Oh the places you’ll be, dear Ottawa, as we build and connect with one another
As I sit and type, I can look out the window of my 1930s-era home and see a construction project well underway. Across the street, another project is planned. Further down, another. New developments are everywhere, it seems, and my community is changing. And it’s not just my neighbourhood. Our city is changing, growing and transforming.
But I guess it always has been.
So, dear Ottawa, what will you become? What will this city — my home — be like as I age? What will you be like when I’m gone?
When I think of our future, I envision a city of communities, connected and working together — each with something to offer; each with a personality.
Soon, we’ll get light rail. Trains will run under our city, bringing us closer together. We have plans to go further, to Kanata, to Orléans, to the airport. We’ll get there … and we’ll keep going.
We’ll go underneath Bank Street, connecting Billings Bridge and Lansdowne Park to downtown and the Confederation Line. We’ll let more and more Ottawans access more and more of our city.
Just about everywhere I go in this city, I see people out and enjoying their community. From the Cumberland Museum to Andrew Haydon Park, there are activities and events and people sharing in the fun. This is our future. We’re going to build a city where we worry less about finding parking and more about meeting people.
We’ll build better public spaces, a new library and pedestrian plazas. We’ll know that the best thing about Ottawa is each other.
But too often, I look around Ottawa and I see people and places left behind, ignored and disparaged. In recent years, the city’s budget has been balanced on the backs of the poor. We underfund transit. We cut social services. We’re a wealthy city that hasn’t always been willing to act like it.
In 2015, we briefly lost the Odawa Native Friendship Centre. We rely on organizations such as the Ottawa Mission, Centre 454, Centretown Emergency Food Centre, the Sandy Hill Laundry Co-op and the Shepherds of Good Hope to provide services to our neighbours in need.
They are constantly in need of funds, and philanthropy only goes so far. We need to do better, Ottawa, and we will.
In the decades to come, we will build more affordable housing. We will embark on projects such as Regent Park in Toronto or the East Lake redevelopment in Atlanta. We’ll do this because we’ll realize that the neglect suffered by people in areas such as Albion-Heatherington or Caldwell Heights isn’t acceptable.
We have smart, caring people in this city. We’re going to do great things for our neglected communities.
Just look at the St. Charles Market. Vanier has suffered from a bad reputation ever since I was playing street hockey on Dublin Avenue. The redevelopment of St. Charles is just the first step in helping Vanier reach its potential.
Thirty years ago, who would have thought Hintonburg would become the thriving hot spot it is now? Sixty years ago, who would have thought the Glebe would shake off its identity as a working-class neighbourhood?
In 20, 30 and 50 years, which areas will be the next great neighbourhoods? I can’t wait to see what becomes of LeBreton Flats, the Oblates Lands, Tunney’s Pasture and Canadian Forces Base Rockliffe. We’ve had a taste of what we can do with such projects, but now we will learn from our mistakes.
And what will become of Lansdowne? It hasn’t lived up to its promises, and though it’s better than what was there before, that’s not a standard Ottawa will tolerate much longer. Lansdowne will change and grow. It must.
And as it does, it will gain more and more memories, holding much of the lore of Ottawa sports. We’ll reminisce about the Miracle on Bank Street, the ageless magic of Henry Burris, and of victories and championships still to come.
Lansdowne will sing. Our memories of joy, frivolity and, yes, heartache will live on in that stadium.
More than anything, Ottawa, I look forward to a time when politicians and pundits no longer worry about being “world class”. We’re a great a city with great potential. There’s no reason for this inferiority complex.
I look forward to a time in which we all ignore folks who have clearly never gone to anything like the Arboretum Festival or Glowfair, our farmers’ markets or the Fringe Festival who still cling to the tired cliché of the “city that fun forgot.” We’re more than this, Ottawa.
We’re people working together, hosting events, starting businesses, helping charities and nurturing communities. We’re going to keep doing this, and we’re going to keep making our home better, more hospitable and more caring.
Soon, Ottawa, there will be a time when those working for a better city won’t be dismissed as complainers. Those who love all this city is and all this city can be will be lauded.
I’m excited for our future, Ottawa, even if I won’t get to see all you become. I see kids at the park and walking to school and playing in the street. Who will they be? What will they do? Is that the future mayor at a skate park? A local celebrity swimming in the wading pool?
So hang on, Ottawa. Over the coming decades, you’re going to change, grow and thrive. And I couldn’t be prouder of you.