Housing: Arguments Over the Wallack Block

[dewline]

Well, that's what I'm calling it, since that art supply shop called it home since before my family moved here to Ottawa in 1985.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/plan-to-revamp-downtown-ottawa-block-sparks-debate-over-intensification-1.7172642

Not saying that the new housing shouldn't be built. I do think the current tenants deserve better-arranged supports, for starters, though...

Comments

[blogcutter]

It's a complex problem, isn't it? Interestingly enough, I was down there yesterday for a medical appointment and was struck by what a wasteland that area has become. I see it as a much broader issue than a debate of the unhoused/housing-precarious/low-income folks vs. the City Hall & intensification proponents & big bad developers. We seem unable to come to grips with what we want our downtown, or indeed our city to be. I think a lot of it comes down to the problems of a city that's come of age prioritizing the private automobile (speaking as a non-driver who has never taken driver ed.)

[dewline]

I think you might have a point worth heeding there.

[dianora]

Amalgamation was great for the Ottawa township but not so great for the Ottawa city.