12 Comments
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Neil Thomson's avatar

Most important issue. Rethinking Ottawa as a poly-center city. The future of employment is Kanata North. It was on its way to be a full satellite city and amalgamation killed that. Transportation future cannot be downtown centric

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Mavis's avatar

Thanks for answering my question :)

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Erwin Dreessen's avatar

Further to Joanne's comments about the gap between staff's "spin" in newsletters and what actually transpired, a prime example is what happened after Committees and Council approved a revised Wildlife Strategy (June 17, 25). A long motion about a new approach to beaver management and accountability for past and current methods was proposed by Councillor Kelly and approved (against staff's wishes). Not a word about that in the newsletter "reporting" about that meeting!

Just like in Yes Minister: If we didn't report it, it didn't happen! Or, since staff didn't support it, the public has no need to know about it. Or, we drafted this report before the meeting even took place.

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Neil Thomson's avatar

Sorry for the many postings, was doing while watching the in person Munipan recording. How about taking that on the road outside of spitting distance from Citty Hall?

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Neil Thomson's avatar

Security at city hall. Provide locked QR Codes to trusted citizens. Allows quick screening for casual visitors as Security staff not dealing witha line of everyone trying to enter

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Neil Thomson's avatar

How to reach? Subscribable email newsletters. EVERYONE has email

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Neil Thomson's avatar

The city website is where information goes to die. It is impossible to find anything. Ottcity website search is circa 1998.

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Erwin Dreessen's avatar

I'm told that even staff uses Google to find anything on the City's web site!

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Neil Thomson's avatar

Doesn't work.

Even giving my paid AI subscription toy the website address results in pathetic results. Far too many documents are on file servers inaccessible from the web, but visible if you know the right incantation.

The City of Ottawa optimizes for access for city employees with access through the firewall, and staff directing citizens to access documents assume the public has the same view that they do. Which is wrong.

City residents are beneath contempt.

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Tanya Hein's avatar

Agree about the less-than-stellar search function. The website does have a lot of information but it can be difficult to navigate.

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Neil Thomson's avatar

On budget consultation. A joke. The budget is so high level as to be useless to residents to understand the impact on their community

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Neil Thomson's avatar

On civic engagement? There is never any response to input or any acknowledgement that input was useful and impacted decisions, or response as to why there was information that the submitter was not aware of that addressed or forced the decision

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