COUNCILLOR'S MESSAGE
As we mentioned in our August 18th issue, today’s Special Bulletin will be our final newsletter before we enter the Election Blackout period that starts tomorrow, August 27th. Between then and the election, candidates will be communicating with residents through our campaign websites, our social media, and through face-to-face conversations with residents.
And this Special Bulletin isn’t even a full newsletter, since we just published one last week. It’s just the Councillor’s Message. One more opportunity to connect as your Councillor, before re-introducing myself as a Candidate.
Of course, I don’t stop being a councillor between tomorrow and the election. My office and staff will continue to operate. We’re still taking phone calls, responding to emails, doing casework, responding to problems, and going to meetings. It’s pretty much business as usual. So, if the garbage truck doesn’t collect your garbage, let us know.
Our Ward 9 Newsletter has been one of the great joys for myself and my team. In my humble opinion, it’s also one of our greatest accomplishments, and we take a lot of pride in it. The comments that we receive from our residents – and plenty of subscribers who aren’t residents of Ward 9 – have been consistently and overwhelmingly positive. Here’s one we received the other day:
“I love the newsletter you've been putting out. I find them extremely informative and have a ton of useful information about what's happening in our end of town. I've even shared a few of them with some of my friends at work, and they were floored with how much was covered in just one newsletter. Apparently, they've never gotten anything like it from their councillor! I especially love the discussion around taxes and efficient spending of government resources. I've long held the belief that taxes spent well are much better and well received by citizens, so the discussions you've been having have strongly resonated with me.”
I appreciate comments like that for a few reasons, all of them around the fact that our newsletter is deepening community engagement about civic life. In one paragraph, this resident is conveying the following:
- He feels more informed about municipal matters that affect him.
- He shares this information with others, even people in other parts of the city, who also seem to want to be engaged in municipal matters.
- He appreciates talking about taxes. (Read that again.)
- He shares his own position on taxes.
It’s hard to overstate how valuable it is for me that someone reads our newsletter and feels compelled to reach out and communicate this to us. These are the political equivalent of the heartfelt, constructive conversation that happens around the dinner table, as family members try to connect with each other, share their differing positions honestly and transparently, as they reconcile their differences and come together. Like Kenny Bania said on Seinfeld: “That’s gold, Jerry! Gold!”
And now, on to the pressing issues that I want to leave you with in this Councillor’s Message.
Investigation into this Summer’s Extreme Weather Events
As far too many Ward 9 residents know, this summer has been brutal. Over a thousand Ward 9 households were affected. Some are only recently beginning to remove flood-soaked, mold-filled materials from their basements. Some might not ever be able to live in their homes again. Some were flooded three times. Some were flooded three times and had salt poured on their wounds August 12th when not only did they get flooded for a third time, but also endured a power outage, and had a tree fall on their house.
Last week, I invited Mayor Sutcliffe to join me as we visited two streets in Ward 9, to visit with a couple of families who had each been flooded three times since Canada Day. Obviously, there are many, many households that would love to know that Mayor Sutcliffe is aware of their situation, but I only had an hour with him, and I was sure to convey that these households were representative of the serious and significant problems that were disproportionately hurting residents all across Ward 9, and that the City’s response will need to recognize that. The photo below is of the Mayor and I visiting with Robert and Elaine, an older couple in Fisher Heights who have now had to re-finish their basement twice since 2023 and will likely never do so again. And this couple had to clear out the drywall and flooding all by themselves.
I will also share some news with you on the City’s response to this summer’s floods. This past week, the City Manager issued an Update on Extreme Weather Events, which you can read in its entirety online.
Here is a quick summary of the main points of the update as they relate to the ongoing investigation:
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The technical investigation is now examining not only the Canada Day storm, but the storms of August 10 and August 12, as well. It will include resident reports, infrastructure and drainage performance, watersheds, neighbourhood-level impacts, operational practices, planning policies and potential mitigation measures. City engineers are conducting hydraulic modelling, while specialized consultants are being hired to support resident engagement, data collection and targeted analysis. Graham Creek is receiving a dedicated investigation, in coordination with the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.
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The City will also complete an after-action review of its emergency response, including timelines, lessons learned, corrective actions and assigned responsibilities. An independent third party will review that report, with input from affected communities and the Councillors from the most impacted wards. This means that I’ll have the opportunity to convey my own impressions of what went wrong in the response, and what the underlying problems and gaps are.
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The City will also complete an after-action review of its emergency response, including timelines, lessons learned, corrective actions and assigned responsibilities. An independent third party will review that report, with input from affected communities and councillors. Improvements to online service requests and resident communications are also underway.
Residents need to understand that these investigations will take considerable time – expect it to be six months – but residents will receive ongoing updates on neighbourhood-specific findings as they become available, as well as actions for reducing future flood risk.
Another word on permeable pavement
The last two weeks have focused a lot of attention on a topic that has been of special interest to me for quite some time, which is the City’s adoption of a pilot project to use permeable pavement as part of a roadway project, where this new and high-tech form of pavement is being used as a part of the stormwater management system, rather than an impediment to it.
On the day of our last newsletter, August 18th, the first news story broke on the City’s pilot project. Since then, I’ve done several interviews about it, and it’s also generated a lot of conversation online. But the conversation has been far more heated than I imagined, where several residents are expressing very strong concerns about this project, even projecting that it’s wasteful and irresponsible for the City to attempt such a pilot project.
I don’t know what it is about Ottawa, or City Hall. But there is such a culture of risk-aversion here. It permeates everything, pun intended. I’ve seen it since my first day in office: a reluctance to try new things, or to even contemplate trying new things.
Listen, if everything in Ottawa was running smoothly, then toeing the line on the status quo would be a solid recommendation. But take a look around, friends. Are things running smoothly? Do you not think Ottawa could stand to benefit from some innovation?
In terms of permeable pavement – which I believe can and will be a useful tool in finding real, practical, cost-effective solutions to our stormwater management challenges – I wanted to share with you another jurisdiction's perspective on permeable pavement. Let’s see what New York City thinks about it. Let’s see what the State of New York thinks about it.
As I’ve mentioned before, the idea for Ottawa’s pilot project came from something I learned that New York City was doing. Our project aims to do the same thing, which is to install permeable pavement—manufactured by an Ottawa-based company called PurePave—at the road’s shoulder, which decreases the amount of run-off water that gets into the storm sewer system, which prevents the sewers from being overloaded. One exciting component of Ottawa’s pilot project is that the additional costs of the pilot are being paid for through funding by the National Research Council, and the project also includes a data collection study funded by and under the supervision of Carleton University, which will provide useful information for future projects.
Here is a summary of how New York City is looking at this technology, and at PurePave:
- Along with other major jurisdictions (including Toronto) who are increasingly looking at permeable pavement as part of a broader flood-resilience strategy, New York City has already moved beyond their initial 2024 pilot project and is investing heavily in permeable pavement as part of its long-term stormwater management and "Cloudburst" programs. NYC has constructed pilot installations in Queens and the Bronx, advanced roughly 300,000 additional linear feet into design, and is investing tens of millions of dollars in projects designed to keep millions of gallons of stormwater out of the sewer system each year.
NYC has also expanded from small-scale pilots to large-scale deployments as part of its flood-resilience strategy:
- A $32.6 million Brooklyn project includes approximately seven miles of permeable pavement and is expected to divert about 35 million gallons of stormwater annually from the storm sewer system.
- NYC recently announced an additional $95 million "Cloudburst" project that includes permeable pavement and other stormwater-management measures.
Officials with New York City's Department of Environmental Protection have been reviewing PurePave and have expressed sufficient interest in its product to advance discussions toward a potential pilot project incorporating PurePave through their research and development program.
Finally, the State of New York has confirmed that PurePave can be evaluated and approved as an equivalent porous-pavement solution where engineers demonstrate comparable stormwater performance.
In other words, I’m not the only person who is supporting this infrastructure.
While permeable pavement is not a silver bullet, it is increasingly being recognized as an effective tool to reduce runoff, relieve pressure on stormwater infrastructure, and manage rain closer to where it falls. It’s for those reasons that I’ve been working for the past two years to get it considered here in Ottawa, and I look forward to seeing what happens with our own pilot project.
In some other positive news
I’ll end with two recent items, each of which I think are a positive way to wrap this Councillor’s Message.
Last week, residents gathered in Tanglewood for the Medhurst Park Splash Pad Groundbreaking Ceremony, to celebrate the start of construction for the community's future splash pad. It was great to see so many families and children come out for the occasion, along with special guests Mayor Sutcliffe, MPP Tyler Watt, and our partners from Hydro One and the Tanglewood-Hillsdale Community Association. Thanks as well to magician Chris Pilsworth for helping make the event extra special. Construction is now underway, and we look forward to welcoming families back when the splash pad opens! Here’s a link to the event photos.
Finally, at today’s City Council meeting, I passed a motion to reduce the speed limit on Greenbank Road from 60 km/h to 50 km/h between Harrison Street and Bellman Drive.
The motion was prompted by the August 6 incident in which a vehicle crossed Greenbank Road and crashed into the front schoolyard at Knoxdale Public School. Thankfully, no children were present at the time. Since then, the OCDSB has installed protective concrete barriers and repaired the fence, while the City reviewed additional safety measures.
Importantly, and as part of my work with City staff this week, staff determined that 50 km/h is the appropriate speed limit for this corridor under the City's forthcoming Speed Zone Policy framework. This motion simply accelerates that change rather than waiting for the broader city-wide review.
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Well, that’s it for now.
I’ll see you on the other side.
Sean