Let’s Clean Up Our Community for Earth Day!
CGOWCA Environment Committee
Please join us Sunday, April 21, 2024, at Roy G. Hobbs community centre from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m.!
The Convent Glen Orléans Wood Community Association’s Environment Committee is having a ‘Cleaning the Capital’ event on Sunday, April 21st to celebrate Earth Day!
Each spring and fall, residents across the Ottawa area volunteer to clean and beautify their neighbourhoods as part of the ‘Cleaning the Capital’ Program. Since 1994, more than 1.4 million volunteers have participated in annual clean-up projects. Hard working citizens have removed an estimated 1,000,000 kg of waste from our public spaces. Last year the CGOWCA environment committee had over 90 community volunteers pick up 100 bags of waste from our green spaces.
All are welcome (all ages and all abilities)! We will provide clean-up supplies like garbage bags, nitrile gloves, and recycling bags from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. at Roy G. Hobbs Community Centre, located at 109 Larch Crescent.
You can come as a group, or as individuals. If you require any accommodations during the event, reach out to us anytime at ConventGlenOrleansWood@gmail.com.
This is an excellent opportunity for students to earn volunteer hours. Please bring a printed form for organizers to sign.
We hope you can join us to make our community a cleaner, greener place! Please join us for the 31st annual Cleaning the Capital spring clean-up. For all the latest up to date information, please see our Facebook event page.
CGOWCA Bridge Committee Update
The photograph above shows users of the Greenbelt quietly absorbing the serenity and beauty of a sunset from the promontory where Green’s Creek flows into the Ottawa River, just west of Orléans. While there are usually only a few people here at any one time, the many footprints in the snow show just how popular this place is, where you may turn off the Ottawa River Pathway, stop and reflect, and allow the sights and sounds of nature to envelop and refresh you.
As Joni Mitchell once famously sang, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?” In this case, the paradise that will be paved over is the Greenbelt right behind you, if you imagine yourself standing in the group in the picture. The federal government wants to put a sixth bridge across the Ottawa River, and two of the proposed locations will run right through the Greenbelt on their way to Highway 174 east of Montreal Road. And once that happens, the sights and sounds of nature will be no more. They will have been swallowed up by the drone of engines and the drumming of tires on expansion joints.
Let’s not let Joni Mitchell’s song come true in Ottawa. Can we allow the scene above to become a thing of the past, and then live out our days in regret? If your answer is no, you’re welcome to get involved. Please visit our website. There you will find out whom in the government you should contact to express your opposition, and other ways to help. You can contact the Bridge Committee at cgnbridgecommittee@gmail.com.
We are pleased to announce that, before the next newsletter comes out, we expect to have launched our new website, which will lay out all the relevant information more clearly and accessibly.
#Ottmusic applications are open
From the newsletter of Councillor Ariel Troster
Since 2015, #ottmusic has evolved into an initiative that brings together city-led programs, opportunities, and information for musicians and residents. In 2020, the City launched three core #ottmusic programs:
- Music on Hold,
- O-Buskers, and
- City Sounds.
This is a great opportunity for local musicians to share their music with Ottawa residents and beyond! An Ottawa artist has been defined as one who resides within 150 kilometres of the City centre.
Learn more and apply online here.
Rain Ready Ottawa applications open
From the newsletter of Councillor Ariel Troster
Rain Ready Ottawa is a pilot program that encourages and supports residents to take action on their property to reduce the harmful impacts of rainwater runoff.
Rain Ready Ottawa offers:
- Information on projects for your home (see below) including a series of self-guided eLearning courses to help you implement rainwater management projects
- Home Assessments that offer custom advice and solutions to your rainwater problems (Eligibility requirements apply, learn more at Rain Ready Ottawa Home Assessments
- Rebates up to $5,000 to help you install practices that help manage rainwater where it falls (Eligibility requirements apply, learn more at Rain Ready Ottawa project rebates)
Learn more and apply online here.
New Ways to Bus are coming to Ottawa in 2024!
From the newsletter of Councillor Matthew Luloff
Later this year, OC Transpo will launch a new bus network, focused on frequency, local service in your neighbourhood, and connections to O-Train Lines 1 and 2 and key destinations.
The New Ways to Bus network will launch at the same time as O-Train Lines 2 and 4 in the south, connecting that part of the city by rail and opening up new convenient connections across the city, while also accommodating the opening of future O-Train extensions.
The New Ways to Bus network is based on the results of OC Transpo’s 2023 Bus Route Review process. Customer feedback and consultation were at the forefront of this process and were used to create a network that meets the evolving needs of Ottawa’s diverse communities.
The launch of the new bus network is a significant step that OC Transpo is taking to meet their service reliability goal of 99.5 per cent. New Ways to Bus works in unison with OC Transpo’s Bus Maintenance Action Plan and ongoing recruitment efforts to achieve a more sustainable and reliable service that better meets customer expectations.
Visit octranspo.com/NewWaysToBus to learn more, review route-by-route changes and explore the new system map. You can also ask questions or request additional materials, by sending OC Transpo an email at NewWaysToBus@ottawa.ca or by calling 613-560-5000.
