Archive 1997-2016
Standing at the corner of Preston and Somerset streets, there’s not much to see but a vacant lot adorned with white and violet petunias. This empty space houses a big dream for Can Le, president of the Vietnamese Federation in Ottawa, who hopes the lot will become a museum recounting the painful but moving story of the Vietnamese Boat People.
The rebuilding of a stretch of Gladstone Avenue this fall will include the installation of a new, state-of-the-art “soil cell system” along the street to help keep newly planted trees alive in Centretown’s urban jungle.
Centretown’s last hope for a concert hall was extinguished when city council approved a motion that allows Ottawa Tourism to move into space in a new office building at 150 Elgin St.
A pilot project raising awareness about the Ottawa River’s water quality culminated this month in the filming of three mini-documentaries about the importance of maintaining the river. 
Michelle Kwan, Centretown NewsMeredith Brown (left) and Alexandra Cousteau test the water quality of the Ottawa River .