Yay Manor Park. Fight Those Sidewalks: GRAY

Hooray for Manor Park. Boo for sidewalks.

Now in most instances, sidewalks are a good idea. As a rule, cars and pedestrians don’t mix.

In Manor Park, many residents are fighting getting sidewalks. Depending on the street, the Manor Park insurrectionists are correct.

Why?

Let me tell you a story.

Back many years ago, your agent had a home in Highland Park. My street didn’t have sidewalks. Instead there was an old thin roadway with ditches instead of curbs and storm sewers. Some would say primitive.

But many times, our old ancestors were right. Witness the revival in street grid patterns. And observe the rebirth of neighbourhood downtowns.

So too, the ditch.

In my previous neighbourhood, the tall foreheads at Ottawa City Hall thought it was time to bring Highland Park into the 21st century. Wrong-O.

You see, ditches, unlike curbs and sidewalks, absorb water. They even filter it in a traditional manner. Accordingly, less runoff flowing into the Ottawa River. Westboro Beach open more often because storm sewers, curbs and sidewalks push dog urine and feces into the river. Ditches filter and absorb it.

The street was thin because the ditches were wide. And people treated their ditches like lawns or gardens with all the fussing that comes with them. Designer ditches. They were green instead of concrete.

The thin street had no parking restrictions so cars stayed for some time. Park cars on either side of the street and vehicles couldn’t get through … particularly in the winter when the snow piled up. Cars and trucks would take different routes to get out of the neighbourhood because our street was thin with parking. Thus, despite being part of a grid pattern, very little traffic and, what traffic there was, moved slowly.

Pedestrians were safe walking down the street. No one gave it much thought. Same with the cyclists. They mixed well with pedestrians and vehicles. No $24-million complete streets. Trees flourished. Basement sump pumps worked overtime after a rain. Ditches don’t need fixing. Maintenance is lawn seed, fertilizer and a good mower.

Just smart old streets designed by bright people in the 1940s. Note to youngsters. There were smart people in the 1940s … some of them even smarter than people in 2025.

Yes, people talked in the middle of the street, so few cars showed. Others said “hi” from their front porches. Neighbours got to know each other rather than treat their fellow travellers like a disease.

Eighty years ago when these communities were built, they didn’t know they were making 15-minute neighbourhoods. Our really smart planners, with their lycra (oil-based material you know), million-dollar bikes, designer dogs and holier-than-thou attitudes, are 80 years out of style. Imagine the trendoids’ horror.

Really, the only downside to ditches was it was hard to play street hockey because there were no curbs. But at least you didn’t have to yell “car” so often to get the nets off the street. And the snow banks in winter were a great substitute for boards.

So God bless the people of Manor Park who don’t want sidewalks. On quiet residential streets you don’t need them. Mainstreets? Well that’s a whole different thing.

Good for ditches. They don’t cost much, They let trees get bigger, Your front lawn looks larger, They help keep our beaches open. Trees breathe and provide shade. They help create natural traffic-calming. Grass is better than concrete.

Your street remains leafy, beautiful, safe and environmentally friendly. The people who live there know that. The tall foreheads down at city hall don’t have a clue.

By the way, the fight to keep our ditches succeeded. It’s still a lovely old street in a precious traditional neighbourhood which the city is doing its best to intensify and destroy.

So you can’t beat ditches.

Go Manor Park go.

Ken Gray is an award-winning journalist who worked at five major Canadian newspapers. He is an educator, broadcaster and at present is the editor and founder of the 16-year-old pioneering internet publication, The Bulldog.

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