CITY ADDRESSING ROAD SAFETY FOR PUPILS, COUNCILLOR SAYS
And Orléans’ ServiceOntario outlet has an automated door, thanks to donor
Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Keith Egli is helping quell worries of some Craig Henry parents, anxious over their children’s safety as they won’t be bused any longer to St. John XXIII Elementary School on Knoxdale Road.
Egli says new signage, on Craig Henry Drive, on the east and west approaches to Bertona Street, should be in place shortly. Posted signs will warn motorists of pedestrians and painted markings on the roadway will advise drivers of the 40 km/h speed limit. Crossing lines are also being considered for the intersection.
As reported last week, the parents are upset with the Ottawa School Transportation Authority and its position that a 1.5-kilometre trek for Grade 1 and 2 pupils to St. John is not considered hazardous. Their main concern is the uncontrolled intersection at Craig Henry and Bertona, where 300 vehicles go by in the morning as children are on their way to school.
Most parents found out in late June that bus service was being cut because their homes were about 100 metres less to school than the 1.6-kilometre provincial minimum for Grade 1-8 students, and walk zones were not deemed hazardous.
Painting speed limits on roads “actually makes people slow down,” says Egli. “It does work.”
The intersection will also be among those evaluated over the upcoming school year to determine which ones need school crossing guards.
“It would be great” if the intersection qualified, but Egli cautioned parents about being overly optimistic.
ORLÉANS SERVICEONTARIO GETS AUTOMATED DOOR
Stephane Parisien got action after a local company saw his story in July over his frustration that the ServiceOntario franchise in Orléans did not have an automated door for disabled people like him.
J.J. Normandeau, operations manager of CFS Canada — a supplier and installer of automatic door openers — says his company offered to install an automatic opener at no charge at the ServiceOntario outlet on St. Joseph Boulevard. The cost would normally be about $2,000.
Franchise operator Denis Brault accepted. He said in July he had plans to install an automatic door opener, but couldn’t say when.
Normandeau says his company wants to raise awareness “for the incredible need for barrier-free accessibility” in the Ottawa area.
“When I read this article, I cannot say I was surprised,” Normandeau wrote in an email to the Citizen. “Many public areas in Ottawa are severely lacking barrier-free automation. I believe the major contributing factor is the lack of education and the understanding from able-bodied individuals who simply do not have a need nor requirement for an automatic opening.”
According to Brault, not having an automated door was never an issue before Parisien’s complaint, as clients and staff were always opening the door for people using wheelchairs or walkers — and still do. But, he said, “it’s good to have, it’s a plus.”
Parisien praised CFS Canada for its offer.
Though all publicly operated ServiceOntario outlets are barrier free, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005) does not require independent providers to have automated doors. The Ontario building code also requires automated doors for most new buildings, but the Orléans outlet was an existing building when Brault moved to the premises in 2012.
DRIVEN OUT BY BED BUGS, EX-TENANT SEEKS COMPENSATION
Bed bugs finally chased Emily Burton from her Chinatown apartment where she had lived for the last 23 years. Now, the federal public servant is going after her former landlord to try to recover losses related to her ordeal.
Burton, who recently moved into a downtown condominium she purchased over the summer, is taking the landlord, a non-profit housing co-operative, to Ontario’s Landlord Tenant Board, claiming $12,000 in costs. The landlord confirmed in July that it had her Somerset Street West apartment sprayed by a pest-control company on various occasions since March because infestations continued.
Frustrated, Burton paid a Montreal-based extermination company $3,000 in June to use a heat-treatment system to attack the bugs. But they came back. The exterminator blamed insecticide spraying by the landlord in adjacent units on both sides of Burton’s apartment for driving new infestations into her home. The landlord blamed the exterminator for driving the bugs into those apartments with his heat-treatment system, which prompted the need to spray those units. That, in turn, had surviving bugs scurrying back to Burton’s place, the landlord said.
Burton, who said the infestations left her an emotional wreck, had to take time off work, occasionally stayed in hotels, boarded her cats and placed personal belongings in storage. She threw out some of her belongings over fears she could transport the bed bugs to her new home. Burton also stayed temporarily with her parents, who live near Pembroke, forcing long commutes.
“I went back to the old place five or six times to pack stuff up,” she writes in an email. “On a couple of occasions while packing up, I got bitten.”
The hearing before the Landlord Tenant Board is scheduled for Sept. 23.
(There’s a) lack of ... understanding from able-bodied individuals who simply do not have a need for an automatic opening.