The number of firefighters in Ottawa earning over $100,000 more than tripled between 2014 and 2015.

The sunshine list – the annual disclosure list of public employees making more than $100,000 a year – showed 403 Ottawa firefighters on the list in 2015. Considering the number of firefighters in the Ottawa Fire Services at the time, this means that over a quarter (28 per cent) earned over $100,000.

This increase in earnings is also reflected in the city’s own reporting. Actual expenses reported by Ottawa Fire Services in their 2016 annual budget showed an increase of 63 per cent in overtime costs between 2014 and 2015 – an increase of $1.4 million.

On the surface, this may seem alarming, but according to Ottawa Fire Chief Gerry Pingitore, several factors have contributed to this jump in earnings including staff reductions.

“With our staffing reduction, of course our overtime is going to go up because we have less people on duty that day,” said Pingitore. “Our overtime budget will increase but our savings as a result of reducing some staff over the last number of years is still saving.”

Pingitore points out that while the staffing ratio, the ratio between the number of people on duty and off duty, has decreased, the minimum number of staff required remains unchanged. The impact of the staff reductions is that when there are multiple calls, there are fewer people to call on, leading to off duty firefighters being called in and a resulting increase in overtime costs.

The City of Ottawa has been reducing its workforce since 2012 for budgetary reasons.

Though staffing reductions can touch all departments, city reports show that there were no reductions in the staffing levels of firefighters between 2014 and 2015. In fact, there was an increase. According to Ottawa Fire Services annual reports, between 2014 and 2015, 42 career firefighters and 30 volunteer firefighters joined Ottawa Fire Services.

The other factor that can contribute to the jump in firefighters on the sunshine list in 2015 is the number of fire incidents responses. Fire incidences encompasses house fires, explosions, and outdoor fires.

Firefighters respond to several types calls, ranging from medical, rescue to hazmat situations, however the 2015 Ottawa Fire Services annual report showed a 22.3 per cent increase in “fire incident responses” from the previous year (921 fire incidents in 2014 compared to 1,126 fire incidents in 2015).

Though Pingitore admits such an increase is not typical, he says it’s too soon to call it a pattern.

“I would say that it’s not a trend yet, but certainly very concerning,” said Pingitore. “The fires have risen in the last two years, so we’d like to see another year before we start to be really concerned.”

Though he’s careful in calling the rise in fire incidences a trend, he’s not shy about discussing the type of fires that he sees as contributing it.

“Where the fires are increasing, those fires are the result [of], or suspected to be, improperly discarded cigarettes,” said Pingitore.

Pingitore says that Ottawa Fire Services is planning on developing more fire prevention campaigns about unattended fires and the damage they can cause.

The 2016 Ottawa Fire Services annual report is expected in the next few months.

2015 Ottawa Fire Services fire incidences by ward.

Hipster coffee shops and cool fusion restaurants haven’t deterred graffiti vandals in Ottawa’s Somerset district. The ward had the highest number of graffiti complaints per capita last year, according to an analysis of the city’s 311 service requests database. The trend has continued into the new year, with twelve graffiti complaints from the area recorded in January, and six in February. Although the ward was second in total number of complaints – Rideau-Vanier had the most –having the highest per capita means the complaints are occurring at a faster rate than in other wards.
Top 5 wards with the most graffiti complaints per capita

In an e-mail statement, Roger Chapman, chief of Ottawa bylaw services, says the most common type of graffiti complaints in Somerset are those related to ‘tagging’. The city’s website defines ‘tagging’ as: “the writing, painting or ‘bombing’ of an identifiable symbolic character or ‘tag’ that may or may not contain letters.” The site indicated that gang related graffiti is rare in Ottawa, even though ‘tags’ can sometimes be associated with gangs or certain groups. The city categorizes five other types of graffiti: “personalized, political, offensive and hate-related.”

Chapman also says he doesn’t think Somerset is facing a “specific issue” with graffiti, because other wards, like Rideau-Vanier, also experience a high number of complaints. But volume of complaints alone isn’t necessarily indicative of the depth of the issue. Rideau-Vanier has about 7,500 more people than Somerset and around 11,600 more people than Capital ward – yet it lags behind both of those wards in complaints per capita. This suggests Somerset may have certain factors that contribute to the high rate.

The ward encompasses much of downtown, LeBreton flats, and most of Centretown West – all home to some of the city’s busiest bars, restaurants and shopping centres. The Ottawa Real Estate Board notes that these neighbourhoods have become more popular in recent years, and are becoming gentrified by a younger demographic who are driving up home prices. Last month, the Board said the price of a single family home in Hintonburg/West Centretown, for example, has risen 27 per cent in the last five years – nearly double that of the city as a whole.

But this peak in interest hasn’t made the area immune to crime or vandalism. Take the disturbing instances of hate graffiti this past fall as an example. In mid-November, the Ottawa Muslim Association and Parkdale United Church, both situated within the ward, were vandalized with racially-driven hate graffiti.

In response to how  complaints in Somerset are dealt with, a communications representative for the city says it employs a “4E model”, meaning: education, empowerment, eradication, and enforcement. They also say the city works with the Ottawa Police to help employ the model.

Graffiti has always been a fixture of urban life – but it can have real consequences.

In 2015, the city published a study that evaluated the effectiveness of the graffiti prevention program. The report concluded with: “The volume of Service Requests received indicates that residents are reporting graffiti which is then being quickly removed… Due to the commitment of the community, a marked decrease in the level of graffiti has been noted. Unfortunately, the costs incurred to remove graffiti continue to soar.”

The study was conducted as part of the “Ottawa 2017” campaign – a celebration of the capital’s 150-year anniversary. The report mentions numerous times that this occasion calls for a more concerted effort to control graffiti incidents, in order to “preserve Ottawa’s reputation as a ‘Clean, Green, Graffiti and Litter Free City’.”

The Somerset ward encompasses many areas that tourists are likely to be drawn to. And if the graffiti trend there continues, the city may have its hands full trying to maintain a clean image.

Needle Kiosk at the Wabano Centre in Vanier.
Photo by Maureen McEwan.

OTTAWA – Rideau-Vanier marks another year as the city ward with the highest number of discarded needle and syringe complaints. Many needle collection services exist but the public says a safe injection site in the downtown core could be the solution to minimizing the issue.

The City of Ottawa received a total of 101 service calls for improperly disposed needles in 2016. Rideau-Vanier (Ward 12) was at the top of the list with 58 instances reported. The second highest was another downtown ward, Somerset (Ward 14), with 12 complaints over the year. The remaining calls for discarded needles were scattered, with most wards reporting a single complaint if any.

(Please click the link below for a map of the 311 calls.)

For years, the Rideau-Vanier and Somerset wards have received the majority of 311 calls concerning needles and syringes. Both wards have the highest calls per capita, with Rideau-Vanier having 11.8 calls and Somerset having 2.9 calls per 10,000 residents. The recent reports for January and February indicate that the trend continues into 2017.

Craig Calder is the Program Manager with Environment Health Protection at Ottawa Public Health (OPH). He says that OPH has always seen “a significant spike” in needle finds and needle box usage in Rideau-Vanier and areas.

“If you look at the numbers on the Open Data, you can certainly see a significant number in Ward 12 which is Rideau-Vanier,” Calder says. “But I don’t want to divert resources that would essentially take away from the suburban users of these boxes as well.”

Calder says that OPH maintains 78 needle kiosks around the city. The kiosks allow individuals to dispose of their needles safely at accessible public areas. Some are in the Rideau-Vanier area but many are distributed. Calder adds that the kiosks are not used exclusively by intravenous drug users but also by individuals with medical conditions such as diabetes.

(Please click the link below for a map of the needle box locations.)

There are varied services besides needle drop boxes. The City of Ottawa also facilitates the “Take-it-Back!” program which allows individuals to return needles to participating pharmacies. Needles are also collected at the Site Needle & Syringe Program and with OPH’s site mobile vans. And there are “proactive” services like the needle hunters and city internal staff members who pick up needles when 311 calls come in, Calder says.

“There’s a number of different, overlapping pieces to our fairly robust needle program – I think we have the gold standard, actually,” he says.

Since 2012, the services have collected over a million discarded needles annually.

As an Employment Coordinator, Hilary Leavens helps run the Needle Hunter program at Causeway Work Centre which employs 40 people.

Wearing their trademark safety vests, needle hunters embark every day to collect needles and safely discard them. No job experience is needed but they require a level of comfort for the work, Leavens says. Their routes are contained mostly in the downtown core. Leavens says that the Lowertown routes are busier due to increased foot-traffic, a concentration of social services, and “pockets of homelessness.”

Despite these services, the 311 trend has been consistent for years. While the city may have a strong response, needle collection may need review.

The latest census data indicates that Ottawa’s population is growing which may shift ward demographics. Calder says that the model’s resources expand as the city does but for the moment, it’s a “well-oiled machine.”

But the increase in opioid and intravenous drug use in Ottawa could place immediate pressure on services. The city may be required to adapt or reallocate resources if the opioid situation escalates.

Sean LeBlanc is a founder of Ottawa’s Drug User Advocacy League (DUAL) and a former opioid addict. DUAL supports users and advocates for services like the safe injection site.

LeBlanc says that the City and OPH services, like the needle hunters and black boxes, do “a great job” with their work. But there’s a gap: Leblanc says more program involvement from people with lived-experience would help. In other cities, peer-level models have proven effective with needle distribution and collection, he adds.

The Sandy Hill Community Centre put forth a proposal for a safe injection site to the federal government. The Centre is located in the Rideau-Vanier ward. In a September OPH survey, respondents indicate that the site could improve needle collection.

To support needle collection efforts in the downtown wards, further community services and engagement could be needed soon.

When enjoying a walk in one of Ottawa’s public parks, the last thing a person wants is to be greeted with the squish of freshly laid dog poop beneath their feet.

The city of Ottawa received over 650 service requests regarding people neglecting to stoop and scoop after their pets, according to data from Ottawa’s 2016 monthly service requests.

Kanata South had the most complaints with 66—making up nearly 10 per cent of the requests received for the entire city. The city received over 13 requests for every 10,000 residents in Kanata South.

Rideau-Vanier, the ward with the most requests regarding animals overall, had 10 less than Kanata South with only 56.

Allan Hubley, the councillor for the Kanata South Ward said that he was shocked with the statistics.

He said that Kanata South is the cleanest ward in the city. “We won the award five times since I’ve been elected in 2010.”

He claimed that the key to their cleanliness is that the ward expects its residents to clean up after themselves, and their pets.

Hubley said that he believes that the ward’s large number of parks could be the source of the high number of requests.

He said that stoop and scoop is a major concern for the area, not only for sanitary reasons, but for the ward’s frequent park-goers.

“Young people tend to hang out in the parks in the evening and meet their friends and play sports in the park. And when there’s poop all over the soccer field, that’s not too nice for the kids that are playing there,” said Hubley.

The ward received the majority of its stoop and scoop service requests in June, which Hubley says is not entirely surprising.

He said that with Ottawa’s cold winter weather, many pet owners do no pick up after their pets due to the low temperatures, snow, and ice. Then the excrement will freeze and get covered with snow. Making it invisible until the temperature changes and winter turns into spring.

Hubley added that he expects the same for this year, as this winter season has been particularly harsh.

Stoop and scoop is a regulation that appears on the city of Ottawa’s Animal Care and Control By-law. According to the by-law, pet owners must immediately pick up any feces that have been left on public property including parks, and roadways.

The by-law also covers any privately owned area that does not belong to the pet owner.

Media relations for the city of Ottawa said via email that people who neglect to stoop and scoop on any city property could be subject to a fine.

When asked about the scoop and stoop service requests for Kanata South specifically or any other questions surrounding the issue, they refused to comment.

Councillor Hubley said that first time transgressors could face fines of up to $75, which increases with the amount of stop and scoop violations that a person has.

He added that during the summer months that students work as by-law officers to help combat this issue.

“They walk around the pathways in the park all spring, summer and fall, until it’s time to go back to school and they issue tickets for anyone who’s not picking up the poop.”

Hubley said that he does not expect Kanata South to lose the title of Ottawa’s cleanest Ward anytime soon. But he urged residents to help with the stoop and scoop issue by calling 3-1-1 or snapping a picture and sending it to him or the city in order to keep the ward as clean as possible.

Ottawa’s Capital Ward recorded the highest number of complaints about overlarge trees in 2016, according to an analysis of a database the city uses to track service requests.

The City of Ottawa received 170 complaints from the ward last year for trees being “Too Big/Unsightly”. It’s a category distinct from more common issues involving trees, like fallen branches or requests for stumps to be removed.

It’s also an odd way for the city to catalogue a complaint.

“It’s a broad category that really doesn’t do justice to what people are really saying,” City Councillor David Chernushenko said. He acknowledged that he went to the City of Ottawa to determine the nature of the complaints when it was first brought to his attention.

According to Chernushenko, the complaints cover two specific issues: trees that are in desperate need of pruning, and trees that have become large enough to damage sidewalks and foundations.

The councillor confessed that he finds the city’s label confusing—and amusing.

“The ‘Too Big’ is sort of a funny one, because it leads you to think people are complaining that ‘hey, the tree is too big!’” Chernushenko said with a laugh.

But Chernushenko also said that it’s important for the community to contact the city if they notice something wrong—including the trees in their neighborhood. As the chair of the Environment and Climate Protection Committee for the city, he has a particular interest in the health and safety of Ottawa’s trees.

That desire to protect trees in the Capital Ward is shared by Jennifer Humphries from the Glebe Community Association. She said it was “surprising” that these kind of complaints were making it to the city since she sees the neighborhood as being very passionate and involved with its trees.

A member of the association’s Environment Committee, Humphries has written articles for the community newsletter discussing the benefits of trees. But she admitted that she could understand why a resident might complain about a tree being “Too Big/Unsightly.”

“There can be an issue with the positioning of a tree, or just how it’s growing, or something is happening to the foundation,” Humphries said. “What I suspect is happening is that people have an issue with a particular tree—and that can be quite legitimate.”

Humphries stressed that it comes down to citizens being educated the trees in their neighbourhood. And that is a problem the city recognizes.

The Glebe Community Association and Chernushenko both contributed to the Urban Forest Management Plan completed in September. The plan is a 20-year strategy to sustain the greenery within Ottawa’s city limits. A major recommendation listed in the report is to improve the education of residents to better protect trees in their communities.

But for John Haysom, a resident of the area for over 30 years, the City of Ottawa can do better as well.

Haysom noticed a tree by Patterson Creek marked for removal by the city with an ugly red ‘X’. Last summer, over a year after he had seen the tree marked, it collapsed into the creek—never having been removed.

“It’s not likely that someone would get hurt, but there’s infrastructure underneath it,” Haysom said. “I do see these trees with big red X’s around for a long time and I wonder why it takes them so long to get at them.”

None of those interviewed see the large number of complaints for a tree being unsightly as a long-term problem for the ward. But as Humphries insisted and Haysom demonstrated, Capital Ward residents are committed to taking care of their communities despite the complaints—even their trees.

A community situated in the northwest corner of Cumberland Ward underwent one of the largest population changes in the National Capital Region according to analysis of the latest Census data tracks for 2016, released in February 2017. Since the last Census data was collected in 2011, Avalon has demonstrated a %79.9 increase in residents over the five-year period.

Source: Statistics Canada

Stephen Blais, Ottawa City Councilor for Cumberland, mentions the appeal of Avalon is present in many accessible services, notably for families, as this is the demographic that gravitates to Avalon the most. “The area is serviced by two large community centres with programs for families, Francois Dupuis and Ray Friel”. The Francois Dupuis Recreation Centre, which opened in 2013, is located right in the heart of Avalon, and “is expanding to include a full gym and multipurpose room”, according to Blais.

Another draw the for the area, according to Blais, is that the Ray Friel Recreation Complex, built over 25 years ago, also services the area and includes a wave pool, weight room, cardio room, the ice rinks and a library.

While these services may be available in other areas of the city, there’s something about Orleans that encourages people to come back. Blais mentioned that when he looks at his high school yearbook, he notices that between 2/3 and ¾ of the people have left Orleans or Ottawa, but when it came time to have a family and settle down, they’ve come back to Orleans.

Christine Groleau, General Manager at Tumblers Gymnastics Centre, mentions what’s really unique about Orleans, and also why Avalon would be such an attractive place to live as one of many locations to return to. She’s lived in Orleans since around the mid-1970s, and although it’s growing, it still feels the same as back then, she says. “People help each other, and there’s a strong sense of community. It hasn’t lost the village feel”.

Tumblers responds to the growth in Avalon, while still retaining this village feel. The space serves as an anchor point for the community, and functions as a social hub, where people can “socialize, have coffee, meet other people and form social support networks”, according to Groleau.

This business model has proven to be successful. When I arrived during one of the casual drop in sessions on a Saturday night, it was evident that people most of the people already knew each other. The employee working at the front counter greeted many people by name, and parents as well as children made small talk before heading into the gym to roll and tumble. Parents chatted with each other while their children long-jumped in the gym.

The centre works well in this regard, ensuring a welcome and inclusive atmosphere. Programs range from competitive to recreational, and membership is around 2000. However Groleau emphasizes the focus is on recreational programs and creating a community hub. Out of the 2000, only about 130 members are “competitive who go for tryouts”. For those who don’t wish to enroll, there are drop-in times for families, to pay as you go for free play; and adding to this sense of inclusivity, the offers bilingual programs, recognizing the needs of the area’s Francophone and Anglophone populations and during the drop-in session, English and French mix well among the ambient sound of laughter and play.

©Saalem Humayun

Tumblers looks forward to moving to a new location in the near future. Black Sheep Developments, with Bruce Firestone on the team, is planning a new sports centre on Mer Bleue Road between Innes Road and Brian Coburn. The new centre, designed by Louis Cardinal, will feature Tumblers as one of its main anchor tenants, to continue to address the area’s growth. Groleau, smilingly, looks forward to the new space, expected to open by summer 2018 or January 2019.