Bridlewood Hydro Lines Pathways Update

I have been reporting for a number of years on the deterioration of the pathways through Bridlewood, particularly the pathway along the smaller hydro line through Bridlewood, the latest being this spring’s report.

I finally have some positive news to report. Earlier this fall we noticed work being done on the paved portion of the pathway along the large hydro line through Bridlewood and were pleasantly surprised to find it completely rebuilt within a month. However, the gravel stone dust portion of the pathway remains the same.

Route of the Rebuilt Pathway

The following video follows the paved portion in both directions in order to highlight the fall colours along the pathways.

 

We also were happy to notice that work has begun rebuilding the pathway along the smaller hydro line through Bridlewood and are hopeful they will rebuild the full length of the pathway which is very deteriorated. The following shows were construction has begun along the pathway. We will report further when construction is completed. 

Small Hydro Line Pathway Construction Progress 

UPDATE 2024-11-03 

Portion of pathway indicated as under construction is now newly paved. No sign of work continuing on rest of pathway.

I can also confirm that the redone sections are considerably wider than the original pathways.

Annual Report on Kanata South Pathways Deterioration, Spring 2024

Another year has gone by and it is time to report again on the deterioration of the Bridlewood and Glen Cairn pathways in Kanata.

Bridlewood

Glen Cairn

Previous Reports

Spring 2023 Bridlewood & Glen Cairn

Spring 2022 Bridlewood

Spring 2022 Glen Cairn

Spring 2021 Bridlewood

Annual Report on Kanata South Pathways Deterioration, Spring 2023

Another year has gone by and it is time to report again on the deterioration of the Bridlewood and Glen Cairn pathways in Kanata.

Bridlewood 

 

 

Glen Cairn

An Open Message to Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe

The election is over and you can now free yourself from your election handlers. It is time to move your focus from getting elected to making Ottawa a better place to live.

So what should your first priority be. During an election campaign it is obviously whatever the largest group of voters will vote for, and you seemed to think that was NOT spending money on cycling infrastructure. But more on that later. The campaign is over.

You now need to think about what is most important to all Ottawans, and in particular vulnerable and disadvantaged ones. I put it to you that the most important thing to most of us, after our families, is our home. So try to imagine not having one. So, even if the homeless tend to not vote, as mayor they should be your most important concern.

Most municipal candidates seem to fear this issue mistakenly thinking it is too big a challenge and too costly an expenditure and they try to pass it on to other jurisdictions where it gets lost in a lack of political will. But Finland has shown that not only can providing homes for everyone be done, it saves money because it costs less than all the measures needed to deal with homelessness. It may take some imagination and dedication and work with other jurisdictions to get this done, but it can be done. There are people in Ottawa with the ability and dedication to make it happen. Work with them.

As to the apparent misplaced obsession of your election campaign, your opponent’s brilliant plan to finish Ottawa’s cycling network in 5 years instead of 25 while spending the same amount of money annually over 25 years, it is time to look at it on it’s merits and not how it can be twisted to your electoral campaign advantage.

How can one argue against a proposal that increases the cost effectiveness of city expenditures many times. You only get the benefits of any type of network when it is fully completed and interconnected. This plan expedites that so the construction costs are incurred when they are lower and the full benefits of taxpayers money is achieved in 5 years, 20 years before all the money is paid out by taxpayers. As well, networks are most effectively built from the inside out so that as much as possible of the network is interconnected. This means that it is the suburbs that benefit most from the expedited construction.

This plan, of course, does not only benefit cyclists. If you want to reduce automobile traffic congestion building more automobile infrastructure will not work because of a pesky thing called induced demand. The only way to reduce traffic congestion to reduce the number of cars on the road and that means improving public transit and cycling infrastructure. Since over 50% of car trips are short enough to be replaced by cycling, building an effective cycling network can be an important part of reducing automobile traffic congestion.

There is no reason to oppose this plan, which better spends taxpayers money, unless you simply do not want to spend any money at all on cycling infrastructure.

Glen Cairn Pathway System Deterioration

Bridlewood is not the only Kanata South community with crumblingmulti-use pathways (MUPs) that are deteriorating due to multiplefreeze-thaw cycles every year as a result of climate change.

This pathway through Glen Cairn is also crumbling away.

 

The Bridlewood Small Hydro Line Pathway – The Crumbling Continues

A year ago I wrote a blog post, Climate Change, The Pandemic and Multi-Use Pathways (MUPs), in which I talked about the state of Ottawa’s Multi User Pathways citing The Bridlewood small hydro line as an example.

This is the current state of that pathway compared to a year ago.

May 2022

May 2021

 

Climate Change, The Pandemic and Multi-Use Pathways (MUPs)

The greatest long term threat to humankind is undoubtedly climate change. While the planet can no doubt survive anything short of a collision with a planet sized meteorite or asteroid, climate change has the potential to be be disastrous to human habitat.

In the short term the greatest threat to humankind is the COVID-19 pandemic.

While both of these threats are said to be non-discriminatory and many claim “we are all in this together”, that clearly is not true because while the threats may not discriminate, our societies and dominant economic system certainly do. Both climate change and the pandemic have a greater impact on the developing world than the developed world, and within the developed world a greater impact on poor and marginalized communities.

But what does this all have to do with multi-use pathways (MUPs).

Climate change has created multiple freeze-thaw cycles every year, rather than one each spring, causing excessive damage to cycling infrastructure, in particular MUPs. At the same time the pandemic has created an increase in outdoor activity and in particular much greater demand for bicycles putting much greater demands on cycling infrastructure including MUPs.

This is is the impact on a typical Ottawa MUP in Kanata.

Bridlewood Small Hydro Corridor Multi-Use Pathway (MUP)

We need to improve our multi-use pathway standards so that they do not completely deteriorate after one winter and connect the MUPs together to create a city wide system for recreational and utilitarian use, commuting, shopping, etc.

While considering this we need to keep these important facts in mind. Improving cycling infrastructure increases the number of people using bicycles for utilitarian purposes like commuting and shopping, which reduces the strain on roads and automobile infrastructure and reduces road traffic congestion. At the same time improving cycling infrastructures costs considerably less improving automobile infrastructure. Leaving the only reasonable conclusion that the most cost efficient way to reduce road traffic congestion is to improve cycling infrastructure.

Build a Better City – The Ultimate Reality Show

The worlds biggest reality challenge - two groups of 10,000 workers in 100 groups of 100 each face of to see who can build the better city on two separate plots of virgin land.

The first group has each team of 100 competing with the other teams each trying to build a better section of the city as quickly and least costly as possible. No collaboration is allowed and absolutely no social engineering is allowed. Shareholder rewards is utmost. This is the free market group.

The other group, the central planning group, has all 100 teams meeting and planning together before working on their individual sections where they communicate all lessons learned to the other group. Social engineering is required and the groups are required to consult with the people that will be living in the city in the planning process.

Who will build the better city ? Will it be the capitalists or the socialists ? Will the result be Ottawa or Copenhagen ?

The Old Stone House - To Be Saved or Destroyed

There is an old stone house in what was once a rural area and now is within the Emerald Meadows portion of Bridlewood in Kanata. A few weeks ago I biked by it and noticed that, while still standing, it was surrounded by construction and all the doors and windows were missing looking like no attempt to preserve it was being made. I was expecting it to be bulldozed any day but it still stands with construction going on all around it making me wonder if it is going to be destroyed or preserved.

  Update 2014-11-26 - What It Looks Like Now

Kanata's Secret Segregated Bike Lane

Yes, Kanata has a secret, or at least unpublicized, segregated bike lane on Huntmar Drive from Maple Grove Road to the Canadian Tire Centre parking lot, even if, for some strange reason, it is only on one side of the road.

This is not like the high profile (and more costly) Laurier Street Segregated Bike Lane (SBL). It is done on the cheap, with only the use of concrete curbs to separate the bike lane from traffic, but it is effective. It achieves the most important goal, which is to prevent cars from parking in the bike lane, as cars parked in bike lanes not only render them ineffective but make them dangerous as jutting in and out of traffic from behind parked cars is not a safe practice.

All that separates most sidewalks from roadways are concrete curbs and they are the safety standard for pedestrians so they can make a safe and cost-effective separator for bike lanes. This should be standard practice for most bike lanes. There may be special cases, such as in the busy downtown core, where more separation may be needed. However, white lines on the road should not be the standard when the use of concrete curbs only requires a small one time expense, probably less than the ongoing cost of repainting white lines.

As to the argument that it will make snow clearance and street cleaning more difficult than the current practice, which seems to be to just plough all the crap into the bike lanes, well we need to change that policy anyway.

We can only hope that this is a quiet pilot project and that we will see more of these (starting with the other side of this section of Huntmar Drive) and that it will indeed become the minimum standard for Ottawa bike lanes. Just don't tell Allan “Roads are for Cars” Hubley about this.

What Are These White Lines All About

While we are talking about bike lanes, what about pseudo bike lanes. These are on what I would call collector streets in our neighbourhood. And yes, they look like bike lines. However they have no signage and are not marked on the cycling map as bike lanes. And the fact that cars are allowed to park on them makes them ineffective and possibly even dangerous if used as bike lanes. Indeed, on these streets I follow the general rule of keeping to the right of the roadway but if a series of cars are parked in these lanes I keep to the middle to avoid jutting in and out from behind parked cars.

Perhaps they are parking lanes, but as you can see they are not wide enough for parking within the lines. If they were in the country it would be obvious, they would be paved shoulders, but in a suburb.

I think they are just “make the cyclists feel good” lanes.

After posting this I received this via Twitter:

Charles A-M ‏@Centretowner
@the5thColumnist @auxonic technically it's not a bike lane but an at-grade asphalt sidewalk. I tweeted pic of this 2y ago.
27 July 2013 20:49

City of Ottawa Kanata South (Terry Fox to West Hunt Club Road) Class Environmental Assessment Study – The NCC Role in Protecting the Greenbelt

Submission to The National Capital Commission
Richard W. Woodley
Bridlewood, Kanata, Ontario
June 21, 2013

I am providing this submission to the National Capital Commission (NCC) because I see the NCC as the Guardian of the Greenbelt while I see the City of Ottawa more as the guardian of roads and car drivers.

Information on this proposal and study is available on the City of Ottawa website here:

http://ottawa.ca/en/kanata-south-terry-fox-west-hunt-club-road-class-environmental-assessment-study

This proposal is in response to the perceived needs of Bridlewood residents for more roads to take private automobiles downtown during rush hours, the same time as the public transit system is optimized for. It relates more to a desire to use private automobiles with less inconvenience of time delays than a real need to improve transportation links downtown, which could be better done by improving public transit options.

The original proposal to solve this perceived problem was to, essentially, extend Terry Fox Drive to the 416 by extending Hope Side Road, which it connects directly to (essentially the same road with only the name changing), through the Greenbelt to the 416.

Apparently, according to the City, everybody agrees that that would be environmentally inappropriate, although I suspect the City simply realized that the NCC would not approve that so they decided they might as well jump on the environmental bandwagon.

So now we have a “compromise” proposal to widen and realign Old Richmond Road and West Hunt Club Road between Hope Side Road and the 416. While perhaps not as draconian as the original proposal for a new road through the Greenbelt, this new proposal still compromises the integrity of the Greenbelt by widening the road corridor through it and purposely increasing traffic through it and thus increasing the risk to wildlife and degrading their habitat.

And the reason it is proposed to do this is to reduce the inconvenience to Bridlewood car drivers during rush hour, the majority of whom could very effectively use the public transit system that is optimized for that time period. A much more effective solution would be to improve the public transit service to deal with any projected needs for more transportation capacity to downtown.

But this is really not about need but the desire of people to use private automobiles, many of them with only the driver in them, during rush hour.

I would urge the NCC to not rubber stamp this proposal from the City but to take their responsibility as Guardians of the Greenbelt and protectors of the wildlife and habitat within it very seriously before approving a proposal based on desire rather than need.

The NCC should also only consider the option that has the least impact on wildlife and it's habitat, the three lane, rather than four lane, proposal.

And finally I wish to draw to the attention of the NCC, although I am certain it is already aware of this, that along this route proposed for widening there are two NCC parking lots, P6 and P11 with trail systems on both sides where crossing from one side to the other is already very difficult and dangerous. If any widening of these roads is allowed the NCC must insist that it include a solution that provides safe passage between the trail systems on both sides of the roads at the locations of those parking lots.

Respectfully submitted

Richard W. Woodley

This submission is also being sent to:

Angela Taylor, P Eng. Senior Project Engineer Transportation Planning Branch Planning & Growth Management Department City of Ottawa Angela.Taylor@ottawa.ca

Valerie McGirr, P. Eng. Consultant Project Manager AECOM valerie.mcgirr@aecom.com

Ottawa City Councillor Allan Hubley Ward 23 Kanata South Allan.Hubley@ottawa.ca

This submission is also being published on my blog The Fifth Column
http://the5thc.blogspot.ca

Prince of Wales Bridge: Why Isn't This a Bikeway

(click on image to enlarge)

As early as 2005, after the rail line was discontinued and the City of Ottawa purchased the bridge for possible future public transit use the NCC proposed using the bridge as a pedestrian and cycling bridge (Wikipedia: The Ottawa Citizen. (15 November 2005), NCC plans to link Ottawa, Gatineau with new recreation paths).

Since then the bridge has sat idle, although I assume, since the city purchased it for future public transit use, it's structural integrity has been maintained.

Such a shame. All those wasted years when the cost to use it as a Bikeway, even if temporary, would be minimal and if action had been taken in 2005 we'd be getting to close to ten years of use now. But it is never too late to do the right thing.

(click on image to enlarge)

All that would be needed is for a wooden boardwalk with railings to be built over the steel rails and approaches connected from the recreational pathways that are already on both sides of the Ottawa River. The timing is ideal with the newly built O-Train Multi-User Path (MUP) following the rest of the rail line on the Ottawa side all the way to the recreational pathway along the Rideau Canal. This would make an ideal link in the region's pathway system. The minimal cost would justify the expense, even if temporary, and it could be another ten years, if ever, before the bridge is used for public transit.

It is time for our elected, and unelected, officials to find ways through the bureaucratic roadblocks and make this happen for the citizens of Ottawa and Gatineau.

(click on image to enlarge)
Photo Source

Mayor Jimmy Really Doesn’t Get It

The following twitter exchange exemplifies Mayor Jimmy's petty reaction to criticism.

I suppose I should be thankful I have not been blocked yet, like so many of the mayor's critics.

Jim Watson ‏@JimWatsonOttawa
Pleased to join @Eli_Ward5 and @AllanHubley_23 and Cyril Leeder at Tanger Outlet ground breaking in Kanata
pic.twitter.com/RXzKKT46gZ

Richard W. Woodley ‏@the5thColumnist
@JimWatsonOttawa @AllanHubley_23 @Eli_Ward5
paving farmland and clearcutting forests sure makes our mayor happy and proud #developersrule

Jim Watson ‏@JimWatsonOttawa
@the5thColumnist and where do you live? Oh yes, a former farmers field.

What can I take from this but the suggestion that somehow anyone who lives on what used to be farmland or wilderness has no right to oppose the inappropriate development of farmland or environmentally sensitive lands. That is a pretty neat trick to basically take away the rights of anyone who lives in a city, in this case the city of Ottawa, to oppose the development of farmland or environmental lands. After all, most cities, including Ottawa, started as rural agricultural areas and before that was wilderness.

But no, because we might live on what was once farmland or wilderness does not take away our rights to be concerned about and oppose inappropriate development.

Mayor Jimmy may want to label us as crazy environmentalists who should all live in cabins in the bush but we are not against cities and development but rather understand that boundaries need to be set, and rules need to be followed, to allow for appropriate development, and appropriate development is not defined as whatever developers want.

Does Mayor Jimmy really expect home buyers to determine what lands are developed by their purchasing choices made after the fact. Does he really think that would work. That people will not buy houses that are already built because they think they should not have been built there, knowing their decisions will not bring the farmland or wilderness back. Does he really think he can transfer the responsibility for proper decision making by the authorities who actually have power to the virtually powerless consumers of these mega corporations' housing developments.

It is the responsibility of the political authorities at the federal, provincial and municipal levels to set limits and establish priorities to protect agricultural land environmental lands. And as more land becomes developed and agricultural and environmental lands become scarcer it becomes more important to protect them. We need to strengthen, not weaken these protections. We need to be more vigilant, not less vigilant, in enforcing the rules.

Politicians, like Mayor Jimmy, need to take these responsibilities seriously and not dismiss criticism in a petty way simply because it is expressed by people who actually live in the City of Ottawa, the people they are supposed to represent.

The Lime Kiln Technical Trail Will Never Be The Same

Today we finally had the opportunity to hike the Lime Kiln Technical Trail for the first time since the Lime Kiln area fire in the Stony Swamp Conservation Area.

(click on map to enlarge)
Things are looking pretty good for the first part of the trail, although you start to see larger and larger signs of fire as you look alongside the trail and then you are in the middle of the Fire Zone. At that point on the map you can see the hike diverging somewhat from the trail as we tried to follow the trail on the GPS and keep watch for the silver Rideau Trail triangles (silver because in most cases the blue paint was removed due to the heat of the fire). Most of the trail within the Fire Zone was unrecognizable although there were a few recognizable trail features along the route we followed.

The fire zone ended shortly before one of the fire roads crossed the trail. At that point the trail continues on the other side of the fire road but due to all the debris pushed up alongside the road we were unable to follow the trail. Knowing it reconnected further along the Fire Road we continued following the road, intending to follow it back from the other end, but when we reached that location we again had the problem of the piled up debris hiding the entrance into the trail, so we ended up missing about 200 metres of trail. After that the Fire Road wiped out most of the trail except for a short portion that ran just alongside it just before the Lime Kiln Bridge.

My guess would be, taking into account the first section of trail, and the section we by-passed, plus the short section of trail at the end, that close to 50% of the trail might be intact in it's original condition. The other 50% will probably need extensive rehabilitation and some of the technical features might never be recovered.

My inclination, however, would be that it would be best to let the natural environment and vegetation recover on it's own before attempting to rebuild the trail. We did notice that there already appeared to be some new growth within the fire zone and on the fire roads. At the appropriate time I would hope that the National Capital Commission (NCC) would consult with all trail users, including mountain bikers, in developing a trail rehabilitation plan.


(select 720p to view in high definition and full screen to view full screen)

Martha Webber on the Destruction of the Beaver Pond Forest

Martha Webber, renowned Kanata/Ottawa botanist, naturalist and educator, wrote the following in response to the news of the final complete clear-cutting of the Beaver Pond Forest in the South March Highlands. It is posted here with her permission.

Is there no way to end the destruction? This old growth forest is not only a refuge for wildlife, First Nation artifacts, but unique in its location within an urban boundary. Ottawa's version of Algonquin park, with trails accessible by foot, bike or public transit in use year round by residents and guests to the city. The "lungs of the world", so called because of air purification, reflected in the health of our citizens. Even on the hottest days of summer, those who walk its trails benefit from clean, fragrant air and escape from constant city noise. Autistic children respond well to this, all of us benefit. Such a walk in Japan is called "forest bathing" for stress reduction and health support. There is still sufficient forest standing to become a city park which would soon recover the cost as an ecotourism attraction.

There are already more new families in proliferating developments than there are schools and other supports available. No consideration is given to endangered plants and animals, even to flora and fauna in general. They have no rights when measured against development money and influence. So much money is available today for major city projects, if some could be postponed ? A forest must be a certain size and quality to support a viable wildlife food chain, and ours is being decimated.

There is so much money being spent in this city today, some of these targets could be postponed for a while. A layer of smog already overlies the city on hot days, without the ancient forest we will require some sort of filter to breathe, as in other major cities like Mexico City, or Toronto, and children and seniors will be especially at risk.

Open Letter to the National Capital Commission re Lime Kiln Trail Fire

The fire near the Lime Kiln Trail has been described as a tragedy. Perhaps not. If houses or roads had been built on the land it certainly would be a tragedy that the forest would never recover from, though some would call it development or progress. But the forest will recover from the fire and, though we all wish it could have been avoided, the fire presents an opportunity.

So what should the National Capital Commission (NCC) do about the site of the fire, I would suggest nothing, or as little as possible, only what is necessary to make the site safe. Please no attempts to make it presentable, or tidy it up, or artificially beautify it. What we have is an opportunity for the public to see a forest naturally regenerate itself, and perhaps a chance for scientists (an endangered species themselves within the current federal government) to study the regeneration.

I would call upon the NCC to allow the public, particularly regular users of the trails, back into the trail system as soon as possible to see the effects of the fire and to start observing the changes as the forest regenerates itself. Please avoid any further damage to the forest from heavy equipment beyond what was obviously required to fight the fire. The only tools likely needed might be rakes to clear burnt wood and debris from the trails. Trail users, who probably know the trails better than the NCC does, will rebuild the trail system by using it.

Simply closing it down would be to ignore a great opportunity and trying to artificially create an unnatural ecosystem or tree plantation would be worse. Let us seize this opportunity to build something meaningful from the ashes of this unfortunate event.

South March Highlands Mountain Bikers - Unlikely Trail Heroes

Unlikely, because more often than not the stereotypical view of mountain bikers is more likely to be as trail villains rather than trail heroes.

First, we have the well meaning but uninformed view of many who call themselves environmentalists that mountain biking damages trails, when the vast majority of the research indicates the impact is similar to hiking.

Then, we have perceived concerns of hikers envisioning people on scary looking full suspension mountain bikes, ignoring everyone else, speeding downhill towards them, when the reality is that mountain biking is not the Tour De France and mountain bikers on technical singletrack are usually not riding at racing speeds, primarily for their own safety.

And then we do have places where rogue mountain bikers rule and have little regard for other trail users or responsible trail use, but these are the real exceptions, even if they appear to be the stereotypical rule.

In the South March Highlands the mountain bikers are not seen as villains. This is partly due to a co-operative landowner, the City of Ottawa, and an open-minded and educated environmental community led by the South March Highlands Coalition.

However it is mostly because of the mountain bikers themselves and the leadership provided by the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association (OMBA).

The mountain bikers in the South March Highlands have established a reputation for not only be respectful, courteous and friendly to other trail users but are respected and appreciated by them for the literally thousands of hours of work put into developing and maintaining a sustainable trail system that can be enjoyed by all trail users.

The mountain bikers started riding on existing trails, created by hikers, cross-country skiers and even dog-sledders and built on it, creating a sustainable trail system based on the IMBA stacked loop model where the further you get from the trailhead the more rugged and difficult the trails become. This is a model that serves both beginner and advanced hikers and mountain bikers well.

The mountain bikers put in literally thousands of hours of work on trail building and maintenance creating a sustainable trail system that avoids muddy areas and provides for proper drainage and erosion protection. As well as building a system that is less susceptible to rain damage they also educate and encourage riders not to ride in the mud, and when it is necessary to follow the rule of sticking to the middle of the trail to avoid trail widening.

But they have not done this in isolation from the community and other trail users but have worked with them and the landowner, the City of Ottawa, to develop a management plan for the South March Highlands Conservation Forest and the trail system and are about to sign a joint stewardship agreement with they City to manage the trail system.

They have already created a new map of the trail system and are just beginning to install comprehensive trail signs linked to it in a project where materials are funded by the City and volunteer labour provided by OMBA members. This is a project that will be appreciated by the whole community as this is a near wilderness trail system where people have often become lost on the trails.

Indeed, if you ask just about anyone you see on the trails you will find that in the South March Highlands the mountain bikers are not the villains, but rather the heroes that do so much to make the trails a wonderful experience for everyone that uses them.

The Truth About The Kanata Lakes 60% Plus Agreement

So, what of the so-called 40% agreement to protect environmental lands in the Kanata Lakes development in the South March Highlands. Is it really a myth. Apparently so.

The more I examine and analysis the facts and reality around that so-called agreement the more I realize it was just spin.

What is guaranteed is that the developer has the absolute rights to clear-cut, blast and otherwise destroy the environment to build roads, houses and buildings on 60% of the land. In addition to that 60% they have the right to clear-cut and develop an additional portion of the remaining land as a private golf course, which they have done. Any requirements for them to provide parkland or other amenities must not encroach on that 60% Plus, but come from the remaining land. Any land required to provide stormwater management ponds and other such facilities for their development must not come from the 60% Plus but from the remaining land. Any lands such as designated Provincially Significant Wetlands or Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest or setbacks thereto must not encroach on the 60% Plus, but come from whatever land may be remaining.

The only thing that is guaranteed in the so-called agreement is the developers right to destroy the environment on 60% Plus ++ of the land.

And what of the City of Ottawa (and Kanata previously) as well as local (and beyond) politicians roles in this fiasco. I will leave it to the reader to decide whether they are part of a conspiracy, wilfully ignorant, or simply incompetent.

A Non-Satirical Look at Ottawa's PIN Messaging "Scandal"

Is Ottawa's PIN scandal really a tempest in a teapot.

You cannot legislate or regulate integrity. The only thing that can ensure someone's integrity is their integrity.

As it stands now there is a possibility for Ottawa City staff members to discuss public policy matters without there being a record of it, by holding those discussions in person, on the telephone or via PIN messages, none of which is recorded.

If the City was to start recording PIN messages, staff members could still conduct unrecorded conversations on the telephone or in person.

So the debate should not be about ensuring staff do not conduct unrecorded conversations or enforcing some code of integrity.

The debate should be about whether PIN messages are the type of interaction that should form part of the public record. My understanding is that, even more than phone and in person conversations they are not.

Normal documentation and even e-malls that often contain lengthy information, explanations and reasoning for policies often do and should be documented and archived. In the case of phone conversations or in person meetings the usual practice is to take notes during, or make them after, to record key information shared or decisions taken. This can easily be done for PIN messages when warranted and avoid a massive and costly archiving of every mundane exchange.

We could record every PIN message and phone call and in person conversation and if people wanted to have a private and secret conversation it would not be hard to do, barring attaching 24 hour recording devices to all staff members bodies, and then the satirical take wouldn't seem so far out after all.

You cannot legislate or regulate integrity. The only thing that can ensure someone's integrity is their integrity.

City Plan to Develop Municipal Mind Monitoring Software Expected to Jump Start Local High Tech Industry

In a move described by some observers as onionesque, the City's Policies and Procedures Committee is recommending the city issue an RFP for the development of what will be known as MMM Software. The Request for Proposals for Municipal Mind Monitoring software comes after a review of the latest moves by the City to fully document the decision-making process at City Hall.

In response to concerns by the City Auditor that some discussions relating to City decisions were not being recorded and archived, the City brought in new measures to capture all discussions amongst City staff, including the tapping of all staff telephones, including cell phones, and the planting of listening devices in City offices and hallways as well as microphones on all Members of Council and senior staff members.

As well as concerns about proper documentation there were concerns about the potential for secret meetings. When asked for comment former Mayor Larry said - "if people want to have secret meetings they will do what they have always done, meet at a strip club". He added "You know we are losing all rights to privacy. Even your tweets are broadcast to the whole world".

In reviewing the new measures the audit discovered yet another missing component in the documentation of the City's decision making process, After consultants interviewed a cross-section of staff it was discovered that much of the analysis part of the decision-masking process took place in the minds of the staff members. While some criticized the high cost of the consultants report, others praised it for identifying an until then unknown factor in the process.

Mayor Jimmy has praised the recommendation stating it provides the first opportunity for the City to invoke his policy of direct involvement in economic development to promote the private high tech sector to fill the void caused by federal cutbacks.

The Municipal Mind Monitoring Strategy will include the development of both hardware (brain monitoring devices) and software (thought analysis software) and is seen as a potential huge boost for the local economy in jump starting a whole new industry.

Promoters see huge potential for this kind of software from monitoring convicted criminals thoughts to those of suspected terrorists. Some say this would be the perfect tool to install on all school students to ensure they stay on the right track. The BBSA (Big Brother Society of America ) has even offered to provide grants to jump start the project.

It is expected that, once proven, this will become a standard business tool, as widely used as instant messaging, such as PIN, is today.