Neighbourhood Wars is Apartment613′s yearly battle to determine which Ottawa neighbourhood can claim to be better than all others. The winner gets a year’s supply of glory and bragging rights. Show your support for your favourite Hood Wars contestant by heading down to Urban Craft this weekend to pick up our special hood wars pins. Hood Wars’ Eastern conference is the first to feature two neighbourhoods that have not yet been battle tested. Last year there was a minor outcry that New Edinburgh did not make the Hood Wars line... | Continue reading article

Hood Wars, Apartment613′s annual navel-gazing hyper-local slug fest is well underway. As of the writing of this post the results of the Western Conference showdown between Chinatown and Hintonburg are still unknown. The second match up pits two giants against each other. The first is a giant in the literal sense: what Ottawan doesn’t have some connection to Centretown and the downtown core, be it work, play or just hanging out. The Glebe is a giant in a more metaphoric sense. Although lacking Centretown’s sheer number of potential supporters, it’s... | Continue reading article

The $17-million expansion plan announced March 7, 2012 by the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority to develop the Ogdensburg’s Airport rang a few alarm bells this past week. “If you plan on opening a new business in the Ogdensburg area, the cost is very cheap and being so close to the border does make it attractive,” said Martha Lee, Ottawa resident whose family owns a home in Ogdensburg, New York. Ogdensburg is right across the St. Lawrence Seaway from Prescott, a town located 100 km south of Ottawa. It is... | Continue reading article

We all have memories we’d like to banish from the kingdom of our minds. If you can’t think of a special one right now, don’t worry, soon a certain scent will waft through the air, a genteel fingertip will brush by an earlobe or someone will snarl behind the bulge of a maple-cream donut and one of those memories will storm out unapologetically and obtrusively. Then you might think about how nice it would be to erase this memory from your mind forever, to eradicate it, to eternal-sunshine it. But,... | Continue reading article

Neighbourhood Wars is Apartment613′s yearly battle to determine which Ottawa neighbourhood can claim to be better than all others. The winner gets a year’s supply of glory and bragging rights. Its fitting that the first round of this year’s Hood Wars starts off with the two finalists from last year’s competition. Chinatown faces returning champion Hintonburg for a Rocky II-style rematch. Will the Hintonburg march once again to victory? Or will Chinatown rise to the challenge to the rousing beat of Eye of the Tiger? Read the pitches from our... | Continue reading article

When a pedestrian is struck in Ottawa, the news often hits Twitter first – then Walk Ottawa (@Ottwalk) is there to retweet it and spread the message. Lana Stewart from Walk Ottawa is trying to raise the profile of pedestrian issues in the city and get others involved with improving city streets for pedestrians. Lana says their site, ottawawalkingproblems.ca, has had almost 120 problems reported already. Problems include bad sidewalks, areas without crosswalks, accessibility issues and poorly timed pedestrian signals. The first FAQ on Ottawa Walking Problems is “Why bother?” which... | Continue reading article

The book industry is dying you say? Maybe so, but Octopus Books is finding ways of making it work. The alternative book store which opened more than 40 years ago has opened up a second location in Centretown in the Under One Roof centre, a space bringing together community groups, social entrepreneurs and social justice advocates to share space, build community and strengthen the city’s social fabric. The South March Highlands was named the first People’s Choice Great Public Space winner, the Canadian Institute of Planners announced Thursday. The competition,... | Continue reading article

Welcome to the first ever Apartment613 Bookclub, sponsored by Collected Works! A few of us literary folk will be gathered at 1242 Wellington to discuss Elizabeth Hay’s novel, Alone in the Classroom. If you can’t make it down to the bookshop, but want to share your insights into the book, join in the online discussion below on on twitter with the hashtag #613books. The following is the publisher’s description of the novel: In a small prairie school in 1929, Connie Flood helps a backward student, Michael Graves, learn how to... | Continue reading article

Canadian dissent: passionate and vivacious or feeble and dormant? For Rick Salutin, a man who’s famous for brandishing a combative spur in the melee of pertinent issues, there’s a little of column A and little of column B; “There’s good news and bad news.” On Saturday afternoon, in the Main Branch of the Public Library, Rick Salutin, in front of a room of about a hundred, including local MP Paul Dewar, first took a few moments to remind or inform the audience of the rather stagnant aura of dissent in... | Continue reading article

Stroll down Wellington West on a sunny afternoon and you’re bound to notice the Wellington Street Marble Hydrants. Half hydrant, half… well, the other half seems to vary, but fruit, vegetables, household appliances and musical instruments are common choices. When the marble statues were introduced to Wellington St. in 2010, they received a mixed reaction: some were derisive, a few appalled, but most were simply confused (what is a hydrant with a baby car seat strapped on top supposed to represent?). After a while, most residents got used to their... | Continue reading article