Ottawa Vision:
A Bold Vision for the City of Ottawa
"Utilizing the Levers of Municipal Government to Lead and Inspire, and to Protect the Public Interest"

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Ottawa Vision Summary

A City Ombudsman, a new Fairness Initiative
Ratepayers, businesses, citizens can sometimes find dealing with governments a bewildering and labyrinthian process. This can lead to frustration and disappointment in seeing their needs and concerns met. The new Mayor should call for a study of the legislative and municipal requirements to create a new position of City Ombudsman to champion the needs of our citizens as they deal with policies and procedures and the people of the new City government. The Ombudsman would be a non-partisan and distinguished individual who would ensure that no one 'falls through the cracks' at City Hall. The purpose is to stop 'buck passing' and let people know where responsibility lies and that the 'buck stops here'.

Conservation Land Trust
We, the citizens of the new City of Ottawa, are exceedingly fortunate to live in an area that has natural beauty in abundance. We live close to rivers, hills, woods, lakes and valleys that bring unsurpassed beauty to the region. The next Mayor of the new City of Ottawa must make the preservation of our natural environment a priority. Too often, landowners who share this vision are not presented with the opportunity to preserve their property in its natural condition. The next Mayor should investigate with the Province of Ontario and other stakeholders the possibility of creating a new Ottawa Land Conservation Trust. The Trust would be able to take ownership of sensitive lands and environmentally important lands by way of tax-receiptable gifting, either by deed of these lands or transfer of future development rights. We should give our landholders the opportunity to make such gifts to preserve key natural areas for future generations.

Youth Jobs Hotline, a new Employment Initiative
Giving young people a stake in their society makes for better citizens and less vandalism and drug use. The new City should establish a 'Jobs Hotline' and corresponding web site that connects and links young people to employment opportunities. Companies and other job providers that participate would be recognized as part of Mayor Claudette's Honour Roll! Giving young people a stake in our society means that they have found a job.

A Parking Code of Ethics
Managing on-street parking in a way that balances the needs of our stakeholders is one of the most challenging responsibilities of the new City. The Mayor of the new City together with Council should adopt a new "Customers' Bill of Rights" and "Parking Officers' Bill of Rights" to bring common sense and a degree of civility to this area of civic life. Customers have the right to question their tickets; they have the right to expect courteous treatment. Parking Officers must also have the right to equitable treatment and they must have the right to use good judgment and a degree of flexibility in carrying out their duties. This could include the implementation of a warning system both for residents and tourists. Parking enforcement, like much of the law, requires that officers solve community problems in an effective manner keeping in mind the rights of all parties.

Order of Ottawa, Recognizing Excellence in our Community
Ottawa has become a more diverse place to live and work as its metropolitan population has climbed to over one million. Ottawa is like an old eastern seaboard city- it has history and architectural richness in its downtown core. It has interesting people doing interesting things throughout the area. It is important to let our residents and visitors to our city know that people in this community are working, achieving and performing at the highest levels. To that end, the New Mayor of the new City of Ottawa should encourage the formation of a Committee to study the implementation of a new "Order of Ottawa" to be granted to distinguished residents of the National Capital Region, nominated by the citizens of our City, who excel in the arts, in business, in research, in education, in medicine, in social work, volunteerism, community service, public service and other areas of human endeavour. Our citizens must do great things and be seen to be doing great things as an inspiration for the young people in our community.

A New Museum of Municipal History
A proposal has come forward to create a new Canadian War Museum, a worthwhile and important initiative. There remains the matter of dealing with the facility left behind on one of the key arteries in the Nation's Capital- Sussex Drive. One possible after use for this facility that deserves further study is to use the building to host a new Museum of Municipal History and City Archives. Retaining and celebrating the history and traditions of our diverse area is an important goal for us and for future generations. Raising private funding for the retrofit of the building and securing tenure in this location deserves more study and consultation.

Inter-Governmental Relations
Ottawa is the forgotten city. Whether it is the Ottawa Senators paying for their own interchange or the need to build a bigger, better Ottawa Congress Centre, an argument can be made that Ottawa has not received its fair share of Provincial or Federal government support for municipalities in Canada. Our efforts to obtain fair treatment are best served by raising our profile with the Province and with the Federal government. We need to do a better job informing Provincial and Federal representatives about the hard charging local economy- Ottawa is becoming one of the engines powering the national economy. Our public needs are growing in tandem too. We need to create an office within the new City government that is responsible for intergovernmental affairs, for raising our profile there and for ensuring that new Provincial and Federal initiatives do not bypass our City. The new City should be focused on securing support for our growing infrastructure requirements.

Ottawa Foundation For Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is an under-researched area. We need to better understand this increasingly important source of new jobs and economic activity and we need to encourage even more start-ups in our new City. The new Mayor of the new City of Ottawa must work with the key stakeholders to explore the possibility of creating a new Foundation For Entrepreneurship. Stakeholders might include local entrepreneurs, local research institutes, venture capital sources, angel investors, potential donors and sponsors, local universities and colleges, the Community Foundation of Ottawa, government representatives and local award programs. The mandate of the new foundation might combine co-ordination of local research in this field together with providing direct access to seed capital for and grants to start-ups. Creating new opportunities and new options is a key objective in the new economy that is emerging in the new City of Ottawa.

Access to Capital
In the new economy, can there be anything more important to budding entrepreneurs than fast access to capital? In an internet world where years are measured in months, speed of execution in implementation of the business plan is of paramount importance. To that end, the new Mayor of the New City of Ottawa should meet with representatives of the CDNX and Nasdaq exchanges about setting up offices in Canada's Capital City to provide early stage companies with fast, convenient access to their staff and expertise. There can be no greater pool of capital, nor a greater reward for entrepreneurs and investors than access to public markets. We want our entrepreneurs in our booming technology industry to be able to 'walk down the street' to talk with responsible representatives of respected public exchanges. City-state economies that have ready access to capital are more dynamic and have higher growth rates. Ottawa's economy has passed the point at which urban growth becomes self- sustaining. Nevertheless, our economy requires nurturing. Access to public markets must be a top priority of the next administration. At the same time, micro-capital loans have proven to be a formidable job-creating machine in LDCs and there is no reason that 'bootstrap' entrepreneurs, those that 'start with nothing (or practically nothing), can't be a big part of making Ottawa a more exciting, vibrant city-state. Some of the best, most durable businesses are created from a modest startup. Why not 'borrow' a lesson from LDCs and start a micro-capital lending program: one that uses loan circles (where usually three or more entrepreneurs co-guarantee each other) or other formulae that have proven successful elsewhere?

Producing More Affordable Housing
Our local economy is booming, home prices are increasing, municipalities and townships are receiving up to $20,000 per home for development charges and yet waiting lists for co-op housing and affordable units just keep getting longer. Not everyone is able to find a high paying job with multiple benefits and stock options. Often these people cannot find affordable housing close to where they work causing more pressure for urban sprawl, more traffic and more environmental degradation. The new Mayor of the New City of Ottawa needs to take action in this area. The new Mayor must work with staff and Council to expand and extend existing programs to rebate to eligible co-op housing projects and not-for-profit housing projects the entire amount of development charges for each new affordable rental unit they build. The new Mayor must work with staff and Council to ensure that development charges policies are carefully reviewed to ensure that small homes, townhomes, apartments, duplexes, 'granny flats' and other forms of affordable housing are not discriminated against with taxes that are higher than warranted. Taxes are too high! The new Mayor of the new City of Ottawa needs to work with Council to make smart, effective, efficient and targeted changes to municipal taxes where warranted.

One New City, One Local Area Telephone Code
As the new City of Ottawa takes its place on the world stage, there are many infrastructure investments to be made. One less noticed but important initiative that the new Mayor of the new City of Ottawa should undertake is to meet with senior representatives of the local service provider for telephone service to ensure that the National Capital Region ¾ both the new City of Ottawa and the Outaouais ¾ are accessible using one local area code. From Kanata to Barrhaven, Aylmer and Gatineau to Cumberland and Osgoode and Rideau, all of our citizens and businesses should be able to communicate through local calls.

Arts and Festivals
The celebration of the arts is an enriching force in any city. We are greatly fortunate in Ottawa to have national institutions such as the National Arts Centre and nationally significant festivals as well such as the Tulip Festival, Winterlude and the celebration of Canada Day. We are fortunate too to have other initiatives such as the National Capital Dragonboat Festival, which has become the largest of its kind in Canada, and the H.O.P.E. Beach Volley Ball Tournament, reported to be the largest beach volley ball tournament anywhere. The new City of Ottawa might, for example, look at the Mural Arts Program (MAP) of the City of Philadelphia. This program has produced over 1,200 outdoor murals performed by local artists, street kids and graffiti artists as well as renowned national artists. The result has been a reduction in vandalism and an involvement of young people in the betterment of their community. It has supported work by artists and co-opted kids in trouble. Mural arts tours are now a staple of that city. A MAP initiative in this city could be sponsor supported to provide the necessary resources. We have shown that it is possible to have fun and do good works too. The new Mayor of the new City of Ottawa and Council should encourage the formation of more festivals in all of our seasons to celebrate our culture and our heritage and to help the less fortunate as well. The new City should examine the possibility of providing a small amount of seed capital to help start such new endeavours.

$3,500 Cash Rebate for Every First-Time Homebuyer in the New City of Ottawa
In the last five years, many thousands of new homes have been built in Ottawa, and yet the issue of providing adequate affordable housing has hardly been addressed. For example, while over 3,000 new homes have been constructed in Kanata in the past five years, just 24 rental units have been built, reports Kanata's local newspaper. Waiting lists for affordable housing are growing longer as house prices continue to rise in our booming local economy. While this is happy news for existing homeowners, what effect has it had on first-time home buyers, who are disproportionately a younger group? In addition to rising prices, our cities and townships have been levying development charges on each new home that can amount to as much as $20,000 per dwelling. Taxes are too high. The new Mayor of the new City of Ottawa must look at redressing this situation by calling for amendment to City by-laws and provincial laws to permit a cash rebate of up to $3,500 (or 50% of the development charge, whichever is less) to all first-time home buyers in the new City of Ottawa.

Low Income Seniors Program
The new City should adopt a new 'Low Income Seniors Program' that would allow low income seniors in single family homes to: a) defer on an interest free basis some portion of assessment related property tax increases greater than $100 and b) obtain an annual, interest free loan of up to $500 from the City. Both the tax deferral and loan would be secured by a lien on the property and would have to be repaid at the time of transfer of the property. Giving people the ability to stay in their communities longer is good for our society and good for our new City.

The New Ottawa Committee of 100, a new Mentoring Initiative
New businesses starting up in our community, whether they are indigenous to the area or have recently come here to join our fast-growing local economy, may need some guidance on issues both mundane and strategic. The next Mayor of the new City of Ottawa should call on key people in private industry and the public service to serve on the New Ottawa Committee of 100. The purpose of the Committee is to enable entrepreneurs and managers of businesses starting up in Ottawa to reach out for advice from distinguished individuals who can cut through red tape and efficiently plug people into our local network of experts. Members of the Committee would agree to serve on a voluntary basis for two years. They would make themselves personally available for consultation through e-mail and by telephone. Representatives from the technology industry, life sciences, the arts, real estate and many other sectors would participate. We must welcome new entrepreneurs and new businesses to our great City and we must actively help them get off to a fast start.

Downtown Revitalization, a new Urban Initiative
Since at least the early 1980s, Public Works Canada, the National Capital Commission, the Sparks Street BIA, Ottawa City Council and others have worried about how to revive the Sparks Street Pedestrian Mall. Brave attempts have been made; their results have been subject intense debate. This is part of a wider debate throughout North America about the role of and the importance of a healthy downtown core. The debate is over; the results are in and new urbanist principles suggest that a safe, vibrant, efficient downtown core is important for the new city-state economies of North America. Downtown provides for the maximum mixing together of people and ideas; arts and culture thrive there. Part of the solution to a healthy downtown core is surely to have more people living there. The new Mayor and Council should give priority to projects that bring more people to our downtown core. They should continue and expand the program of a previous administration to exempt downtown residential units from development charges since there is no, or limited, additional municipal infrastructure required to support this type of development. They should look at the possibility of providing density bonuses for mixed-use projects that include a residential component for co-op apartments, condominiums, hotels, apartment-hotels, apartments and townhome units. More people living downtown means a greater demand for restaurants, theatres, shops, offices and all the services a city can provide. It makes people feel safer and they are safer. A healthy downtown is the engine that can provide additional power to the rest of a metropolitan area.

Ottawa Youth Brigade, a new Social Initiative
Volunteerism is an important part of the social and economic mix of a city. The new Mayor of the new City of Ottawa and Council should study the possibility of creating a new Ottawa Youth Brigade to take on worthwhile projects in our area. Projects such as planting an additional 1,009,000 trees in our new City before the end of 2010 would benefit from this initiative. It would give young people a start and a stake in their society; they would learn from responsible adults what that word 'responsibility' means.

Expanded Ottawa Congress Centre, another new Urban Initiative
Conventions and convention goers bring a lot with them- they add to our local economy and they raise public awareness of our city in the rest of North America when they return home. First time visitors to our City are amazed at our range of activities and facilities as well as our architectural heritage. Conventioneers take that home with them and they return as tourists with their families. We need bigger convention facilities in Ottawa; this has been amply demonstrated by a plethora of studies. Expanding the Ottawa Congress Centre by adding vertically to the existing facility makes best use of an important downtown site and the established infrastructure. We need to convince the Federal and Provincial governments that they should provide financial support for this important piece of infrastructure for the new City of Ottawa. In addition to obtaining a fair share of Federal and Provincial infrastructure support, we need to find adequate revenue streams to support the operations of an expanded Ottawa Congress Center as well as to provide some local support for and local contribution to its capital costs. Innovative financial solutions are needed to maximize revenues from the expanded Ottawa Congress Centre and to derive funding from identifying those who benefit from this initiative. This could involve co-operation between the Province and the City in instituting a dedicated parking surcharge or a restaurant and hotel tax. However, the new Mayor of the New City of Ottawa should ensure that local taxpayers do not subsidize new mega projects. Even though we have entered an era of greater prosperity, we should not abandon the careful management of the public purse. We need innovative, bootstrap financial solutions that do not involve using local taxpayer funds. We need new thinking and new solutions to old problems.

New High School for the Technological Arts, a new centre-for-excellence initiative
The new City of Ottawa's most valuable resource is our youth. We need schools that challenge our young people and prepare them for the future. We are proud to be home to one of Canada's leading high schools ¾ Canterbury High School for the Performing Arts. Young people from across the new City eagerly apply to Canterbury each year, where they shoulder a full course load and add many hours of instruction each week in an area of the performing arts. Super-charged young people are challenged to the maximum at Canterbury, and one wonders why we cannot have more schools like this. The next Mayor of the new City of Ottawa should call on the Ottawa School Board to establish a new High School for the Technological Arts, where our young people can study the software development, multimedia, Web design and more in addition to the normal high school curriculum. Let us imagine thousands of young people applying their creative energies to expand their abilities in this fast-moving high tech world.

Letting The World Know About Us, a new marketing initiative
Ottawa is one of the best kept secrets in the world. We are global leaders in Internet Protocol Technology, telecommunications and fibre optics; we have world class facilites such as the Corel Centre and the National Arts Centre; we have a wonderful natural heritage. Yet if one were to walk down Sparks Street, one might be hard pressed to find many people, residents of our City too, who would know that the population of the National Capital Region is over one million and that there are almost two million people within a one hour drive of the Parliamentary precinct. Cities at one million make all things possible for their young people; they can stay in Ottawa now and do world-class things now. We need to communicate this to our young people. The new Mayor of the City of Ottawa and Council must make it a priority to address this deficiency. Sponsored signs at key locations inside the National Capital Region and at important ingress and egress points to the City must let residents and visitors know that they are entering a dynamic, new City with a population of more than one million.

Keeping up with Demand
Ottawa is growing faster than any other major city in Canada. It is a singular achievement, one that we all have contributed to. We need to be ahead of the curve and we need to get ahead of the curve in so far as providing adequate infrastructure to accommodate this growth. We do not want to be caught short again in the provision of adequate land, transportation and services for housing and commercial development such as what we have recently witnessed in the west end and other parts of our City. This is not a west versus east or south versus west debate. We are all one City now and proud of it. When we allow a shortage of land to develop, we cause the price of land to increase. This means higher home prices and higher costs for industry too. If we do not provide a land inventory for industry, their choice often is not east versus west, or south versus east, it is Raleigh Durham, Santa Clara County and Boston versus Ottawa. The new City of Ottawa must ensure that an adequate inventory of lands are available for residential and commercial projects while at the same time ensuring that sound principles of urban design and planning as well as environmental protection are followed. We must be able to meet the needs for the next million square foot R & D research park from an established inventory of approved lands; remembering that speed is paramount in the new economy, we must bring municipal processes up to par.

New Housing for Seniors
We hear calls for new solutions for the housing crisis for seniors that involve government money and more taxpayers' dollars. But do seniors want to be forced into vertical warehouses and ghettos for the old? Many want to be able to stay in their established neighborhoods, close to family and friends, landmarks they know and neighborhoods they love. The new Mayor of the new City of Ottawa should direct staff to explore the possibility of exempting "granny flats" from City-imposed development charges. Granny flats allow seniors to downsize in their existing neighborhood and yet live an independent lifestyle.
Communities that wish to include provision for granny flats in their neighborhoods will be encouraged to come forward to Council with their proposals. Densification of our cities, making better use of existing infrastructure and reducing urban sprawl will make the new City of Ottawa a better place to live at no additional cost to the taxpayer.

Preserving and Extending our Urban Forest
Throughout history, cities and nations that denuded their lands of trees became impoverished. By contrast, villages, towns and cities that preserved and extended their urban forests enjoyed above-average economic levels of well-being and a better environment for their residents, children and visitors. The new Mayor of the new City of Ottawa should call for private grants, both corporate and individual, to fund a new initiative supported by City staff to add 1,009,000 new trees, one for each resident of the National Capital Region, to our urban forest before the year 2010.

Towards a Web-Enabled New City of Ottawa
Ottawa has become one of the leading centers for innovation in North America. We are on the radar screens of major corporations in key areas of the international economy. The next Mayor of the new City of Ottawa must ensure that a majority of services of the new City are offered and available on line no later than the end of 2002. Building permits, realty tax payments, all levies and fees, zoning and planning rules, City by-laws, licenses, ice rentals, indeed, all manner of City services should be web-enabled. Recently, Ottawa has received the Smart Capital award, in part, because our citizens have demonstrated their commitment to an on-line world. We need to ensure that broadband access is available to our residents everywhere in the new City. The new Mayor of the new City of Ottawa needs to strike a committee to encourage high capacity wiring of our City. We must become the most internet-proficient City in North America, closely connecting via the web our children, our residents, ratepayers and businesses to a booming, global information space, as well as to City services and personnel.

Government Investment
Not that many years ago, local governments understood that the fiscal impact on their capital and operating budgets from investment in public infrastructure was overwhelmingly positive. For that reason, municipalities were quick to invest in roads, sewers, transit and many other types of municipal infrastructure in the early post war period.

Public goods like a bridge, where marginal costs are zero and tolls don't really make economic sense, that have higher levels of utilization also deliver higher levels of public utility.

Investments in public goods meant greater growth and higher property values-- a double whammy on a city's bottom line from more homes and businesses paying property taxes and higher property values increasing tax receipts too.

Somehow, municipalities have forgotten their role in the development of their cities-- they have introduced 'at-no-cost-rules' to require that all costs be paid by 'developers'; they have become excessively timid in undertaking the fundamental provision of public infrastructure to the detriment of their cities.

Relatively small investments by cities in their infrastructure can have hugely disporportionate effects on development. The 'free rider' problem often prevents the private sector from putting in that bridge or sewer line or road or transit station-- who wants to be first and take that risk? Of course, no matter how much analysis is done on new any new investment, there is always a risk. At the end of the day, it isn't the numbers that tell the whole story-- every investment, both public and private is ultimately an act of faith. City building is an optimistic endeavour. This is also an appropriate role for public sector investment; locally elected officials need to have courage and an understanding of government's proper role in their local economy.

Nothing is more important to the econommic future of Ottawa than the expansion of OC Transpo through the commercialization and expansion of Light Rail. We need to turn OCTranspo into a public authority so that they can obtain access to capital markets for expansion of light rail and the transitway.

Team Ottawa
All human progress has come about from the sharing of skills and the pooling of resources. Many of the above endeavours are designed to give the citizens of Ottawa the feeling that they belong to something bigger than themselves-- Team Ottawa, if you will. Go to a new festival, plant a tree, be a mentor, get the Order of Ottawa, ride light rail with your fellow residents, use high speed web access to communicate with your City, keep your elders close to home, let the world know about us, revitalise our high schools, get young people invloved in community building, have a world class meeting place for folks, bring more people to live downtown, encouraging our entrepreneurs, help first time home buyers, conserve open space and sensitive lands, remember our history, produce affordable housing and take care of the less advantaged-- all this adds up to a plan to create a special place where people can flourish in the 21st Century in a team environment.

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