It’s a special week, folks – not only do you get one Apt613 podcast, we’re throwing in a bonus one for you today. It’s our ‘Funding Drive – this time with bonus cupcakes!’ edition. Not only will you hear us wax poetic about the virtues of community radio, we’ve got an interview with Nick Taylor-Vaisey of OpenFile on hacks & hackers and with local musicians The Balconies. Just click below to get our full show from yesterday on CHUO 89.1Fm. And there’s even more for all of you generous people... | Continue reading article

Hacks and Hackers is an international project designed to bring together those who write about stuff (the hacks) and those who work with data, numbers and information (the hackers). And tonight, Ottawa plays host to its very own Hacks and Hackers event at the James Street Pub. The event will feature local hacker Alice Funke, the force behind Canadian election information portal Pundits’ Guide, and local hack Glen McGregor, who writes data-driven stories for the Ottawa Citizen. To find out more about the project and what they hope tonight’s event... | Continue reading article

Hopefully you all aren’t getting tired of us posting the City’s arts policy papers yet, but we’re really hoping to inspire you to share your thoughts on what the city government can do to help make Ottawa a more fun city (more food posts next week, we promise!). Today we’re looking at the Emerging Cultural Voices Paper, which shares some of the city’s ideas on what it can do to support emerging artists, immigrants and cultural diversity. While it’s great to see attention being paid to new professional artists and... | Continue reading article

Here at Apt613, we’re not just content with establishing absolute dominance over the entire interwebs. No, our aspirations go well beyond that – and that’s why this summer we’ve taken to the radio airwaves as well! It’s true, dear readers: from 2-3 pm on Thursday afternoons, you can catch our mellifluous voices on CHUO 89.1 FM. We’ll be playing new and local music, conducting interviews with fascinating Ottawa-area folks, and generally expanding our media empire to new and awe-inspiring heights. We’re hoping also to offer our shows online throughout the... | Continue reading article

As citizens of this fine city, we all have a profound responsibility. No, I’m not taking about paying your taxes or voting in elections. This is something much more important: making sure that Ottawa is a fun place to be. With the establishment of  their second five-year arts and heritage action plan, City Hall is doing its part to help funkify the NCR. We’re hoping you’ll help out as well by sharing your ideas with the city. Towards that end, we’ll be posting one of the city’s twelve discussion papers on ideas to help support... | Continue reading article

Post by Megan Taylor Since we here Apartment613 (and our vocal readership!) have already paid tribute to Ottawa’s best used bookstores, perhaps it’s time to cast an eye at their competition and acknowledge the best not-used-but-still-independent bookstores in the capital. If you don’t want to give your money to a megachain like Chapters, but still crave the smooth matte feel of a pristine trade paperback, the satisfaction of cracking open an unbroken hardcover spine, or even just a heady whiff of that new book smell, check out these alternatives: Collected... | Continue reading article

I don’t want to get too excited about this but early reports from City Hall claim that Ottawa’s LRT may be ready one year ahead of schedule, meaning the LRT would be fully operational in 2018 instead of 2019. Some sections of the LRT could be ready for Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017. To learn more about the LRT project, I strongly encourage you to read West Side Action’s 5-part story. Did you know that patio rental fees in Ottawa are more than double what other major cities in Canada... | Continue reading article

Many of us walk through our neighbourhoods every day. Remember that old building nestled in amongst more recent additions? It looks as though it’s probably been around since Ottawa was just an outpost? So who built it? And there’s a random statue placed on the corner. Who does it honour? Why is it still around? This weekend, thanks to Jane’s Walk, you can get all of the answers to your curious neighbourhood questions. Jane’s Walk is a yearly ‘festival of walks’ – when historians, activists, planners and residents come out... | Continue reading article

It’s election time in Ottawa! Local candidates were out and about last week, making the case for their various platforms, and now it’s up to us to elect the folks we think can deliver for Ottawa. We’ve been surveying candidates on the tough issues (their favourite lunch spot, beavertail, happy hour, etc.) and you can find the results for Nepean here, Ottawa South here, Ottawa-Centre here, Ottawa-Vanier here, and a bunch of other folks from random ridings here. Our friends over at OpenFile Ottawa have also done lots of interesting... | Continue reading article

Survey by Natasha Mooney and Chris Connolly Just as the campaigning enters its final few hours, our election correspondents Natasha Mooney and Chris Connolly have wound up their investigations into Ottawa’s candidates. Their questions – ranging from how to support Ottawa’s arts communities to favourite Beavertail flavour – were put to all major candidates in all ridings in and surrounding Ottawa. This last installment of their reporting is made up of all of the ridings where just one candidate replied (despite multiple follow-ups to all candidates!). We’ve got answers from... | Continue reading article