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  #1  
Old Posted Feb 14, 2010, 1:19 PM
rakerman rakerman is offline
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Ottawa: vibrant, exciting and alive?

Some discussion appeared in the Tribeca thread.

I just want to make one point: there are lots of great cities - New York, Chicago, Vancouver, London, Paris... almost all of which have an urban core where owning or even renting is far far outside the reach of the average person. Just to give a couple examples, 550 square feet in New York's Upper West Side goes for about U$500k (after property prices took a major hit when the US real estate bubble burst).

New York Times - Got 500,000 Clams? The City Is Your Oyster - February 11, 2010

And in an extreme example, 178 square feet is renting for U$944 in Brooklyn

New York Times - A Roomy 178 Square Feet - February 10, 2010

The point being: Ottawa is not perfect, but it's getting better every year and, for the moment, you can still afford to buy and rent downtown. The food scene is good, the outdoorsy exercise scene is good, there's the NAC and the museums... I dream of subways, trams and better urban green space, but at least you can still affordably enjoy the many positives that Ottawa has. In other words, ever more "vibrant, exciting and alive" is coming, but be aware, it comes at a price. I won't say we're exactly fortunate that Ottawa neglected its downtown for so many years, but it has allowed a lot of new urbanites to move (and own) downtown who could never afford to live in the core of other major cities.

Last edited by rakerman; Feb 14, 2010 at 1:22 PM. Reason: clarified
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  #2  
Old Posted Feb 14, 2010, 8:18 PM
adam-machiavelli adam-machiavelli is offline
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So true.
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  #3  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 2:55 AM
eternallyme eternallyme is offline
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Remember that Ottawa cannot be compared well to those cities as it is nowhere near them in population. Best comparison would be to its peer cities (metro areas of 1 to 2 million).
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  #4  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 3:55 AM
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Kitchissippi Kitchissippi is offline
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It takes a skate up and down the canal on a day like today to realize this city is like no other. We often take for granted what is unique about Ottawa by saying we have less of what other cities have.
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  #5  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 1:06 PM
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Your point is true,but affordability does not equal exciting.I've lived in Ottawa for almost two decades and enjoying living here.The city has improved but I would never use exciting to describe it.Even my children urned for the excitement and opportunity of the big cities and have since moved away.
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  #6  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 3:44 PM
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Ottawa is going in the right direction for sure.

The last few times I have been to Europe, I found myself comparing the cultural offerings and urban "scene" of European cities of similar size to Ottawa and much to my surprise Ottawa I believe can hold its own quite well.

It is not quite on the level of capitals like Dublin, Stockholm or Copenhagen, but then again these capitals are a tad larger than Ottawa and also happen to be the largest cities in their country.

But certainly, Ottawa has nothing to be ashamed of compared to many metros of 1.3 million or so in France, Germany or other countries.

In my humble opinion.
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  #7  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 4:23 PM
Ottawan Ottawan is offline
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Anyone who says Ottawa is not exciting has missed the following events:

-Any bar downtown any time the Sens are in the playoffs (but especially our great 2007 run)
-Any Canada Day ever.
-Bluesfest
-Political Protests (anyone remember the Tamils last year? This may not be everyone's idea of 'fun', but it is exciting, and unique to Ottawa)

These are just the prime examples. Lesser events occur all the time that to me make Ottawa quite exciting, including:

-Ottawa Fringe Festival
-Jazz Fest
-The Ottawa Writers' Festival
-The Ottawa Annimation Festival
-Fireworks competition at Casino du Lac Leamy
-Skating on the Canal

There are a number of one-off events recently that were exciting:

-The IIHF World Junior Championships (2009)
-NHL Draft (2008)
-FIFA World Cup 2006 (I worked in the ByWard Market, and after EVERY game, Canadians who were ethnically from the winning team would parade through the area in their cars waving flags and honking horns. When Italy won, I, along with thousands of others, went to Preston Street, which was flooded with people and a party like no other. THAT was exciting)
-The Grey Cup (2004)

Employment Sectors:

-Constantly up or down, start-up companies & major takeovers (ex: IBM-Cognos), booms and busts (Nortel), local business celebrities (Copelands, Terrence Matthews, Rod Bryden), our tech sector actually is very exciting to watch.
-Politics: if you mix with the right people, there actually is alot of excitment to the political intrigue and buzz of the city.

And this is without me harping on the cultural & educational institutions or outdoor activities that do make Ottawa unique.
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  #8  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 4:53 PM
p_xavier p_xavier is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ottawan View Post
Anyone who says Ottawa is not exciting has missed the following events:

-Any bar downtown any time the Sens are in the playoffs (but especially our great 2007 run)
-Any Canada Day ever.
-Bluesfest
-Political Protests (anyone remember the Tamils last year? This may not be everyone's idea of 'fun', but it is exciting, and unique to Ottawa)

And this is without me harping on the cultural & educational institutions or outdoor activities that do make Ottawa unique.
The problem is that none of these activities are unique to Ottawa...

- Any bar downtown any time the Habs or Leafs win (and you don't have to drive 45 minutes for the enjoyment!)
- Any St-Jean-Baptiste day
...

To be a great city, Ottawa will need to get a) a real transportation system (that means deemed as essential service and be actually rapid) b) a vivid cultural scene (a few plays and shows is not that) c) unique restaurants (that is one that is definitely getting there) d) rid of public servants e) more immigrants
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  #9  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 5:04 PM
Ottawan Ottawan is offline
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Originally Posted by d_jeffrey View Post
The problem is that none of these activities are unique to Ottawa...

- Any bar downtown any time the Habs or Leafs win (and you don't have to drive 45 minutes for the enjoyment!)
- Any St-Jean-Baptiste day
...

To be a great city, Ottawa will need to get a) a real transportation system (that means deemed as essential service and be actually rapid) b) a vivid cultural scene (a few plays and shows is not that) c) unique restaurants (that is one that is definitely getting there) d) rid of public servants e) more immigrants
Of course there are many things Ottawa needs, and I am hoping it will get, so that it can become a great(er) city. In fact, I agree with almost every item on your list (the exceptions are b - we have quite a vivid cultural scene, and changing d to "diversify the economy", because public servants are in many ways a great thing to have, it is just their dominance that is a problem).

That said, I think it needs to be emphasized that this place has alot of potential, is currently on the track to becoming more urban and acquiring more of a 'big city' feel, but already IS EXCITING in it's own right. Does it have to be more exciting than every other place in order to hold this title? No. But should it be derided as boring when it's anything but? NO.

Also, the 300,000 to 500,000 people downtown every Canada Day is entirely unique to Ottawa.

Last edited by Ottawan; Feb 15, 2010 at 5:19 PM.
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  #10  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 6:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by d_jeffrey View Post
To be a great city, Ottawa will need to get a) a real transportation system (that means deemed as essential service and be actually rapid)
Just being the devil's advocate here, but aren't there some great cities in the world that don't have this... yet are still great metropolises? Los Angeles, maybe?
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  #11  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 6:53 PM
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I think both d jeffrey and Ottawan are right in their own way.

What d jeffrey is saying though, is that one can point out a whole bunch of punctual events for any city. But what makes a city truly appear vibrant is if it has a decent amount of people out and about every night of the year.

Sure, Lillehammer was a hopping place during the 1994 Olympics, but what about the rest of the time? St-Tite, Quebec hosts 500,000 people during its "Festival Western" but during the other 51 weeks of the year it is a sleepy little town of 4,000 people.

What makes so many of the world's great cities interesting is the fact that one can venture out tonight, Monday, Feb. 15, 2010 (or any other night of the year for that matter), with nothing special going on in town, yet still find some semblance of public life going on. Even if it is just people out shopping, having dinner, having a drink, lovers strolling arm in arm, etc.
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  #12  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 8:47 PM
p_xavier p_xavier is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
Just being the devil's advocate here, but aren't there some great cities in the world that don't have this... yet are still great metropolises? Los Angeles, maybe?
Isn't Los Angeles named one of the worst cities for traffic and transit, and many issues related to this?

Transit is good for the "bohemian" crowd, which is mostly the creative class. These are the people that bring you your plays, bars and other activities, but are usually too poor to own a car.
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  #13  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 9:08 PM
reidjr reidjr is offline
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d_jeffrey
So let me get this right ottawa needs more shows by the way we have more then a few.Then you say we need to get rid of rid of public servants more immigrants i would like you to explain why and how.
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  #14  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 9:29 PM
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Originally Posted by d_jeffrey View Post
Isn't Los Angeles named one of the worst cities for traffic and transit, and many issues related to this?
Indeed, but that doesn't (necessarily) make it less of a vibrant, global city:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city

Most global cities (even the most attractive ones) have their fair share of problems, many of which are huge in fact.
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  #15  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 11:54 PM
rakerman rakerman is offline
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Originally Posted by eternallyme View Post
Remember that Ottawa cannot be compared well to those cities as it is nowhere near them in population. Best comparison would be to its peer cities (metro areas of 1 to 2 million).
Two obvious comparables are Copenhagen and Stockholm, and I'm afraid Ottawa doesn't do particularly well in comparison I have to say, as both have subways (although the Copenhagen metro system is pretty small) and functional (albeit expensive) city cores with lots of green space. Ottawa actually could learn a lot from Copenhagen which spent 40 years deliberately transforming itself.
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  #16  
Old Posted Feb 15, 2010, 11:56 PM
rakerman rakerman is offline
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Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
Just being the devil's advocate here, but aren't there some great cities in the world that don't have this... yet are still great metropolises? Los Angeles, maybe?
LA actually has a fairly functional transit system, that carries over a million riders per weekday

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpo...in_Los_Angeles

It includes buses and a subway (yes, LA has a subway).

It's just that in newer car-based US cities, public transit = poor, car = rich, so people basically ignore public transit if they can.
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  #17  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2010, 12:19 AM
p_xavier p_xavier is offline
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Originally Posted by reidjr View Post
d_jeffrey
So let me get this right ottawa needs more shows by the way we have more then a few.Then you say we need to get rid of rid of public servants more immigrants i would like you to explain why and how.
Ottawa is being compared to other cities. The Acajack example were that even small villages have more than a few shows. Hell, my 2000 people hometown has 5 festivals in the summer. Being a vibrant city means diverse activities around the clock, year long.

As an example, I had much difficulty to find open restaurants in Ottawa after 11pm.

For public servants, the risk aversion produces a mass of slobs, thinking mostly the same, and producing a culture of mediocrity. (I'm one too so, I can complain genuinely)

Immigrants bring culture, different ways of thoughts, different experiences that is reflected on the various activities of the city. The "bohemian-chics" have the same effect on a city. There is also the problem of not having a "low class" in Ottawa. That means a class of manufacturers, industry workers, biology fields. It's still mostly IT and Government.

Toronto is now a vibrant city, the only alpha-city in Canada. Montréal was at a time, but still suffers from its ethnic cleansing of the 70s.
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  #18  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2010, 12:19 AM
p_xavier p_xavier is offline
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Originally Posted by rakerman View Post
Two obvious comparables are Copenhagen and Stockholm, and I'm afraid Ottawa doesn't do particularly well in comparison I have to say, as both have subways (although the Copenhagen metro system is pretty small) and functional (albeit expensive) city cores with lots of green space. Ottawa actually could learn a lot from Copenhagen which spent 40 years deliberately transforming itself.
When I studied the ottawa transit situation, Oslo was also a city that came to mind.
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  #19  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2010, 12:20 AM
p_xavier p_xavier is offline
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Originally Posted by rakerman View Post
LA actually has a fairly functional transit system, that carries over a million riders per weekday

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpo...in_Los_Angeles

It includes buses and a subway (yes, LA has a subway).

It's just that in newer car-based US cities, public transit = poor, car = rich, so people basically ignore public transit if they can.
The LA subway basically got us the movie Speed. But yes, LA is still a massive suburb, with transit used by mexicans.


From the link, I found it interesting to see what makes it a alpha-city:
Quote:
Infrastructural characteristics

- Advanced transportation system that includes several highways and/or a large mass transit network offering multiple modes of transportation (rapid transit, light rail, regional rail, ferry, or bus).
- Extensive and popular[22] mass transit systems, prominent rail usage,[23] road vehicle usage,[24] major seaports[25]
- A major international airport that serves as an established hub for several international airlines, for example, London. Airports with significant passenger traffic and international passengers traffic.[26] or cargo movements
- An advanced communications infrastructure on which modern trans-national corporations rely, such as fiberoptics, Wi-Fi networks, cellular phone services, and other high-speed lines of communications. For example, Seoul and Tokyo are known as the digital and technology capitals of the world.
- Health facilities; e.g. hospitals, medical laboratories
- Prominent skylines/skyscrapers (for example Shanghai or Hong Kong)[27]
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  #20  
Old Posted Feb 16, 2010, 12:46 AM
m0nkyman m0nkyman is offline
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Ottawa has a vibrant Theatre scene, ranging from the student run Sock'n'Buskin to major productions at the NAC, GCTC and productions by Orpheus, not to mention a quite respectable Fringe Festival.

Musically there is and has been a wide variety of musical scenes from classical to punk. We have venues ranging from the NAC and Centrepointe Theatre at the classical end to stages at places like Mavericks, Babylon, and Zaphods, not to mention the major festivals and big shows at Scotiabank Place.

Foodwise, we have a phenomenal scene, with places like Atelier, Beckta, Juniper, Allium, Absinthe, Whalesbone, Benitz, Black Cat, Jaks etc.

We have a relatively vibrant visual arts scene as well, from SAW Gallery and the Basement Artists Collective to Enriched Bread Artists, along with some very nice galleries, not to mention the amazing collection at the National Gallery.

We have access to Gatineau Park, two rivers, and have a wide variety of sports facilities if you want more active activities, and if you want to watch sports, we have the Senators.

The idea that Ottawa is boring is laughable.
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