Pipsqueaks, Leiper And Clogged Traffic: WHOPPER WATCH
“It needs to be clarified that your stated views are not Ottawa City Council policy. It is inappropriate that you would use your platform as Mayor and Board membership to advocate behind closed doors for such a regressive position. It is particularly upsetting that the Mayor of our city would advocate to reverse a real safety gain – of which we have made too few – for residents who travel by active modes.”
Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper on Mayor Mark Sutcliffe saying Queen Elizabeth Drive should be open to vehicles
Did some checking into the content of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and discovered that Leiper’s position is wrong.
You see the charter protects freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including freedom of the media. I think The Bulldog comes in under that final spot. Check out section 2(b) of the charter, oh mighty maker of Ottawa’s laws. This is something you should know. Might come in handy for the job.
But you know, there’s more. That charter is writing about all kinds of stuff such as the limitations to free speech. They include hate speech, incitement to violence, or obscenity and … oops, your agent is wrong … speaking out against the sacred cows of Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper.
Who slipped that one into the Charter when we weren’t looking?
Anyway, one wonders how Leiper passed grade-school social studies. It is not inappropriate to have a thoughtful opinion on an issue of public policy, even when Jeffy disagrees with it. Yes Jeff Bob, even when you don’t like it. And it is appropriate that the mayor of our community speaks out on issues of public policy.
Sutcliffe has knowledge on the issue. He runs down the path beside the driveway reporting that there’s nobody there. Meanwhile, your agent is an expert on the complete street of Churchill Avenue. Even during rush hour, cyclists on the $24-million thoroughfare are as rare as Speedos in February. And that’s in Leiper’s own ward, Greater Westboro, the home of white wine and wicker. Goodness, the way Leiper talks, you’d think it was the Glebe (sorry Glebinistas). TrendyTowners, you got to stop smoking the wacky weed before you vote.
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Furthermore councillor, Sutcliffe knows his sports so he knows biking. He used to broadcast the Ottawa Lynx games from a booth atop whatever they call the city-owned Coventry Road baseball park. I was the only person in the stands. Actually, quite intimate evenings. Just me and Mark. Who knew he’d turn out so well?
You see Sutcliffe is concerned about traffic in the community. Take this weekend for example. The National Capital Commission has started closing the Champlain Bridge at 8 p.m. so make sure you get that barbecue finished early so you can line-up on the roads leading to that major span. Now you could take the Portage Bridge except that Bluesfest blocked the Ottawa River parkway. And then there’s the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge which eventually takes you to the east side of the blocked Highway 417 Bronson interchange stopping traffic on the busiest transportation corridor in Ottawa. You could try to take the parkway west except the city’s moribund light-rail construction has narrowed that thoroughfare to one lane in places. And then there’s the Alexandra Bridge which takes you to the aforementioned Queensway and the parkway which are jammed.
The Chaudiere Bridge is closed. It was supposed to be open in May, then July and no it’s September. Obviously it is opening on NCC Standard Time … you know, the time it takes to redevelop LeBreton Flats. For more information on this traffic mess, click here for Donna Mulvihill or here for lil’ ole me. Or just stay home. Eastenders, you’re on your own.
You know, councillor, there are people who need to get to work … like you. Some of them come from far away or are barely able to walk let alone bike. They could take light rail but the extensions are woefully late and getting later and the line that is operating often doesn’t operate. That’s courtesy of a council that features the great leader from Kitchissippi who provided noversight on the train issue. Let the staff and mayor handle it. How did that work out? Same as Lansdowne, perhaps?
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You wonder why city staff and the public don’t respect council? Too many pipsqueaks. Exhibit A for the prosecution is the member from the great ward of Kitchissippi. Oz’s Scarecrow to be sure.
Try this, councillor. When I was young, I was very quiet (and shy, if you can believe it) so people thought I was really smart. Then I came to Ottawa and opened my mouth. Damn, the secret was out … not as smart as we thought. Councillor, you might try my youthful stance. Quiet guys … you never know what they’re about.
So councillor, don’t tell the mayor what he is saying is “inappropriate”. ‘Inappropriate’ is your stewardship, and your colleagues stewardship, of the light-rail fiasco. ‘Inappropriate’ is you telling the mayor he should not speak out on public issues. And Your Worship, if it bothers the councillor, do it twice.
And councillor, do the people of Kitchissippi ward and the city a favour. Don’t run again. You’re not up to the job.
But enough of this. Your agent is calling the MP about extricating the Leiper clause from the Charter of Rights.
Ken Gray
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– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
Never let the evidence get in the way of an ideology. Just a suggestion for a motto for the NCC and Jumpin’ Jeff Leiper.
A non-dysfunctional organization would do a follow up study on a policy, especially on one that was instituted on a whim (i.e. no study) during an atypical time (the pandemic). Not some freebie on-line survey with loaded questions (a standard with Ottawa’s Traffic Mismanagement team). A study involving, say three, human beings armed with folding lawn chairs, umbrellas, sun screen and water in reusable bottles. Over the course of many days, at different hours of the day. With clipboards and clickers to count the tens of people per hour who use the stretch of roadway for “active transportation”. Exclude those who cross the QED to/from the canal side pathway. You know, a legitimate study.
Oh, and no pre-announcement of which days the humans will be on site. We wouldn’t want certain self interest groups to organize a spontaneous 2.5 km bike rally.
What a strange fellow. Councillor Leiper is concerned about a relatively low traffic volume road, and yet voted for opening Wellington. A good number of people wanted to keep Wellington closed so why the conflicting views Councillor? Certainly Wellington would have been the bigger feather in the ‘keep it for cyclists’ cap?
ron:
Or they could throw out policies and deal with each situation separately, evaluate the facts and act accordingly.
I had a managing editor who you used to go nuts if you asked him what the newspaper’s policy was for this and that.
Policies are for people who don’t think, he said. They are used to fall back on to be safe. My policy on policies is to not have them. Thanks Murray Burt. Good advice.
As a perturbed excellent publisher once scolded me … we pay you Gray good money to make decisions, so make one. And make sure you are right.
I studiously avoid policy. I studiously avoid bureaucracy. I studiously avoid sloth. I studiously study new ideas, trying them out and if they work, I keep them. If they don’t work, I abandon them. Things I don’t understand I stay away from. Things that can cause catastrophic failure I don’t go near.
I studiously and repeatedly review the content, the technology and new methods. Sometimes I blow up the website trying to improve the technology. I should stop doing that.
I try to maximize my strengths and do the best I can with my weaknesses.
I don’t always succeed but I try.
And that’s how The Bulldog has just less than 100,000 page views a week and has survived for 14 years in a media industry that is collapsing.
The motivation. I care and I think The Bulldog is valuable for the community and for my well-being (it’s fun). When it stops being that or I physically can’t do it anymore, The Bulldog ends.
No other city, to the best of my knowledge has this kind of resource for local news and opinion. The City of Ottawa would do well to take advantage of this innovation to get their message out.
But instead, they have tried to hinder it as best they can. I wish they would look at it as a community asset and stop being petty about it.
cheers
kgray
Two things really stand out for me in this Bulldog article, I need a new dictionary for the new terminology: Jeff Bob, Glebinistas, TrendyTowners and the best one of all NCC Standard Time. Where can I get a hard copy of this dictionary?
Secondly having a personal option at Ottawa City Hall is a bad thing.
With the latest LRT breakdown Jeff Leiper’s comments sound more ridiculous… if that’s possible.
So is Councillor Leiper saying that it is a) inappropriate for Sutcliffe to take positions at the NCC behind closed doors or b) it is inappropriate for Sutcliffe take positions with which Leiper disagrees? Councillor Leiper seems to forget that his mayoralty candidate lost the election, partially because of their stand on massively ramping up bicycle lanes and that Sutcliffe won for not taking that position. Perhaps Leiper is still smarting because his attempt to permanently close Byron to car traffic failed with its primary support coming from those who wanted to live on a private street (while not giving up their own cars) and that for most of the time, you could have shot a cannon down Byron and never have come close to even grazing a cyclist.