The campaign for the civic election in October seems already well underway. Candidates for Somerset ward have been seen kocking on doors and campaigning around Centretown. Residents here are lucky to live in a ward with four strong candidates challenging the formidable incumbant Diane Holmes.
It’s too early to say how the candidates will define themselves, but voters can expect to see some substantial debate and be offered a real choice on election day. Much of that debate will be rehashing the same issues that have dominated Centretown for years now: height restrictions, zoning strategies, and the risk of over-development destroying a sense of community. Indeed, in our news story this week featuring interviews with the local business and community associations, it is exactly these issues that come up first and foremost.
Although these issues are undoubtedly important, the debate over them can often become tiresome, with the pro- and anti-development candidates squaring off over familiar talking points. Ideally, the discussions this year will be not just about how many new buildings we should allow and how high but also how to manage the infrastructure around all this development to create a more liveable downtown.
Indeed, it’s hard to understate how much Centretown will be changing over the next decade. Yes, it’s partly due to all the condo projects being proposed and built. But it’s the arrival of the LRT stations downtown in 2018 that will have a particularly long-lasting impact on the transportation network of Centretown. Whoever is elected will be laying the groundwork for the opening of those stations and all the changes that will be coming in the years afterward.
For one thing, there will be radically fewer buses rumbling through downtown Ottawa. Although the debate over how to re-route those buses as LRT constructions proceeds is an important one, we want to see candidates focus on how those streets can be re-purposed afterward to be much friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists.
The LRT will also allow many more people to commute to and from Centretown with ease. The candidate elected in October should already be thinking about how to ensure getting to and from those stations is as convenient and pleasant as possible. Will it be easy to get to an LRT station by bicycle? With a stroller? As a senior citizen? Centretown streets are going to become less and less dependent on cars, and the Somerset councillor should be planning for this now, not after the stations are built.
As Centretown densifies, we will need new ways of thinking about many city services. Is expanding the Elgin Street public school the best way forward, or are we going to need another new school sometime soon anyway? How are policing strategies going to change? How will bus service throughout the rest of Centretown be affected by the rail stations?
The Somerset councillor will not be making these decisions on their own, of course. But whoever gets elected should be focused on bringing the same overriding principle to all of these issues: Centretown is changing and changing fast. That change must be carefully guided to ensure a liveable community for everyone.