The Future
Old Ottawa East will continue to grow in accordance with the Official Plan and the new zoning bylaw. The community organizations have many challenges ahead, including: the use of the freed-up AVTC lands; the new community centre’s addressing growing needs; the relationship of the community to its two post-secondary institutions, Saint Paul University and uOttawa; the impact of climate change; and the support for Immaculata High School, Lady Evelyn School, and Au Coeur d’Ottawa.
Other key challenge include protecting and increasing the stock of affordable housing and protecting and enlarging the tree canopy that is suffering from the threats of intensification and climate change. Community health and safety issues also require vigilance and OOE still has not satisfactorily addressed Indigenous reconciliation.
Our community organizations provide a key means of making progress, but they need support. Becoming a “Friend of The Mainstreeter,” a volunteer with one of the organizations, or being a member of the community association for the princely amount of $5 are all simple means to ensure that the organizations and the community as a whole thrive.