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Strong Towns Ottawa
@strongtownsottawa.ca
990 followers 210 following 230 posts
https://linktr.ee/strongtownsottawa

We're an urbanist group, focused on safer streets, giving citizens more options, and creating a more financially responsible city.

Help us support bus lanes on Bank St: strongtownsottawa.ca/Bank
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strongtownsottawa.ca
This morning, our board member Etienne Lefebvre spoke about why Bill 60 must be opposed. The bill strips away local decision-making, forces fiscally irresponsible planning, and locks our city into a dangerous, car-centric status quo.

Thank you to @bikeottawa.bsky.social and everyone who came out!
Etienne speaking at the rally in front of Ottawa city hall. People and bikes surround him. Florence from Bike Ottawa is seen in the background speaking at the rally in front of City Hall. In the foreground, you can see more people and their bikes.
November 13, 2025 at 4:53 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
With quite the busy week we forgot to post about the People's Summit we were invited to, Nov 1st. Tons of people were interested in seeing our property tax visuals, long-term city financials, hearing about bus lanes on bank, or the Ottawa Urbanism Book Club.

Such a great energy to push for better!
Speaker on stage presenting the Ottawa Urbanism Book club at the People's Summit 2025 5 members of Strong Towns Ottawa standing behind their table at the People's Summit 2025 3 members of Strong Towns Ottawa standing behind their table at the People's Summit 2025, speaking to an interested participant trying to learn more about their efforts. Group of attendees in a conference hall listening during the People's Summit 2025
November 11, 2025 at 5:42 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
With all of the talk about Lansdowne 2.0, and improving transit access to the location, this is the perfect opportunity to get fully dedicated 24/7 bus lanes, not just during "peak" hours.

Delays for buses are almost constant throughout the day.

strongtownsottawa.ca/2025/11/08/a...

#Ottawa #Bank
Tables showing delays for the 6 and 7 on Bank street in the Glebe. Showing extremely large delays outside of the "peak" hours identified by the city. These are when the parking lanes are in effect, and cause buses to have to merge in and out of the parking lane at every stop.
November 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
Lansdowne 2.0 passes 15-10.

As a group dedicated to financial transparency and smart investments in community infrastructure, we had concerns around the reporting process and special financial treatment given to Lansdowne 2.0, as well as the lack of tangible transit improvements.

@alex-is.online
November 7, 2025 at 9:44 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
Great seeing all of the passion from our wonderful members! Nothing beats talking about city politics, our budget, better transit funding, and more, on a Thursday evening!

Can't wait to see what comes of this at future meetings.

#Ottawa #2026Budget #LocalPolitics
November 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
What a wonderful turnout for our first ever monthly meeting, where we discussed preparing for the 2026 Budget, and how to give delegations!

Look forward to our upcoming monthly meetings to get involved if you couldn't attend this one! Thank you to St. Peter's Lutheran Church for the space! #Ottawa
Members discussing around tables at the 2025 October Monthly Meeting for Strong Towns Ottawa Members discussing around tables at the 2025 October Monthly Meeting for Strong Towns Ottawa Members discussing around tables at the 2025 October Monthly Meeting for Strong Towns Ottawa
November 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
We're part of a group of organizations taking part in a rally this Friday, 8:30 am, against Lansdowne 2.0.

If you're against the cuts to affordable housing, the lack of public transit improvements, the huge amount of debt that will be taken on and reduce spending for other priorities, join us!
A poster promoting the rally against Lansdowne 2.0 occuring this Friday, November 7th, 2025, at 8:30am in front of City Hall (Marion Dewar Plaza). Multiple organizations have their logos included at the bottom, from left to right : Horizon Ottawa, Better Ottawa, Reimagine Ottawa, Strong Towns Ottawa, and Free Transit Ottawa
November 4, 2025 at 8:12 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
Interested in learning about the 2026 budget, how to delegate, and key topics to touch on?

Join us for our first ever monthly workshop! We'll be covering issues like long-term infrastructure gaps, transit funding, and more!

Nov 6th, 6:15-7:15pm at St. Peter's Lutheran Church

luma.com/h1t4z42r
Poster for the upcoming monthly meeting Strong Towns Ottawa is hosting, where the 2026 budget and delegation opportunities will be discussed. Meeting will be held November 6th, from 6:15 - 7:15pm, at St. Peter's Lutheran's Church at 400 Sparks street.
November 4, 2025 at 4:11 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
It's not just us, it's all of us together who will get that beautiful red paint down on Bank.
November 2, 2025 at 1:00 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
Here's some more confirmation about how expensive providing parking is from questions yesterday.

"It costs more to build than what we could get from market leases going forward. And that's average across the city, that's not just us. It's just any parking is not profitable."

This is a choice.
October 31, 2025 at 8:12 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
Some polling was done for Lansdowne 2.0, lo and behold the top issue for people polled was improving transportation to Lansdowne. What better way to provide better access to Lansdowne than safe, dedicated 24/7 bus lanes?

strongtownsottawa.ca/2025/09/25/t...

#Lansdowne #Ottawa #busLanes
October 31, 2025 at 7:51 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
Today at the #lansdowne 2.0 discussion, Darrell Cox, the Glebe BIA representative, spoke about how they think dedicated bus lanes would be amazing for the project, and how it'd improve getting people to Lansdowne events. Glad to hear such support from the Glebe BIA on how bus lanes improve the area!
October 29, 2025 at 8:25 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
(4/4) The only solution to these problems is by fast and efficient modes of transportation, bus lanes would fix so many of the issues for getting people to here. We CANNOT fix this with cars
October 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
(3/4) Where exactly are more cars going to fit in this space? We need traffic officers just to keep traffic even somewhat "flowing" here. And we want to put more cars on this road?
October 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
(2/4) Here's what the QED looks like on event days. Where exactly is all of the Bank Street traffic supposed to go on here? It's at a complete standstill anytime even a moderate amount of people want to come here.

Cars cannot be the way we move a lot of people to a single place!
October 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
(1/4) OCOBIA says they want traffic moved from Bank (City-owned) to QED (NCC owned) to handle the traffic for events. They realize that events are already standstill on the QED right?

There's no more space to go!

We need better transit access, bus lanes!
October 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
For anyone not following along on the #Lansdowne 2.0 conversation, the city is taking away funding that was supposed to go towards affordable housing (originally 50% of amounts over $39M) to instead pay for parking construction ($10M). We are literally taking money from the poor to give to the rich.
October 29, 2025 at 5:39 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
Strong Towns Ottawa has sent an open letter to all Councillors with our concerns regarding #Lansdowne.

We are not against improvements, but we do have concerns about transit accessibility, clarity surrounding the project, and affordability.

Here is what we wrote

#Ottawa
Page 1 of Strong Towns Ottawa's Letter to city councillors regarding Lansdowne 2.0. Text follows : Dear councillor, Strong Towns Ottawa would like to express concern about the current Lansdowne 2.0 plans. While we recognise the need for improvements, replacements, densification and proper sports and event facilities, we are not comfortable with a number of issues. Strong Towns Ottawa has argued for over a year now that transit access to Lansdowne has to be improved, even without the new plans. During event days, Bank Street and the surrounding area are a nightmare for both visitors and residents. Bus schedules are becoming completely unreliable, with routes 6 and 7 having the most cancelled trips. Lansdowne 2.0 will be even worse for traffic. Visitors are stuck in traffic with engines running. The City has committed to promoting alternative forms of transportation. The current situation at Lansdowne does not allow for other modes to thrive. For Lansdowne 2.0 to have any chance of success, proper public transit in the form of fully dedicated bus lanes is required. We believe nudging people into transit and experiencing a fast and smooth ride is important for traffic flow and the environment. Therefore, we strongly recommend adding permanent bus lanes on Bank Street. We believe that current discussions about bus lanes on Bank Street in the Glebe are based on fear of the unknown while ignoring both existing travel and parking data and the bigger picture of traffic flow and air quality. While other city infrastructure is neglected or its maintenance postponed, the city takes on debt to help make Lansdowne a success, even after the Lansdowne partnership posted yet another loss. We are concerned about the lower number of stadium seats, which may, and likely will, increase event ticket prices. We believe higher ticket prices will undermine equality in our city. As consumers only have so much to spend, higher ticket prices also means that that money can not be Page 2 of the letter to Councillors : Many residents have expressed frustration about the transparency of the project. If councillors and the media already express worries about understanding the financial consequences, how are citizens expected to understand what happens with their tax dollars? We don't think the City has communicated properly what happens if the plans don't pan out. The timelines are extraordinary and cost is always increasing. What are the worst case scenarios? What if the cost is going up faster than foreseen? What if a sports team moves on? What if bands decide on smaller venues? Given the situation south of the border, today's models can be worthless tomorrow. Many of us feel the plans are being ushered through Council to limit the sound of critical voices. Large city projects mean that many people and lots of public money is involved. At the tail end of LRT phase 1, we have seen several people quietly leaving their positions after a damning report on how phase 1 was handled. A project like this should have enthusiastic support from everyone at Council. It doesn’t. That possibly only around half of City council feels comfortable attaching their name to it, is very concerning to us. In short, we want to stress once again that we are not against further developing Lansdowne, in fact we encourage it, but we are nervous about accessibility, the many assumptions that are made to justify the cost, the way the plan is being ushered through Council, and the accountability of tax dollars being spent. May we ask one question? If you are planning to vote in favour, and you were asked to invest in it with your own money, would you remortgage your house to become a partner in Lansdowne 2.0? Respectfully
October 28, 2025 at 10:26 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
Hey there, yea absolutely, it seems like it doesn't let me update the existing post unless I'm missing something, but I can add it here in this reply if that works. Apologies, still new to a lot of this stuff so figuring out the kinks!

- Marko
Image showing the votes on the motion that was presented to Planning and Housing Committee on October 15th, 2025. The motion was to remove Tewin from the Urban boundary, which resulted in 5 yeas and 7 nays, with 1 absent. Yeas : Bay ward, Kavanagh College ward, Johnson Somerset ward, Troster Kitchisippi ward, Leiper River ward, Brockington Nays : Orleans West-Innes ward, Dudas Kanata North ward, Curry West Carleton-March ward, Kelly Stittsville ward, Gower Beacon Hill-Cyrville ward, Tierney Rideau-Jock ward, Brown Barrhaven East ward, Lo
October 23, 2025 at 12:28 AM
strongtownsottawa.ca
The final graph that couldn't fit on the first post. Even more data showing that these overwhelmingly work.
A graph showing the average speed in sections where speed cameras have been put in place, the x-axis being months of the year, starting from July 2020, and going to February 2025, incrementing one month at a time. The y-axis is speeds, starting at 20km/h and going up at 10km/h intervals to the top which is 70km/h. As time goes on, the segments of roads where the speed cameras were put in place show average speed dropping.
October 23, 2025 at 12:05 AM
strongtownsottawa.ca
We have sent out a letter to the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, opposing his plan to remove speed cameras, which have been shown to overwhelmingly increase safety on our roads.

Thanks @hansonthebike.bsky.social for putting the letter together, and @pbickerton.bsky.social for the great graphics!
Letter sent to the premier of Ontario opposing the removal of speed cameras. Text follows : To: Premier of Ontario Legislative Building Queen’s Park Toronto, ON, M7A 1A1 (by email) Ottawa, October 22, 2025 Re: Automatic Speed Enforcement Cameras Premier Ford, We are extremely concerned about your directive to remove automatic speed enforcement (ACE) cameras in Ontario. Along with the Association of Municipalities, the CAA and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police as well as many municipal leaders, we believe in the evidence that previously collected data show: fining people who don’t comply with speed limits helps: it leads to drastic safety improvements. This makes a good case for continuing the use of cameras to maintain speed compliance. The ultimate goal of speed enforcement is obviously that people adhere to posted speed limits. Existing data shows that speed compliance quickly improves and is maintained after cameras are installed. Fewer and fewer tickets are being issued by each camera every year. This trend is already happening: in Ottawa, as the enclosed graphs show, speeds have considerably dropped at road segments where cameras have been placed. Speed cameras work! Cameras in Ottawa are overwhelmingly placed in areas near schools. Removing cameras would recreate dangerous situations for children in those school zones. And let's not forget people with disabilities and our aging population, who may take longer to cross roads. Many safety experts strongly support the use of automatic speed cameras as does the majority of Ontario drivers (73%). In Ottawa, speed compliance went up from 16% to 81% in speed camera zones; the instances of high end speeding in those zones went down from 14% to less than 1%. Those are impressive results. Second page of the letter to the premier of Ontario opposing removal of speed cameras, text follows : Therefore we ask you to reconsider an end to speed enforcement with cameras and allow technology to do its work to protect the lives of Ontarians. Using cameras allows police officers to do other important work. This is about safety for every Ontario resident, not a cash grab. Respectfully, Strong Towns Ottawa Encl: three graphs About Strong Towns Ottawa Strong Towns Ottawa is a local chapter of Strong Towns. We advocate for a more financially resilient and livable Ottawa. We aim to build a safer city that enables all of us to choose the way we want to live. This includes investing in various transportation options, housing types, safer streets, mixed-use neighbourhoods, local businesses, and more. A graph of data showing the speed limit compliance in areas where the speed cameras have been put in place in Ottawa. The x axis reads : "Age of ASE Camera (days)" and the y axis reads : "Speed Limit Compliance (%)". The lines on the graph are all of the different road segments where the cameras have been put in place. As the graph moves further to the right, the compliance goes up, reaching close to 100% for many of the cameras Graph of public data with the x-axis reading : "Age of ASE Camera (days)", y-axis : "High end Speeders (%)". As the graph moves further to the right, the amount of high-end speeders drops off substantially for all of the segments of the roads where speed cameras have been put in place.
October 23, 2025 at 12:05 AM
strongtownsottawa.ca
This single apartment building contributes 2.4x more property taxes than all of these parking lots combined, in just ONE EIGHT (1/8) the space!

That's TWENTY times more efficient!

This apartment provides housing and is giving our city a huge surplus of taxes.

We need more of this!
October 18, 2025 at 11:07 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
We heard from many groups today about the Tewin development. This is unfortunately going to be a development that further entrenches us into unsustainable sprawl.

Property taxes have not and will not be able to provide long-term support for these types of developments. We have decades of evidence.
October 15, 2025 at 9:42 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
The nearest train station is a 15 minute drive away, this is the closest point in Tewin, the rest of the development would be even further away. It is difficult to imagine a world where people here will rely on transit to get into the core, and it will almost certainly not be fully self-contained.
October 2, 2025 at 9:04 PM
strongtownsottawa.ca
There are obviously still a lot of specifics to be ironed out, but it is very difficult to believe that anything here will truly be much different than many of our other outer greenbelt suburbs. Words are easy to say and unfortunately difficult to follow through on as we've seen with our city.
October 2, 2025 at 9:04 PM