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DATES TO REMEMBER OSCA AGM Sept 11/12 - Lansdowne Park mtngs Civic Ctr. Salons AAB Oct 14, 1998 Sat Sep 12 - 6th Annual Porch Sale 7:30pm Tue Sep 15 - OSCA Board Mtg - Old Fireball, 7:30pm At the Old Firehall Thu Sep 17 - Windsor Pk mtg - Old 260 Sunnyside, east of Bank Firehall Sat Sep 19 - Aberdeen Party, 5:30 OSCAR For more infor, call - 247-4946 rOL. 26, No. OTTAWA SOUTH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1998 THE ECOLOGY OF BANK STREET IN OLD OTTAWA SOUTH 1 11 1 1 ' BY CHRIS BRADSHAW Bank Street is what many connector to a walking barrier. nan-through nature of the streets and a must missing services be attracted, but planners call a traditional Four lanes of traffic are not only preference for commercial uses to be those here should not be out of scale or I main street. Main street harder to "read" to someone hying to located around the Aberdeen Pavilion. need so much to attract customers from because it is linearly continuous with cross than, but traffic moves faster and This will fail just as the inward facing further away (who tend to come by car) non-residential services for residences drivers feel less obligated to look out sections of Fifth Avenue Court and the to survive financially. along adjacent streets and traditional for pedestrian and cyclist traffic. Market's Time Square Building have Old Ottawa South already has many because it developed when most people Ironically, merchants are also hurt, failed. Even inward facing malls in of these, including wholesalers and relied on walking and street cars to get losing their most convenient parking at downtown are being retrofitted to those that cater to the automobile. This around. Buildings are tight to the just the time of day when the number of complement rather than compete with could be done by supporting a stronger sidewalk (except institutions which are potential car-borne customers is the adjacent sidewalk traffic. merchant association to be more set back behind green space). greatest. This is one of the reasons that Bank Street in Old Ottawa South pro-active and to develop stronger ties Bank Street, however, has not been traffic calming plans usually will be rebuilt in 1999. Residents with the community association. The forgotten by the automobile autocracy, recommend lifting this parking ban. should look to this opportunity to “fix” interdependent nature of residents and resulting in "missing teeth" in the Also those on the sidewalk are also the street and sidewalks. The best way merchants is best illustrated by the street's facade of buildings. The gaps, affected by the greater traffic. Last to get the right use of the street is to predicament of OSCAR itself, mostly parking lots, have many November, at Fourth Avenue, a driver design it correctly. dependent on advertising for its health: negative effects such as: in the curb lane was struck by a First, sidewalks should be five only neighbourhood-scale businesses • reducing amount of services crossing motorist and diverted onto the people wide, exclusive of "street treat it as their #1 medium. available and increasing likelihood a sidewalk striking the leg of a woman furniture" (post boxes, trash cans, Although it will not be possible to resident will need to travel outside sitting on a bench, severing it utility poles and posts and parking gain as much sidewalk on Bank as I've the neighbourhood for common completely. meters, which should be located at the suggested, commercial property owners needs; Bank Street also benefits from the curbside to act as bollards). should be encouraged to recess their • creating gaps in the -"fabric" of fact that it cuts the Old Ottawa South Second, on-street parking can be storefronts to allow outside (covered) buildings that engage and intrigue grid mostly across the narrow made permanent by "bulbing out" displays, to design sliding or folding those on foot dimension of the blocks (mostly on the curbs near comers. This also reduces windows into restaurant fronts and to • creating fear for walkers by creating west side, as east side blocks are walking distance across Bank Street add awnings and pedestrian-oriented hiding places that can be used by longer). Sandy Hill planner Alain (this could be done for side streets as signage. Awnings should be effective attackers Miguelez contrasts this with Rideau well), as has been done in the Glebe, and truly extend over the entire width These changes occurred because Street, flanked by blocks that are about while preventing illegal parking and of the sidewalk. Signage should be of land value of commercial properties three times as long (blocks in Ottawa stopping near comers creating danger the new, perpendicular, without parking declined in are about 200 feet by 700 feet). for all road users and providing an attached-to-the-storefront type (which mid-century, making it cheaper to buy The longer blocks reduce the opportunity to widen the sidewalk at bylaws now permit), versus the a property for its land (parking) value number of handy side-street parking bus stops. "sandwich boards" that trip and alone. spaces and decrease the number of These changes could help the inconvenience pedestrians. The street fabric relies on threads intersections that induce pedestrian community tb address other problems, If some thought is given, 1999 that run across as well as parallel to the crossing and slow motor traffic. Longer such as the fact that the street is a hill. could be a very good year for Old street. For the two sides of a street to be blocks also increase the need for access Seating would allow older people and Ottawa South’s section Bank Street. connected, not only must there be a to off street parking from the main others with kids or heavy packages a This article was developed for the visual connection (requiring a narrower street, rather than side streets, hurting change to sit or simply lean on the Ottawa Business Association’s Blooms street and buildings constructed close pedestrian flow by increasing conflict bench's back. Lighting should be Between Bridges Festival for a walk to the sidewalk), but motor traffic must with motorists. improved not to increase brightness of Chris was asked to give. be not too heavy or too fast to allow The Glebe's grid is almost ideal, the lamps but to improve the lighting He has 20 years experience as an easy crossing on foot (yes, including except nearest the Bank Street Bridge, angle so that more than the tops of advocate for walking in cities. He has mid-block!). The ability of a street to which should be addressed when the people's heads are illuminated at night. read and discussed and viewed a great serve this last need is much greater site is redeveloped. Unfortunately, the Frequently placed, lower lights with deal that helps him understand what when there is only one through lane in two official proposals ignore this natural-spectrum bulbs do this best. makes a street "work". He co-founded each direction. The imposition of a potential by not extending either the Increased amenities and improved Ottawalk ten years ago to attract parking ban during the appropriately grid or continuous commercial ambiance increase walking traffic and pro-walking sentiment and energy. A named "rush hour" literally changes the frontage. challenge the community to address the previous paper on walkability appeared character of Bank Street from a The proposals emphasize the mix of services to fit the community in The OSCAR in 1994. This is a double challenge: not only INSIDE... ■■ ■■ ■ Planning for 7 Generations Meals On Wheels Reclaiming Natural Treasure Victorian Tea Herein Lie the Dead Financial Advice Suggested Reading Dbg Training fggpp Politico Reports Aberdeen Party Invitation Legal Briefs ins Airport Expressway Spinal Care for Children Meeting the Kyoto Challenge And Much More... SEPTEMBER 1998 § raE OSCAR § PAGE 2 OSCAR The OTTAWA SOUTH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION REVIEW 260 Sunnyside Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 0R7 PLEASE NOTE: The OSCAR Has No Fax CONTRIBUTIONS Editor: Peter Hecht 730-1045 e-mail: [email protected] Contributions should be less than 350 words in length and are preferred in Business Manager: Marim Moreland 730-3762 electronic format. We have no fax. Send by e-mail [email protected] or on Distribution Manager: Lily Hecht 730-1045 diskette delivered to the Firehall Office. For Macintosh files, please sent only high Advertising Manager: Gayle Weitzman 730-1058 (not dassy ads) density (1.4M) diskettes. Please include a clear, printed version of your file (laser print preferred). Files must be in WordPerfect 6.1, Word or earlier or in text MONTHLY DEADLINE: 2ND LAST FRIDAY OF MONTH format (ASCII). Do not apply any formatting or columns (bold, italics, extra large, etc.). Your diskette will be returned only if you label it with your name. OSCAR is a unfunded, community paper paid for entirely by advertising. All staff Articles cannot be returned for review before publishing. We will edit only are volunteers. It is published for the Ottawa South Community Association sparingly for grammar, meaning and length. Pictures, drawings and photos will (OSCA) Inc. Distribution is free to all Ottawa South homes and businesses and be used if possible. Please label all photos. Standard color photos acceptable. selected locations in Old Ottawa South, the Glebe and Billings Bridge. Opinions Diskettes and photos may be picked up at the Firehall Office about one week expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of OSCAR or OSCA. The after publication. Items not picked up after 2 months will be not returned. No Editors retain the right to edit or include articles submitted for publication, which attempt will be made to contact you.

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