Blogawa

The role of listening in a coaching relationship

Jen G — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:48:00 +0000

Guess what? I'm writing a coaching handbook. I'm going to use this blog to try out some of the material I come up with. Responses welcome! But first - listen:

In everyday situations, most of us are not good listeners. It is normal when you are having a conversation to spend your time while 'listening' actually planning your response. Before your interlocutor has finished his/her utterance, you have already anticipated - not only what the person will say, but how you will or would respond. In a setting such as a classroom where more than one person is 'listening' to someone talk, it is normal to spend your time as a listener engaged in self-talk of some kind, and/or only listening to one level of what the speaker is saying. This is unconscious and ordinary and we all do it.

Another way of naming listening is "ensuring the other is heard". As a coach, that is what you want to do with your students. How do you do it? It's actually really simple as a concept, though learning to practice it habitually can be hard work and it may feel unnatural at first. There are two steps: listening; checking.

Listening: You still the little chatterbox in your brain who is anticipating and planning. Instead, you focus on the other person and what they are expressing through face, gestures, body, voice and words. Your job as a coach is to notice. We all have different gifts when it comes to noticing. Notice fleeting facial expressions. Notice body language, and changes in body language. When you notice words, notice not only the referential aspect of the words (the information conveyed), but the affective (emotional, attitudinal) aspect as well - what metaphors are used, what terms are chosen? (Other things to notice - your automatic reactions - some of your reactions are useful sources of information about the other person, other reactions are not because they are really about you, not the other).

Checking: This is how you know whether you heard the other person - you check. That's where the famous active-listening and non-violent communication tips come in. There are any number of verbal formulas people use to check back on whether they heard the other person. Maybe the most cliched (but still effective) is "What I am hearing is...". You can also say things like "I am noticing..." "Let me try to see if I understood you..." "Would it be accurate to say..." or even "Let me check - ". When you complete this type of utterance, you are reflecting back what you heard from the other person.

If you are a really good and thorough listener, you have been listening at many levels, and can choose what level to reflect back - or you can really blow the mind of the other person and reflect everything back. (But academic coaching is not about blowing people's minds on how great YOU are at listening - it's about having a conversation that results in the student gaining skills and confidence and leaving with an action plan.)

What are the different levels you can reflect back? Start with the referential level of their words - what information were they giving you? Consider also reflecting back another level and checking if you heard them in that way too. You can reflect back the affective level of their words - maybe they kept using a certain expression, which is a vivid metaphor. You can say what you noticed - that their voice changed or their expression conveyed a different mood at a certain point in what they were saying.

When you check, you may find that you are wrong! You heard a particular bunch of things, but the other person says that's not what they meant. Or you are partly right. Or you are substantially right. This is very important: IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE RIGHT OR NOT. So take a deep breath and check. If you non-judgmentally reflect back what you sincerely heard, it will be useful to the other person. Let them respond and let the conversation continue - listen and check again and again. You will be amazed at the power of a conversation in which the goal is for one person to be heard. That is the heart of a coaching conversation and a coaching relationship.

Because listening means you are not planning your response, when the other person pauses and the conversational turn comes your way, you will not have something all ready to say. That is okay. That's a good sign, actually. You can keep your turn open by saying something like - "I've been listening really closely to what you've been telling me, and I want to respond. Give me a second to get the right words together." Or you can simply indicate through a nod, a glance, a mm-hmm that you have been paying attention, and giving the turn back to your interlocutor.

(Just an aside - The complementary skill to listening is ensuring that you are heard, i.e. that the other person was listening to you. This also is a skill that many people are not good at. It's also an observation of mine that people who are good at listening can be poor at persisting and being heard, while people who are not very good at listening may be very good at persisting and being heard, or at least deferred to. In a collaborative and equal conversation, ideally all participants would exercise their skills in both areas. When this happens, the conversation gets VERY interesting, and not in ways that anyone could anticipate at the outset.)

Duncan and I share an obsession

zoom! — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:55:42 +0000

Female and male eclectus parrots

This is a pair of Eclectus parrots. The red one is the female, and the green one is the male. I want one. I think about them all day and I dream about them at night. They’re great talkers, they’re gorgeous and they have really nice personalities. You can’t ask a whole lot more than that from any bird.

I know some of you are wondering how Duncan would feel about living with a parrot. No problem – Duncan’s just as obsessed with birds as I am!

The very first thing he wants to do every morning after he wakes me up is go to the bird room. He used to like going to the kitchen first, but now it’s the bird room. He jumps up on my desk, right next to the bird cage, and watches the baby lovebirds. And they adore him. They race across the cage to greet him. They peck at his fur. They have absolutely no fear of him, which is charmingly naive of them.

I allow him in the bird room only when the birds are in the cage and only when I’m supervising from an inch away. Duncan tries really hard to curb his predator instincts. As soon as his tail gets too twitchy or he tries to stick a paw in there, he’s instantly banished from the room. My hope is that he’ll spend enough time with them and learn enough self-restraint, that eventually he’ll get bored with them.

I’ve been letting Duncan go outside a little bit lately. Just for a few minutes at a time, and only when I can keep an eye on him. Last night he traveled over to the neighbour’s garden. GC scooped him up and was lugging him back home when a car stopped and an old man rolled down his window and said “Good lord, that’s a big cat!”

It’s funny, you know, I don’t really think of him as such a big cat anymore, especially since he lost a few pounds. However, I do still think of all the other cats I meet as small. And I guess if strangers pull over for a closer look when they see him, maybe he is a big cat.

An Eclectus is a lot bigger and tougher than a baby lovebird, but a lot smaller than Duncan. Nevertheless, I suspect the Eclectus would very quickly teach Duncan to back off. Size matters, but it’s not everything.

Many, many years ago, I lived in a bachelor apartment with my son’s father. A friend of his came over late one night with two amazon parrots in a cage. I think he had robbed a pet store. He asked us to look after the parrots until he found a buyer, which turned out to be a few weeks. We had two tomcats at the time and I was a little worried that the cats would hurt the parrots. But my fears were very short lived. The birds immediately established their dominance and from that moment forward, the tomcats gave the cage a very wide berth. (Those birds were so cool. Between the two of them they could sound like an entire pet store – cats meowing, dogs barking, puppies playing, canaries singing, cash registers ringing, etc.)

DCA Minutes (draft) Sept 1, 2010

Eric Darwin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:08:00 +0000

Minutes, 1 Sept 2010

The first fall meeting of the DCA, on 1 Sept 2010, started with a review of ongoing neighborhood issues, so everyone can be aware of what has transpired, gets up to date, and can give input going forward. The Association meets the first Wednesday of every month at the Dalhousie Community Centre, corner of Empress and Somerset, everyone is welcome.

Present: Eric Darwin, Maija Kagis, Zsofia Orosz, Catherine Boucher, Charles Akben-Marchand, Archie Campbell, Michael Hatfield, David Seaborn, Laura Bergen, Jessica Scallen, Craig Haines.

Minutes of June, 2010: approved as amended by board members and shown on our website www.OttawaDalhousie.ca. Moved by David, seconded by Craig.

Mainstreets:

Bambinos project, corner Gladstone/Preston: as part of the landscaping project, a colonnade gateway has been approved for this location and foundations will be installed probably this fall. Condolences were made for the five pine trees at the corner that will be removed. The form of the bambinos themselves is still evolving. The Association hopes that there will be a public opportunity for residents to see the final form of the Bambinos, which are about 21 feet high, before they are cast in concrete. Eric to write to DH and PBIA asking for this opportunity.

There will be sculpture walks/talks for the opening of the West Wellington sculptures on 25 Sept. Sign up at publicartprogram@ottawa.ca . Note that the Chinatown Arch opens Oct. 7; we do not yet have details on the ceremonies and celebrations planned for that event. The Preston BIA wants the fifteen Preston sculptures to open in September as well, to go with Vendemmia, a fall grape festival. The Preston date is still unsettled. The Association will post info for all these openings at its web site http://www.ottawadalhousie.ca/ . There will be an article in this issue of the Buzz on the Preston sculpture artist, c j fleury. Eric and Lori saw the sculptures in progress in mid July, and the DCA wrote a letter of support for c j fleury dealing with a possible ‘controversy’ (July 15). After some discussion, the Association decided it was OK with the sculptures being installed on a weekend or at night if they could not be installed during a weekday due to traffic congestion concerns.

PBIA is doing an innovative survey of area residents and employees for the future retail wanted along Preston. Be sure to fill out their survey at http://www.prestonstreet.com/ . Crowd sourcing can work.

Somerset reconstruction: Project start has been much delayed by the environmental approval process. The detour will start Sept 7th – street open EB but closed WB. We don’t yet know if WB will remain open for the Pool and local businesses local traffic or if it will be total one-way conditions [note: there will be no west bound traffic permitted anyway along the construction zone]. City hole digging will commence Sept 13th at Breezehill end. Tomlinson will work through the winter as late as possible, but sidewalks will not go in until March-April 2011, nor will the street get repaved except as a temporary surface at the end of November. Cost $4.5million, as expected. Tentative meeting date of 15 Sept for stakeholder group to consider the cycling underpass concept, railing choices, and the Preston-Booth segment. Significant issues will be parking bays and how they work if the segregated bike lanes are going to be considered on Somerset west of Bronson.

Little Italy street garden at 301 Preston: site is smaller than expected as streetscaping planting put in more shrubs. Contact with Ottawa Horticultural Society opened. Some funding available from PBIA, and there is a water source at the site. Where to go from here??

During the Preston landscaping, periwinkle was planted under the gingko trees that run along the east side of Plouffe Park and behind the screening wall at the Bank of Nova Scotia. They are not thriving, possibly because of too much sun. The landscape architect will address the situation next week, and either the area will be replanted with bigger plants or a different species will be used.

Real Estate:

Mastercraft has revised their project for 125 Hickory. The 24 storey tower becomes 20, the 20 tower becomes 16. They also added a storefront or commercial space. Eric has been discussing this with CHNA. Still unaddressed is the number of parking spaces “required” for the building. We continue to call for Hickory overpass over O-tain cut to be constructed simultaneously with the development, and for the city to take up the builder’s offer of financial assistance for this overpass. Eric to write to City.

[David Seaborn leaves the room]. Claridge proposal for 403 Albert Street (the parking lot at Queen/Lyon/Albert, opposite the Crowne Plaza Hotel, behind Barbarellas Club). Originally Claridge wanted 2x28 storey condo + one 20 storey condo. Now being revised, 20 storey is reduced to 14. Issue of lot coverage. DCA expressed opinion to City planners and our Councillor on A) access to DOTT as this development is above the downtown west station, and B)the city’s “reduced parking maximum” (because the building is at a transit station) is higher than the builder wants to build anyway (ie City standards are a farce). The COA is considering the issue on 15 Sept. We did not formally issue a position during the summer as A)it is a few feet outside our boundary, and B) our requests for info from CCCA for their views (so we could coordinate) went unanswered. The Association decided to provide input to the COA immediately. There was discussion on whether it is the city or developers that wants new condos built close to the sidewalk, Eric to follow up. [DS returns]

Cathedral Hill development. This is for the lots of land surrounding Christ Church Cathedral, ie Sparks, Bronson, Queen – most of a city block. DCA board met with proponent on July 21. Church proposes to demolish the 1960’s hall facing Sparks, and 2 houses facing Queen (but keeping and reusing the facades). They will keep Roper Hall, and the Archbishops residence facing west over Bronson. They propose a 20 storey condo tower running N/S through the block where the two houses are now; a new office building (low rise) where the 60’s Hall is; and a new office building of 20 floors on the existing church parking lot facing Sparks. Sparks may be dead ended at the Cathedral. Lots of underground parking, 200 year lease deal, preserved views for The Gardens condo but not others. Public meeting expected in the fall. Generally, we were pleased with the care and thought that went into the proposal.

Chinese Alliance Church: (Eccles/Bell/LeBreton streets) has agreed to add two residential units to the façade of the new church hall facing Bell. This is a significant compromise from the church; as for parking and access their plan meets all (new) city standards.

73 Aberdeen: lots of time was spent during the summer on this proposal. Proponent won rezoning to convert house to a two-storey art gallery with commercial-looking storefront, plus an art school, including one one-bedroom apt. on the ground floor. City interprets CDP and neighborhood plans calling for mixed use intensified development near transit stations as meaning residences can be converted to commercial uses provided some residential uses are retained. Suggest we investigate further as part of CDP process as that addresses neighborhood zoning. We want to preserve residential areas and focus commercial uses on mainstreets.

Underway: the Cornerstone project and the Z6, both on Booth Street, are both fully framed and exterior cladding will go on shortly. Both projects should look good.

Transportation:

Pay and Display units already installed on Preston, in progress on Somerset. A few meter posts converted to bike posts on Somerset only, none (yet?) on Preston. A parking study for the lot at Cambridge/Somerset may get underway in 2011 (takes one year) to determine the number of spaces the city might want there if the lot is developed for residential uses. We hear some noises about the need for a parking study for side streets off Preston where office parking is an issue. Somerset west of Preston is currently not metered – should it be? After a discussion of whether we want to see if the parking study could be expanded to include the whole of Dalhousie, ie Somerset issues, Preston issues, sidestreet issues, Somerset, Plant Pool lot, NRC Booth St complex, we decided that would be too cumbersome. Instead, we will express support for a parking meters on Somerset west of Preston, including the Plant Pool lot; and for a review of parking hours on the side streets off Preston where all-day office parking is a problem.

O-Train Bike Path. The city approved funding (subject to not being cut from the budget) to plan and construct the O-Train bike path. The Association decided to ask for a consultation of stakeholders (DCA, CHNA, HCA, Carling-Bayview CDP, bike groups, BIA) early enough in the planning process to influence the size, shape, and location of the paths before they are locked in place by the bureaucracy. Upcoming public meetings on cycling are Sept 22, bike lessons from Europe; Oct 6, noted bike planner from Holland.

Bronson. We have successfully raised the profile of the project and our problems with it, by using the “fake trees” as a hook. Got newspaper coverage, radio news, CFRA, CBC. CBC Morning coverage on the first day http://www.ericdarwin.ca/downloads/CBC_Bronson_Fake_Trees.mp3 got lots of listener response, and they did a followup on day 2: http://www.ericdarwin.ca/downloads/CBC_Bronson_Road_Diet.mp3 , which also got a lot of response. CBC declined to do another show “at this time” but wants to follow up in the fall. [subsequent to the DCA meeting, the City decided to conduct some sort of road diet study on Bronson, details yet to be determined].

Carling Avenue reconstruction, O-Train to Bronson: We feel there is lots of room for improvement on this road too. DCA suggested better median plantings; signals at O-Train for the new bike path, reduced merge lanes, ped lighting, ped gateways, etc. City proposals remain way too commuter-centric for cars and offer token improvements to peds, cyclists, and transit. We agreed to keep up the pressure this fall.

Interprovincial Transit Strategy survey. DCA sent comments as outlined at our last meeting, and after Eric attended open house on subject. Subsequently, questions have arisen on the capacity of the DOTT to handle a LRT service to Gatineau.

Western Leg LRT study: City has started up study to determine route options for the LRT from Bayview to Lincoln Fields, eg west from Tunney’s along transitway/parkway; or south along O-train corridor then west along Carling , etc etc. Eric sits on the City committee. Will meet with key consultants and staff on Sept 27th to raise our issues, including evaluation criteria, capacity, design, etc.

Carling-Bayview CDP: next stakeholder meeting yet to be determined. It is to focus on the Gladstone area of the corridor.

Other issues:

Rochester Heights playground build brought out lots of people.

Signs on 333 Preston Street (E-mail discussion Aug 6-8). The DCA did not oppose the Royal Bank sign on the tower.

Fall Cleaning the Capital (Fwd from Laura, Aug 16). Maija suggested that this fall we focus on a cleanup and weeding along Preston Street to be done in the week before the sculptures are unveiled, when we expect lots of visitors to the street and want to look our best.

Patio Encroachments (Aug 31). DCA wrote to support current policy of asking neighborhood opinion before approving patios.

Buzz deadline Sept 7

Next meeting: 6 October 2010 at the DCC, corner of Somerset/Empress, at 7.30pm.

At the corner of Heron and the Canal

westsideaction — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:41:14 +0000

At sunset, along the Canal near Bronson, a Heron stands on a post.

God Bless the taxpayers in Ecum Secum, Moose Jaw, and North Bay for their contributions to making the National Capital what is it, thru the omnipotent guiding hands of the NCC, for the benefit of those of us lucky enough to live here.

Events for Monday, September 6

eventRobot — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:26:03 +0000

Monday, September 6

Tuesday, September 7

Wednesday, September 8

Thursday, September 9

A random sampling of events from OttawaEvents.org.

Events for Sunday, September 5

eventRobot — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 07:26:04 +0000

Sunday, September 5

Monday, September 6

Tuesday, September 7

Wednesday, September 8

A random sampling of events from OttawaEvents.org.

Ecole St Francois d’Assise

westsideaction — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:02:41 +0000

Ecole St Francois is on Melrose Av and St Francis Street, behind the Hintonburg community centre and Elgise St Francois. Originally built as an intermediate school, it has been a grade school for many years now. An older style wing on the south side of the building was demolished this summer. It housed Le Carrefour, a francophone daycare and pre-and after-school programs. As parent of two kids who went to Carrefour, I am saddened to see it gone. The main school building underwent renovations during the past year, and looks much more modern with the old wing demolished.

Behind the school, running through to Fairmont Avenue, is a large schoolyard and walled park, a heritage feature inherited from the former religious properties. The walls were extensively rebuilt over the last 18 months, using stimulus money. The City removed larger wall portions and lowered others to improve sight lines into the park. It appears these stones were used to build the retaining walls that have been incorporated into the new playstructure. The playstructures were relocated south to be closer to the school and further from the infill townhouse project built on the former school site adjacent to St Francois. (The old school building was renovated into lofts. The one loft I have been in was stunningly gorgeous).

The single spray post water feature that used to be in the northeast corner of the park in a rather dank and low-lying spot has been replaced by a much fancier spray feature located closer to the play structures.

When I took these pictures last weekend, the sand hadn’t been installed around the playstructures yet, and there were many finishing touches to be done.

The completed park is a major asset to the Hintonburg neighborhood both for the recreational amenities and for the shear beauty of the park.

Back to School

XUP — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:13:15 +0000

Since Canada is officially a bilingual country, a great deal of effort and expense has been put into ensuring that as many federal government employees as possible are bilingual. There is a particular emphasis on bilingualism here in eastern Ontario, in New Brunswick and in Montreal, Quebec – not only for government employees, but for anyone who wants a job anywhere that they are likely to have to deal with other human beings.

Most people living in these areas either grow up with two languages, go through school in French or English immersion programs, or learn the language later on in life at their own expense.

For federal government employees there are various opportunities to learn the second language at the employer’s expense and time. There several types of part-time courses you can take as part of your regular, annual learning plans or there is full-time French language training.

Unless you’re a senior manager/executive, it’s very difficult to get full-time French language training, for obvious reasons. Usually one of the only ways a regular employee can get French language training is to win a competition for a bilingual non-imperative position. Bilingual “non-imperative” means the position will be bilingual in two years, so basically, the person who won the position has two years to become bilingual or they lose that position.

However, I guess there is a large enough pool of federal employees who are already bilingual because about 10 years ago the public service more or less cancelled the “non-imperative” option for new positions, except in rare circumstances. This means that anyone not bilingual will have a very difficult time getting a government job and those who already have a government job will find it impossible to advance in their career if they’re not bilingual.

Once in a blue moon, however, the stars align and a department runs a competition looking for bilingual candidates and doesn’t find enough who are suitable. Then, after a lot of business case writing and justifying and pleading, they are allowed to run a “non-imperative” competition. I was lucky enough to win one of these non-imperative positions last year.

After a bunch of bizarre assessment tests, they determined that it would take me 30 weeks (7 months) to become bilingual to an acceptable government level. Now, eleven months later, they’ve given me a date to start my French language training. So, this fall, I go back to school.

Every day. Five days a week. Eight hours a day. For seven months. To learn nothing but French. No vacations allowed.

I’m excited for the opportunity. I’m excited for the change. I’m really excited to become competent in French.

From others who’ve done the full-time language training, I understand it will be grueling; that you have to eat, sleep, breath and poop nothing but French if you want to pass the exams; that you have to take your exhausted brain home at the end of the day and do a few hours of homework every night and read French magazines, newspapers and books and watch nothing but French TV. I’ve never yet heard anyone say they had a great time.

I think it’s the grammar. I’ve done some French courses part-time and of course did French back in elementary and secondary school, so I have some idea of what to expect. French grammar is insane. Masculine, feminine, regular, indicative, subjonctif, imperative, conditionnel, imparfait, passé compose, future anterieur, infinitive, participle, words that have 12 letters, of which only the first 2 are pronounced, a lot of shrugging and pursing of lips… I may have to start smoking fat, smelly cigarettes, etc., etc.

Ah me. Can my ossified old brain handle all this? I don’t know. I hope so. I did offer to go to France for 6 months instead, promising to come back fully bilingual, but they wouldn’t go for it. Merde!

I definitely will have to immerse myself completely into this thing, though. And I’m pretty sure that’s going to mean I won’t have the time or the brain space to blog with any regularity – unless it’s to conjugate some French verbs and that would be kind of boring, I think. So, I probably won’t be around the blogosphere much. I probably won’t be doing much of anything, ever again, until next summer…… except maybe drinking… I might feel the need to do more of that…but only French wine or Cognac or Calvados or other French stuff.

We’ll see.

Tagged: bescherelle, bilingualism, conjugating verbs, French, language learning, ossified brains

Lyon Street Repaved - Cyclists get their sharrows?

Centertowner — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Two years ago, in July 2008, I wrote a post on the terrible surface conditions on Lyon Street at the time.

Since then, a number of patches were put down on Lyon, which replaced a road covered in holes to a road covered in small bumps. This past March (2010), more patches were added. Most of them were about a foot in diameter.

More interestingly, they were numbered. In this photo at James (an intersection I hesitantly included in my commute) we see numbers 10, 11 and 12 in the foreground, with number 37 and others in the background. They went all the way up to the 50s.

It was evident that someone in the road department was making the same case I was: no more band-aids for Lyon, we need an overhaul!

At the start of June 2010, the long-awaited overhaul came. Here they're peeling off the first layer of asphalt along Lyon near Gladstone Avenue.

The entire stretch of Lyon North of the Queensway was re-done. Here's Lyon at Albert, and you can see the exposed surface goes beyond the Memorial buildings.

The road remained open, which was a mixed blessing. As we can see here at McLeod looking South, the speed humps were not there to slow traffic. On the other hand, the grooved surface may have had a natural traffic-calming effect. I tried to avoid riding down it myself.

During the resurfacing, the City did some other work. This sewer cover, dated 1987 (presumably when Lyon last saw major roadwork) has "out" written on it in orange spray paint.

This stormwater grate at Florence was dug up in the first days of work. You can also see the wavy brick pavers on the sidewalk near the intersection.

A few days later, they had finished with the grate and the sidewalk was already partway through repairs. They left a strip of asphalt along the bricked crosswalk, presumably to keep the bricks in place until they were ready to re-pave.

Next at this corner, they dug up the water main underneath Lyon (fenced off area at right) and removed an old section of pipe, which is sitting on the bulbout opposite (at left).

During this work, the workers created what I like to call the "Pedestrian's Paradox": the sidewalk on the North side has a sign saying "Sidewalk closed," but the other sidewalk has construction vehicles parked on it! Luckily for pedestrians, Florence is quiet enough that you can walk on the street.

Finally, after three weeks of work, the new layer of asphalt was laid down. Here we're at Florence again, looking South toward Gladstone and beyond.

Here's the view turning onto Lyon (southbound) from James (westbound). Because it's one-way to one-way, you can legally turn left on the red. It's much smoother than it was in the first photo of the post.

Next up is the reinstallation of the speed humps. As I mentioned in July 2008:

Whether the street was just recently built, or whether it's ten years old, speed humps are always installed afterwards: A key is cut out of the top layer of the flat asphalt, (specifically, "4 meters in length and 80 millimeters in height with a sinusoidal cross-section"), then paved over. A few signs are put up, and triangles are painted with white retroreflective paint as an indicator to drivers.

Near Florence at 9:30am, we see that key cut out of the street, and workers are cleaning it with a sidewalk sweeper and an air blower, so that the bump's asphalt will make good contact with the layer below. We also see in the photo that the concrete parts of the sidewalk at Florence have been rebuilt.

By that evening, this speed hump had a small splotch of asphalt installed inside it.

With the next layer, that splotch gives the hump its precise shape, as with this one at MacLaren. The speed hump can be hard to see in poor light conditions or at a distance.

That's why they paint the white triangles on them with retroreflective paint. The speed humps don't go all the way to the curb, otherwise water, snow and slush would be unable to drain. Some idiot drivers swerve out of their lane so that the wheels on one side of their car avoid the bump. You shouldn't need to do that if you're going slowly (30-40km/h).

You may have noticed that they've only painted the lines at the intersections, such as here at Albert. That's because they're still deciding exactly how to paint it.

The thrifty and clever cycling department has identified Lyon Street as a good corridor for bike lanes, and in the North end where the street is too narrow, sharrows. Here's the flyer that is being circulated to the residents of Lyon and the neighbouring streets. A sharrow is a pavement marking that reinforces cyclists' right to be on the road, and is helpful for indicating cyclists' positioning when riding through awkward intersections.

Click on the image to see it in full-size, to read the text:

While it's good that Ottawa will finally get sharrows, the Lyon street bike lane is an ad-hoc measure. Percy and Bay both have bike lanes, though the only Southbound connectivity with Wellington Street is this weird "shared sidewalk" on Bay.

Conversely, a bike lane/sharrows on Lyon helps with the North-end connectivity, but Lyon ends at the Queensway, so it isn't as good a southbound route as Percy, which continues through the Glebe.

The underlying problem is that the Ottawa Cycling Plan has a box around Centretown that says "Proposed Cycling Network in downtown core to be reviewed as part of Transportation Master Plan Update and future transit strategies" (p. 72, etc.). The Cycling Plan didn't really look at cycling routes downtown, so we have to chase after planners to get them to consider cycling issues.

Lanes or no, Lyon has a nice smooth surface now, which is great for cycling.

For other cycling problems, see Citizens for Safe Cycling's just-released top-ten list

Have you ever been stalked?

zoom! — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:10:35 +0000

Did you hear about that doctor in California who tried to break into her boyfriend’s house by going down his chimney? She got wedged in there, about two feet from the bottom, and died of asphyxiation. She wasn’t found until a few days later when she started to smell.

I can’t stop thinking about it. What a horrible way to die. What a bizarre thing to do. Maybe not if you’re a drunk, hot-headed 18 year old kid, but it does seem a little odd for a 49 year old female doctor.

Many years ago, I used to know this guy, Little Peter. (He hated that nickname, but he couldn’t shake it because he was little and his name was Peter.) He was in his early 20s, and he was obsessed with winning back his ex-girlfriend, who had dumped him.

She moved to Toronto to get away from him. He moved to Toronto. She moved back to Ottawa. He moved back to Ottawa. She rented an apartment. He got the job as superintendent of her apartment building. She moved to another apartment building. He climbed up to her balcony, many floors up, with wild roses clenched between his teeth. She moved to an apartment with no balconies. He climbed the brickwork to her 2nd-floor apartment, clinging to the bricks with his fingertips. He peered in the window and saw her with another man. His heart dropped out of his chest and he fell to the ground. Fortunately for him, the good Lord takes care of drunks, and he was uninjured enough to get a can of paint and write in giant letters on Bronson Avenue, in front of her apartment, “I LOVE YOU DIANE.” (I saw it the next day, after many cars had driven through the wet paint, and it looked like he’d been stuttering.)

I can’t remember the specific incident which led to Little Peter’s arrest. After his release from jail a couple of days later, he showed up at my place with this really angry raw wound on his neck. He had tried to hang himself in jail.

“Peter,” I said, “Maybe you should leave her alone.”

“Maybe yes, maybe no,” he replied curtly, “Maybe rain, maybe snow.”

I could tell from his clipped words and the tight expression on his face that the mere suggestion of leaving her alone angered him.

Leaving her alone didn’t seem to be an option for him anymore. Initially he’d thought he could win her back by showing her how much he loved her. But in the process he had crossed the line and become a full-fledged stalker. It was his full-time job; he was obsessed. And he was forcing her into the role of full-time stalkee. He was forcing her to be obsessed with him. She had to be vigilant 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No matter where she hid, he kept finding her. She must have felt like she was living in a horror movie.

Eventually – after about two or three years – Little Peter did let go and stopped stalking her.

(But 10 years later, when I saw her pushing a baby carriage in the west end, she said “Please don’t tell Peter that you saw me.” She was still afraid.)

They don’t all move on. I read about some guy right here in Ottawa who just got convicted of harassing a woman for seven years (to the tune of hundreds of phone calls a day) because he was obsessed with her calves. And then there’s that guy who has been banned from the entire city of Regina because he has been stalking a woman there for 35 years.

I’ve experienced harassment from an ex-boyfriend. It consisted mostly of incessant phone calls and angry emails and suicide threats. But it only lasted a few weeks. I can’t even imagine how awful it would be to live like that for years.

How about you? Have you ever stalked or been stalked?

Events for Saturday, September 4

eventRobot — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:26:03 +0000

Saturday, September 4

Sunday, September 5

Monday, September 6

Tuesday, September 7

A random sampling of events from OttawaEvents.org.

Afternoon at Westboro Beach

andrea — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:53:59 +0000

It was windy, and the red flag was up, but it didn’t really matter. We brought buckets and shovels and a picnic lunch. All good. I used some of my downtime (it’s been awhile since I had some of that) to play with the settings on my newish Kodak EasyShare camera. Happy day indeed! It has [...]

AIDS Walk for Life Ottawa

Kevin O'Donnell — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:22:43 +0000

On September 25th I'm walking in the Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life. We've got a team registration going and I would love for you to join us or sponsor our team. Our fundraising goal is $300. Join or sponsor the team online: http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.aspx?Lang=en-CA&TSID=283864

Donations by cheque can be made out to "AIDS Walk for Life Ottawa" - contact me and we'll arrange a pickup.

On September 25th I'm walking in the Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life. We've got a team registration going & I would love for you to join us or sponsor our team. Our fundraising goal is $300. http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.as px?Lang=en-CA&TSID=283864

Wade Wallace accuses Councillor Diane Deans of bullying

BlakeBatson.ca — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:22:14 +0000

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

September 3, 2010

Incumbent Diane Deans Threatens to Shut Down Public Meeting Unless Challenger Wade Wallace Leaves the Room.

On Thursday evening, September 2, a number of Blossom Park area residents gathered at the Sawmill Creek Community Centre for a meeting with Councillor Diane Deans to discuss City of Ottawa plans to open a women’s shelter in the neighborhood.

In attendance was Gloucester-Southgate ward candidate Wade Wallace, which did not appear to sit well with Councillor Deans.

Before the meeting began, Deans directed an organizer to approach Wallace and ask him to leave or she would shut down the meeting.

A compromise was agreed upon whereby Wade Wallace could attend the second hour of the meeting. Wallace quietly left the room and returned an hour later.

“I have been a regular attendee of such public meetings in all areas of the ward for the past several years and I had every right to be at this one” said Wade Wallace. “Councillor Deans has demonstrated once again the lack of openness and transparency that is so sadly lacking” added Wallace.

“This is not the first time Councillor Deans has bullied her way through,” adds Wallace, referring to the debate leading up to the controversial closure and reopening of Albion Road.

“Councillor Deans’ actions clearly demonstrate why change is needed in Gloucester-Southgate,” adds Wallace. “The voters have an opportunity this fall to turn the page on this combative and secretive style of representation.”

-30-

Wade Wallace Campaign

www.vote4wadewallace.org

vote4wade@gmail.com

(613)422-0450

Dave Paul (613)296-3890 djp_dashco@yahoo.com

Bowling on Wellington

Centertowner — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:00:00 +0000

This is in Hintonburg, on Wellington Street West, but noteworthy nonetheless. On a June trip on the newly re-opened Wellington Street West, I noticed that the "G" on this sign has finally been replaced.

For quite a long time, West Park Bowling's large white-on-black letters spelled out only "B-O-W-L-I-N"--here's proof, from last August (this cropped image is the best photo of it I could find in my collection):

I believe this is the nearest place to Centretown to go bowling since the Kent Bowling Lanes on Catherine closed down and got converted to mini-storage. I remember they used to have disco bowling:

[Hm... I was going to give this post the label Singles, but there are two photos too many!]

Blais Questions Jellett’s Integrity on Voting Record

BlakeBatson.ca — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:48:51 +0000

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

September 3, 2010

Blais Questions Jellett’s Integrity on Voting Record

Ottawa – On Sunday August 29^th during CTV Ottawa’s Focus segment, Councillor Rob Jellett said he voted against the roundabout in Orléans. Not surprising to residents this is not entirely true. On Thursday, January 28, 2010, Councillor Jellett clearly voted for this roundabout.

“Councillor Jellett should stop playing loose with the truth and admit to voters that he did support the roundabout,” says Cumberland Ward candidate Stephen Blais. “Leadership is not voting to waste taxpayers money and deflecting accountability by telling the media half-truths.”

MOTION NO. 82/23: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that that the “Functional Design” funding be allocated to the BIA streetscaping initiatives and that funding for intersection improvements for Jeanne D’Arc Boulevard/St. Joseph Boulevard be advanced to the current roundabout project. LOST on a division of 10 YEAS to 14 NAYS as follows:

YEAS (10): Councillors G. Hunter, R. Jellett, M. Wilkinson, R. Bloess, G. Brooks, R. Chiarelli, A. Cullen, D. Thompson, B. Monette and Mayor O’Brien.

NAYS (14): Councillors C. Doucet, P. Hume, D. Holmes, M. Bellemare, S. Desroches, C. Leadman, E. El-Chantiry, M. McRae, S. Qadri, P. Feltmate, J. Harder, J. Legendre, D. Deans and G.Bédard.

http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/occ/2010/01-25/englishminutes82.htm

“This is not the first time Councillor Rob Jellett has flip-flopped on a vote that wasted taxpayers’ money,” adds Blais. “Councillor Jellett’s lack of accountability regarding his voting record is appalling to the taxpayers of Cumberland Ward.”

On Wednesday, March 24, 2010, Councillor Jellett voted for the $20,000 consultant’s report to look into the city’s roof top sign bylaw stemming from a plastic cow on the roof of Cheddar Etcetera in Orléans. The very next day, on Thursday, March 25, 2010, Councillor Jellett was on CFRA’s municipal panel and when asked by host, Rob Snow if spending $20,000 on a consultant report studying cows on roof tops was a waste of money, Councillor Jellett replied yes.

“Councillor Jellett’s record clearly demonstrates why change is needed in Cumberland Ward,” adds Blais. “The voters have an opportunity to turn the page on this kind representation and choose change they can trust.”

On February 10, 2010, Councillor Rob Jellett voted to study the living wage. On February 19, 2010, Councillor Rob Jellett was quoted in the EMC News (Orléans) about the living wage: “This is not our responsibility. It is the provincial government’s role. I don’t think we should proceed further.”

-30-

For more information:

Stephen Blais

Tel: 613-240-2567

http://www.stephenblais.com/

Clusterfuck Election 2010

BlakeBatson.ca — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:37:23 +0000

So, there is one more week left before nominations close for the 2010 Ottawa Municipal Election. Have you paid your $100 nomination fee to have your name on the ballot in your favourite ward?

It looks like 99 Ottawans feel that the entry fee for this election is worth it because we have the most ever candidates registered. I say “registered” and not “running” because I have tried to contact some candidates directly and have had no response. I don’t know why they have registered but I’m sure they have a reason. Maybe it was a bet or maybe they want to see their name on a ballot for prosperity sake. More sinisterly, maybe they have been asked to run by an incumbent in order to further split the vote. But whatever the reason, Ottawa voters have a lot of choices for this election.

The question that has been asked by Walter Robinson, columnist for the Ottawa Sun and Randall Denely, columnist for the Ottawa Citizen is if you’re a serious candidate who believes change is needed at City Hall, then how realistic are your chances of winning? Because if you’re running but know your chances of winning are slim, then really you are working for the incumbent thereby perpetuating more of the same.

Elections are not like the lottery. The odds of winning are NOT the same for everyone running. The chances are stacked in favour of incumbents. You don’t have to look further than wonky Bay Ward where former mayoral candidate Alex Cullen has re-entered the ward race. He has instantly grabbed front runner status even though candidates like Mark Taylor and GJ Hagenaars have run credible campaigns to date.

But will either of these two candidates drop out of the race in light of Cullen’s candidacy? Very unlikely. What I have found is that the more people that enter a ward race, the stronger the resolve for those already invested in the race to want to stay. They get angry and know it splinters the votes even more but somehow they rationalize that the split will work in their favour. I found this logic in both wards with and without incumbents.

With a record number of candidates running in this election, Ottawa is heading towards an exciting mayor’s race topped off with many around the council table heading back to City Hall. So with seven days left to join the clusterfuck election in Ottawa, it’s likely we will see the number of candidate surpass the 100 name mark. But there are also seven days left for candidates to get refunds of their deposit fees if they help reduce the number of names on the ballots.

Ugly Betty Building Better Brown?

westsideaction — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:33:32 +0000

The City Centre warehouse/office complex on City Centre Avenue near the Bayview Otrain station is often derided as the ugliest (commercial) building in the city. Actually, there are other contenders. And a frequently mentioned ugliest (residential) building is not so far away.

The owners — Equity International — have recently made some changes to the building. About a year ago, the huge Citv Centre red neon signs were removed from the top of the building. Then earlier this year, the building was washed. Now it’s undergoing a brownwash. The horizontal concrete stripes around the building are being painted black. While I give thanks that the building is being cared for, I am less certain as to the merit of the colour scheme selected. Dull. Rather like those tan brown bricks favoured by one of Ottawa’s luxury highrise condo builders. Does anyone thrill to brown brick?

Will the owners address the really ugliest part of the building, the two storey warehouse wing that runs all the way over to Somerset Street? These units lack wall insulation, and could really use a facelift. A similarly ugly warehouse behind the Rideau Street library was reclad a dozen years ago with colourful metal sheeting and looks much better. In this case, the building cries for the addition of exterior insulation and new cladding. Then add a few more trees to the islands in the parking lot, and the complex will be set to go for another 20 years.

If you conclude by this that I am a tad pessimistic that the complex will be soon demolished and replaced by millions of square feet of office and residential space, you read it right.

Disclosure: until I retired and sold my biz, I was the largest tenant in the City Centre complex (warehouse wing).

Events for Friday, September 3

eventRobot — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:26:06 +0000

Friday, September 3

Saturday, September 4

Sunday, September 5

Monday, September 6

A random sampling of events from OttawaEvents.org.

Bronson Engineers Going on a Diet !

westsideaction — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:33:56 +0000

Bronson near Somerset. Note the red house down the right sidewalk that had all of its front yard removed for road widening, and how the sidewalk narrows to squeeze by.

Perseverance does pay off in sand-box politics and planning. After relentlessly mocking the City for its proposals to widen Bronson, and to make the sidewalks narrower, and for its myopic focus on commuter-traffic-and-damn-all-the-rest, word percolates out of City Hall today that the scheduled Bronson stakeholder meeting for the fall — which promised to be a hot one — has been postponed to allow the engineers time to examine a road diet for Bronson.

Excuse me for a moment while I dance amongst the fake plastic trees.

There, I’m back.

Now this isn’t the City saying Bronson will be subject to a diet. Rather, it’s the engineers looking at the Road Diet Literature. They might decide it’s too much work. Or describe the patient in such a way that the Diet seems unwise (you know, lump the 14,000 vehicle/day section north of Somerset in with the 28,000 vehicle/day congestion pit right at the Queensway underpass). But I prefer to think that they know their numbers will be read, even if by excitable amateurs. So the next step will be to work with the City to learn what road configuration will handle the traffic AND make a better neighborhood.

For that work to be credible, I trust the City will have both traffic engineers/transportation planners and urban planners working together on the team, since we are supposed to be looking at repairing the urban fabric so brutally rent asunder by the unwise over-expansion of roads in the 50′s and 60′s.

IF Bronson goes on a diet, then every other pre-50′s urban neighborhood stuck with over-widened urban streets (eg, Richmond Road, Merivale north of the Farm, Main Street, Dalhousie Street) that function so poorly will have hope too. Note that roads designed in the 80′s, where neighborhoods grew up in the 70′s and later, typically lack houses facing those arterials (eg, Greenbank, Woodroffe). Being designed as four lane arterials with commercial boxes hundreds of meters back behind parking lots, won’t be affected. It’s the disfunctional 50′s-60′s roads, which were widened from two lane mainstreets to four lane pretend arterials, that are the problem, and the opportunity. They don’t function well for motorists, residents, businesses … we can and must do better.

If you want to read previous posts on Bronson, search the word cloud at the right, or use the search button and enter Bronson. Here are three key articles for reading about Road Diets:

Dan Burden:

http://www.walkable.org/assets/downloads/roaddiets.pdf

Thomas Welch:

http://www.walkable.org/assets/downloads/4%20Lane%20Conversion.pdf

Ian Lockwood: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ec019/Ec019_i5.pdf Ian actually worked for the City (RMOC) years ago, and now plans traffic in Florida. His article is a good review of how traffic calming has progressed from simple bumps and bulb outs into more sophisticated road configurations that improve the road for motorists whilst building up neighborhood vitality.

And there are the two CBC radio interviews that generated lots of interest:

http://www.ericdarwin.ca/downloads/CBC_Bronson_Fake_Trees.mp3

http://www.ericdarwin.ca/downloads/CBC_Bronson_Road_Diet.mp3 (with Dan Burden)

Ralph Anderson says Nobody needs to “party up”

BlakeBatson.ca — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:28:52 +0000

PRESS RELEASE

September 2, 2010

When a mayoral candidate, or two, plays with the idea of “partying up”, the voters need to be reminded that our municipal democracy doesn’t work like that. This great plan will turn candidates for councillor into party animals. We’ve seen that federally, when Canadian voters turn their election of district representation into an American style presidential election in order to vote for a party leader to be the next Prime Minister. In those elections voters feel it’s worth the sacrifice of quality representation in the districts, to get the leadership they want. But look, at the municipal level, we have a presidential style vote for the mayor AND a separate vote for quality representation in each ward.

All that needs to be done to protect our municipal democracy is to get an assurance from any candidate worth voting for … that he or she will accept the mandate given to the mayor by the people of Ottawa. Then the mayor can work with every one of them. Nobody needs to “party up”. The election for mayor decides who will lead and what the next council will focus on. It’s that simple.

For additional information, contact Ralph Anderson,

Candidate in College Ward 8, email elect@ralphanderson.ca

Hagnaars says Flawed election system needs revision

BlakeBatson.ca — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:21:45 +0000

PRESS RELEASE

August 31, 2010 – Bay Ward, Ottawa – In announcing his intention to seek re-election, incumbent councillor Alex Cullen is highlighting some serious flaws in the municipal election system, says Bay Ward candidate GJ Hagenaars.

“Cullen’s decision points out some very serious shortcomings with the municipal electoral process,” states Hagenaars. “The time may be here to finally address these concerns so that voters are no longer abused by the system.”

Hagenaars believes that Cullen’s move undermines the other 10 registered candidates in the ward by manipulating the electoral process, exploiting loopholes and taking advantage of the extensive media coverage he received for his failed mayoral bid and for the high-profile nature of his return.

GJ Hagenaars suggests five measures which he asks candidates in Bay Ward and in other areas to support, to improve the democratic process and spur increased accountability for voters in Bay Ward and across the City of Ottawa.

These proposals include:

1) Single registration for candidates – If someone registers for one position, they should not be allowed to switch mid-campaign, whether this is to run for a different post or in a different ward. Voters should not be at the whim of wealthy or undecided candidates who chose to run here or there for no other reason than self-interest.

2) Local representation – People should run where they live. Councillors should be a part of the community after office hours, to know what it’s like in the local parks after dark, understand what it means to take the bus to work from these neighbourhoods, drive in our potholes, do your shopping in barren malls where jobs are lacking, deal with the poor snow removal in the winter time when you don’t live on a bus route, cross roads to reach the bus stop without a proper pedestrian crossing, and suffer local no-swim advisories from sewage run-offs.

3) Ban on campaigning with City resources – Incumbents’ use of city budget for “electoral purposes” needs to stop. In the current case, Alex Cullen has used his councillor office budget to put out a newsletter claiming all kinds of successes, thus bypassing the legal electoral spending limit.

4) Signs on public property – The City of Ottawa should erect empty billboards in key public locations as the only allowed locations for signs, that can be used by candidates / parties to attach their posters. This would significantly cut down on sign pollution and waste.

5) Favour an Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) system – An incumbent has a high chance of re-election, and the more people that are registered against them the more it works to their advantage, because vote splitting is a good way to slip through the cracks. It is time to ditch the First-Past-the-Post system and replace it at the very least with a preferential ballot where voters rank their preference of candidates in an IRV system.

**Also see GJ’s blog post entitled Make way for the Bay Ward Circus.

For more information, please contact:

GJ Hagenaars Campaign

http://bayward.ca/issues

media@bayward.ca

613-686-3965

–
GJ Hagenaars
The Right Answer for Bay Ward
Check out my blog www.bayward.ca/blog

Straws and camels

andrea — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:11:35 +0000

[Please note, this post represents my own personal views and not those of the Westboro Community Association, of which I am a member.] A few of you who’ve been reading this blog for awhile may remember the stink I made over a little convent in my immediate neighbourhood. This was in 2007 and the convent was [...]

A fresh start for Barbara D.

zoom! — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:59:27 +0000

I came across my grade 6 class picture a couple of days ago. I’m not in it for some reason. But as I looked from one student to the next, and remembered their names, each was accompanied by a short flash of memory.

John Shaw: even though he grew up on a farm, he was convinced chocolate milk came from brown cows. Danny Manship: my first kiss. Darlene Yuck: my only enemy. Barbara D: my best friend.

I saw her once, after we’d both grown up. She looked me up and we met for coffee. She told me that she’d gotten pregnant at 16, and she and her boyfriend got married. When she went into labour he took her to the hospital in Arnprior and, as her labour progressed, he began to panic. By the time they reached the delivery room, he was saying things like “Oh my god, I never wanted to get married, I never wanted a wife and kid, what have I done, oh my god, oh my god oh my god!”

Finally the obstetrician looked him in the eye and said “Look, if you can’t be more helpful than that, then get out.”

He didn’t have to be told twice.

He left.

Barbara never saw him again.

A few days later, the obstetrician felt so bad about having inadvertently delivered the death blow to the marriage, he invited Barbara and her infant son to come live with him and his wife until she got back on her feet.

She stayed with them for six months, then struck out on her own, determined to make a fresh start in life.

She left Arnprior and moved to Ottawa. She cut all ties with her very odd family. She changed both her first and last names to something of her own choosing. She got an apartment and a job. She raised her child.

I wonder how she’s doing now. If I could remember the new name she chose for herself, I’d look her up right now and ask her.

A truly inclusive community sod turning event

BlakeBatson.ca — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:41:10 +0000

Please excuse me while I pick my jaw off the ground…

Yesterday, I attended the sod turning of the new field house in the Banff community where one of the Ottawa Housing Corporation (OCH) has one its housing complexes. It was hosted by Jo-Anne Poirier, CEO of OCH and Maria McRae, River Ward Councillor.

I’m not going to focus on how or why it happened but will focus on the end result.

This event was well attended by media, community, city officials and staff, Ottawa Police Service and community volunteers. The food was great and the weather was amazing.

But what was the most pleasantly surprising was what could have been structured as a city sponsored campaign event for the incumbent councillor turned out to be a genuinely community centric affair that included the board, the tenants’ association, the other candidates in the upcoming election in River Ward along with the current councillor.

Ms. McRae specifically introduced each of her rivals in attendance at the event, Nadia Willard and Ian Boyd. She even orchestrated a group photo that included everyone present.

As unexpected as it was by me, I could not help but write about it today because this is how city supported events should be – open to the public, inclusive and friendly. Let policy and campaigning by relegated to the campaign trail and debates.

It was awesome to see the community and the people supporting the community being the focus of the celebration for the new field house. After all, it is those who live in the Banff community who will ultimately benefit from the new building.

Upon replacing my gaping mouth with a broad smile, I could envision a truly improving River Ward.