By Diana Mendes
A claim that the environment is taking a back seat to economic growth and expansion in Ottawa is the result of a city council that is not interested in the environment, says Centretown’s city councillor.
The 2007 Vital Signs report, released by the Community Foundation of Ottawa, evaluated the city’s standard of living based on 11 key areas such as housing, safety, the environment and the arts. Although the city fared well in most areas, it received failing grades on the environment and the growing gap between rich and poor.
Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes cites the cancellation of the north-south light rail line as an example of city council’s disinterest.
“That’s lost and we have more congestion and more smog,” she says. “We are not moving forward. We have to get our act together and get a new plan in place.”
She says the approval of green boxes by city council should help the city meet its 40-per-cent diversion target, but admits there is still a long way to go.
Among the worst areas cited in the report were an increase in solid waste generation, the loss of farm land to development and an increase in beach closings.
“The community is growing and we’ve got to plan for that,” says Barbara McInnes, president of the foundation. “While we want our city to thrive and we want it to grow, we have to also deal with the fallout of that growth.”
The report found Ottawa has made little progress in diverting garbage from landfills. In 2006, residents diverted – through reduce, recycle and re-use programs – 32.4 per cent of their garbage, virtually unchanged from 32.3 per cent in 2005, still short of the city’s goal of 40 per cent and well short of the province’s 60-per-cent target.
Ottawa is also still addicted to cars. During a one-day survey in 2005, 71 per cent of all trips used a car and although OC Transpo carried more passengers in 2006 than in 2005, public transit use has declined to only 13 per cent of the population. The city had stated it wanted public transport to account for 30 per cent of all trips, a rate typical of European countries.
“We are in the middle of the pack,” says Beatrice Olivastri, CEO of Friends of the Earth. She says these statistics are “very worrisome” and that transportation should be a city priority.
“The city should be making real decisions on mass transit where it has been dithering and delaying,” she says. “If we want people to get out of their cars, we need to give them real choices.”
Bay Ward Coun. Alex Cullen, chair of the transit committee, says alternatives are coming. He says a completed transitway and light rail will solve some of the problems the reliance on cars is creating.
“It’s expensive to maintain the roads that a car culture demands,” he says. “We’re restrained by cost and we’re pushed by environmental factors like greenhouse gas emissions.”
Another consequence of the growth of the city is the growing gap between the rich and the poor. According to the report, more families are living below the poverty line now than in 2005 and the number of people accessing food banks has increased each year since 2003.
McInnes says these kinds of facts cannot be overlooked. “No really healthy society has a widening gap.”
Holmes says the report shows there is still work to be done.
“It shows us that we need to work more to help the working poor,” she says. “It shows us we need more social housing, we need to help those with mental illnesses, we need to help people get educated to get their lives back in shape.”
The report was not all bad news. Ottawa has a highly educated population, with 60 per cent of the population having completed post-secondary education and unemployment is at 5.1 per cent, the lowest it has been in 17 years.
Ottawa is also the safest it has been, with violent crime on the decline, falling 22 per cent since 2000. This despite a survey by the Ottawa police that found 54 per cent of residents believe crime has increased in the last three years.
Holmes attributes this to what people see on the streets. She says graffiti, prostitution and drugs are still evident on some Centretown streets and that’s why people feel less safe.
“Violent crime has decreased by half, but on the sidewalk there is more action that makes people uneasy.”
Council will begin to address this concern in 2008 with a more proactive graffiti policy that allows city officials to clean graffiti and then bill the property owner for the costs, if the owner does not clean it up.
All in all, the report was a positive one, with a few areas the city needs to address. McInnes says it’s like a physical for the body. “You’re healthy, you’re going to live, but you’d better watch your cholesterol,” she says. “We’ve got some areas like that. Yes this city is strong and vibrant. But we want to find ways of making that last.”
The Vital Signs report was compiled through collecting data from various groups and institutions, with much of the information coming from Statistics Canada.