News & Announcements

21 April 2016

Media release

Protect community policing after meaningful consultation, Leiper to tell Police Services Board

A successful model of community policing may be in jeopardy as a result of changes by the Ottawa Police Service, but a new update doesn't provide enough details to know, Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper will tell the Police Services Board on April 25. At that meeting, the Board will consider a sweeping reform of how the OPS will deliver services as part of its Strategic Initiative.

We would like to extend an invite to everyone for our ribbon cutting event & community party with Mayor Watson to marking the completion of the new Field House at 29 Van Lang Private. Jeff has been working closely with the community, Dovercourt, Carlington Community Health Centre, OCH & the City to make this building a reality and we are ready to celebrate its completion! It will be a vibrant community event complete with a BBQ lunch, bouncy castle & other fun surprises. We hope to see you there!

It's time for our quarterly ward forum. This time, it's being held on April 30, from 2-5, at the Hilson Avenue Public School - 407 Hilson Avenue.

Our forums offer updates from the community groups on what they've been working on, an update from me about what's happening at City Hall, and an open format question period. I've been very pleased that these have helped open some new channels of communication between our stakeholders, and helped us get ahead of issues of concern. We'll have refreshments on hand, as always!

For a couple of months now, I've been making a 10-minute or so video version of the newsletter. Here's this week's.

Any of the documents or links I reference are in the newsletter that I've been sending out roughly weekly-ish. If you're not subscribed, get on board here.

This morning, I voted in favour of the committee recommendations this morning to allow new Private Transportation Companies (PTCs) to operate beginning this fall.

Tree loss, especially to infill, is a frequent topic of discussion in Kitchissippi. Last May, I made an inquiry of staff at the Environment Committee on which I sit to report on options for reporting to Council the number of tree removal permits being granted. I was grateful that they, instead, responded they would simply begin reporting on tree removal permits. Today, the first of those was posted to the agenda of our upcoming April 19 Environment Committee meeting.

As many residents are aware, this summer Spencer Avenue between Western and Holland will be re-built. Recently, the City hosted an open house to look at the plans. The City and my office both got an earful of feedback! While the City’s plans were for a straightforward street rehabilitation with a few intersection narrowings, residents and I were both keen to take advantage of this opportunity to address in a more substantial way cycling safety and traffic speed.

There is a renovation plan for Mahoney Park in 2017, under the Park Lifecycle Replacement Program.  The project scope includes the replacement of the playground equipment, the installation of engineered wood fibre within the playground areas to meet safety and accessibility requirements, and the addition of a bench.  The City has funding this year to undertake the conceptual design to replace the playground equipment in the park.  Construction is tentatively planned for next year pending approval of the construction funding in the 2017 City Budget.

We are pleased to report that work is getting underway for the re-development of Reid Park! We have two updates from the Senior Project Manager that we wanted to pass along. Whether you participated in the consultation sessions or are a park user, these notices are important to note:

This week, I was very pleased to co-sign a request to the City that it prioritize funding for its Pedestrian and Cycling Infrastructure plan as we apply for fuding to the new Green Infrastructure Fund. The letter is copied below. Councillor McKenney got some great press around the letter in the Ottawa Citizen - read the full story here.

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Dear Deputy City Manager John Moser,