Stop complaining or get out
In response to David A. Blackman who wrote a letter complaining about all the problems he encounters living in Centretown: Why does he even want to live in a city’s downtown in the first place?
He hates the noise coming from Elgin Street, but what would he rather have? An entertainment district that closes at five? He is supportive of maintaining the “environment/historical beauty” of Centretown, yet enjoys those ghastly silver rings around poles the city set up for posters. Artists and musicians use public spaces to attract people to their shows. The gritty areas of a city also give it some character.
“The downtown bars and their guest performers” should be in a city’s downtown, that is where people judge what a city has to offer. Would Mr. Blackman rather have them located in strip malls? Vibrant downtowns should be mixed spaces – meaning that residential, entertainment, and commercial spaces are entwined. Ottawa has yet to fully meet that definition, but has taken many important steps to improve the city’s core.
With Mr. Blackman’s suggestions, it seems he’d rather return to the era of the boring, government town that Ottawa once was known for. Hopefully his “beefs” will never be addressed. Doing so would ensure that Centretown becomes another suburb, leaving Ottawa to regain its status as a cultural wasteland. To Mr. Blackman, I suggest moving to Kanata, complaints like yours only hinder this city from truly becoming one.
Dan O’Brien
Laurier Ave. West
City to blame for postering
This is for David Blackman, your crusading letter-writer who chastized local media for ignoring the “eyesore” issue of arts groups who poster the downtown area.
If I may speak candidly to Mr. Blackman: step off. I don’t know what your personal motives are for attacking a beleagured arts industry and suggesting that the media is somehow in silent cahoots with those horrid, horrid posterphiles, but let’s get down to the facts, shall we?
In 2001, Toronto spent more than $7 per capita on arts funding. Vancouver spent over $11. Do you know how much the City of Ottawa spent? One dollar and 71 cents per capita. This disgusting level of support, coupled with the city’s constant cries for “a stronger, more vibrant arts scene,” has whipped many artists into a virulent hatred of the city and its bylaws.
I AM one of your despised posterers, Mr. Blackman. A couple of weeks ago, I was postering for a show of mine, staying well within the assigned poster collars. I chanced upon a city worker who was tearing the posters off a collar on Oct. 7, NOT on the “1st and 15th of each month” as the collars themselves declare. When asked about this, he replied “Oh, they try to send me out two or three times a week.” This was infuriating.
For a local artist to maintain a poster presence on Bank Street with this nonsense going on, they have to spend hundreds of dollars per event on production.
Furthermore, what artist in their right mind would adhere to the bylaw that requires them to take their posters down, when the city breaks its own take-down schedule blatantly?
If the City of Ottawa isn’t going to fund us, the least it can do is to leave us alone.
Nicholas Smyth,
Gilmour Street