Ideas/Visions for Ottawa, Canada's Capital

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by defishel

What's the Holt plan?

Holt Plan

[Dado]

I've been reading the Holt Plan (I had only ever looked at the general diagrams and plans before, not the text), and it's striking how much text is occupied at the beginning on making the case for a federal district outside provincial control and under federal control.

They even remark that the governance probably should not be like that of Washington, D.C.

[S-Man]

And there we go ladies and gentlemen. The fuddy duddy mentality. Why dream big? Hey, it's good enough. It'll do.

So inspirational.

Yes, it seems you DO know how to troll.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Fatty McButterpants

And there we go ladies and gentlemen. The fuddy duddy mentality. Why dream big? Hey, it's good enough. It'll do.

So inspirational.

I'm sorry, but removing a perfectly good and attractive bridge, solely for the sake of replacing it with something newer, does not inspire me.

[NOWINYOW]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

I'm sorry, but removing a perfectly good and attractive bridge, solely for the sake of replacing it with something newer, does not inspire me.

The Alexandra bridge is my favourite bridge in Ottawa. It's certainly the one bridge with the most character.

While I'm old enough to have faint memories of arriving/departing from the old Union Station, I don't remember ever having crossed that bridge by train. I do remember traveling along the now Col By drive route, though.

[Urbanarchit]

While some may complain about people in this thread talking about sidewalks and trees in the city and how they don't think they have any place in this thread, we've spent quite a long time discussing why the Alexandra Bridge should not be torn down (actually, more arguing with Fatt McButterpants).

Could we return to imagining what we'd like to do to or see done in this city?

[J.OT13]

2026 Winter Olympics with the new Rideau Subway Line connecting the MacDonald-Cartier Intl' airport to the Olympic village at the old Rockliffe Base (via Bank, Rideau, Montreal of course).

[1overcosc]

^ Does Ottawa have sufficient geography to be a winter Olympics host? I don't think the Gatineau Hills are big enough for all the skiing events, and the Laurentians are a bit far away.

[citydwlr]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

^ Does Ottawa have sufficient geography to be a winter Olympics host? I don't think the Gatineau Hills are big enough for all the skiing events, and the Laurentians are a bit far away.

We could always build a mountain


[ The Berg: The biggest artificial mountain in the world via ArchDaily]

Or we can do something like these concepts for Winter Olympics in New York City:
Is That a Luge in Times Square? via New York Times

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

2026 Winter Olympics with the new Rideau Subway Line connecting the MacDonald-Cartier Intl' airport to the Olympic village at the old Rockliffe Base (via Bank, Rideau, Montreal of course).

One of my main concerns with the Olympics is how countries try to push all over their visible problems, like poverty and drug problems and housing problems or "wild" dogs, away from the events so that when people come they don't see the city of host country as having many serious social or health problems. They also tend to expropriate lands to build stadia and sports facilities that are only used for that even and then aren't used ever again - often to sit and rot.

I'll try to find it, but I found a sad story about an elderly man in Japan who was evicted from his home because Japan was getting ready to host the 1964 Olympics and wanted to build the famous stadium that isn't used much. However now that they have the 2020 Olympics, they're not reusing the old facilities, but are trying to build new ones, coincidentally evicting him again because where he is now living is right where they want to put the new facilities.

I don't know if it would be in Ottawa's best interest as a city to get into the Olympics business. Personally, I would be reluctant to support the Olympics in Ottawa, but if they were using some brownfield that was fallow (it could be LeBreton or Rockcliffe Airport or something) where they didn't have to evict people or cause any big problems, but designed the venue well enough and like an urban neighbourhood (with proper buildings to be converted into private residences after) and with retail and other things to continue to have people living and shopping there after, where it seamlessly fits in with the city. That the sporting facilities are given over to the city and athletes to use for sporting recreation and training - all of this much unlike what seems to have been done in other countries, as their facilities remain underused.

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by citydwlr

We could always build a mountain


[ The Berg: The biggest artificial mountain in the world via ArchDaily]

Or we can do something like these concepts for Winter Olympics in New York City:
Is That a Luge in Times Square? via New York Times

Haha, there's an option! If we dig extensive LRT tunnel's we could copy what Montreal did when building their metro and building a mountain ( they built the artificial islands in the St. Lawrence where they would have Expo '67).

[Kitchissippi]

I don't think there are mountains in the area that are high/steep enough to hold the Super G ski slalom. Even Mont Tremblant wouldn't cut it. The only way we could host the winter olympics is if we "borrowed" some of Lake Placid's alpine venues (230 kms away). It might be interesting to have the olympics between two countries, and involve two provinces and a state to share the costs. Ottawa could have the ice venues, Gatineau (Outaouais Region) could have the cross-country skiing/snowboard venues and Lake Placid the high alpine events.

Quebec City is probably the only cohesive area in Eastern Canada that could potentially hold the games. as they have the most impressive vertical drops east of the Rockies

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

I don't think there are mountains in the area that are high/steep enough to hold the Super G ski slalom. Even Mont Tremblant wouldn't cut it. The only way we could host the winter olympics is if we "borrowed" some of Lake Placid's alpine venues (230 kms away). It might be interesting to have the olympics between two countries, and involve two provinces and a state to share the costs. Ottawa could have the ice venues, Gatineau (Outaouais Region) could have the cross-country skiing/snowboard venues and Lake Placid the high alpine events.

Quebec City is probably the only cohesive area in Eastern Canada that could potentially hold the games. as they have the most impressive vertical drops east of the Rockies

Despite my opposition to the Olympics, I think Ottawa could handle the summer Olympics better than winter.

[Aylmer]

I think that we could probably build something on the Eardley Escarpment - I'd think that it would be steep enough since it's practically vertical at some points. I don't know how long the track has to be, however.

Of course, if we had the summer Olympics, we could have boat racing in Aylmer and I could watch it from my balcony

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

If anything Ottawa should try for a Summer Olympics in a couple decades when we're larger.

[McC]

Okay, I'll bite and play fuddy duddy here: the summer Olympics cost nearly ten times as much to host as the Winter Olympics, and ramp up the white elephant factor at an equal rate; building facilities for sports no one cares about, or temporary structures that are torn down or converted to other purposes at twice the price. Ottawans would laugh any civic leader (or attempted civic leader) who proposed such a thing out of the room, and others would laugh at little boring Ottawans for doing so, but we'd be right and justified. Why anyone would want Ottawa to descend into the sewer of corruption that is attempting to win rights to host the Summer Olympics, only to then pay what would inevitably be over $20 Billion in costs for the "privilege" (in a few years' dollars) is letting vanity get in the way of sense.

Meanwhile there just aren't the mountains in this part of Canada to host a complete Winter Olympics; not even in Quebec City: http://sports.nationalpost.com/2010/...ter-games-bid/

The idea of a joint bid might be interesting and sensible; e.g., Montreal-Vermont or something. But I think it's only interesting "philosophically," it sounds like a political non-starter, therefore "impossible" in practice.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by McC

Okay, I'll bite and play fuddy duddy here: the summer Olympics cost nearly ten times as much to host as the Winter Olympics, and ramp up the white elephant factor at an equal rate; building facilities for sports no one cares about, or temporary structures that are torn down or converted to other purposes at twice the price. Ottawans would laugh any civic leader (or attempted civic leader) who proposed such a thing out of the room, and others would laugh at little boring Ottawans for doing so, but we'd be right and justified. Why anyone would want Ottawa to descend into the sewer of corruption that is attempting to win rights to host the Summer Olympics, only to then pay what would inevitably be over $20 Billion in costs for the "privilege" (in a few years' dollars) is letting vanity get in the way of sense.

Meanwhile there just aren't the mountains in this part of Canada to host a complete Winter Olympics; not even in Quebec City: http://sports.nationalpost.com/2010/...ter-games-bid/

The idea of a joint bid might be interesting and sensible; e.g., Montreal-Vermont or something. But I think it's only interesting "philosophically," it sounds like a political non-starter, therefore "impossible" in practice.

"summer Olympics cost nearly ten times as much to host as the Winter Olympics"

That's why I'm proposing the Winter Olympics; Summer would be way to big of an undertaking for Ottawa.

As for the lack of Whistler type areas, I have no clue. I can't tell between one that's up to Olympic standards, and one that's not. I could definitely understand how Mont-Cascade wouldn't be up to the task...

Political issues; no Ottawa isn't perfect and the current (if not all) Federal Government is sketchy as hell but compared to nearly all other Olympic host cities and countries, our record is pretty damn fine.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by McC

Okay, I'll bite and play fuddy duddy here: the summer Olympics cost nearly ten times as much to host as the Winter Olympics, and ramp up the white elephant factor at an equal rate; building facilities for sports no one cares about, or temporary structures that are torn down or converted to other purposes at twice the price. Ottawans would laugh any civic leader (or attempted civic leader) who proposed such a thing out of the room, and others would laugh at little boring Ottawans for doing so, but we'd be right and justified. Why anyone would want Ottawa to descend into the sewer of corruption that is attempting to win rights to host the Summer Olympics, only to then pay what would inevitably be over $20 Billion in costs for the "privilege" (in a few years' dollars) is letting vanity get in the way of sense.

Meanwhile there just aren't the mountains in this part of Canada to host a complete Winter Olympics; not even in Quebec City: http://sports.nationalpost.com/2010/...ter-games-bid/

The idea of a joint bid might be interesting and sensible; e.g., Montreal-Vermont or something. But I think it's only interesting "philosophically," it sounds like a political non-starter, therefore "impossible" in practice.

Quebec City is actually not far off with its proposed mountain (Le Massif) and it's a question of some metres missing. They might be able to extend the run, or obtain an exemption.

I've never heard of how close to the requirement Tremblant might or might not be.

[Kitchissippi]

You basically need about an 800 metre vertical drop to qualify as olympic calibre for the Super G. Quebec's Le Massif has 770 metres making an extra 30 m somehow possible. Mont Tremblant's vertical drop is only 645 metres, which is pretty well the best you'll get out of any mountain in the Laurentians

[J.OT13]

Then it's settled; we'll go all out for the 2032 Summer Olympics!!