News Headlines / April 15, 2005

Cyclists fear city’s downtown light rail plan   Dressed in athletic pants and colourful windbreakers, Ottawa cycling enthusiasts contributed feedback and concerns to the Ottawa Cycling Plan draft at a city council meeting last week.   Former dance club to become young men’s shelter   The building that housed Icon, a former gay and lesbian dance club on Lisgar Street, will become a young men’s shelter by next March.   Gardening project fosters ‘sense of community’   Options Bytown is planning its third annual gardening program aimed at empowering its residents and creating a sense of community through teaching gardening skills.   Lack of home insurance can be devastating   Out of the 60 to 70 fires the Red Cross attends to each year in Centretown, workers say more than 60 per cent of the victims do not have renters’ insurance.   Community policing not ‘on way out’   Despite the closure of five community police centres, Ottawa police insist the Community Police model is not being tossed aside.   Red-light districts a non-starter in Ottawa   Despite recent interest at the federal level, the idea of reforming Canada’s prostitution laws is receiving mixed reviews.   NCC downtown plans to be completed by 2067   Centretown residents voiced their concerns about the absence of federal office space, lack of transportation strategies and the secrecy of the NCC planning process in the NCC’s plan for the downtown core.   City stalls small-business garbage report   Small business owners are going to have to wait longer to find out if the city will take out their trash.   City wants Bank Street to be an Ottawa ‘attraction’   City officials want to transform Bank Street into an Ottawa attraction by completely renovating the area within the next five years, but area residents and businesses already anticipate traffic woes and interruptions.