Downtown Ottawa Revitalization Initiatives

[rocketphish]

Board of trade encourages residents to take part in consultations on the future of the downtown

Sarah MacFarlane, OBJ
February 2, 2023, 3:47 PM ET



The task force dedicated to bringing downtown Ottawa back to life is looking for input from as many Ottawans as possible, organizers say.

A new public engagement tool announced Tuesday will allow the public to provide feedback in a series of phases that will inform the task force’s decisions and conclusions.

The first phase, which involves gathering general input and ideas from the community, started Tuesday and will continue for the next three weeks. Following the initial round of consultations, the task force will follow up with participants in two more phases to provide feedback on the findings from phase one.

Using the online HowSpace consultation platform, the task force is collecting and reviewing data daily, Ottawa Centre MP Yasir Naqvi told OBJ in an email. He said HowSpace allows the team to collect responses and identify recurring themes.

Sueling Ching, president and CEO of the Ottawa Board of Trade and a member of the task force, stressed the importance of public involvement in rebuilding the “heart and soul of our community, our culture and our economy.”

“(Our downtown) is a key asset for our visitor economy, which impacts every other form of economic development. Our downtown businesses have been disproportionately impacted these last three years and we need to assure them and new investors that the future of downtown is bright. Now is the time to work together to build up Ottawa,” said Ching in an email to OBJ Thursday.

The task force was formed in July 2022 to brainstorm potential solutions for a range of issues plaguing Ottawa’s core, including a lack of affordable, accessible housing, as well as ways to reinvigorate local businesses, create a more sustainable environment, and build more inclusive community spaces that promote Indigenous reconciliation.

The task force will incorporate public feedback into its final report, which will include recommendations on breathing new life into Ottawa’s downtown core.

“The best ideas always rise to the top when we engage people and seek broad public input on decisions being made,” Naqvi said Tuesday. “If we want to come up with recommendations that our community and local policymakers can support, public consultation and sustained engagement are key to building a consensus.”

https://obj.ca/board-of-trade-encourages...ultations-on-the-future-of-the-downtown/

[rocketphish]

Livin' la vida SoPa
A business- and restaurant-led campaign hopes to revive the region that's South of Parliament. The idea is, well, SoSo.

Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen
Published Feb 10, 2023 • 4 minute read

It wasn’t difficult to find a nearby parking spot, which I guess is a big part of the problem.

Even a sellout crowd of 200 people squeezed into Queen St. Fare for Wednesday evening’s big SoPa launch party didn’t drastically alter the hollowness of the surrounding downtown streets.

The organizers hope the event will serve as a catalyst to christen the area as SoPa, short for South of Parliament, as the business- and restaurant-led campaign hopes to revive and rebrand the section of downtown that just a year ago was dubbed the Red Zone, thanks to the neighbourhood’s occupation by the convoy protest.

Personally, I think the idea is, well, SoSo. I mean, you don’t get to pick your own nickname. Can you imagine if Wayne Gretzky went around saying, “Please, just call me the Great One”?

It’s a New York-inspired contraction, similar to the Big Apple’s Soho (South of Houston Street), Nolita (North of Little Italy) or Tribeca (Triangle Below Canal Street), that businesses hope will provide a needed shot in the arm following the financial hardship wrought by the convoy and the pandemic that preceded it. Its borders are Wellington and Nepean streets to the north and south, and Bronson and Elgin on the west and east.

But the name smacks a little of Ottawa’s inferiority complex where we borrow from larger cities, as if some of their bigcityness will rub off on us.

And it isn’t new in Ottawa. There’s the housing development on the western edge of the Experimental Farm — Central Park — for example, that includes such street names as Grammercy Park, Staten Way, Manhattan Crescent, Gotham Private, Bloomingdale Street and Trump Avenue.

Or you may recall the fuss that occurred when, just over a decade ago, a developer tried to rename the stretch of Bank Street between Somerset and Catherine “South Central,” claiming they were simply looking to come up with a “cool, vibrant and fun” brand for the area. One hopes they didn’t have Los Angeles’s infamous South Central in mind, an area so steeped in poverty and crime that the city officially renamed it South Los Angeles in 2003.

Soon after, another developer in town tried the same trick, renaming the area bound by Catherine, Gladstone, Elgin and Kent “SoBa,” for South on Bank. (I feel they missed a much better opportunity with SoGlad, for, you guessed it, South of Gladstone.)

So while the whole SoPa thing feels a bit goofy, you can’t blame businesses in the area for trying something different. They’re struggling mightily, and livelihoods are at stake. And although I think rebranding it The Red Zone would have better capitalized on people already knowing where it is (and also, wouldn’t that be so postmodern [SoPoMo?], to name it after one of its nemeses?), let’s see if SoPa gets any traction. I have my doubts, but just in case other neighbourhoods feel the urge to one day rename themselves with snappy nicknames, I’m here to help.

WoLF: West of Lincoln Fields or West of LeBreton Flats. It just sounds great.

NoPa: Hull. If there’s a SoPa, there ought to be a NoPa, in this case the part of Gatineau formerly known as Hull.

SoSoPa: South of South of Parliament.

NXNE: Lowertown. It gets its name from being north-by-northeast of Parliament. But as a mirror of Austin, Texas’s famed SXSW music festival, we’d like to suggest that NXNE become the nexus of Ottawa’s plan to become Music City.

POSH: The University of Ottawa area. Stands for “Passed Out in Sandy Hill” and is derived chiefly from the annual Panda Game festivities. But the acronym could easily double up as “Pissed Off in Sandy Hill” for the non-university residents, who have to deal with the Panda Game nonsense.

ToDo: LeBreton Flats. There’s always some sort of to-do list involving the area, whether it’s building a library, a rink, or simply somewhere where residents can buy a quart of milk without needing to drive.

NoBB: North of Billings Bridge (formerly Old Ottawa South and, before that, simply Ottawa South). Residents will both affectionately and derisively be called NoBBs.

EiEiO: The Experimental Farm. Nuff said.

The Flying V: Some years ago, Vanier’s BIA adopted “Just east of ordinary” (also Cape Breton’s slogan) as the area’s battle cry, rivalling Ottawa’s “Technically beautiful” for most uninspiring slogans. The Flying V, a catchy nod to the classic Gibson guitar, should help turn around that misfortune. It’s hip, easily used in graphics and, like NXNE, fits nicely with Ottawa’s new Music City motif.

Special K: Kanata.

NoJo and SoJo: Barrhaven has been tagged with so many pejorative sobriquets over the years — Farrhaven, Barfhaven and Barbecuehaven to name only three — that it really needs a snappy, upbeat makeover. Welcome to NoJo and SoJo, for North (and South) of the Jock River.

StJo: derived from Orléans’s original name, Saint-Joseph d’Orléans, we feel StJo, or St. Joe’s, is catchier.

Stittsvegas or GoTo: Stittsville residents may want to hold a plebiscite on this one. Stittsvegas takes and small-town “ville” out of its name and replaces it with a suffix suggestive of bright lights and glitz. GoTo, meanwhile, suggests that it’s a real go-to destination while honouring its place in the one-time Goulbourn Township.

[email protected]

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/deachman-livin-la-vida-sopa

[rocketphish]

‘It’s like living in a friggin’ museum’: Ottawa must be a ‘people first city,’ one thought leader argues

Caroline Phillips, OBJ
March 23, 2023 | 2:04 PM ET

If you were a young professional with a job that can theoretically be done anywhere, would you choose Ottawa as your anywhere?

It’s a question that’s been on the mind of Ottawa thought leader Andrew Penny. In light of current remote work trends, particularly among knowledge workers, the city needs to create a downtown that serves as the heart of human experience, says the founder and president of market analysis and strategy firm Kingsford Consulting during an interview with OBJ.

“Everyone has always said, ‘Ottawa, a great place to raise a family,’ but the corollary has been it’s a lousy place to live if you’re 25 years old,” said Penny, who’s also a mentor to MBA students at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management and a former chair of the Ottawa Board of Trade’s economic development committee.

Historically, the best way for Ottawa to achieve success has been to attract big business, he argues.

“If you have a large company here, it will create employment here and people will buy hot dogs,” said Penny, who uses the popular street food as a proxy for the service industry.

“The difference now is that people will live wherever they want to live and then work for whomever they want to work,” said Penny of the need for more urban oomph. “I think what we have to do is, we have to think of Ottawa as a ‘people first’ city. We have to give people a reason to want to live here. We have to think strategically.

“The question is: what do we need in the city to sustain growth, to make it vibrant, to make it interesting, to attract the next generation? I think all of our zoning, our planning and everything else needs to be centred around creating a great place for people to live (who and where they work for is secondary).”

Ottawa’s downtown needs more density and activity to attract the under-30 crowd, Penny believes.

“What people of that age group thrive on is frenetic excitement, collision and engagement. If they’re spread out in suburban bedrooms across Canada’s largest geographical city, they’ll never meet, so we need to create density for that to happen.

“In places like downtown Paris or downtown New York, there’s stuff happening all the time and the reason stuff happens is because people live there.”

Downtown office buildings are not going to return to full-time occupancy, says Penny. “It just annoys me that we’re trying to twist the government’s arm to force people to go back to work five days a week so some guy can sell hot dogs.

“The sad truth is, that ship has sailed. I mean, they’re not coming back. Those office workers are not coming back. We need to rethink and it’s not going to be an overnight thing.”

Penny supports the idea of converting empty office buildings into “vertical villages” that can serve as multipurpose spaces for business, shopping, dining, health services and living. He thinks the addition of smaller, less expensive studio apartments would also help to make living downtown more affordable for the under-30 crowd.

The Ottawa-Gatineau region remains a great place for outdoor adventure, Penny acknowledges.

“If you want to spend all your time gaming in a basement, you can do it anywhere, but if you’d like to go whitewater rafting, kayaking, biking, running, climbing, skiing, swimming, we’ve got all of the outdoor stuff right here.”

As well, Ottawa’s small-town feel in a big-city setting offers a sense of community and inclusiveness, he adds. “The six degree of separation (social network theory) is more like two or three here.

“I think we’ve got a lot going for us, but what we lack is the edginess, the sizzle.”

Attracting young talent to Ottawa has been an issue for years, says Penny, who moved here from Montreal in 1990. He was employed by Telesat at the time. He and his wife raised their four kids in suburban Kanata. They were drawn to the then-walkable community of Beaverbrook, designed by the late Bill Teron.

Creating neighbourhoods that promote walking, cycling and sustainable transport is one strategy to achieving urban sustainability and resilience, Penny believes.

Where the city drops the ball, he says, is in its preference for the status quo.

“Nobody really wants to disturb anything,” he said, focusing on the Rideau Canal as an example. “We’ve got these beautiful vistas so that when foreign dignitaries visit they’ve got this lovely drive down the parkway to see the canal. It’s impressive. It’s (insert deep, authoritative voice here) the nation’s capital.

“Well, that’s great, if you’re a visitor or a tourist or a diplomat but, if you happen to live here, it’s like living in a friggin’ museum.”

The city’s waterway areas should be more fun and accessible to residents, says Penny, who believes the National Capital Commission is moving in the right direction by introducing seasonal riverfront bistros.

Penny was one of several business leaders to help rescue The Rainbow Bistro from permanent closure in 2021 when the live music venue, located in the ByWard Market, nearly went down for the count during the pandemic.

“We need stuff like the Rainbow. It’s not the NAC (National Arts Centre) but, sometimes, we need some grit in our lives. We need that in-your-face kind of blues music the same way we need strip bars, for men and women, and tattoo parlours. We need that because they’re part of life and, if you sanitize the city, it really becomes boring.”

Shannon Sweeney, an articling student at Soloway Wright LLP, is originally from Kingston but has been living and working in downtown Ottawa since June 2022. She also spent her summer here in 2021.

In her free time, the 26-year-old lawyer-to-be does much of her socializing in the Elgin Street area that stretches from Parliament Hill toward the Canadian Museum of Nature. It attracts a crowd close to her own age, she says.

“The Elgin Street area is good but it could benefit from more bars or something different, because a lot of it is just the ‘pub vibe’ type of thing,” said Sweeney. “Anywhere can be fun if you have the right crowd, but I feel like there could be more interesting places to go.”

One of her complaints about Ottawa’s downtown is that the bars and restaurants are too spread out. “I think downtown Ottawa would be better if there was more of a condensed area for that older mid- to late-twenties crowd.”

Ottawa is definitely at its best in the summer season, said Sweeney, who loves hitting the patios with her colleagues at Soloway Wright. She does a lot of her socializing through work, she says. “We go out and explore all these different places together and I meet new people while we’re out or meet people through the people at work.”

She finds Ottawa folks to be friendly and approachable. “Ottawa has that small-town vibe but in a bigger city,” said Sweeney. “When I moved here, the first thing I noticed was that everyone was so nice. You can go and talk to anyone.”

https://obj.ca/its-like-living-in-a-frig...le-first-city-one-thought-leader-argues/

[originalmuffins]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

‘It’s like living in a friggin’ museum’: Ottawa must be a ‘people first city,’ one thought leader argues

Caroline Phillips, OBJ
March 23, 2023 | 2:04 PM ET

If you were a young professional with a job that can theoretically be done anywhere, would you choose Ottawa as your anywhere?

It’s a question that’s been on the mind of Ottawa thought leader Andrew Penny. In light of current remote work trends, particularly among knowledge workers, the city needs to create a downtown that serves as the heart of human experience, says the founder and president of market analysis and strategy firm Kingsford Consulting during an interview with OBJ.

“Everyone has always said, ‘Ottawa, a great place to raise a family,’ but the corollary has been it’s a lousy place to live if you’re 25 years old,” said Penny, who’s also a mentor to MBA students at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management and a former chair of the Ottawa Board of Trade’s economic development committee.

Historically, the best way for Ottawa to achieve success has been to attract big business, he argues.

“If you have a large company here, it will create employment here and people will buy hot dogs,” said Penny, who uses the popular street food as a proxy for the service industry.

“The difference now is that people will live wherever they want to live and then work for whomever they want to work,” said Penny of the need for more urban oomph. “I think what we have to do is, we have to think of Ottawa as a ‘people first’ city. We have to give people a reason to want to live here. We have to think strategically.

“The question is: what do we need in the city to sustain growth, to make it vibrant, to make it interesting, to attract the next generation? I think all of our zoning, our planning and everything else needs to be centred around creating a great place for people to live (who and where they work for is secondary).”

Ottawa’s downtown needs more density and activity to attract the under-30 crowd, Penny believes.

“What people of that age group thrive on is frenetic excitement, collision and engagement. If they’re spread out in suburban bedrooms across Canada’s largest geographical city, they’ll never meet, so we need to create density for that to happen.

“In places like downtown Paris or downtown New York, there’s stuff happening all the time and the reason stuff happens is because people live there.”

Downtown office buildings are not going to return to full-time occupancy, says Penny. “It just annoys me that we’re trying to twist the government’s arm to force people to go back to work five days a week so some guy can sell hot dogs.

“The sad truth is, that ship has sailed. I mean, they’re not coming back. Those office workers are not coming back. We need to rethink and it’s not going to be an overnight thing.”

Penny supports the idea of converting empty office buildings into “vertical villages” that can serve as multipurpose spaces for business, shopping, dining, health services and living. He thinks the addition of smaller, less expensive studio apartments would also help to make living downtown more affordable for the under-30 crowd.

The Ottawa-Gatineau region remains a great place for outdoor adventure, Penny acknowledges.

“If you want to spend all your time gaming in a basement, you can do it anywhere, but if you’d like to go whitewater rafting, kayaking, biking, running, climbing, skiing, swimming, we’ve got all of the outdoor stuff right here.”

As well, Ottawa’s small-town feel in a big-city setting offers a sense of community and inclusiveness, he adds. “The six degree of separation (social network theory) is more like two or three here.

“I think we’ve got a lot going for us, but what we lack is the edginess, the sizzle.”

Attracting young talent to Ottawa has been an issue for years, says Penny, who moved here from Montreal in 1990. He was employed by Telesat at the time. He and his wife raised their four kids in suburban Kanata. They were drawn to the then-walkable community of Beaverbrook, designed by the late Bill Teron.

Creating neighbourhoods that promote walking, cycling and sustainable transport is one strategy to achieving urban sustainability and resilience, Penny believes.

Where the city drops the ball, he says, is in its preference for the status quo.

“Nobody really wants to disturb anything,” he said, focusing on the Rideau Canal as an example. “We’ve got these beautiful vistas so that when foreign dignitaries visit they’ve got this lovely drive down the parkway to see the canal. It’s impressive. It’s (insert deep, authoritative voice here) the nation’s capital.

“Well, that’s great, if you’re a visitor or a tourist or a diplomat but, if you happen to live here, it’s like living in a friggin’ museum.”

The city’s waterway areas should be more fun and accessible to residents, says Penny, who believes the National Capital Commission is moving in the right direction by introducing seasonal riverfront bistros.

Penny was one of several business leaders to help rescue The Rainbow Bistro from permanent closure in 2021 when the live music venue, located in the ByWard Market, nearly went down for the count during the pandemic.

“We need stuff like the Rainbow. It’s not the NAC (National Arts Centre) but, sometimes, we need some grit in our lives. We need that in-your-face kind of blues music the same way we need strip bars, for men and women, and tattoo parlours. We need that because they’re part of life and, if you sanitize the city, it really becomes boring.”

Shannon Sweeney, an articling student at Soloway Wright LLP, is originally from Kingston but has been living and working in downtown Ottawa since June 2022. She also spent her summer here in 2021.

In her free time, the 26-year-old lawyer-to-be does much of her socializing in the Elgin Street area that stretches from Parliament Hill toward the Canadian Museum of Nature. It attracts a crowd close to her own age, she says.

“The Elgin Street area is good but it could benefit from more bars or something different, because a lot of it is just the ‘pub vibe’ type of thing,” said Sweeney. “Anywhere can be fun if you have the right crowd, but I feel like there could be more interesting places to go.”

One of her complaints about Ottawa’s downtown is that the bars and restaurants are too spread out. “I think downtown Ottawa would be better if there was more of a condensed area for that older mid- to late-twenties crowd.”

Ottawa is definitely at its best in the summer season, said Sweeney, who loves hitting the patios with her colleagues at Soloway Wright. She does a lot of her socializing through work, she says. “We go out and explore all these different places together and I meet new people while we’re out or meet people through the people at work.”

She finds Ottawa folks to be friendly and approachable. “Ottawa has that small-town vibe but in a bigger city,” said Sweeney. “When I moved here, the first thing I noticed was that everyone was so nice. You can go and talk to anyone.”

https://obj.ca/its-like-living-in-a-frig...le-first-city-one-thought-leader-argues/

A great analysis. Exactly what we need to fix the core in the long term, and the right mindset. Just need the current City council to understand this is where we need to go.

[rocketphish]

Ottawa faces ‘multi-whammy’ of challenges as it looks to reimagine its downtown, urban expert says

David Sali, OBJ
April 21, 2023 | 1:28 PM ET

This week’s public-service job walkout adds to the list of challenges Ottawa faces as its economy tries to rebound from the pandemic and it looks to reimagine city space, a prominent urban planning expert says.

...

https://obj.ca/ottawa-faces-multi-whammy...eimagine-its-downtown-urban-expert-says/

Wow, a multi-whammy... sounds serious. Wish I could read the full article.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Wow, a multi-whammy... sounds serious. Wish I could read the full article.

Is the "urban expert" Ian Lee?

[phil235]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Is the "urban expert" Ian Lee?

Ha, I'd give it even odds.

[Uhuniau]

Mary Rowe, Canadian Urban Institute.

[rocketphish]

Strike could be last hurrah for Ottawa's core as public servants fight for telework

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press
Published Apr 25, 2023 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 4 minute read

Bogdan Wozniak arrived to open his hotdog stand in downtown Ottawa Tuesday for the first time this season, and was greeted by a vision from the past.

Crowds of public servants walked down the pedestrian street south of Parliament Hill at lunch time, some carrying coffees as they strolled and chatted with colleagues.

“It feels like life going back to normal,” said Wozniak as watched the crowd from behind his grill.

He said he hasn’t seen the streets of downtown Ottawa so lively since before the pandemic.

But it’s still not quite pre-pandemic normal. The workers were only downtown to march in picket lines, set up as a strike of 150,000 federal public servants with the Public Service Alliance of Canada dragged into a seventh day.

One of their key demands is the right to work remotely.

It is one four sticking points Treasury Board President Mona Fortier identified in the contract talks in an open letter she sent out Monday. And if the workers prevail, a downtown that was built around the federal public service, will suffer.

“That’s gonna be tough for people who have a business in downtown and rely on them,” said Wozniak.

Federal office workers spent most of the pandemic working remotely, leaving many of downtown businesses without their largest source of clients.

On Tuesday though, Little Victories, an independent coffee roaster in a historic building near the National War Memorial, had a lineup that extended to the door as people holding union flags and wearing red support buttons waited to order their morning coffees before hitting the picket lines.

“I’ve heard that coffee shops are definitely booming,” said Michelle Groulx, executive director at the Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas.

Now that public servants have returned to picket for at least four hours a day in order to receive their strike pay, some businesses are getting a taste of the good old days — even if it’s only temporary.

Others haven’t had much respite since the pandemic. Many urban centres are experiencing the same dearth of weekday customers since COVID-19 struck, but few relied so heavily on public servants.

“When you have like a population of one specific type, and that happens to be federal servants that are not working in the office as much, you’re certainly going to see that whole entire population disappear as customers,” Groulx said.

In December, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier ordered federal workers to return to the office at least two days a week in an attempt to create a consistent policy across the public service.

The union argues the pandemic provided proof that workers can be just as effective at home as they can in the office.

Fortier has since offered to review return to office practices as part of an updated contract offer.

Ariel Troster, the Ottawa city councillor whose ward includes downtown Ottawa, said the directive that federal workers return to the office part time hasn’t brought activity levels back to what they were before the pandemic. She said on any given day there are still at least 80,000 fewer people downtown than before.

“We’re operating based on the assumption that we will not see the same numbers of people returning from nine to five, five days a week,” Troster said.

That’s forcing the city to rethink the downtown core.

She is on a committee with federal and municipal politicians, as well as housing developers and not-for-profit organizations to reimagine and revitalize the area around Parliament Hill.

That includes taking an inventory of unused federal buildings to see what could be repurposed into affordable or market rate apartments.

It may be difficult to do that before the federal government and the union come to an agreement about how often workers will be using that office space.

“I think the city just wants to know, either way, so that we can plan,” Troster said.

On the picket line Tuesday, Aisha Sow, a public servant for 18 years, said commuting into downtown for the last few days feels a bit like deja vu.

She used to take two buses to get to work every day, but hadn’t returned to work until the strike started because of a medical exemption that allows her to work from home full time.

She said she doesn’t miss being downtown.

If she could, she would strike from home, but it’s not an option.

“I would not come back, seriously,” she said.

Troster said the city needs to diversify the downtown to encourage people like Bow to visit in their off-work hours.

“I’m certainly enjoying having more people in the downtown core and maybe encouraging them to come back in their spare time,” Troster said.

Until then, it’s expected the bustling vision of Ottawa past is likely to disappear again when a deal is finally struck between the union and the federal government.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...re-as-public-servants-fight-for-telework

[J.OT13]

I wonder if this new venue is conveniently the one OSEG is proposing for Lansdowne.

'Night mayor' to help grow and develop Ottawa's nightlife economy

Josh Pringle, April 23, 2023
CTV News Ottawa

The city of Ottawa will create the position of a 'night mayor' as part of a new strategy to grow and develop the capital's 'nightlife' economy and shake off the image as the 'town that fun forgot.'

The proposed new Ottawa Nightlife Economy Action Plan is also proposing the city explore building a 1,500 to 2,000-seat music and event venue to make the city a "destination of choice" for music artists, live entertainment and events requiring a mid-size venue.

A report for the finance and corporate services committee outlines the first three recommendations for the new Ottawa Nightlife Economy Action Plan, which will look to support the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. economy and nightlife in Ottawa. The 'nightlife economy' focuses on leisure, live entertainment and cultural activities during that 12-hour period, and not just on bar and restaurant activity.


"The Nightlife Economy Action Plan will support the growth of Ottawa's nightlife sector and the broader economy, and establish the city as a nightlife destination," staff say.

"To be successful, implementation of the Nightlife Economy Action Plan will require a collaborative effort involving the city of Ottawa, nightlife businesses and partner organizations across the region such as Ottawa Tourism, The Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas, the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition, Ottawa Festival Network, and others."

Staff add the Nightlife Economy Action Plan will include recommendations to grow a "more inclusive, safe, and vibrant nightlife economy."

The first recommendation calls for the city to establish the framework for a 'Nightlife Commissioner Office', with the new 'night mayor' leading the implementation of the second phase of the action plan.

Staff say the new 'night mayor' requires a "known, credible leader who can engage with the nightlife audience and businesses, liaise with city officials and regulators, and deliver the city's nightlife vision in collaboration with partners."

New York City launched an Office of Nightlife in 2017, while Washington, D.C. first appointed a 'night mayor' in 2018. Amsterdam, London, England, and Prague, Czech Republic are among the cities around the world with a 'night mayor.'

Another recommendation for the first phase of the Ottawa Nightlife Economy Action Plan includes promoting city-wide and neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood participation of residents, visitors and businesses in the nightlife economy, The city will spend $40,000 to develop marketing tools to promote nightlife businesses and experiences.

Phase 2 of the Ottawa Nightlife Economy Action Plan, to be implemented between 2024 and 2026, will be led by the new 'Nightlife Commissioner.' The recommendations include:

• Establish a Nightlife Ambassador Council with industry and community leaders
• Collaborate with Ottawa Tourism to promote nightlife experiences to visitors
• Develop a city-wide Nightlife Safety and Security Plan for nightlife workers and participants
• Develop a virtual nightlife resource centre of tools and resources
• Identify opportunities to support the establishment of new mid-size venues, with capacity for 1,500 to 2,000 people for events and live music.

In October 2021, the city looked for a company to help develop Ottawa's new 'Nightlife Economy Strategy', focusing on short-term and long-term strategies for the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. economy.

A 2022 Deloitte LLP report commissioned by the city found an estimated $1.99 billion was spent in 2019 between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., while daytime spending totalled $5.5 billion. The survey estimates that $1.5 billion of nighttime spending was directed to nightlife activities, with residents responsible for 84 per cent of all nightlife spending and visitors accounting for 16 per cent of nightlife spending.

Households in Ottawa spent an average of $2,172 on restaurants, compared to $3,915 on recreation and $913 on entertainment.

In 2021, approximately 4,600 nightlife-related businesses employed over 38,000 workers. The COVID-19 pandemic caused employment in Ottawa's nightlife economy to drop by 8,820 jobs.

"As the economy continues to rebound, and notwithstanding macro-economic trends like inflation, nightlife employment is projected to grow," staff say, adding there will be a net increase of approximately 1,400 new jobs in the nightlife economy by 2028.


"The Nightlife Economy Action Plan will bolster sector recovery and growth," the report says.

The city of Ottawa's Nightlife Economy Action Plan will follow large cities around the world, including New York, Montreal and Toronto, for developing and supporting nightlife activities.

"Cities with vibrant nightlife economies, defined as the wide range of consumption experiences achieved through leisure, live entertainment and cultural activities between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., are differentiating themselves from other places," staff say.

"Specifically, these cities are experiencing improved job creation, talent attraction, investment attraction, economic growth, tourism and city brand building."

Funding for a new 'Nightlife Commissioner Office' position will be included in the 2024 budget.

The finance and corporate services committee will consider the new Ottawa Nightlife Economy Action Plan on May 2.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/night-mayor-to...a%20will,'town%20that%20fun%20forgot.'

[rocketphish]

SoPa organizer says downtown revival is coming — and Sparks Street could be its ‘crown jewel’

David Sali, OBJ
April 28, 2023 | 3:36 PM ET

Scott May sees a delicious irony in the federal civil service strike that entered its 10th day on Friday.

With union members still out on picket lines in full force, the owner of Bar Robo at Queen St. Fare says he’s currently enjoying “far and away” the busiest week at his downtown coffee, cocktail and live music venue since the pandemic began more than three years ago.

“Every (business owner) in town is saying the same thing,” he told OBJ on Friday morning. “Everybody.”

Striking workers who’ve been gathering at Parliament Hill and marching along Elgin Street and other downtown thoroughfares have been streaming into the food hall near Bank Street in huge numbers, May explains, creating the kind of buzz the venue hasn’t felt since COVID drove downtown office workers out of their cubicles in early 2020.

The amazing thing, he added, is that it’s all because of a walkout in which the right to work from home is one of the employees’ biggest demands.

“We should thank the head of the union who called the strike,” May said of Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Chris Aylward. “He’s gotten … more federal workers downtown than anybody else ever could since COVID.”

At the same time, however, May can’t help but feel a sense of foreboding. The good times he and other downtown merchants have been experiencing for the past week won’t last, he says, if a universal work-from-home policy for federal employees becomes entrenched.

“We’re open during weekdays to – let’s call a spade a spade – it’s to service the downtown office workers,” he said. “There isn’t a huge population of residents downtown – certainly not enough to sustain the vast majority of businesses. So if we’re down to three days a week that the downtown is populated … our business is correspondingly down 40 per cent.”

Most restaurants and bars operate on “razor-thin” margins even when things are going well, May said, adding that rising inflation and the recent minimum-wage hike are putting yet more pressure on the hospitality sector.

“It would be hard for us to manage a four per cent dip in business, let alone 40,” he said.

“If downtown is allowed to fail, we’re not going to be here next time you come down. Just take a stroll down Bank Street – you’ll see two, three, four, five stores per block sitting empty with for-lease signs. No one is beating a path to open a restaurant downtown right now or a coffee shop or anything else.”

Still, May said he sees signs of hope for a downtown revival.

Along with Devinder Chaudhary and Joe Thottungal, the owners of nearby restaurants Aiāna and Thali, May is one of the catalysts behind the new SoPa – short for “south of Parliament” – entertainment district.

A play on Manhattan’s SoHo district, the area is bounded by Parliament Hill to the north, Somerset Street to the south, Elgin Street to the east and Lyon Street to the west. SoPa organizers are looking to create special branding and launch events aimed at turning the neighbourhood into a go-to destination for foodies and anyone looking to have fun on weekends or after five o’clock.

Among the activities the group is sponsoring is the Great Downtown Scavenger Hunt on May 13. May said it’s just one example of the “concrete” measures SoPa’s organizers are taking to breathe new life into the core.

“The downtown needs stuff like that,” he added.

Since it was announced earlier this year, SoPa has been the target of plenty of skepticism and ridicule on social media and beyond. CBC sketch comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes lampooned the concept with a segment that featured a riff on rapper Jay-Z’s hit Empire State of Mind, in which the 22 Minutes host described SoPa as being “just like New York’s hip and trendy SoHo – minus the hipness and trendiness.”

May is well aware of the jokes and criticism. His response? Bring it on.

“People are talking about it,” he said. “People made fun of the name. I don’t care – it’s just a name. (This Hour Has 22 Minutes) laughed at SoPa. Any city would love that kind of publicity.”

The longtime entrepreneur said other efforts to revitalize downtown are making strides as well.

For example, he’s a fan of the proposed Nightlife Economy Action Plan, a three-year blueprint for boosting the club and restaurant scene that goes to the city’s finance and corporate services committee next week.

Among other things, the plan calls for the creation of a new commissioner – dubbed the “night mayor” – who would act as a conduit between bar and club owners and city regulators to help grow Ottawa’s after-dark scene.

May, who jokingly volunteered to take on the role himself, said it’s high time that municipal officials worked together with business owners to help eliminate red tape and smooth sources of friction between residents and the hospitality industry such as noise disputes.

“It’s a question of bringing all the stakeholders in place,” he said. “There’s a lot of regulatory and community issues that exist at night that people just don’t want to deal with.”

The plan also proposes that the city step up efforts to build a 1,500- to 2,000-seat music and event space to make Ottawa more of a “destination of choice” for artists looking for a mid-sized venue.

Pointing out that the National Arts Centre and the Bronson Centre already exist, May said he’s not “100 per cent convinced” the city needs another stage of that magnitude.

“The performing artists that are skipping over Ottawa aren’t doing it because the venue’s not there,” he said. “We need to work harder on making Ottawa a music city.”

May sees Sparks Street as an ideal place to foster a more dynamic entertainment district. He envisions a string of live music venues on the pedestrian-only thoroughfare, along the lines of Nashville’s famed Beale Street.

But music is just part of his vision for Sparks. May lists a myriad of “cool stuff” – from farmers’ markets and three-on-three basketball tournaments to chalk-art festivals and vintage clothing stores – that could potentially be part of the street’s mix.

“I don’t know any tourist that’s going to come to visit Ottawa to go stay in Orléans,” he said. “The downtown core’s vitality is critical to this city and our tourism industry. If we’re gonna talk the talk, we’ve gotta walk the walk.

“I look at Lansdowne. That space is dynamic and fun about 20 days a year when there’s a sporting event – maybe 30. Wouldn’t that be cool to have a vibe like that 365 days a year? Sparks Street is the place to do it. There’s a lot of exciting opportunities downtown, and it seems to me Sparks Street could be the crown jewel of that.”

https://obj.ca/sopa-organizer-says-downt...-sparks-street-could-be-its-crown-jewel/

[rocketphish]

The increasingly off-topic PSAC strike discussion has been moved to:

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=254590

[rocketphish]

Having a night mayor is a goofy idea. Here's why Ottawa needs it.
City hall is well-positioned to at least help revive and grow the city’s nightlife, and the optimist in me tells me to give it a shot

Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen
Published May 11, 2023 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 3 minute read

The notion of a “night mayor” is simply too easy to make fun of. For one, it sounds an awful lot like a horror movie: Night Mayor on Elgin Street.

The thought of putting a municipal bureaucrat in charge of nighttime entertainment (or any kind of entertainment, or anything actually fun) seems, on the face of it, a wholly antithetical way to pretend to support Ottawa’s nightlife — and a move almost certain to torpedo any chances of success.

It’s like putting your grandmother in charge of snacks. “Seriously? Raisins?”

Notably, it won’t be up to the night mayor to come up with the actual fun ideas. That will remain the role of promoters, organizers, venue owners, artists and the like. The commissioner’s job will be to act as the city’s point-of-contact and liaison for these groups and be the go-between for residents.

But — fingers crossed, and with many of the fine details yet to iron out — this initially ridonculous-sounding idea, which received the green light from council on Wednesday, is actually a good one.

Even councillors who had taken some issue with the approval of the Nightlife Economy Action Plan, as it’s officially known, lent at least lukewarm support for bringing in a nightlife commissioner.

“I don’t think hiring another bureaucrat is the best way to do it,” Rideau-Jock Coun. David Brown said. “I think private industry and business are best positioned to continue their advocacy efforts without having to create this role.”

Brown, noting that he would nonetheless support the plan, said he felt it was incumbent on the industry to work with the city to create favourable conditions for growth.

“I think Ottawa is only big enough for one mayor,” he said.

Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, meanwhile, who supports the plan and its attendant creation of the position of a nightlife commissioner, is aware of the optics, jokingly referring to the role as Commissar of Fun.

But city hall is well-positioned to at least help revive and grow the city’s nightlife, and the optimist in me tells me to give it a shot. They’re doing it in other cities, which, while not a deciding factor, at least lends it credibility. And while the budget for the one-person office hasn’t been determined yet, it’s not expected to be all that great, so the bang-for-your-buck potential is real, while the downside risk is small.

In some ways, the plan can be seen as an extension of the city’s five-year Music City Strategy that began in 2018, only on a much broader level, expanding from music to just about any form of entertainment, including, as one councillor said — at least hypothetically — on Wednesday, a bakery staging a play at three in the morning.

The nightlife commissioner will likely face a monumental task with countless moving parts. Think of all the considerations that could be at play, including issues surrounding noise, policing, transit, parking, zoning, bylaw and rights-of-way.

The nightlife commissioner, meanwhile, and thus also the public, will benefit from the city’s already considerable communications channels, able to promote and inform residents of events.

Councillors on Wednesday raised numerous valid points. Bay Coun. Theresa Kavanagh, for example, spoke of the need to address youth and family engagement. Rideau-Vanier Coun. Laine Johnson raised the idea of 24-hour daycares.

These are all things that the city’s nightlife commissioner will want to consider.

The City that Fun Forgot has grown a lot in recent decades, but the pandemic took a lot of that away, with entertainment venues, galleries, restaurants and other activities and places residents relied on folding their tents. These weren’t simply amusements, although they were that. But they also supported Ottawans — musicians, dancers, servers, box-office employees and countless others.

A nightlife commissioner, as goofy as that title sounds, should go a long way to help bring all that back — and more.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...s-a-goofy-idea-heres-why-ottawa-needs-it

[J.OT13]

Leaders told to ‘believe in your city’ at Ottawa is Open for Business celebration

Constitution Square, Canderel partner with the Ottawa Board of Trade, Ottawa Tourism, Invest Ottawa and Shepherds of Good Hope to host event

Caroline Phillips, OBJ
May 18, 2023

• Video Link

Last night’s Ottawa is Open for Business celebration in the newly redesigned lobby of Constitution Square was one of those special events that left you feeling like, ah — Ottawa has still got it; it hasn’t lost its spark.

The place was packed. People ate, drank and connected with one another while soaking up the new and improved space, along with the live music. The energy in the room was rich and vibrant. It actually became a struggle for politicians to capture the crowd’s undivided attention while delivering their positive-message speeches. Where’s an airhorn when you need it?

Sueling Ching, president and CEO of the Ottawa Board of Trade (OBoT), had the most success in getting everyone to quiet down. “If I could have your attention for just one minute. Can I have your attention for just one minute? Just one minute. Can I have your attention?” she politely asked on stage before resorting to her utterances of “Shhh!”. It did the trick.

“We are so grateful to each of you for being here, for showing up, for your contribution to this city,” Ching told the crowd of up to 280 people.

The special event was hosted by Constitution Square and real estate owner and developer Canderel. They partnered that night with OBoT, Ottawa Tourism, Invest Ottawa and Shepherds of Good Hope, all of which had representatives out in full force. Constitution Square is a three-tower office complex located on Albert Street, in the heart of Ottawa’s financial and downtown district. At just over one-million-square-feet of rentable office space, Constitution Square is Ottawa’s largest office complex.

Colin Lynch was there on behalf of TD asset management. It’s the majority owner of Constitution Square, with Canderel being the other owner. From Canderel was Shawn Hamilton, vice president of business development in the region. He’s also past board president of the BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) Ottawa.

The city’s downtown core, similar to other major cities, is still struggling to find its place in our post-pandemic world. Workers have returned to downtown office spaces with less regularity than some had hoped.

The increased remote-and hybrid-work trend has members of the business community — including Hamilton — searching for ways to be leaders and to inspire increased interest and investment in the downtown. “We are slowly returning to a state of normalcy and it is time that we change the narrative of the news coming out of our city and for us to announce, as a community, that Ottawa is open for business,” Hamilton told his supportive audience as he implored all the leaders to “grab the bull by the horns” and “light this city up” in the areas of business, investment, tourism, living, learning and giving.

Hamilton encouraged attendees to seize the momentum created at the Ottawa is Open for Business event. “Believe in your city, invest in your people and your ideas. Support your city and do everything that you can to contribute and build.”

Hamilton was proud to have so many key groups supporting the event. “What I’m really excited about is we’re bringing everybody together,” he told OBJ.social. “It’s not just one organization or another, it’s all organizations coming together to celebrate Ottawa.”

The event also raised more than $17,000 for Shepherds of Good Hope and its efforts to build more permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless men and women.

The main lobby of Constitution Square, which spans a city block, recently underwent a roughly $9-million transformation to create more warmth, comfort and brightness while also redefining the relationship between life and work. The renovation work was done by Ottawa-based companies Linebox Studio and M.P. Lundy Construction.

There were representatives there from all three levels of government, including: Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, Ottawa MP and Treasury Broad President Mona Fortier and her colleague Yasir Naqvi, and Ottawa MPP Lisa MacLeod.

Deirdre Freiheit, outgoing president and CEO of Shepherds of Good Hope (SGH) and SGH Foundation, was there with her recently announced successors, both of whom are currently part of the senior management at the non-profit organization. Stephen Bartolo has been named the new CEO of Shepherds while David Gourlay is becoming CEO of its foundation, effective in July. “It takes two men to replace a good woman,” SGH board chair Dave Donaldson later joked to OBJ.social.

Among the attendees impressed by the event was Adam Zaret, vice president of Gemstone Corporation, a family-owned Ottawa real estate and construction firm.

“Kudos to Shawn and his team for organizing this because our city needs it,” he told OBJ.social. “The downtown has been quiet but we’re a G7 capital. It will be nice to see the feds really continue to make a strong move back into the offices and, hopefully, that will re-invigorate or renew interest in living, working and socializing downtown again. Otherwise, it’s going to be slow.”

https://obj.ca/believe-in-your-city-at-ottawa-is-open-for-business-event/

[rocketphish]

Board of trade unveils ‘road map’ for downtown core, calls on governments to work together

Mia Jensen, OBJ
June 9, 2023 1:04 PM ET

The Ottawa Board of Trade is urging all levels of government to prioritize the city’s downtown core and to work with stakeholders to build a “road map to transformation.”

“Downtown Ottawa is the heartbeat of the region. What happens downtown has a direct and immediate impact on every business, citizen and visitor. Without a focused plan, our current trajectory will negatively impact our property tax base and ability to provide key services like police and transit,” said OBOT president and CEO Sueling Ching in a statement.

Members of OBOT were joined Friday morning by local business leaders for a press conference held in front of the Jackson Building at 122 Bank St., one of 10 properties that the federal government plans to dispose of in the National Capital Region.

At the event, Ching said the area surrounding the building exemplified the challenges facing the downtown core.

“Prior to the pandemic, this whole area was bustling with people,” she said. “Look around. While this building has not yet closed, we see many empty storefronts, very little foot traffic and a clear testament of a reduced office presence in the core.”

More federal buildings, in the National Capital Region and across Canada, may be offered for sale as the feds work to reduce their office footprint nationwide by 50 per cent. The federal government has also signalled its intention to reduce its portfolio of leased space.

“What happens downtown has a direct and immediate impact on every business, every citizen, and every visitor,” said Ching.

OBOT is calling on the federal government to engage with local stakeholders to provide “real and meaningful” transitional support programs and funding as it divests of its downtown properties. Ching said all levels of government have a responsibility to cultivate “a predictable environment in which businesses can compete and grow.”

“Communication and transparency are critical,” she added.

OBOT has convened stakeholders and engaged in discussions over the past several months about the downtown, including through the Downtown Revitalization Task Force, the Mayor’s Economic Summit and the Ottawa City Building Summit. Ching said OBOT is advocating at the federal level for a national urban strategy through work with the Canadian Global Cities Council, a coalition of the largest city chambers and boards of trade from across the country.

“We recognize and commend all the great initiatives underway. We are pleased to see a deepened understanding of why a vibrant and diverse downtown Ottawa is so critical to the whole region,” said Ching. “However, the time has come for the highest level of collaboration and support from all governments and stakeholders. Immediate action is needed to avoid a further hollowing of the core and avoid reaching a point of no return.

“We cannot afford to wait and risk the devastating levels of abandonment, vacant buildings and disinvestment we’ve seen in some U.S. cities.”

On Friday, OBOT unveiled a five-pillar approach designed to create a solid foundation for economic growth.

The pillars are:

• Creating affordable, walkable, amenity-rich communities
• Flexible and efficient regulation
• Public and private investment in infrastructure
• Supporting the growth of private and public sector employment
• Ensuring the safety and security of employers, residents, and tourists

“This is a rare and exciting opportunity to transform downtown and let go of what is no longer working for us,” said Ching. “Many global cities have made their commitment to recovery with significant investments in their downtowns. It’s time for us to be bold. The competition is fierce. Our businesses and citizens cannot afford to wait.”

“Over the coming weeks, we will be reaching out to our public and private economic development partners, elected officials and residents to join us as we identify the work and resources needed to support the five-pillar action plan created by our economic development committee,” said Ian Sherman, chair of the OBOT board of directors.

Ching said OBOT will convene a downtown summit with all stakeholders this fall to provide an update on the action plan.

Devinder Chaudhary, founder of Aiana Restaurant Collective on O’Connor Street and a member of the OBOT board, said the announcement was a “tremendous first step.”

“It’s very important to recognize the seriousness of the matter,” he told OBJ. “We don’t have a lot of time, so time is of the essence. It’s very important that all levels of government get together and devote the resources required to revive and rejuvenate the downtown for the next two or three years.”

Chaudhary added that his restaurant opened during COVID-19. While business has picked up since restrictions were lifted, the fact that federal workers have not returned has caused ongoing challenges.

“We need a business incubator,” he said. “There are numerous ideas that can be acted upon that will bring life into the downtown core. And it’s not just nine-to-five; we need five-to-nine as well. We need more businesses, more restaurants. We need people to see downtown as a vibrant place.”

https://obj.ca/board-of-trade-unveils-roadmap-for-downtown-core/

[rocketphish]

Shopify leaders Lütke, Finkelstein pull up stakes from capital

David Sali, OBJ
September 12, 2023 4:12 PM ET

More than two years after his company removed the word “Ottawa” from the placeline on its news releases, Shopify chief executive Tobi Lütke has stopped calling the city home as well. Last Friday, the founder of the e-commerce software powerhouse posted a shot of the CN Tower on X, formerly known as Twitter, along with a message that seems to confirm something many in the capital’s close-knit tech community had suspected was coming for months: Lütke and his family had pulled up stakes and relocated to Canada’s largest city. “First week living in Toronto,” he said in the post. Lütke’s move comes fast on the heels of Shopify president Harley Finkelstein’s decision to uproot his family from their Rockcliffe Park home and return to Montreal, the city of his birth. Finkelstein, who’s become Shopify’s most prominent public face, told a Montreal magazine in July that the Quebec metropolis “still felt like home to me.” The moves follow a major makeover of Shopify’s leadership team that has seen many locally based members of its C-suite replaced by executives who live elsewhere. In the past couple of years, many company leaders who called Ottawa home, including chief financial officer Amy Shapero, chief technology officer Jean-Michel Lemieux, chief legal officer Joe Frasco and chief talent officer Brittany Forsyth, have left the firm. Many of their replacements live in the U.S. According to LinkedIn, the only member of Shopify’s core leadership team who still resides in the National Capital Region is chief information security officer Andrew Dunbar. Shopify did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. News that Lütke and Finkelstein have left town has fuelled speculation about Shopify’s future in the city where the company began. One industry insider who did not wish to be named said losing the pair of tech titans to other cities should serve as a “call to action” to local business leaders and government officials to push for more direct flights to major U.S. centres and step up efforts to revitalize Ottawa’s downtown core. In announcing his decision to relocate to Montreal, Finkelstein cited that city’s vibrant food, arts and music scene as one of the main reasons. However, other observers downplayed the impact of the moves on Ottawa’s standing as a tech hub, saying they shouldn’t come as a surprise given Shopify’s digital-first mentality. Lütke, after all, made headlines in May 2020 when he declared that “office centricity is over.” Just months later, Shopify announced it was vacating its headquarters at 150 Elgin St. amid the widespread shift to remote work during the pandemic. In early 2021, the company removed “Ottawa” from the placeline on its news releases, replacing it with “Internet, Everywhere” – a clear signal that its digital-by-default credo was no passing fad. “I think it’s meaningless now to talk about Shopify as an Ottawa-based company – and not just because two people moved,” said Ian Lee, a professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business. “If all data is digitized, it doesn’t matter where you are. It’s no longer a physical company with a physical presence. Where is Shopify? The answer is, it’s everywhere.” Still, Lee said there’s no reason for panic in the local tech community. While Lütke and Finkelstein may have good reasons to want to live elsewhere, Lee said the nation’s capital has many attributes – including a high quality of life and a lower cost of living than bigger centres like Toronto and Vancouver – that will continue to make the city an attractive destination for top talent at Shopify and other tech firms. Rick Watson, CEO of New York-based RMW Commerce Consulting, agreed. “My sense is that Harley and Tobi have always had affection for Ottawa,” Watson said. “I find it very hard to believe that they would forget about it.” With many of Shopify’s key executives living south of the border and in the Greater Toronto Area, Watson said it made sense for Lütke to be closer to investors and major decision-makers. “I think for being (leader of) one of the larger public companies in Canada, it’s probably hard for him to not be in Toronto,” he explained. “Shopify doesn’t really care where people work. But I think Tobi as a CEO, it does matter where he is.”

https://obj.ca/shopify-leaders-lutke-finkelstein-pull-up-stakes/

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

If we wanna make Ottawa interesting, we should make Sparks Street our Red Light District. Would also do wonders for politics as angry folks on the Hill could walk a block, relieve some stress, and come back happy with a clear mind.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix

If we wanna make Ottawa interesting, we should make Sparks Street our Red Light District. Would also do wonders for politics as angry folks on the Hill could walk a block, relieve some stress, and come back happy with a clear mind.

So the denizens of Ottawa's red-light district would be interesting? That's a huge assumption...

[rocketphish]

Three downtown Ottawa professionals share their back-to-office experiences

Mia Jensen, OBJ
October 3, 2023 4:10 PM ET

As more workers return to the office, larger employers based in Ottawa’s downtown core have noticed that the experience of working in the area has changed dramatically since the pandemic.

“It’s empty,” said Peter Berry, a partner at Ottawa-based firm Welch LLP, headquartered on Slater Street. “The hustle and the excitement of being downtown is now gone. There’s not the volume of people, there’s not the same volume of activity. It’s not an exciting place to be anymore.” According to Berry, Welch is gradually shifting back into the office, though it has adopted a permanent hybrid model. On any given day, he said, 30 to 35 per cent of the firm’s 230 employees are in the office.

“The flexibility is something we want to continue longer term, though we do want to see a little bit more of a return to office,” he said. “Building a stronger corporate culture is one reason why, and there is a training aspect that I’d say is better in the office.” But, like many employers, he said there are barriers, especially in the downtown core.

“There’s so many businesses that have shut down,” said Berry. “Restaurants, coffee shops, retailers that service downtown occupiers. A lot of them are now gone. There’s a lot less choice. There’s a lot less activity.” Despite the challenges, Welch’s employees and clients seem anxious to get out of the house and into the downtown core, he added.

“It’s still a good place to work,” he said. “We’re still pushing for a lot of meetings downtown, whether it’s at our office or at a restaurant. People are still willing and eager to do that. I think there is a lot of desire for people to get out and do these things.” Ottawa law firm Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall has made a near complete return to its office on Albert Street, according to co-chair and partner Anthony McGlynn.

“We work collaboratively,” he said. “We’re not a bunch of silos. We train people and bring them along. Professional development is important, collegiality is important. And all those things just seem to work better when we’re in the office.” The transition hasn’t been without its challenges, though. In addition to the general emptiness of the core, transit has cropped up as an issue. Workers who commute using public transit, for example, have been dealing with prolonged shutdowns of the city’s light-rail system.

But McGlynn said more people are choosing to use their cars to commute as hybrid work models decrease the number of times per week they need to travel downtown. Parking lots tend to fill up quickly in the mornings, making it difficult to drive in later in the day.

“The traffic is back and parking is a problem again,” he said. “Because people are only coming to the office two or three days a week, they’re not bothering to use public transit.” While the firm’s workforce of 120 is back downtown in force, the fact that many of its neighbouring businesses have not made the same transition has been noticeable. Like Berry, McGlynn said he’s noticed a substantial change.

“There’s a cultural shift in a way,” he said. “It’s getting more and more normal and the restaurants and amenities are starting to come back, but the government and other businesses aren’t coming to the office every day anymore.” For companies like Acart Communications Inc., the transition back to the office has not been smooth.

The 32-person team, which is headquartered in an office building on Nepean Street, went through at least five iterations of its return-to-office initiative before finding a suitable model, according to chief innovation officer Andrew McWiggan.

“Initially, we did mandatory days back in the office,” said McWiggan. “Then we went to team-based days where each department came in on certain days. Then we moved to just having everyone come in on alternate days. We’ve worked with a series of different models.” McWiggan said they’ve now found a “sweet spot,” where employees come in Tuesday to Thursday and work from home on Mondays and Fridays. Since returning to in-person work, McWiggan said he’s also noticed a shift in the work culture downtown.

“It’s changed dramatically,” he said. “There’s not a lot of foot traffic anymore. When I first moved here (in 2019), I remember the street being busy. You would stop and see people you knew walking down the street. It was much more vibrant.” The permanent shift to hybrid, as well as the decision by some companies to downsize and move away from the core, is part of the issue.

“Our largest industries are not occupying as much real estate downtown and they’re not having staff frequent downtown regularly,” McWiggan said. “Like Shopify; I remember the days where they had thousands of people in the space and now they’ve moved to a digital-first model.” He added that there have been some tough conversations with staff members concerned about safety in the downtown, something street-level businesses such as restaurants and retailers have raised alarm bells about in recent years. While the larger, corporate companies don’t experience the same negative effects on business, he said there are still worries. “Ultimately, some of our staff don’t feel safe accessing the space at certain times,” he said. “It’s really quite tragic. There’s obviously increasing challenges for people with the opioid crisis, homelessness and, really, the disparity of wealth.” With the hybrid work model likely here to stay, McWiggan said innovative solutions to bring vibrancy back to the core should focus more on community over business.

“We’ve been in this space for well over 30 years,” he said. “I think there needs to be some creative thinking about how to rebuild in this sort of environment. I don’t think it’s something that can just be an overnight sensation. You have to figure out how to rebuild a downtown core knowing that information.”

https://obj.ca/downtown-professionals-share-back-to-office-experiences/

[J.OT13]

From the street, and even on the Confederation Line, I find things feel relatively close to the pre-pandemic normal Tuesdays to Thursdays. We'll say 65%-70%. I haven't felt the same doom and gloom.

In my building, it does almost seem like only the 17th and 21st floors are occupied based on my morning elevator ride, which is weird. The building owners do try really hard to make the place interesting with music on the terrace every Thursday, farmers markets, retail fairs and all sorts of other events. They were good pre-pandemic, but I feel like they further stepped-it up since last summer.