July 9 Newsletter 2021

July 9, 2021 newsletter from Rawlson King, City Councillor for Rideau-Rockcliffe.

It is shaping up to be a nice summer and I want to extend my well wishes to all residents within Rideau-Rockcliffe ward. Pop-up clinics are continuing to be scheduled into the summer as they are needed, with the next one near our ward occurring on July 13th at St. Joseph Adult High School. Further, I would like to draw attention to the upcoming public engagement sessions to help shape the City’s anti-racism work. I encourage all residents to participate, especially those of diverse backgrounds. Finally, I will be participating once again in Sunshine on Beechwood on Saturday July 10th from 11am-1pm hosted by the Vanier BIA. There will be a photo scavenger hunt, free e-scooter rides, a roaming musician, and samples and freebies. The goal is to thank customers for supporting their local businesses through this long hard pandemic. I hope to see you there! 

Priority neighbourhood pop-up clinics scheduled for July 9 to July 18 

Friday, July 9 – 12:15 pm to 7 pm 

• CF Rideau Centre (Hudson’s Bay) - 73 Rideau Street (George Street Entrance) 

Saturday July 10 - 9:45 am to 4:30 pm 

• Howard Darwin (Merivale) Arena – 1765 Merivale Road  

Sunday, July 11 – 9:45 am to 4:30 pm  
and Monday, July 12 – 12:15 pm to 7 pm 

• AMA Community Centre – 1216 Hunt Club Road 

Tuesday, July 13 – 12:15 pm to 7 pm 

• St. Joseph Adult High School - 330 Lajoie St. 

Wednesday, July 14 to Friday, July 16 – 12:15 pm to 7 pm  

• Bayshore Shopping Centre – 100 Bayshore Drive (North Entrance #2)  

Saturday July 17 - 9:45 am to 4:30 pm 

• Ridgemont High School – 2597 Alta Vista Drive  

Sunday, July 18 – 9:45 am to 4:30 pm  

• AMA Community Centre – 1216 Hunt Club Road  

First doses – Any priority neighbourhood resident aged 12 and older at the time of vaccination. 

Second doses – Any priority neighbourhood resident aged 12 and older can get a second dose at least 28 days after receiving an mRNA vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer), and at least eight weeks after receiving AstraZeneca vaccine. 

Help shape the City’s anti-racism work 

This month, the City of Ottawa’s Anti-Racism Secretariat will launch the second phase of its engagement plan with new virtual public engagement sessions to give residents further opportunities to help shape its work. The sessions will be hosted with all residents, including diverse communities of racialized residents, to plan targeted actions and inform the six priority areas identified in past consultations – employment equity, housing, governance, economic development, health outcomes and youth development – all of which are within the City’s jurisdiction. 

To register for one of the following engagement sessions, please visit the secretariat’s Engage Ottawa page: 

• Community stakeholders (community leaders, community organizations, research experts): Tuesday, July 27 from 2 to 4 pm 
• All resident action planning session: Wednesday, July 28 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm 
• Racialized resident action planning session: Thursday, July 29 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm 

• Racialized women and gender diverse persons: Wednesday, August 4 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm 
• Racialized youth: Thursday, August 5 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm 
• Racialized persons with disabilities: Monday, August 9 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm 
• Racialized francophones: Tuesday, August 10 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm 
• Racialized 2SLGBTQQIA+ community: Wednesday, August 11, 5:30 to 7:30 pm 

In addition, the Anti-Racism Secretariat has re-launched a survey to help determine the immediate needs within the six priority areas. The survey asks residents how the secretariat can address systemic racism, and how they would like to engage and collaborate with the secretariat toward the goal of ensuring a safe and equitable city for everyone.  

Vacant Position at Twice Upon a Time: President 

Are you passionate about reading, and about making a difference in your local community? Do you love working with others and planning creative projects to share your passions? Are you interested in making connections with other charities in Ottawa to work together to help local kids? Twice Upon a Time is looking for a new President. They are a charitable organization that gives books to children in the Ottawa area to support literacy and encourage a love of reading. 

Twice Upon a Time values the diversity of their clients, community partners, volunteers, and board members. They recognise, respect, and appreciate individual differences, and they welcome your unique contributions to make their Board stronger. While experience with charitable work and/or public speaking are assets for their new president, they also value lived experience and identity as a member of Indigenous, Black and/or People of Colour communities and/or as a Person with Disabilities, or member of other equity groups, and the ability to apply an equity and inclusion lens to services.  

Apply by July 16, 2021: https://www.volunteerottawa.ca/cgi/page.cgi/_memberlog.html?log=view&log_id=51583  

The Incredible Kidney Quest 

Support the Kidney Foundation of Canada by participating in the Incredible Kidney Quest virtual event. This new, entertaining and socially-distanced adventure will test you and your team with trivia and take you around your local community to complete a variety of photo and video missions. The event utilizes the GooseChase app. The Incredible Kidney Quest, will be available from Saturday, July 10 until Sunday, July 25. Complete it all in one day, or over several – the choice is yours! Prizes will be awarded in the categories of best team name, most creative team photo and much more! 

Register here: https://kidney.ca/kidneyquest21  

Art Call-Out! Our Ottawa Needs Public Toilets 

The GottaGo! Campaign is calling all Ottawa & Gatineau-based artists to submit work for the advocacy campaign, “Our Ottawa Needs Public Toilets”. They are looking for visual, spoken word, song, poetry or video pieces that raise awareness and advocate for improving the network of safe, clean and accessible public toilets in the National Capital Region. Artists of all ages and skill levels are welcome to submit their work! The deadline for all art submissions is September 1, 2021. Seven works will be selected and each artist will receive an honourarium of $500. The selected works will be publicly shared by the GottaGo! Campaign and their program partner, The Art House Café. 

To learn more visit http://www.ottawapublictoilets.ca/

Montreal Road Revitalization 

Please find below a two-week update (July 5 to July 16) for the Montreal Road Revitalization project. The work activities planned for the next two weeks will include: 

• Vanier Parkway/Montreal Road intersection – Work is continuing in the southeast quadrant of the intersection, including the east side of Vanier Parkway, where curbs and sidewalks have been recently poured. The work includes installing underground traffic signal infrastructure, concrete curbs, sidewalks and building the road box. The majority of the work will be complete by mid-July, however installation of new traffic signals and sections of the cycle tracks will continue until the end of the month. The east-west crosswalks continue to be closed.  

• Vanier Parkway to Marier Avenue – The northside concrete curb, base asphalt and sidewalk are complete for this section. Crews will start construction of the cycle track that is located between the sidewalk and curb this week. Next week, crews will start excavation on the south side of Montreal Road at Vanier Parkway, proceeding east towards Marier Avenue. Work is progressing at the Emond Street plaza and access concerns to business adjacent to Emond have been addressed. 

• Marier Avenue to Lafontaine Avenue – Installation of underground utility work and soil cells continues, as well as construction of the north side of the road from Marier Avenue to Bradley Avenue. Construction on Bradley Avenue is underway with arrangements being made to maintain parking and access to the Wabano Centre. Installation of concrete forms for the sidewalk has started in areas along this section of Montreal Road. Pedestrian access to businesses is being maintained at all times. 

• Lafontaine Avenue to de l’Église Street – Underground sewer and catch basin work continues. The north side of Montreal Road between Lafontaine Avenue and Cantin Street has been paved. Ducharme Boulevard is closed, and work is ongoing through the intersection.  

• De l’Église Street to St. Laurent Boulevard – Excavations for new sanitary sewers have started at de l’Église Street and the intersection remains closed.   

• Continued traffic impacts and road closures – Montreal Road is reduced to one westbound lane from Vanier Parkway to St. Laurent Boulevard. All streets are closed between Vanier Parkway and St. Laurent Boulevard, with the exception of Olmstead Street, Marier Avenue, Granville Street/Lafontaine Avenue and Cantin Street.  

• Month-long construction outlook – Underground and aboveground work between Vanier Parkway and St. Laurent Boulevard will continue, with the majority of work occurring on the north side of Montreal Road. Excavation work will start shortly on the south side of Montreal Road at Vanier Parkway, proceeding east towards Marier Avenue. Work in the southeast quadrant of the Montreal Road/Vanier Parkway intersection has been extended until the end of July. Excavations and construction of the Emond Street and Bradley Avenue public spaces will continue.  

• Hydro update – Hydro Ottawa is tentatively scheduled to remove the overhead power lines between North River Road and Vanier Parkway in mid to late July. Before the hydro poles can be removed, new streetlights must be installed and energized. Complete removal of the poles will occur towards the end of the summer.