Kudos to Nepean's "Bike Guy" and his giving spirit

Grant Gilliland poses for a photo with some of the bikes that he fixes outside his house in Ottawa Tuesday. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

Article content

OC Transpo leaves hockey fans stranded and LRT lines suspended 

Article content

Some OC Transpo trains and buses did not run over the long weekend. The number 1 line was shut down, the line to airport was shut down and the city could not even run buses to get fans home from the Canadian Tire Centre. All this while OC Transpo has a $7 million deficit, in only the first quarter!

Article content

Article content

So, a big shout out to Mayor Sutcliffe, who appears to be running around in circles a lot lately and all the to the senior management at the city. Mayor Sutcliffe, it is about time you did your oversight duty or join our former mayor in shame. If you think you can run for re-election on your record, you are wrong.

Article content

Article content

Raymond Kostuch, Nepean

Article content

Article content

Traffic chaos

Article content

John Blatherwick’s recent Letter to the Editor perfectly explains the horrible chaos caused by LRT construction that affects the Queensway. There is no alternative route west that is available without gridlock chaos. All vehicles sit on Carling Ave. from Woodroffe Ave. to Pinecrest Rd. without moving. John’s question “who planned for this mess?” also applies to proposed reconstruction of Baseline Rd. that will destroy another primary east-west arterial. As John mentioned, Baseline Rd. westbound is down to one lane at Greenbank. Baseline Rd. was designed for cars. The buses on Baseline Rd. now work very well with passengers waiting on the sidewalk instead of crossing to the median where all the light standards will be taken out. Ottawa has immovable ways to get home with impossible construction.

Article content

Fran Dawson, Ottawa

Article content

Protect Ontario ads and homelessness

Article content

Lately we have been seeing a lot of “Protect Ontario” government ads on TV, especially during the Stanley Cup playoffs. I was appalled to see one include dialogue about “protecting” Ontarians from homeless encampments in public parks. This is apparently in response to a recent Supreme Court of Ontario ruling that threw out a bylaw adopted by the Region of Waterloo to ban homeless encampments from a parking lot in Kitchener. Ontario Premier Doug Ford thinks this decision is “cockamamie”.

Article content

Article content

Homelessness is an unfortunate social problem in many communities across Ontario but is banning them from public spaces the answer? Where does Doug Ford expect these people to go? Banning them from public spaces is no solution and only shifts the problem to other neighbourhoods. I object to this misuse of my tax dollars to promote an unworkable solution.

Article content

Article content

Alex Cullen, Ottawa

Article content

Kudos to Nepean’s “Bike Guy” and his giving spirit

Article content

Article content

Article content

Mr. Adam devotes his article to the failure of the Left in Ottawa’s politics, particularly its mayoralty. He mostly attributes this, in my view rightly, to the urban-rural divide in this city. But strangely he makes no mention of how or why we find ourselves with this divide.