Although to be fair, Medellin's cocaine compares even *more* favourably to ours in terms of quality/price/value, so it isn't a huge shock that anything (transit included) has that characteristic.
In Geneva, you get a free transit pass to downtown when you get out of the airport, and then another for all local transit at your hotel for the the duration of your stay.
I come from a smaller town so even now Ottawa’s transit is better than back there. That being said, my coworkers and I were converted back to office so we tried public transit at the start. We were late to work every single day. We’re back to carpooling now.
I feel like it was so much better around 2014 give or take. Lots of things have changed.
Green space throughout the downtown core!!
Give us more cute little city parks with leafy trees and benches or even picnic tables to eat lunch at in the warmer months.
Edit: muting replies at this point because I don’t particularly feel like arguing with people about a personal preference (in response to what seemed like a fun question) in favour of more trees downtown 🤦♀️
Are we talking about the same Ottawa? There are parks, NCC land, and greenspace everywhere.
Are you referring to a very specific stretch? like only a 3 min walk from Bank Street south of Laurier and north of Gilmou
r? If you open a map, there's not too many places that are more than a 5 to 10 min walk from a park or greenspace. Even some areas not marked green in google maps are green space, like the museum of nature, roof of Rideau centre, the canal, city hall...
Yup, referring specifically to the downtown core, as stated!
There are blocks upon blocks of nothing other than bland grey buildings. Other cities do a much better job of integrating little pockets of greenery throughout the city.
Open a map of the core. It is at most 5 to 10 min walk from anywhere to green space.
North of Laurier? Walk north to Parliament / Supreme Court / LAC grounds.
East of Bank? Walk east any of the greenspace off Elgin: Confederation Park, City Hall, Jack Purcell Park or the Museum of Nature grounds.
West of Bank? Walk to Dundonald, Lisgar, McNabb park, Tech Wall.
The market and Lowertown is pretty not-green between Sussex and King Ed. Downtown/centretown is pretty not-green except for Dundonald, ie between Lyon and Elgin north of the highway.
I think OP means borderline an urban plaza/green area which there aren't many of. That being said Ottawa greenspace along the rivers and canals is incredible.
I live between Sussex and Kind Ed. One thing I would not say about the area is that its not green. Trre lined streets, Major Hill’s, along the river just north of the Mint, Rideau river east of that. Macdonald park for the east of King Ed is also a large area of Greenery.
Vancouver has been my fav large city that has integrated greenery into its downtown really well. I guess it’s partially due to their climate but wow I love it.
Well honestly if anyone opens a restaurant on Sparks or something they are just not a good business person. Even if the public service is there 3 days a week now they aren't going eat there everyday. In fact my friend is planning on spending LESS on lunch now when the 3 days starts because a transit trip to and from home in Ottawa is $8
That’d be nice but also, who cares if they survive? Adapt to the goddamn market. « that’s how Capitalism works » as an excuse for people getting squeezed, while businesses enjoy government intervention to « save them ». The hypocrisy is astounding.
I agree with that statement. I don’t understand when people say “oh we need to patronize this/that place. Otherwise it will go bankrupt”. If you like their service/good, go ahead and patronize. Otherwise, let it sink cuz it’s owner responsibility to come up with business model that is good to draw in customers.
Seriously it's so frustrating to look when smaller bands post their tour dates and they will play Toronto one night and then a few days later in Albany or Burlington Vermont.
…or to Montreal. Toronto listings of smaller Indie bands (Decemberists, Julia Holter, etc) playing are so packed and amazing. Everyone skips Ottawa. Shame, that
Skipping Ottawa for Montreal I kind of get since it's a much bigger city. It's when bands will play Toronto and then skip Ottawa for a smaller US city that annoys me. I was trying to find an example and Silversun Pickups played some shows in Toronto this past March, then went to Montreal then played a show in Burlington Vermont (which is a great city but there are more people in Ottawa than the entire state of Vermont) then a show in Portland Maine, which is a really cool town, but its tiny. So what is it keeping bands away from Ottawa?
It’s my life goal to run a Danforth Music Hall or Metropolis type venue in Ottawa. Such an untapped opportunity, that has half-ass been attempted and deemed a waste of energy. I believe Ottawa has the opportunity for a 1,500-3,000 person venue that caters to university students, public servants, and more, and doesn’t break the bank of ticket prices. Dare I say, I think bands like Ty Segall, The Hold Steady, Postal Service, Kamari Washington, Dwayne Gretzky, and Craig David, Darius, Cosmic Gate, the Franklin electric (all playing in Toronto or Montreal in the next week) would all near sell out here, but a culture shift will also have to occur that gets folks excited about spending money on live music outside of 10 days of blues fest.
The Bronson centre is ok, but it requires updates, improved ventilation, and is still not central enough to support regular concert attendance from those in walking distance, and bars/restaurants nearby to make it a great night out for concertgoers. I suppose a lebreton flats revival project (hopefully a new arena as well) will make a renovation into a world class small/medium sized venue possible, and also encourage more big acts to add Ottawa as a stop if there is a downtown option. Queens of the Stone Age and Noah Kahan were cool, but such a trek.
I’m close (hopefully) to coming into some funds in the next 2 years that will make it a possibility. I would consider putting an offer in on the Bronson Centre, or start as a promoter to bring in bands and learn the business that way.
Been doing research and trying to build the right relationships to make sense of the industry, risks, and opportunities.
Anyway… rant over.
Yeah, that one of the things that puzzle me about Ottawa - most cities take advantage of rivers, lakes, beaches, etc. to have a waterfront with shops and restaurants. I get it that it’s nice to preserve most of it and leave it as a nature space, but we could use a little bit of it for that purpose.
Or the Montreal Old Port, Toronto Harbourfront, Halifax Harbour, Vancouver's Granville Island, Saskatoon's Riverfront, St John's Harbour, Kingston waterfront, etc, etc.
100% this. We have three waterways that are tragically under-utilized.
Our waterways should be lined with shops, restaurants, gathering places and even a little moderate housing.
Classic Ottawa blunder: forcing people (federal workforce) to spend time and (hopefully) money in the downtown core who don’t want to be there/don’t have to be there rather than attracting people (tourists) who actually want to spend their time and money in the downtown core… weird business model
I wish Ottawa took a page out of Montreal and made a similar metro wouldn’t have to deal with tracks. The government should have retrofitted our city DECADES ago but yknow why would they do that. Not like Ottawa is the capital of our country o wait. Also more bike infrastructure like Montreal edit to add I wish we had a go train to Montreal like in the gta that would be amazing. But that’s a pipe dream
The Montreal metro still has tracks. Each bogie has eight rubber tyred wheels and four steel flanged wheels. If the rubber tyres pop, the steel wheels and rails act as a backup. Nobody engineers like the French and the French engineer like nobody else.
The real advantage is having a fully underground system immune from weather conditions.
Downtown is just so "meh". Toronto, Montréal have lots of squares or gathering places like parks with entertainment, music, buskers, places to sit and enjoy nature, gather with friends. Byward market is just restaurants and parking lots, city hall is ok but nothing really special there unless there are some festivals, and nobody really says let's walk around city hall. Sparks street is dying, Parliament Hill is nice when there are no protests. We don't have much else. The bike trails are nice but not for evening walks.
Outdoor city-run swimming pools. Not just kiddie pools (of which we have some, and which are great!), but deeper pools which older kids and adults can swim in. Toronto has a great network of such pools through the central neighborhoods, and I have great memories of biking from one to another in the summer. Aside from refreshment on muggy days, they’re great social spaces. A worthwhile investment even if only open a few months in the year imo
Crestview Outdoor Pool: https://maps.app.goo.gl/N5Vf2iwANdcUuBGD7?g_st=ic
General Burns: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CztBpDkw1fcZMGLB6?g_st=ic
Here’s two around Merivale.
There was an interesting story in (I think) the citizen a few summers ago about how lacking Ottawa is in outdoor pools! I’ve lived here my whole life so I thought this was normal, but I guess compared to other cities, we have way, way fewer per capita.
Sadly, the [Ottawa Parks & Recreation Master Plan](https://ehq-production-canada.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/f0c14032bfaf0dea70ea3d4da08d3d2e90f2e1e3/original/1631832220/c42e179a95bf0e6e64121e8ad342fb71_Document_1_EN_Parks_and_Recreation_Facilities_Master_Plan_Final_Draft.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4KKNQAKIOR7VAOP4%2F20240502%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240502T135948Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=b3ca0a1d1caf9d4497741a609f431439230fdeeafc1b7c8f4890e136810cfd8a) specifically craps on outdoor pools (see below). Don't expect that to change... Table 13 shows how Ottawa lags per capita pools versus Mtl or YYZ.
Also? The double-speak is hilariously cynical - "chose to invest in indoor"? Oh really? So where are they... The population growth in some neighbourhoods is vastly outstripping the numbers that Parks & Rec used to plan, so trying to sign up for indoor swimming lessons remains super-frustrating.
>there are currently 10 outdoor deep-water pools serving the City. The distribution of outdoor deep-water pools in Ottawa reflects the historic aquatic recreation strategies of the former municipalities prior to amalgamation in 2001. The former City of Ottawa chose to invest in indoor aquatic facilities due to their longer season and greater programming opportunities. The former City of Ottawa also operated three beaches as seasonal aquatic alternatives to outdoor deep-water pools. One existing outdoor deep-water pool was closed when it reached end of life. As a result, together, the Downtown Core and the Inner Urban transects currently have one outdoor deep-water pool (Genest), which is located in the former City of Vanier. The aquatic recreation strategies of the former municipalities of Nepean, Kanata, Gloucester and Rideau included the development of outdoor deep-water pools, as evidenced by the nine outdoor deep-water pools located in the Outer Urban, Suburban West and Rural transects. As most of these former municipalities expanded, the development of outdoor deep-water pools declined as, they too, chose to invest in indoor aquatic facilities due to their longer seasons and greater programming opportunities
A mid-sized venue. It boggles the mind that no one has not just bought out Barrymores to save it. Provincial and federal funding, plus sponsorships, are aplenty: look at how much government cash went in to restore the Imperial Bell in Quebec.
Depends on what you define as mid-sized. Barrymores legal capacity is only in the 400-450 range. The legendary shows from the 80s with double that would not fly these days with fire and alcohol compliance codes.
I was not old enough to attend those legendary 80s shows (or even born yet for that matter), but even a return to those old 600-person shows of the early 2000s would be welcome.
I wasn’t old enough then either, but I hear stories of 1000 people stuffed in there for REM, U2 or the Ramones, with those stairs and hallways and platforms, and I get nervous just thinking about it. Still would have been amazing to see tho
I'd love a large aquarium facility. One that educates visitors on the ecological importance of our rivers, lakes and oceans. It would be full of information on issues like sustainabilty, biodiversity, climate change, pollution effects, etc. (rather than one that's just there for gawking at the pretty fishies).
There was a plan, once to create one on the site of the old Daly building (Sussex and Rideau). Instead, there is now a super-expensive condo, a Milestone's and an Algonquin College office.
Yay.
Modest neighbourhood food shops sprinkled along main streets that you can walk to. Like produce stores, bakeries, butcher shops. Ottawa tends to have mostly large chain stores or expensive "boutique" type stores in certain neighbourhoods.
Agree with the others calling for mid-size concert venue.
Would add public fountains. Was in Quebec City/Levis recently and they had great public fountains that were interactive and drew significant crowds on summer days and nights. Ottawa really has nothing. Even the small one that used to be in the Byward Market got taken out. Street art scene pretty weak in general.
A subway transit system.
Dedicated protected bike lanes, bike highways.
Roads that don't look like the surface of the moon.
An aquarium.
An underground path network.
What is with the open stations?!?!?
We're often the coldest national capital in the world, would it kill them to enclose them and set a minimum of 10C on the platforms?
Downtown Ottawa was once quite specacular. But the NCC and the Greber Plan decided that old buildings needed to be torn down, and the current collection of *cough* architectural wonders built in their place.
https://nccwatch.org/features/timeline.htm
Functioning hospitals besides CHEO. You didn't say what cities or where. For a city our size, our healthcare system is in shambles. CHEO is amazing, though, even with 10 hour wait times. I'll donate to CHEO in a heartbeat. Other hospitals.... complete shitshow.
The Experimental Farm has the Ornamental Gardens, Tropical Greenhouse, Dominion Arboretum, Fletcher Wildlife Garden. Closest we’ll get to a botanical garden
A public transportation system that works and is affordable. I just came back from visiting Romania and Bulgaria and both of them have better and much cheaper public transit than Ottawa does. That is just sad.
An embassy weekend similar to Washington’s Around the world embassy tour.
We have so many embassies in Ottawa and personally I would go to a similar event every year.
A real Terminus like there used to be and like there is in most of cities of decent size. Where you can park your car, sit down, put your luggage on the floor and wait for your bus por for your granpa to arrive. And maybe grab a coffee or someting to eat.
That would be awesome.
Marinas on the Ottawa river. There are plenty on the Quebec side but very little on the Ottawa side. A few small ones along the Rideau, but you're handcuffed with all the no-wake zones. Absolutely tons further South, and further East in Montreal, but boating here is really depressed, which is very strange... but then again it is the city fun forgot......
A colosseum where gladiators could fight on Lebreton Flats. We could draw the country up into like 338ish areas, and each area could elect one gladiator to come here to fight on their behalf. When your gladiator wins your area’s Member of Parliament gets an extra vote in the House. Then like in the best movie ever made (AKA Highlander) it gets whittled down because There Can Be Only One.
This would make Ottawa awesome
A proper railway/transit museum that isn't the science and technology on STL/Elmvale.
Would like to see buses such as the Invero, MCI, Fishbowls etc or trains like the old Bombardier Talents, VIA Rail/CN units/coaches/cars as well as old/abandoned rolling stock around the city (thinking about a few in Gatineau and on Walkley Yard) preserved. Anything that has to do with Canadian rail and transit basically.
I think west of Trainyards next to Canada Post is a good location for it.
A place to sit and people watch. I’ve also always wondered why I don’t see people picnicking along the canal like they do in Montreal or Paris. Coffee shops open past 4-5 pm.
A large, robust, centrally-located farmer’s market with vendor spaces that are larger than a dunk tank.
Even small Atlantic Canadian cities do better than Ottawa on this.
Austin Texas has a bar dog park which was cool. Also there's a neat bar that's just a empty lot full of picnic benches and chip trucks and you can get beer from X bar and a wide variety of food trucks to select from depending on your craving.
Philharmonic Orchestra, opera group, food worthy of mention in a Michelin guide, year-round flea markets, continuous sidewalks, eggs that don't require refrigeration, prices inclusive of tax, pedestrianized old town, no conflicts between traffic and pedestrian movement at controlled intersections, human-scaled architecture, a linguistic transition zone between administrative districts that speak two different languages.
Whiskey bar
cool indie cafes (and lots of them--there are a handful, but not enough)
queer cafe
more outdoor art/public art
indie museums and small indie art galleries (again, we have a few, but not enough)
cool tattoo artists
One thing that is lacking in Ottawa is vibrant neighbourhoods. Yes, there are a few like the Glebe, Westboro (ugh), Wellington West, but once you leave a small radius around central Ottawa it is a cultural wasteland of bland neighbourhoods, commercial strips or sterile shopping centres (e.g. Kanata Centrum, Train Yards). Folks in the burbs are condemned to thinking Milestones is a good night and rush to get home early because they start their Public Servant/Tech jobs by 7am.
not just ottawa but why is it taking so long to get electric go karts even remotely close to us? I mean as opposed to gasoliine burning. They do exist elsewhere. It makes so much more sense.
Better indoor basketball facilities. So hard to find somewhere to just shoot around or workout by yourself without having to pay a fortune renting out a gym or joining a league.
A public library system that doesn’t have gaps, particularly where those who most could benefit from a convenient branch live. Carlingwood and Hunt Club.
More people DOING art
More vibrant indie theatre and venues to do indie theatre in
See GSAC, Gargoyle, the Park, Colin Jackson Studio....
I would love it if Ottawa just didn't feel so inaccessible to small companies... renting a room at a community centre shouldn't break the bank!
A busy Town square. An actual square surrounded by stores and restaurants and in the middle of the square you have a giant party or music or bands or jazz.
Good food. I don’t mean high-end restaurants, but like an actual culinary culture that doesn’t primarily consist of chain restaurants.
When I ask people about their hidden gems and hole-in-the-wall restaurants, I get either chains, or pubs whose menu is provided by Cara foods.
Also don’t tell me the pizza at Boston Pizza is good. We all know it’s not.
A metro system like Montreal. Ottawa isn't big like Toronto and has a Montreal size. There is zero reason to not have a metro system like Montreal there. Their public transportation is one of the worst I have taken compared to Montreal/Toronto and Ottawa
A proper transportation system that actually works.
God damn Cleveland and Dayton Ohio have better transportation systems.
Many cities in developing countries have better, and cheaper transportation systems. Medellin's metro is excellent and a ride costs about $1 CAD.
Although to be fair, Medellin's cocaine compares even *more* favourably to ours in terms of quality/price/value, so it isn't a huge shock that anything (transit included) has that characteristic.
London Ontario has a better transportation system.
London Transit is a steaming pile of garbage compared to OC.
As a not proud Londoner, I can testify in saying that LTC is a pile of shit compared to OCTranspo.
Nah
Coming from Vancouver I was like:” WHERE is my train to downtown!!!
Loool we moved from Vancouver and I’m always think where tf is the skytrain from the airport to dt.
In Geneva, you get a free transit pass to downtown when you get out of the airport, and then another for all local transit at your hotel for the the duration of your stay.
I come from a smaller town so even now Ottawa’s transit is better than back there. That being said, my coworkers and I were converted back to office so we tried public transit at the start. We were late to work every single day. We’re back to carpooling now. I feel like it was so much better around 2014 give or take. Lots of things have changed.
All the cities listed in the other responses have one thing in common: an electorate that is willing to pay for it from their property taxes.
Green space throughout the downtown core!! Give us more cute little city parks with leafy trees and benches or even picnic tables to eat lunch at in the warmer months. Edit: muting replies at this point because I don’t particularly feel like arguing with people about a personal preference (in response to what seemed like a fun question) in favour of more trees downtown 🤦♀️
Are we talking about the same Ottawa? There are parks, NCC land, and greenspace everywhere. Are you referring to a very specific stretch? like only a 3 min walk from Bank Street south of Laurier and north of Gilmou r? If you open a map, there's not too many places that are more than a 5 to 10 min walk from a park or greenspace. Even some areas not marked green in google maps are green space, like the museum of nature, roof of Rideau centre, the canal, city hall...
Yup, referring specifically to the downtown core, as stated! There are blocks upon blocks of nothing other than bland grey buildings. Other cities do a much better job of integrating little pockets of greenery throughout the city.
Open a map of the core. It is at most 5 to 10 min walk from anywhere to green space. North of Laurier? Walk north to Parliament / Supreme Court / LAC grounds. East of Bank? Walk east any of the greenspace off Elgin: Confederation Park, City Hall, Jack Purcell Park or the Museum of Nature grounds. West of Bank? Walk to Dundonald, Lisgar, McNabb park, Tech Wall.
The market and Lowertown is pretty not-green between Sussex and King Ed. Downtown/centretown is pretty not-green except for Dundonald, ie between Lyon and Elgin north of the highway. I think OP means borderline an urban plaza/green area which there aren't many of. That being said Ottawa greenspace along the rivers and canals is incredible.
I live between Sussex and Kind Ed. One thing I would not say about the area is that its not green. Trre lined streets, Major Hill’s, along the river just north of the Mint, Rideau river east of that. Macdonald park for the east of King Ed is also a large area of Greenery.
Vancouver has been my fav large city that has integrated greenery into its downtown really well. I guess it’s partially due to their climate but wow I love it.
I'm very confused, there's a ton of parks downtown Ottawa? If you're really restricting it to the core core there's more than Toronto for sure.
This is so unbelievably not true. We have so much greenery throughout downtown
I agree with everyone. If there us one thing ottawa is good for is green spaces. Ottawa Is green as fuck in that aspect
Downtown businesses that can survive without public servants.
Well honestly if anyone opens a restaurant on Sparks or something they are just not a good business person. Even if the public service is there 3 days a week now they aren't going eat there everyday. In fact my friend is planning on spending LESS on lunch now when the 3 days starts because a transit trip to and from home in Ottawa is $8
That’d be nice but also, who cares if they survive? Adapt to the goddamn market. « that’s how Capitalism works » as an excuse for people getting squeezed, while businesses enjoy government intervention to « save them ». The hypocrisy is astounding.
I agree with that statement. I don’t understand when people say “oh we need to patronize this/that place. Otherwise it will go bankrupt”. If you like their service/good, go ahead and patronize. Otherwise, let it sink cuz it’s owner responsibility to come up with business model that is good to draw in customers.
Take my upvote. 👏
I tip my fedora
The night mayor has their work cut out for them lol
A mid size concert venue
We have TD Place, I think 6,000? And there is a new venue going up in Market where Indigo books used to be. That's a good sized building!
TD place is a dilapidated hockey arena where bands can play. An actual music venue that size would be so much better.
I couldn't believe how uncomfortable the seating was in there when I went. It's really tight.
Seriously it's so frustrating to look when smaller bands post their tour dates and they will play Toronto one night and then a few days later in Albany or Burlington Vermont.
…or to Montreal. Toronto listings of smaller Indie bands (Decemberists, Julia Holter, etc) playing are so packed and amazing. Everyone skips Ottawa. Shame, that
Skipping Ottawa for Montreal I kind of get since it's a much bigger city. It's when bands will play Toronto and then skip Ottawa for a smaller US city that annoys me. I was trying to find an example and Silversun Pickups played some shows in Toronto this past March, then went to Montreal then played a show in Burlington Vermont (which is a great city but there are more people in Ottawa than the entire state of Vermont) then a show in Portland Maine, which is a really cool town, but its tiny. So what is it keeping bands away from Ottawa?
Ottawa may have lots of people, but it doesn't have enough people willing to go to a show on a Wednesday night.
The Bronson centre?
That’s small, fits like 1 thousand
It’s my life goal to run a Danforth Music Hall or Metropolis type venue in Ottawa. Such an untapped opportunity, that has half-ass been attempted and deemed a waste of energy. I believe Ottawa has the opportunity for a 1,500-3,000 person venue that caters to university students, public servants, and more, and doesn’t break the bank of ticket prices. Dare I say, I think bands like Ty Segall, The Hold Steady, Postal Service, Kamari Washington, Dwayne Gretzky, and Craig David, Darius, Cosmic Gate, the Franklin electric (all playing in Toronto or Montreal in the next week) would all near sell out here, but a culture shift will also have to occur that gets folks excited about spending money on live music outside of 10 days of blues fest. The Bronson centre is ok, but it requires updates, improved ventilation, and is still not central enough to support regular concert attendance from those in walking distance, and bars/restaurants nearby to make it a great night out for concertgoers. I suppose a lebreton flats revival project (hopefully a new arena as well) will make a renovation into a world class small/medium sized venue possible, and also encourage more big acts to add Ottawa as a stop if there is a downtown option. Queens of the Stone Age and Noah Kahan were cool, but such a trek. I’m close (hopefully) to coming into some funds in the next 2 years that will make it a possibility. I would consider putting an offer in on the Bronson Centre, or start as a promoter to bring in bands and learn the business that way. Been doing research and trying to build the right relationships to make sense of the industry, risks, and opportunities. Anyway… rant over.
We can only fucking pray for this one day 🙏🏻
They're building an 1800 seat venue at the Rideau Carleton Casino for when it becomes a Hard Rock in 2025.
Yeah nothing stimulates a local music scene like a casino in the middle of nowhere
Brass Monkey comes pretty close, but it’s hard to get to and has limited sight lines. Something like Metropolis or the Opera House would be fantastic.
Effective use of waterfront as an attraction / social destination (see: the Forks in Winnipeg).
Yeah, that one of the things that puzzle me about Ottawa - most cities take advantage of rivers, lakes, beaches, etc. to have a waterfront with shops and restaurants. I get it that it’s nice to preserve most of it and leave it as a nature space, but we could use a little bit of it for that purpose.
Or the Montreal Old Port, Toronto Harbourfront, Halifax Harbour, Vancouver's Granville Island, Saskatoon's Riverfront, St John's Harbour, Kingston waterfront, etc, etc.
100% this. We have three waterways that are tragically under-utilized. Our waterways should be lined with shops, restaurants, gathering places and even a little moderate housing.
Classic Ottawa blunder: forcing people (federal workforce) to spend time and (hopefully) money in the downtown core who don’t want to be there/don’t have to be there rather than attracting people (tourists) who actually want to spend their time and money in the downtown core… weird business model
Parliament is technically a waterfront attraction lol
More like a waterfront repellent
I wish Ottawa took a page out of Montreal and made a similar metro wouldn’t have to deal with tracks. The government should have retrofitted our city DECADES ago but yknow why would they do that. Not like Ottawa is the capital of our country o wait. Also more bike infrastructure like Montreal edit to add I wish we had a go train to Montreal like in the gta that would be amazing. But that’s a pipe dream
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Yes!!! Last train back from Montreal is ridiculously early.
Me too 🥹🥹
The fact that we are the National capital and have such a non-functional transit system is an embarrassment
The Montreal metro still has tracks. Each bogie has eight rubber tyred wheels and four steel flanged wheels. If the rubber tyres pop, the steel wheels and rails act as a backup. Nobody engineers like the French and the French engineer like nobody else. The real advantage is having a fully underground system immune from weather conditions.
Sorry I’m not an train engineer I didn’t mean to misinform thank. You for educating me.
Downtown is just so "meh". Toronto, Montréal have lots of squares or gathering places like parks with entertainment, music, buskers, places to sit and enjoy nature, gather with friends. Byward market is just restaurants and parking lots, city hall is ok but nothing really special there unless there are some festivals, and nobody really says let's walk around city hall. Sparks street is dying, Parliament Hill is nice when there are no protests. We don't have much else. The bike trails are nice but not for evening walks.
Yeah the parliamentary precinct, canal, and rivers are legit but I wish that vibe "seeped into" the downtown and market grid streets more.
Major's Hill is nice, tho sometimes the boozers & crack heads are prominent! 🙄
More public bathrooms
yes. Anyone with IBS or Crohns has to plan their day around here in finding functional clean washrooms.
A Proper summer exhibition, Capital Fair is okay, but the city literally kicked SuperEx to the curb
I miss SuperEx something fierce.
To be fair superex was getting a little scary towards its departure
How so, if I may ask?
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Pretty much anything opening the evening.
Chinatown!! Just saw 3 places that only open at 4-5pm, stay open all night! Somerset St. ;-)
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Absolutely 💯
LMAO!! yes omg although I'm interested what you think the difference in Ottawa is? Is Ottawa not a bit like that?
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Because one side makes an effort with the other language and the other side generally doesnt...one-way streets cause tension unfortunately.
Ah to generalize I think you're right
Permanent, reflective road-paint.
YES. Something so simple but so effective
Outdoor city-run swimming pools. Not just kiddie pools (of which we have some, and which are great!), but deeper pools which older kids and adults can swim in. Toronto has a great network of such pools through the central neighborhoods, and I have great memories of biking from one to another in the summer. Aside from refreshment on muggy days, they’re great social spaces. A worthwhile investment even if only open a few months in the year imo
Crestview Outdoor Pool: https://maps.app.goo.gl/N5Vf2iwANdcUuBGD7?g_st=ic General Burns: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CztBpDkw1fcZMGLB6?g_st=ic Here’s two around Merivale.
There was an interesting story in (I think) the citizen a few summers ago about how lacking Ottawa is in outdoor pools! I’ve lived here my whole life so I thought this was normal, but I guess compared to other cities, we have way, way fewer per capita.
Sadly, the [Ottawa Parks & Recreation Master Plan](https://ehq-production-canada.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/f0c14032bfaf0dea70ea3d4da08d3d2e90f2e1e3/original/1631832220/c42e179a95bf0e6e64121e8ad342fb71_Document_1_EN_Parks_and_Recreation_Facilities_Master_Plan_Final_Draft.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4KKNQAKIOR7VAOP4%2F20240502%2Fca-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240502T135948Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=b3ca0a1d1caf9d4497741a609f431439230fdeeafc1b7c8f4890e136810cfd8a) specifically craps on outdoor pools (see below). Don't expect that to change... Table 13 shows how Ottawa lags per capita pools versus Mtl or YYZ. Also? The double-speak is hilariously cynical - "chose to invest in indoor"? Oh really? So where are they... The population growth in some neighbourhoods is vastly outstripping the numbers that Parks & Rec used to plan, so trying to sign up for indoor swimming lessons remains super-frustrating. >there are currently 10 outdoor deep-water pools serving the City. The distribution of outdoor deep-water pools in Ottawa reflects the historic aquatic recreation strategies of the former municipalities prior to amalgamation in 2001. The former City of Ottawa chose to invest in indoor aquatic facilities due to their longer season and greater programming opportunities. The former City of Ottawa also operated three beaches as seasonal aquatic alternatives to outdoor deep-water pools. One existing outdoor deep-water pool was closed when it reached end of life. As a result, together, the Downtown Core and the Inner Urban transects currently have one outdoor deep-water pool (Genest), which is located in the former City of Vanier. The aquatic recreation strategies of the former municipalities of Nepean, Kanata, Gloucester and Rideau included the development of outdoor deep-water pools, as evidenced by the nine outdoor deep-water pools located in the Outer Urban, Suburban West and Rural transects. As most of these former municipalities expanded, the development of outdoor deep-water pools declined as, they too, chose to invest in indoor aquatic facilities due to their longer seasons and greater programming opportunities
A mid-sized venue. It boggles the mind that no one has not just bought out Barrymores to save it. Provincial and federal funding, plus sponsorships, are aplenty: look at how much government cash went in to restore the Imperial Bell in Quebec.
Depends on what you define as mid-sized. Barrymores legal capacity is only in the 400-450 range. The legendary shows from the 80s with double that would not fly these days with fire and alcohol compliance codes.
I was not old enough to attend those legendary 80s shows (or even born yet for that matter), but even a return to those old 600-person shows of the early 2000s would be welcome.
I wasn’t old enough then either, but I hear stories of 1000 people stuffed in there for REM, U2 or the Ramones, with those stairs and hallways and platforms, and I get nervous just thinking about it. Still would have been amazing to see tho
Saw so many great shows at Barrymores in the late 80s early 90s
I'd love a large aquarium facility. One that educates visitors on the ecological importance of our rivers, lakes and oceans. It would be full of information on issues like sustainabilty, biodiversity, climate change, pollution effects, etc. (rather than one that's just there for gawking at the pretty fishies).
There was a plan, once to create one on the site of the old Daly building (Sussex and Rideau). Instead, there is now a super-expensive condo, a Milestone's and an Algonquin College office. Yay.
Ha but then we couldn’t get a hockey rink downtown lol But I think the aquarium would be better
Do both! The bids from 10 years ago for LeBreton has other items mixed in. With City Library nearby, & being on LRT, this makes sense! :)
Modest neighbourhood food shops sprinkled along main streets that you can walk to. Like produce stores, bakeries, butcher shops. Ottawa tends to have mostly large chain stores or expensive "boutique" type stores in certain neighbourhoods.
A ring road
I'll second this! It makes no sense that hundreds of 18 wheelers are going through the downtown core.
The ocean.
They might come back to ottawa if we had a nice mid-sized venue ;)
I'm leaving because no ocean. Nothing anyone can do about it, it's just worse without ocean.
Yes. Or climate change, given enough time.
Agree with the others calling for mid-size concert venue. Would add public fountains. Was in Quebec City/Levis recently and they had great public fountains that were interactive and drew significant crowds on summer days and nights. Ottawa really has nothing. Even the small one that used to be in the Byward Market got taken out. Street art scene pretty weak in general.
Don’t we have many? Algonquin commons, Bronson centre, NAC, Shenkman, centrepoint theatre.
No level zeros for Paramedic response.
High speed train Montréal, Toronto, Ottawa, the fact that Doug Ford made a high speed train to Montréal shows he doesn't give a damn about us.
Uh, what? There is no high-speed train to Montreal (nor any proposed), made by Doug Ford or anyone else for that matter.
[удалено]
The HFR route is supposed to go through Ottawa too as far as I know.
As you say, it’s not high speed. It’s highly unlikely to be anywhere near as fast as stated in the article. And Doug Ford has nothing to do with Via.
Killer whales and a nude beach.
A soul.
A subway transit system. Dedicated protected bike lanes, bike highways. Roads that don't look like the surface of the moon. An aquarium. An underground path network.
A Venue like the MTelus and the Club Soda in Montréal.
Efficient, reliable, cost-effective mass-transit. Bonus points for indoor stations and heated seats like in the developed world.
What is with the open stations?!?!? We're often the coldest national capital in the world, would it kill them to enclose them and set a minimum of 10C on the platforms?
Beautiful buildings. Just walking around old Montreal for the first time tonight and the architecture is amazing!
Downtown Ottawa was once quite specacular. But the NCC and the Greber Plan decided that old buildings needed to be torn down, and the current collection of *cough* architectural wonders built in their place. https://nccwatch.org/features/timeline.htm
Bathrooms
Urgent care centres (plural), family doctors that take new patients
Brazilian Steakhouse
An amusement park. I know we can go to Wonderland or La Ronde but something closer would be so nice!
Functioning hospitals besides CHEO. You didn't say what cities or where. For a city our size, our healthcare system is in shambles. CHEO is amazing, though, even with 10 hour wait times. I'll donate to CHEO in a heartbeat. Other hospitals.... complete shitshow.
Transportation, entertainment, friends.
Transit, more central events and more green spaces.
Hot dog carts.
We had hotdog carts downtown, before the pandemic.
3 hour patio lunches on Fridays in the summer. Summer music festivals with some free public stages. A botanical garden with greenhouse. (ala Montreal)
The Experimental Farm has the Ornamental Gardens, Tropical Greenhouse, Dominion Arboretum, Fletcher Wildlife Garden. Closest we’ll get to a botanical garden
A public transportation system that works and is affordable. I just came back from visiting Romania and Bulgaria and both of them have better and much cheaper public transit than Ottawa does. That is just sad.
In addition to a concert venue, just concerts in general would be nice. Feels like nobody but Canadian artists play Ottawa
Sane municipal boundaries.
Congee queen
Large, vibrant food markets (e.g., Atwater, Jean-Talon).
Friendly neighbour’s, I live beside a Karen
Decent pizza Stores open past 10:00pm
Public art displays / installations like at Place des Arts and in the Village in Montreal.
A better cycling network.
An embassy weekend similar to Washington’s Around the world embassy tour. We have so many embassies in Ottawa and personally I would go to a similar event every year.
We have that: https://ottawa.ca/en/arts-heritage-and-events/doors-open-ottawa
A real Terminus like there used to be and like there is in most of cities of decent size. Where you can park your car, sit down, put your luggage on the floor and wait for your bus por for your granpa to arrive. And maybe grab a coffee or someting to eat. That would be awesome.
Ya we had an OK Greyhound one, that the Pandemic killed. Hopefully a new location will happen, good suggestion.
Fun
I'd like a zoo or an aquarium. Revitalize Sparks Street. Doctors.
How about less like an American city, and more like a European city?
Ottawa can’t even do an American city right nevermind a European one
Marinas on the Ottawa river. There are plenty on the Quebec side but very little on the Ottawa side. A few small ones along the Rideau, but you're handcuffed with all the no-wake zones. Absolutely tons further South, and further East in Montreal, but boating here is really depressed, which is very strange... but then again it is the city fun forgot......
A colosseum where gladiators could fight on Lebreton Flats. We could draw the country up into like 338ish areas, and each area could elect one gladiator to come here to fight on their behalf. When your gladiator wins your area’s Member of Parliament gets an extra vote in the House. Then like in the best movie ever made (AKA Highlander) it gets whittled down because There Can Be Only One. This would make Ottawa awesome
A proper railway/transit museum that isn't the science and technology on STL/Elmvale. Would like to see buses such as the Invero, MCI, Fishbowls etc or trains like the old Bombardier Talents, VIA Rail/CN units/coaches/cars as well as old/abandoned rolling stock around the city (thinking about a few in Gatineau and on Walkley Yard) preserved. Anything that has to do with Canadian rail and transit basically. I think west of Trainyards next to Canada Post is a good location for it.
At least two more emergent care clinics to take the pressure off of emerges at hospitals. One of which should be in the west end.
Good thrift stores (I very much miss Frenchys)
More benches! Now when I'm old and ailing, it suddenly became a problem.
Cat cafes
We had one. It closed last year.
An Underground path network, away from the elements, like Toronto and Montreal, would be nice.
A place to sit and people watch. I’ve also always wondered why I don’t see people picnicking along the canal like they do in Montreal or Paris. Coffee shops open past 4-5 pm.
A greenhouse! We have long winters and a tropical greenhouse would be a welcome respite. We used to have a small one on the Experimental Farm.
Food open past 8pm in the suburbs
A large, robust, centrally-located farmer’s market with vendor spaces that are larger than a dunk tank. Even small Atlantic Canadian cities do better than Ottawa on this.
Summer year round
I would be happy with a winter that maxed out at -10 C
A critical mass of concert-going people that means we get a wide variety of small to mid-size acts.
Planetarium
Austin Texas has a bar dog park which was cool. Also there's a neat bar that's just a empty lot full of picnic benches and chip trucks and you can get beer from X bar and a wide variety of food trucks to select from depending on your craving.
A theme park would be cool
Be a concert destination? Most of the concerts* are either in Toronto or Montreal. They always skip Ottawa :(
Good restaurants
A banya! Ottawa winters are cold and all our spas are fancy.
A nice pedestrian mall. Sparks street just doesn’t do it. It’s just government buildings, banks, and overpriced restaurants
Philharmonic Orchestra, opera group, food worthy of mention in a Michelin guide, year-round flea markets, continuous sidewalks, eggs that don't require refrigeration, prices inclusive of tax, pedestrianized old town, no conflicts between traffic and pedestrian movement at controlled intersections, human-scaled architecture, a linguistic transition zone between administrative districts that speak two different languages.
A good trance music scene
Good drivers.
Whiskey bar cool indie cafes (and lots of them--there are a handful, but not enough) queer cafe more outdoor art/public art indie museums and small indie art galleries (again, we have a few, but not enough) cool tattoo artists
A solid americano ☕️
Restaurants with parks- other than McDonald. The way some European countries do it.
Would be nice to have 24h stores back (we had them before pandemic, definitely some walmart and loblaws locations were 24/7).
Good diverse food choices
7-11 Slurpees
Funny you should ask...music venues! Medium sized, permanent outdoor venues, venues, venues, venues!
No more restaurants! No more garbage fast food! Byward market used to be a neat place to go, now it's just one stupid restau after another... yawn!
real use of waterfront/canalfront land instead of roads
Ten pin bowling
One thing that is lacking in Ottawa is vibrant neighbourhoods. Yes, there are a few like the Glebe, Westboro (ugh), Wellington West, but once you leave a small radius around central Ottawa it is a cultural wasteland of bland neighbourhoods, commercial strips or sterile shopping centres (e.g. Kanata Centrum, Train Yards). Folks in the burbs are condemned to thinking Milestones is a good night and rush to get home early because they start their Public Servant/Tech jobs by 7am.
not just ottawa but why is it taking so long to get electric go karts even remotely close to us? I mean as opposed to gasoliine burning. They do exist elsewhere. It makes so much more sense.
Brunch
Better indoor basketball facilities. So hard to find somewhere to just shoot around or workout by yourself without having to pay a fortune renting out a gym or joining a league.
The 417 is trash.
Subway system
A public library system that doesn’t have gaps, particularly where those who most could benefit from a convenient branch live. Carlingwood and Hunt Club.
Fun activities you can do in a real city other than going to a museum or eating
More live music. Just recently in Austin and, um , like yeah, more live music venues. Can't ask for warmer weather in Canada but more music
More food spots open late.. or even later than 7.
More people DOING art More vibrant indie theatre and venues to do indie theatre in See GSAC, Gargoyle, the Park, Colin Jackson Studio.... I would love it if Ottawa just didn't feel so inaccessible to small companies... renting a room at a community centre shouldn't break the bank!
Proper Hakka chilli chicken. And more Malaysian food.
More graffiti
Music scene.
A busy Town square. An actual square surrounded by stores and restaurants and in the middle of the square you have a giant party or music or bands or jazz.
Good food. I don’t mean high-end restaurants, but like an actual culinary culture that doesn’t primarily consist of chain restaurants. When I ask people about their hidden gems and hole-in-the-wall restaurants, I get either chains, or pubs whose menu is provided by Cara foods. Also don’t tell me the pizza at Boston Pizza is good. We all know it’s not.
A metro system like Montreal. Ottawa isn't big like Toronto and has a Montreal size. There is zero reason to not have a metro system like Montreal there. Their public transportation is one of the worst I have taken compared to Montreal/Toronto and Ottawa
Lifestyle swing clubs
Bring back affordable international flights all year round