Chiarelli’s campaign train

Chiarelli’s campaign train
Bob Chiarelli seems to be on the campaign trail for Ottawa mayor early.

In the past few weeks the regional chair has intervened several times in the debate regarding downtown restoration and refurbishing.

The latest is his half-baked scheme to extend the proposed light-rail system along Sparks Street to Bank Street.

The election for mayor of the new amalgamated Ottawa is still eight months away, but Chiarelli proved eager to garner positive press with the announcement. The timing of the event is too convenient not to assume opportunism is guiding the regional chair’s decision. The National Capital Commission is currently embroiled in controversy over a proposed plan to demolish a section of downtown buildings. Chiarelli’s plan avoided criticism in the media, even though no one yet knows where the money is going to come from, because local attention is currently focused on the NCC debacle.

The logistics of the light-rail plan are sketchy at this point, but the entire concept of running a train down the middle of Sparks Street to Bank Street seems far-fetched at best. The regional chair will soon be butting heads with the Sparks Street Mall authority. It announced last month that it wants to create an urban park on Sparks between Kent and Lyon streets. Sparks Street Mall manager Shannon McKenna said she wanted “to create an atmosphere where a tourist or an office worker can sit in the park and have a sandwich.”

Chiarelli’s plan would effectively destroy the good intentions of the new urban park. It seems unlikely that tourists would enjoy the atmosphere of the park when a train came chugging down the middle of the street while they ate their sandwich.

Even if the tourism factor can be satisfactorily dealt with, Chiarelli has put down an unrealistic timetable for its completion. The construction on Wellington Street is still ongoing, and the last thing Ottawa needs is another major inconvenience in a high-traffic area.

A major infrastructure project such as this cannot be rushed to serve one man’s political aspirations. And judging by recent construction projects in the area, this ambitious undertaking will take much longer than the proposed 12 months.

The idea of light-rail transit running east-to-west in Ottawa is a good one, but it cannot be used as a political ploy to grab votes in a future election. Chiarelli needs to put the brakes on his plan and rethink this proposal for the greater good of Ottawa and its visitors.

— Daniel McHardie and Julia Ziolkowski