The NCC and the Centretown community are more alike than they think
By Klara Pachner
Community activists, the mayor of Ottawa and the National Capital Commission all agree that Centretown has two faces.
On one side, it is a community much like any other. It is a place where people live and work.
On the other, it is the heart of the nation’s capital. It has historic buildings, like the Museum of Nature, historic streets, like Sparks, and on its fringe, great Canadian landmarks like the War Memorial and Parliament Hill.
No one can say whether Centretown is first and foremost a community or the nation’s capital.
“It’s a combination of the two,” says Joan Katz, president of the Centretown Citizens’ Community Association.
“I think it has a dual role,” Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says.
And Diane Dupuis, spokeswoman for the NCC, the crown corporation whose job it is to prepare plans for and assist in the development, conservation and improvement of the National Capital Region, says it’s both capital and community. “Where else can you go and live and look out your window and see the Parliament buildings a block away?”
But when it comes to working together, the groups’ shared understanding disappears. A closer look at the interests of the two sides of the area reveals a dividing line between priorities.
The community, perhaps by nature, has a definite interest in the overall health of the neighbourhood. Its focus is on its residents, city streets and businesses. “We need more residential units, more green space and to encourage alternative forms of transportation,” Katz says.
Dupuis says the NCC, which represents all Canadians, is also concerned with the health of the neighbourhood.
But they do so for different reasons, namely for visitors to Ottawa, who are essential to the region’s tourism industry and international profile. “The core is really the focus of the visitors’ experience,” Dupuis says.
So while the two groups recognize Centretown’s dual role, each has vested interests when it comes to revitalization and arguments to support them.
Dupuis feels particularly strong about the NCC’s role in revitalizing Sparks Street.
“Yes, it’s part of our city and yes it’s a city street. But it plays a role as much a part of the face of this city as it does of the representation of our capital to visitors. We should be involved in this,” she says.
The city and the community are suspicious of the NCC’s plans for Sparks Street and of the commission itself.
Watson, who says he tries to act as a catalyst for people to come together and keep Centretown healthy, says the community’s trouble with the NCC has more to with the way the commission functions.
“The NCC operates in a veil of secrecy,” Watson says. “It needs to be more transparent and more accountable. It should open meetings to the public. This is ludicrous in the 21st century.”
Dupuis says the NCC tries hard to involve the community with public consultations. She says she believes these efforts are successful. “I really do think that we do work together.”
She says the commission’s idea to focus revitalization efforts on Sparks Street came from community residents, who made the suggestion when they rejected the proposal to expand the width of Metcalfe Street.
She says this is an example of the commission’s willingness to listen the community’s concerns. “We dropped Metcalfe because a greater percentage [66 per cent] being against it than for it.”
But David Gladstone, vice-president of the Centretown Citizens’ Community Association and chairman of the City Centre Coalition, says the NCC is a difficult organization to work with.
He says announcing plans and then asking for the community’s opinion does not constitute co-operation. He says the NCC’s belief that they work well with the community is indicative of their approach to planning.
“They don’t seem to understand the problem with a closed consultation process,” he says.
Gladstone says he wasn’t aware that the NCC’s plans for Sparks Street originated from the community. “Sparks Street came as a big surprise to everybody,” he says.
Gladstone says he writes letters to NCC Chairman Marcel Beaudry and works with elected officials to try to encourage co-operation. He says he recently received a letter from Beaudry that noted the Metcalfe proposal has been abandoned and that there will be public consultations at every stage of the planning process.
“I think they’re noticing the pressure,” Gladstone says. “But there’s still a problem with the NCC carrying out its own planning.”
But in spite of their differences, both the community and the NCC want the same thing for Centretown. They want it to be a healthy community where people can live and work. And both agree that combining the community and the capital can serve both sides well.
“I think we can co-exist,” says Katz. “It can be positive for everybody.”
The fact that the two sides want a healthy neighbourhood for different reasons shouldn’t matter.
Recognizing their similarities would help them work better together and would benefit Centretown as both a community and the capital of Canada.