Following the tragic events that took place in Fort McMurray, Alberta, the City of Ottawa is rallying together to help support the tens of thousands of residents who have been displaced by the devastating wildfires.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Ottawa Senators defenceman Chris Phillips have teamed-up to organize a fundraising event to help support residents of Fort McMurray through these extraordinarily challenging times.The fundraiser, #Ottawa4FortMac will be held on Wednesday, June 8, from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at the Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park.

Good afternoon, Kitchissippi! 

As I think most everyone knows, the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend is this weekend, and it's forecast to be a hot one! If the heat goes up to what they're expecting, it could be uncomfortable for some of the participants. The race organizers have asked us to pass on the message below asking for your help with sprinklers and hoses to cool runners and walkers as they pass.

Mizrahi Parklette Consultation

June 9 - 6:00-8:00pm at the Hintonburg Community Centre, Wellington Room

On Friday, OC announced a five-year deal with Bluesfest to charge $100,000 in return for providing free transit to ticket-holders, sponsorship recognition, the ability to leverage a further charge for line items such as supervisory staff, and revenue-sharing in any future transit sponsor deal.

Though glad the debate is behind us, and the larger public interest has been served by focusing on transit to get to the venue, I’m left wondering whether we've blown a hole in our transit event policy just a few weeks after it was published. If so, it's time to re-write it.

One of the most fascinating parts of this job is learning how the City works beneath our feet. Most of us don't think very often about the civil works and engineering that mostly just hum along.

We now have some visibility into how the MUPs and construction will work until August 2017. To help explain the changes, I've made a short video that animates some of the changes. Briefly, there are several changes and dates to keep in mind:

With apologies for the late posting (we used social media and the newsletter to spread word last week), I want to make sure everyone knows about a proposal by the Loblaws Real Estate Income Trust to develop the back of the 190 Richmond Road Superstore property. Loblaws is proposing a big new residential development, as described below. They have not yet applied for the necessary re-zonings, and I'll have a lot more information online in the next few weeks.

Ready to join Team Kitchissippi?!

I'm seeking a Councillor's assistant working at the grassroots level with resident and City stakeholders on a variety of municipal issues including transportation and the environment. The ideal candidate: