Google announced that they are coming to a number of Canadian cities in the coming weeks, including Ottawa, as part of their Google Street View project. Equipped with a special car that carries 30 cameras, they will be driving around all streets of Ottawa  and will provide close-up, 360-degree views of city streets as they would be seen by someone driving along them. The images are linked to the company’s Google Maps and Google Earth applications. Google assures that they will comply with Canadian privacy laws, but this still leaves... | Continue reading article

The City Council is again at odds with the Transit union, as the council decided to unanimously support changes to scheduling that will ensure that drivers are not able to work extreme overtime. The issue has apparently been keeping our Transport Minister up at night, so it’s good that the city is now on board with making changes. The situation may cause for more bad blood between the city and the transit union, just as the two parties are prepping to enter mediation on contract negotiations. In other transit news,... | Continue reading article

UPDATE: Word on the street (the renovation permit posted on the window) is that Talay Thai Restaurant will be opening at some point in the future at the old Gina’s location. Happy, sad?  You let us know. ——— It looks like the economy is claiming another victim on Bank Street, as the staple breakfast/ lunch spot Gina’s at Bank and Arlington is closing their doors. I found Gina’s to be an infrequent, but yet welcome break from the over-priced and much-hyped Ada’s across the street. While Gina’s is no more,... | Continue reading article

CTV this week announced that its local A Channel division would no longer offer weekend or evening newscasts and cut back 34 staff. According to the Ottawa Citizen, three on-air personalities were cut, including A Morning co-host Karen Soloman, sports anchor Ken Evraire and reporter Doug Hempstead. It may not come as news to many in Ottawa, but the mayor’s taskforce this week found that the city is in a bit of a state of disorder and that some serious growing-up needs to be done in order to fix things.... | Continue reading article

I wasn’t even going to write about these ads; I would see them on the street and thought to myself, these are stupid and verging on offensive. It might actually be the graffiti that’s been added on so many of them that make them funny. But then, just last week, a slightly different version of the ad found its way to my Facebook page. I followed the link and landed on the Virgin Radio Ottawa Facebook page. I was happily surprised to find at least a couple of discussions about... | Continue reading article

UPDATE: Citing concerns about “additional controversy,” OC Transpo has refused to run the atheist ads on Ottawa’s buses and the city’s committee in charge of the transist system has declined to override the decision. It looks like the next stop for the Athiest bus will the nation’s capital, as the Freethought Association of Canada announced this morning that it plans to bring the controversial ads to Ottawa. In a press release this morning FAC President Justin Trottier stated, “As the political centre of our country we hope to send a... | Continue reading article

The city is all abuzz about President Obama’s drop-in tomorrow. If you’re a driver or a buser, watch out for road closures downtown around the Hill – and expect delays. There are tentative plans for a rally on Parliament Hill, although it’s not clear whether security will allow it. Word has it there will be checkpoints to get onto the Hill, and backpacks may be searched – so travel lightly! This rally is planned for 10am – the masses may be disappointed, but that’s no reason not to come out.... | Continue reading article

Transit windfall turns into deficit: The city’s treasurer reported that the expected windfall the city was to experience from the bus strike had turned into a deficit of $13.4 million due to planned incentives to bring riders back and lost revenue. In other news… OC Transpo ridership incentive program pulled back: the city council voted to pull back on incentives offered to bus riders in the city – even after they were advertised on OC Transpo’s website. Folks who have December bus passes can now get their March passes at... | Continue reading article

Buses are back: The big news of the week was that the bus strike that wouldn’t die finally did. The O-Train was up and running through the week and the buses were back on the streets over the weekend. In a forgive a forget move, OC Transpo will let transit users to ride for free until the end of this week and on weekends until the end of the month. December monthly passes will remain valid until the end of March. Fires ravage three sites: The week ended with news... | Continue reading article

Glen’s Chip Truck in Westboro is closed for the month of Suckuary February. I hope Glen is going somewhere warm to rejuvinate and he’ll be back in Ottawa ready to make more tasty treats for us in March. In the meantime, The Diner is only a couple blocks away and offers greasy comfort food with the added bonus of indoor warmth.