[spreaker episode_id=2650995 type=mini width=100% autoplay=false]
This week we had on was Rob Dekker, he is a very active citizen in the Centretown community of Ottawa. He is the vice-president of the Centretown Community Citizens Association and the future Conservative MPP candidate for the Centretown ward. He is also the co-chair of the Planning Committee for the CCCA in which I frequently take part of. Centretown has been going through immense changes over the past years and the roadmap for the future was passed through city council in early May. We thought it would be an excellent time to bring him on to shed the light this week.
The band we featured was The Steve Adamyk Band and they will be playing Bluesfest on Sunday July 7th at 1pm. They have just released their third album, aptly named “Third”. They are going on a US tour right now and you can catch their exciting live shows all around Ottawa.
The things we spoke about in the first segment with Rob were:
– Where he is from and how he got to living in Centretown
– Where he likes to frequent along Elgin Street
– Where he takes visiting politicians, he likes to show where the different embassies are
– I spoke a bit about the Jane’s walks
– Doors Open Ottawa coming up in June
– The Centretown CDP(Community Design Plan), what it is
– The twists and turns that it has gone through
– Some more on Liveable Ottawa
– The deal between the developers and the community association, why it happened, what it was about, what it protected
– The city’s infill policy
After the break we discussed:
– How people can get people more involved in their communities and how do CDP’s help that
– Looking at more open houses when issues are arising in the community
– His ideas on what could have a better impact on changing city views rather then their online comment section
– Frustrations the community associations have with dealing with the city
– What he is excited about coming to the city
– His view on the bike lanes
– Creating walkable cities
– The urban design review panel and how if developers deal with the community before a new building goes up, we can do without
– How important Elgin is to the city
