Restore Community

Five reforms to restore local residents' say over decisions in their streets and neighbourhoods.

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Are you one of the 1,000 people ready to work together and win back our city? Follow here for my values, priorities and thoughts on how we get Ottawa back on track.

1,000 People Can Take Back Ottawa
We Need a Candidate Who Can Win the Mayor’s Race
Who Really Runs Ottawa?
Three Priorities for Restoring Ottawa
Winning Ottawa. Governing Differently.
Transit is Broken. Here’s How We Fix It.
Ready to Fix City Hall
The Infrastructure Bills We Delayed Are Coming Due. Ottawa Needs a Plan.
Five Developers Own Most of Ottawa’s Housing Land. Ottawa Needs a Strong Public Builder.
How We Fix the Broken Trust at Ottawa City Hall

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City Hall often treats residents like customers. That’s wrong. We are the city.

The people who live here should have a real say in setting priorities and shaping the future of their streets and neighbourhoods.

Ottawa can restore local community control over local community matters through five reforms.

1. Participatory budgeting to let residents decide

Residents know their communities best. Participatory budgeting lets them propose projects, vote on priorities and see their ideas become reality.

Here’s how it works:

• The City allocates a budget for discretionary capital projects in each ward (in addition to the major public works already planned).

• Ward residents submit project ideas.

• City Hall costs each proposal that meets project guidelines.

• Ward residents vote on which projects get funded.

From parks to murals to crosswalks, residents decide what they want in their neighbourhood.

2. Citizens’ assemblies to address the big challenges

Ottawa City Hall has struggled with major issues, such as transit, congestion and safe streets. Citizens’ assemblies bring ordinary residents together, provide them with expert guidance, and empower them to recommend solutions to City Council.

Citizens’ Assemblies work. In provinces, from BC to Ontario to Nova Scotia, and in cities like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, citizens’ assemblies have shaped real policy that reflects the public’s priorities and that matches the rigour of any solution provided by high-priced consultants.

3. When your neighbourhood grows, you decide where the money goes

New zoning bylaws will bring change to neighbourhoods throughout Ottawa.

The local communities absorbing that growth deserve a greater say in how change happens.

Not a veto to block the change. But if new developments are coming into their neighbourhood, the development charges associated with those new builds should stay in the neighbourhood.

Infill growth should pay for the upgrades that community has been asking for, whether that’s road improvements, park upgrades or something else.

4. Community traffic labs

Who knows their local streets better than the people who live on them?

Community traffic labs can identify problems, propose solutions, and prioritize funding for traffic safety in their neighbourhoods.

This ensures decisions are based on local knowledge, not top-down assumptions, keeping streets safer for everyone.

5. Regional planning committees

Planning issues are considered by a citywide committee of Council, even when the issues are hyperlocal. This gives outside councillors equal weight, diluting local voices.

Ottawa can fix this with regional planning panels — central, east, west and south — made up primarily of councillors from the affected area. These panels provide their local recommendations before anything rises to Council. This ensures local communities have a clearer say over the planning issues that impact them most.

Not me. Us.

1,000 committed residents can win back City Hall.

No one person can do it alone, but if enough of us step forward, we can get Ottawa back on track.

Not me. Us. Be the change Ottawa needs.

Join The Thousand.