Category Archives: CarletonDataJournalism2018_3

Ottawa’s Capital ward sees high number of sewer rat complaints

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Luke Hawkins, a resident of Ottawa’s Capital ward, has dealt with sewer rat issues first hand. He points to this hole in the foundation, seen from the basement of his student house, as one of their main entry points. Photo: Matt Gergyek.

Luke Hawkins, a 22-year-old student at Carleton University, didn’t have the greatest first summer in the city to say the least.

One night in late May of this year, Hawkins recalls waking up to the ominous sound of a creature skittering across his bedroom. A cringe flashes across his face as he remembers leaping out of bed and violently flicking on the lights, only to find a large sewer rat peering up at him from the corner of his room.

“I didn’t sleep at all that night,” he said. “It was so gross … I didn’t want to be anywhere in the house. They’re gross creatures, I didn’t want to be around that.”

Over the course of the summer, Hawkins fought off a handful of other sewer rats in his student house in the Glebe, catching and killing eight in total in traps. Hawkins and his roommates finally traced the source of the rats to a large hole in the exterior foundation of the house that they sealed, conveniently located directly beside their garbage and recycling bins.

Hawkins and his roommates haven’t seen a rat in or around their home in almost four months now, but he said the memory still shakes him up.

Hawkins isn’t alone in his experience: The Capital ward is home to the largest number of complaints of sewer rat issues made to the city of Ottawa in the past four years, according to an analysis of data from Ottawa 311. Of the just over 800 rat complaints made to the city since March of 2013, 217 came from the Capital ward, slightly above the Rideau-Vanier ward with 205 but more than double any other ward in the city.

A data visualization appears below, displaying the number of sewer rat complaints reported to the city of Ottawa by ward. Source: Open Data Ottawa/Ottawa 311. 

Todd Babin, owner of the Ottawa-based pest control businesses Nature’s Way Property Services, isn’t surprised that the ward, which spans across the Glebe, Old Ottawa South and East, Heron Park and Riverside neighbourhoods, is home to such a large number of complaints.

“The older sewer infrastructure in (the ward) can make it easier for rats to get into people’s homes,” Babin said, noting he has seen a “steady increase” in calls to the area.



Many homes in the Capital ward are quite old themselves, Babin added, leading to cracks in a building’s foundation, where rats are known to sneak in through.


Donna DuBreuil, president of the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre (OCWC), concurred with Babin, describing her experience nursing an injured rat back to health in her career.

“I was amazed at how intelligent and social they are, but obviously you don’t want them in your basement or attic,” she says.

DuBreuil said construction and infrastructure changes in the ward likely play a major role, pointing to the city’s combined sewage storage tunnel (CSST) project which kicked off in the ward in 2016 and is still underway.

“Every time we get a call (about rats) there’d be an infrastructure project going on nearby,” she said. “It’s uprooting them from the sewers.”

Babin agreed, recalling how the number of rat calls he received “went through the roof” when construction began on the LRT.

Babin and DuBreuil said there are a number of ways people can combat sewer rats trying to get into their homes. They recommend storing garbage in animal-proof bins and also clearing standing water, which can attract rats, along with properly sealing any prospective entry points into your home.

Ottawa Public Health declined an interview request and did not provide a statement or comment.  

Area around Bronson and Sunnyside Avenue saw a spike in parking tickets issued from 2015 to 2017: A student’s risk for free parking

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The number of tickets issued for parking exceeding three hours at the area across Carleton University’s main entrance has increased nearly 70 per cent from 2015 to 2017, according to an analysis on Ottawa’s parking-ticket violation data obtained through a municipal freedom-of-information request. The city collected $15,125.50 from fines in the area around Bronson and Sunnyside Avenue.

Parking exceeding three hours means parking beyond the time limit on a street with no posted signs between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. during weekdays, according to the City of Ottawa’s traffic and parking by-law.

Ian Miller, the City of Ottawa’s communication officer, said an email, although there has been an increase in tickets issued, the city is unable to say why.

Kevin Simas, a Carleton University student, is one of many who parks along this street for more than three hours.

He said he had always parked there and had never received a parking ticket until three weeks ago.

“Getting the parking ticket made me feel horrible,” Simas said. “I’ve gotten $20 tickets before for parking past midnight or whatever the regulations were, but $50 for exceeding one hour on a residential street in Ottawa is too much.”

Kevin Simas, a student at Carleton University, at one of the university’s parking lots said parking rates on-campus are too steep. Photo by Lui Xia Lee.

Tania McCumber, the city’s Parking Enforcement and the Licensing Compliance Unit program manager, said in an email, that parking tickets are meant to deter residents from violating the traffic and parking by-law. The prices for violation fines go through an application process, which will be approved by the Regional Chief Justice.

“Fines for parking violations are based on the severity of the violation. For example, a fine for parking in excess of the posted time limits ($60) is lower than the fine for stopping in a no stopping zone ($120), as the latter violation may pose an issue of public safety,” she said.

Simas said he parked in that area because he didn’t want to pay for parking at Carleton University.

“I didn’t want to spend money to park because I come to campus every day,” he said. “I just don’t want to pay four or five dollars an hour or however high the rates are.”

He said parking fees on campus should be around one or two dollars.

Parking rates at Carleton University range from $3.50 an hour with a maximum of $14 for four hours, according to the university’s website.

The city currently doesn’t have any garages or parking lots in the immediate vicinity of any post-secondary institutions, including Carleton University.

Scott Caldwell, the City’s area manager of transitway and parking, said in an email, there are conditions to designing parking spaces based on local conditions, environmental standards and the general layout of the facility.

Simas said he will continue to park off-campus unless he’s running late to class.

Kitchissippi is the Most Popular Ward to Call about Trees to 311 Ottawa -Draft

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Trees that are too big or unsightly refers to trees that can cause damage in public areas. However, some people request pruning services for aesthetic reasons without realizing how to properly care for a tree. Photo by Katie Jacobs.

Since 2013, Kitchissippi made the most calls on tree related issues, according to an analysis from a 311 dataset.

The most common calls are for too big/unsightly trees. Among the top five wards for this category are River, Capital, Alta Vista and Gloucester – Southgate.

Tracey Schwets, the Program Manager of the Forest Management Branch at 311 Ottawa, explains in an email that these calls usually refer to branches touching a house, or requesting clearance space.

Schwets adds this normally means a caller is asking for a tree to be pruned.

“Pruning a tree doesn’t mean that you’re stunting it’s growth, it just means that maybe your helping shape its growth in a way that works better with …the ecosystem.” says Lauren Latour, the community organizer and campaign coordinator for Ecology Ottawa.

However, some people ask for trees to be pruned for aesthetic reasons, mostly because of the mess from sticky sap or fallen nuts, says David Koshurba, co-owner of Croft Tree Experts.

Koshurba explains pruning is meant to help trees, but since it can also stress them, it is important to avoid touching unhealthy trees and look for signs if one needs to be trimmed, such as damage, disease, or if two limbs are rubbing against each other.

He adds if improperly pruned, a tree could “open the door” for other diseases, fungus and insects.

“In the long run, it’s almost life or death for us. If we don’t have trees, we are not going to be able to survive as a species,” says Koshurba, who loves big oak trees. “Especially in city areas, there’s a lot more pollution, a lot more traffic, so to preserve a city tree is a lot more important.”

Koshurba says even though some people have aesthetic goals, others love their trees and let it grow without realizing that pruning may help. He adds more people are caring about their trees after witnessing the damage after the Tornado earlier this year.

“If you take care of your trees, even in those situations, you’re going to have a better chance of the tree surviving and a less chance of stress,” he explains. “Most of the trees (that came down) were stressed already before the Tornado hit.”

The City of Ottawa owns 330,000 trees, asking citizens to help maintain them by requesting pruning services to control pests and remove safety hazards in case storms.

Schwets adds a tree is never removed for aesthetic reasons, only if a Forest inspector deems it necessary. The city is also required to replace the tree, if possible, through the Trees in Trust program.

Latour, who lives on the border of Rideau-Vanier and Centretown, works in the Tree Ottawa Campaign, which gives away saplings for citizens’ yards.

“Trees are almost always worked into a city scape because people who work in urban planning understand the value of a tree,” explains Latour.

Latour was born in London Ontario, which she says is known as “The Forest City.” She adds when she used to visit her grandmother in Florida, she fell in love with the massive, wild oak trees.

“There’s studies that showed that increased exposure to …nature is extremely beneficial to our mental health and our physical state and well-being,” says Latour.

Latour agrees that some people may have an aesthetic idea or order on what they want their city landscape to look like, and admits her mother’s tree makes a mess by dropping seed pods, which would temporarily stain the concrete.

However, she says trees provide great health benefits to cities, and even solutions to global warming by filtering water and carbon dioxide or preventing soil erosion.”

“The number of benefits that trees offer us, (aesthetics) seems like a minor thing,” says Latour. “I do struggle with why somebody would complain about a tree, maybe cleaning up acorns in front of your house is a pain in the butt.”