Ottawa: vibrant, exciting and alive?

[rodionx]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

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)

Trouble at work?

Copenhagen and Stockholm are government towns par excellence and don't suffer from it. Call centre employees and telecom engineers aren't necessarily any more vibrant than public servants, anyway. The main benefit of greater economic diversity is that we would have more big corporate sponsors to get behind things like the concert hall.

[Vaillant]

Originally Posted by Ottawan

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.

yes it is boring!

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by m0nkyman

The idea that Ottawa is boring is laughable.

Boringer should be the term. Sure, the city has a lot of positive coming on, but a LOT has still to be done.


Just for the next two weeks, Montréal en Lumières:

http://www.montrealenlumiere.com/accueil_en.aspx

On the 27th, metro, stores, museums etc. are open all night.

For the nuit blanche, the metro becomes the biggest art gallery.


So yes, while you got the NAC for your couple of shows, you have about 100 activities in ONE night, in the middle of the night to be exact.


As a young professional who can live where he wants, which one looks better?

[AuxTown]

Comparing Ottawa to Montreal, a city that is 2.5x it's size and considered the cultural mecca of Canada, is ridiculous. People from Montreal seem to have this smug attitude that everything in their hometown is so much deeper and artsy than anywhere else in Canada. And, while they may hold the title in Canada currently as a centre of high culture, it's attitudes like that which will allow other growing centres like Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver (even Winnipeg and Saskatoon) to make up ground and even surpass them in terms of quality cultural events/festivals.

Ottawa is not boring and anyone who says that it is is welcome to move away in order to leave me a little more space at Bluesfest, Sens games, trendy clubs/bars, outdoor activity venues (Gatineau Park, Rideau Canal, Experimental Farm), and the many arts festivals/shows that this city has to offer. You can have Queue de Cheval (terribly overrated) and I'll dine at one of the many upandcoming and underrated restaurants that Ottawa has to offer (see above posts).

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by rakerman

there are lots of great cities - New York, Chicago, Vancouver, London, Paris...

Vancouver pales in comparison with others on this list.. it is so different than the others. It's much much smaller, quieter and is an outdoors city while the other are true bustling megapolises which function 24hours a day.

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

On the 27th, metro, stores, museums etc. are open all night.

Most events are over at 3am. Some stores in some areas are open. The metro runs but not on its full schedule.

Having said that, Nuits Blanches -- a copy of the event in Paris -- is a lot of fun and i believe is the city's best festival, despite not being original to the city.

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

As a young professional who can live where he wants, which one looks better?

Depends what you want. Everyone is different and want different things. I chose Montreal only to realise it was too small for what I wanted to do. I loved it at first but eventually got bored of the attitude "we're the best and the rest is shit". Montreal can't walk the talk. Period. It doens't mean it's dull, it means it talks too much.

I actually spent a few years going back and forth and enjoyed both for various reasons. I love the Market in Ottawa and love Outremont and le Plateau in Montreal. I love that aspect of Ott where everything is yet to be done and always appreciated the vibrant cultural scene in Mtl.

I work in the creative field (was employed in downtown Montreal as a creative director for an ad agency). Had to act and dress a certain way and had to listen to bullshit (rara) talk of epic proportions. Montrealers secretelly want to be Parisians or New Yorkers.

Meanwhile, my colleagues in NY acted normally, dressed as they wished and just got down to business. They would praise Manhattan for its sense of freedom, that it accepted all and cherished all.

True world class cities don't need to try so hard. They don;t need a ton of pre-packaged/sponsored to death events and certainly don't need to continuously justify themselves. New Yorkers don't try to make Bostonians or Washingtonians feel like crap.

Generally speaking Ottawans are just tired of being bashed on. Yes, Montreal is fun. But it is small and quiet compared to NY and Tokyo.

Ottawa is good and getting better and most of all, it doesn't pretend to be anything else but Ottawa. It doesn't yearn to be a copy of Paris, New York, Houston or Hong Kong.

[cityguy]

That's the problem,Ottawa needs a city hall with a vision,helping to make our city more dynamic.

[reidjr]

Again where does this idea of the nac only having a few shows come from.Lets take the nac just to start there are shows on almost every night some of the biggest names on broadway come to the nac.Then look around the city at all the other thearters each year there is a ton of shows in ottawa.Then look at all the festivals and some very good ones.Then look at the museums/concerts etc i can go on the fact is ottawa is anything but lacking in this area.Then out side of the arts and culture scene there is aslo tons to do from walking along the cabnal to shopping and again the list goes on.Is ottawa perfect no but it is not a bad city and is not nearly as boring as some make it out to be.Ottawa is not trying to cope any other city the same can not be said about citys like toronto.Who yes some would say are trying to copy ny in return making things worse.

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

True world class cities don't need to try so hard. They don;t need a ton of pre-packaged/sponsored to death events and certainly don't need to continuously justify themselves. New Yorkers don't try to make Bostonians or Washingtonians feel like crap.

Generally speaking Ottawans are just tired of being bashed on. Yes, Montreal is fun. But it is small and quiet compared to NY and Tokyo.

Ottawa is good and getting better and most of all, it doesn't pretend to be anything else but Ottawa. It doesn't yearn to be a copy of Paris, New York, Houston or Hong Kong.

Words of wisdom right there, brother. I couldn't agree with you more. I am a big fan of Montreal and Toronto for what they are and I work on making my city what I want it to be. Before the age of instant communications and constant comparisons, this would've been the normal way to city-build. Get inspired elsewhere and adapt the best ideas to your own place.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey

Ottawa is not boring and anyone who says that it is is welcome to move away in order to leave me a little more space at Bluesfest, Sens games, trendy clubs/bars, outdoor activity venues (Gatineau Park, Rideau Canal, Experimental Farm), and the many arts festivals/shows that this city has to offer. You can have Queue de Cheval (terribly overrated) and I'll dine at one of the many upandcoming and underrated restaurants that Ottawa has to offer (see above posts).

Well I already moved! And you think there are no upcoming restaurants elsewhere? It's not about the population, it's about what to do with it. Many european cities has lower population Ottawa, and have a better live.

I would say that Toronto has stolen the title of cultural capital of Canada.

I say that Ottawa is become more interesting, but it is no way a unique or even fun city. First of all, its people should say "hi" when meeting people on the sidewalks, like "friendly" cities. This was one of my biggest pet peeve there.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

Vancouver pales in comparison with others on this list.. it is so different than the others. It's much much smaller, quieter and is an outdoors city while the other are true bustling megapolises which function 24hours a day.



Most events are over at 3am. Some stores in some areas are open. The metro runs but not on its full schedule.

Having said that, Nuits Blanches -- a copy of the event in Paris -- is a lot of fun and i believe is the city's best festival, despite not being original to the city.


Depends what you want. Everyone is different and want different things. I chose Montreal only to realise it was too small for what I wanted to do. I loved it at first but eventually got bored of the attitude "we're the best and the rest is shit". Montreal can't walk the talk. Period. It doens't mean it's dull, it means it talks too much.

I actually spent a few years going back and forth and enjoyed both for various reasons. I love the Market in Ottawa and love Outremont and le Plateau in Montreal. I love that aspect of Ott where everything is yet to be done and always appreciated the vibrant cultural scene in Mtl.

I work in the creative field (was employed in downtown Montreal as a creative director for an ad agency). Had to act and dress a certain way and had to listen to bullshit (rara) talk of epic proportions. Montrealers secretelly want to be Parisians or New Yorkers.

Meanwhile, my colleagues in NY acted normally, dressed as they wished and just got down to business. They would praise Manhattan for its sense of freedom, that it accepted all and cherished all.

True world class cities don't need to try so hard. They don;t need a ton of pre-packaged/sponsored to death events and certainly don't need to continuously justify themselves. New Yorkers don't try to make Bostonians or Washingtonians feel like crap.

Generally speaking Ottawans are just tired of being bashed on. Yes, Montreal is fun. But it is small and quiet compared to NY and Tokyo.

Ottawa is good and getting better and most of all, it doesn't pretend to be anything else but Ottawa. It doesn't yearn to be a copy of Paris, New York, Houston or Hong Kong.

For sure, Toronto also started the festival. But like someone mentioned, there is nothing wrong about doing some other city is doing, if it works here and is sucessful.

But I agree with the Paris comment, every city likes to emulate another. Toronto wants to be New York. I would definitely move to Paris given the opportunity, though the extreme socialism there could bother me.

I didn't like London much, and loathed Brussels.


Ottawa gets bashed because of people that don't want the city to come a big city. A big city has infrastructures, activities, mindset of what it makes it a big city.


Small city mindset:
I will never get over the fact that there was no transit service for nearly two months.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rakerman

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).

LA's rapid transit system is a joke for a city of its size. Montreal and Toronto have more than twice as many stations despite the fact that LA is three to five times their size.

[reidjr]

Ottawa is a good city and is fun some times i think people are just expecting way to much.There is alot of events in ottawa and at times i think some even in ottawa don't know how much there really is to do in the city.I am not sure if i would go as far sas saying toronto is cultural capital you look at the events and shows in ottawa and toronto and its very close.

[Acajack]

On "cultural capitals", I'd be interested in hearing people's definitions of the term...

[reidjr]

Originally Posted by Acajack

On "cultural capitals", I'd be interested in hearing people's definitions of the term...

For me its means a alot of plays/concerts/festivals as well as museums and things such as galla's.

[lrt's friend]

I will say that Ottawa has come a long, long way in my lifetime. We shouldn't be comparing ourselves with cities 3 or 10 times our size. We shouldn't be comparing ourselves with cities from a completely different culture. We need Ottawa to become more vibrant in its own way. We need to encourage creative people to bring us new exciting things to do. We need to keep the NIMBYs under reasonable control so that they don't kill every new idea. We need a City Council with a little vision and willingness to get things done. We have to make sure that our politicians don't make terrible decisions such as the Rideau Street bus mall that we are still recovering from after 25 years. We need a rapid transit system that actually reaches the people instead of a bunch of highway interchanges. This is absolutely necessary in order to draw people downtown and make it the lively place that everybody wants.

[flar]

I think Ottawa is a little bland. I don't think it lacks anything in particular. Ottawa has a lot to offer but there is something unexciting about it. It probably has something to do with the demographics, lots of highly educated, highly technical and bureaucratic people, maybe too high a proportion of introverts. Very private, suburban and upper middle class in ethos. The public service definitely perpetuates a culture of mediocrity.

The thing I've noticed the most is Ottawa audiences are somewhat less than enthusiastic, reflectling the general lack of exuberance found here. I was at the NAC a couple weeks ago and the applause at the end of the show was at the same ho-hum level for each performer. There should have been a roar for the standouts. Same when I went to a comedy club a few weeks ago, barely anyone laughing, no one was drinking. Same at Bluesfest and other music shows.

Ottawa is also a very unfriendly city, people tend to be very polite but it is very difficult to strike up a conversation or get to know anyone. If you do manage to talk to someone, odds are the next time you see the person they don't even say hi.

[rakerman]

I think a lot of the discussion is between "things to do" (which there are lots of) and "thriving nightlife / people on the streets". I find there are lots of things to do in Ottawa, but it is true that things are quiet late at night. That's in part culture, in part density, in part geography. It's cold and dark on a winter's night, not many people live in the downtown core, and we don't have a cafe culture.

Thanks mostly to developers chasing the condo boom we are going to get more people in the core. I still would like to see some strong, sustained intentions from City Hall and Ottawa citizens to follow the Copenhagen model and push year after year after year for a more pedestrian friendly, cafe-culture city. It took Copenhagen 40 years of sustained, concerted effort to get where they are now. Ottawa should be doing the same.

Meanwhile, I enjoy what Ottawa has to offer.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by reidjr

For me its means a alot of plays/concerts/festivals as well as museums and things such as galla's.

It's all that, but it is also in my opinion a question of having original* literary, theatre, dance, music, film, television, etc. production scenes.

*By original, I mean creating your own stuff, not just local productions of Samuel Beckett or Neil Simon that you can see a few times a year in every single burg of more than 10,000 people across the anglosphere.

[bikegypsy]

[QUOTE=d_jeffrey;4702116]
Ottawa gets bashed because of people that don't want the city to come a big city. A big city has infrastructures, activities, mindset of what it makes it a big city.


Small city mindset:
QUOTE]

So true. It will happen whether they like it or not. It's a slow grueling process for this city, like a series of trips to the dentist. Nothing is ever easy in Ott, but it will get there.

[flar]

I don't think this has anyting to do with "things to do" or "nightlife/people on the streets". Ottawa has all that, its more the ethos/culture of the city that leads to claims of "boring" or "bland."

IMO, Downtown Ottawa being dead is not really a problem, the financial district in Toronto is dead after hours too. Afterall, it is offices. Bank, Elgin and the Market are vibrant, healthy areas radiating from downtown. Sparks could use a lift, but every street can't be hopping.