Thread by @HorizonOttawa

Tune in right now at the link below to watch the first #Ottawa City Council meeting of thr new year. We will be tweeting some parts of it!

First ever meeting of #Ottawa City Council that is opened up by a land acknowledgement by well-known indigenous elder, Claudette Commanda.

.@JimWatsonOttawa now giving state of City address, talking about fundraiser for #Ottawa food bank with @Shopify CFO @harleyf, saying they fundraised $300k, leaving out the fact that the last City budget took away money from essential community services to give to @OttawaPolice

.@JimWatsonOttawa saying that he thinks @ottawacity "supported social services sector very respectfully" again want to re-emphasize that the last city budget gave @OttawaPolice $376 million, more than @OttawaHealth, @opl_bpo and Transportation Services combined.

.@JimWatsonOttawa talks about injection of funding from federal government that will build 109 supportive housing units.

Calls $15 million in affordable housing "historic." Yes, close to 200 homeless people sleeping on the street every night in #Ottawa is historic.

.@JimWatsonOttawa talking about new rental units like on 900 Albert and others downtown that likely will not be affordable.

Interesting @JimWatsonOttawa also talks about the construction of a new hotel in the East end which boasts 175 rooms, can't help to think of how this is now unnecessary during the #COVID19 pandemic, these 175 hotel rooms should be converted to affordable housing.

.@JimWatsonOttawa speaks about programs done to give relief during #COVID19 like the property tax deferral program that let 1900 property owners take a break on their property taxes.

While hundreds of Ottawa renters were evicted, rich property owners got a break on their taxes.

There has been CONSTANT reference to the help @ottawacity has given to small business and property owners by @JimWatsonOttawa but absolutely no mention of any program to help renters and working class tenants.

.@JimWatsonOttawa now boasting about second @amazon fulfilment center being built in #Ottawa.

Here's how the first one is doing. It has been a bastion of workplace bullying and harassment:

ottawacitizen.com/news/former-ot…

What's abundantly clear in mayor @JimWatsonOttawa's State of the City address is that he is more interested in building a city for business and corporate developers to invest in than making a greener, more livable, affordable and accessible city for people to live in.

Missed a couple of minutes of the speech unfortunately, now Mayor @JimWatsonOttawa speaking about vaccine efforts.

He thanks @OttawaHealth, who he gave more than $200 million less mind you than the @OttawaPolice during a global pandemic.

Discussion now on plan for a #BetterByWard to revitalize the Market, at a cost of $129 million.

Different community associations like @MyLowertown has signaled its support for this.

For more information and understanding on this debate read @Toon_Dreessen, from @ArchitectsDCA's op-ed around this:

architectsdca.com/the-byward-mar…

.@MeehanCarolAnne saying that she will support plan and says it has to work for people but also businesses.

There clearly needs to be a better plan for the ByWard market that doesn't only focus on businesses but also one that doesn't criminalize the homeless.

There needs to be less @OttawaPolice around there too.

No discussion or dissent on controversial, problematic report from PLC/ARAC that saw a lot of land brought under urban boundary.

Motion coming now from @MathieuFleury to shift @OttawaPolice cars to electric cars so at least when police will be criminalizing the homeless, poor and marginalized communities they will at least be doing it in an environmentally friendly way.

.@AllanHubley_23 and @JimWatsonOttawa says more info needed on this and get back on this whether or not there needs to be additional funding to complete this or not.

.@JennaSudds supporting her support for this, bylaw officers already have electric cars.

Motion from @MathieuFleury, seconded by @dianedeans is carried.

Motion from @rawlsonking now to change the name of Langevin avenue in ward, #RideauRockcliffe to Commanda Way.

Langevin was one of the architects of the residential school system. Commanda is an indigenous Algonquin leader.

We hope this motion passes unanimously.

.@RiverWardRiley says he will support the motion and thanks @rawlsonking for his leadership on this.

Brockington wants detailed education about what went into this process so people know about it.

.@RiverWardRiley is also trying to change a street name in his own ward.

One of the streets is named after Donald Trump.

ottawa.citynews.ca/local-news/res…

Motion from @rawlsonking to change Langevin to Commanda Way passes unanimously.

Motion from City Manager to extend mandatory mask bylaw given notice.

Motion now from @tm_kavanagh, seconded by @JimWatsonOttawa for Mayor to write to Ontario Minister of Health to require that big box retailers restrict sale for only essential items and curbside pickup.

.@RiverWardRiley says this motion is important because small businesses are frustrated because they cant sell some things that big box stores are selling.

He thinks this motion should be focused on pressuring province to re-open not close. Seems risky.

.@glengower says he will support motion but says there are problems to consider about equity, says some ppl may need some stores to stay open because some folks may not have good access to the internet to purchase non-essential items and we dont know how long shutdown will last.

What is essential asks @dianedeans are childrens clothes essential? We need a better defintion of what that is.

Some things may be more essential for some than others, she says.

Says she wants motion to encourage opening up of local economy.

We are signing off now this afternoon for City Council but you can watch the rest of Council at the link below: