Ottawa is blessed to be a swimmer's paradise. Don't count Mooney's Bay out | Letters to the Editor

Jonathan Jobin and his daughters, Isabelle and Mila, cool off in the Ottawa River at the new dock near the Museum of History in Gatineau. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIA

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Why Mooney’s Bay shouldn’t be the worst ranked swim spot

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My appreciation to Lynn Saxberg for her recent article identifying our city’s urban swimming spots, we are blessed in Ottawa by natural beauty and our proximity to rivers and lakes is a swimmer’s paradise.

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I take issue with the article suggesting Mooney’s Bay is the worst ranked location to swim in the city — nothing could be further from the truth. Recent access to NCC maintained swimming locations is to be applauded — this is great news for residents and I encourage everyone to make good use of these opportunities.

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Mooney’s Bay Park and Beach is an 80 acre major destination, welcoming close to a quarter million visitors a year, in all four seasons. Home to Canada’s largest playground, the Sue Holloway Outdoor Fitness Centre, picturesque picnic and BBQ spots, an 800m long supervised beach plus many other amenities, further illustrates that Mooney’s Bay Park has something for every visitor. The addition of two new regulation-sized basketball courts this summer and a pavilion being redesigned and hopefully constructed in a few years, will ensure the park retains its destination status.

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The issue of late night shenanigans resurfaces now and then and both Ottawa Bylaw and the Ottawa Police Service have led proactive campaigns to ensure unwanted behaviours are addressed.

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Tape Ms. Saxberg’s list of nine swimming holes to your fridge and make it a point to visit all of them before the summer ends — you will enjoy every experience.

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Riley Brockington, city councillor, River Ward

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A new idea for construction season

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We should all applaud College Ward Coun. Laine Johnson for asking questions about the poor coordination of construction projects in the Ottawa area. Justin Kurosky, city manager of design and construction advised that “staff meet regularly” and the city is “exploring new technologies to enhance coordination.” Well most of us citizens can recount numerous examples where the city’s coordination efforts have fallen short: Roads being repaved only to have utility cuts appear a few weeks later; a major traffic corridor reducing lanes for a few weeks only to have the nearest alternate route also undergo some kind of construction activity during the same time frame creating logjams; ongoing construction sites like Greenbank/Baseline or 417 Eastbound at Parkdale without any visible construction activity for weeks! And on and on.

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We can accept construction season as a necessary evil, but not the lack of efficiency. In fairness, with many so many different players construction coordination is a very difficult assignment. Therefore the city should drop its current exploration of new technologies (without a timeline for implementation), in favour of the approach that many major cities in North America have taken — the creation of co-ordination centres. All of us sitting in cars and buses going nowhere would endorse any effort to change the current approach as, despite best efforts, it’s not working very well.

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Mike McMullin, Nepean

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