By Rawlson King
A pink line along Bank Street and Laurier Avenue West won’t be removed despite a promise it would disappear within three weeks.
The line marked the parade route for about 10,000 people who took part in Ottawa gay pride festivities in early July.
Yvon Vaillant, a chief organizer of the parade, was quoted as saying the paint had a vegetable oil base and would disappear in about three weeks, depending on weather and traffic conditions.
The Ottawa Pride week committee requested the region pay for the painting of the line and contracted a private firm to do so.
Diane Holmes, Regional Councillor for Somerset ward, supported the request on the grounds the painted line would disappear over a short period of time.
But the line hasn’t disappeared, and might not disappear for some time.
The painted line isn’t vegetable oil based, according to the private contractor who undertook the work, but is strictly a latex-based paint, diluted with 50 per-cent water.
Jake Dickson, owner of Jake’s Lawncare in Stittsville, admits his company was inexperienced with the application of the paint.
“I’m not an expert with the application of paint to pavement . . . I’ve never done it before.”
Jake’s Lawncare uses latex-based paints to trace temporary lines on sports fields.
Despite the error, the line will not be removed by the region nor the Ottawa Pride Week Committee.
“The line would have to be a transportation hazard in order for the region to remove it,” says Holmes.
“The line doesn’t constitute such a hazard, so it won’t be removed.”
The estimated cost to remove the line is $5,000 according to the region’s transportation department, but Vaillant says the economic spin-off from the line far outweighs any such expenditure.
“The pink line has cost the region only $300 to bring publicity to a festival that brought in $1.2 million into the local community,” says Vaillant. “The line was a worthy investment by regional council . . . let’s just wait for it to disappear.”
This is also the sentiment of local businesses on Bank Street.
“The intention was not for a line to be indelibly etched on Bank Street,” says Gerry LaPage, executive director of the Bank Street Promenade, a business improvement organization. “The line is not a nuisance to the shops.”
But the line has been a nuisance to the region’s transportation department, who had expected it to be gone within weeks.
“We are disappointed that the paint has not disappeared,” says Doug Brousseau, director of mobility services for Ottawa-Carleton. “We are quite confident however that it will disappear in the winter because of the salt.”
According to Brousseau, the line is not an environmental hazard.
A pink line has been used in the gay parades in New York City and Toronto.
This was the first time that a line has appeared in the Ottawa parade.