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KANATA NORTH NEWS Marianne Wilkinson Councillor, Kanata North

ASSET MANAGEMENT REPORT


Last week a report on the Citys assets was tabled and forwarded to the October 2nd meeting of the Finance and Economic Development Committee. The report looks at the state of roads, bridges, culverts, sidewalks, lighting, buildings (including recreation facilities), playing fields, playground equipment, libraries, water and sewer pipes, sewage treatment plant, water filtration plants, vehicles etc. Everything that needs ongoing maintenance and/or replacement is included. The value of these assets is $32 Billion (like managing 1/3 of all homes in Ottawa) so looking after them is important. Ottawa has 5,800 km of roads (like a two-lane road from Halifax to Vancouver), 8,000 km of underground pipes (could stretch them from Ottawa to Istanbul, Turkey), 3 treatment plants and 13 million sq ft of building space (almost 6 Empire State Buildings).

WASTE & RECYCLING CHANGES


Councillor McRae, Chair of the Environment Committee, was at the Briarbrook/Morgans Grant Community meeting last week to discuss the changes to pick-up of waste that starts on October 29th. At that time, the new contracts will begin with waste to be picked up every two weeks. Blue and black boxes will be collected on alternate weeks and green bins every week. The City has new dual trucks for the areas served by City staff, which enables us to reduce the number of trucks on the road by 30. Although you will be able to put out the same number of items for waste pickup (presently 3 items per week, so with collection every 2 weeks, it will be 6), I challenge you to recycle more. There is a lot of information on the City website about how to use your green bin without having food stick to the bins or problems with insects. For example, putting a bit of crumbled newspaper in the bottom will stop the contents from freezing to the bottom. Spraying the inside with cooking oil spray also helps. I use cereal and cracker boxes as they have lids that close. We dont put our green bin out every week so I freeze them until garbage day something you can do if you have freezer space. With all the things I can recycle, I only have a bag of waste every 3-4 weeks. Families that have a special need (e.g. diapers) can arrange for pick up of those items in the interim week by registering at ottawa.ca or calling 311. Special toxic waste depots and locations to take electronic waste are also on ottawa.ca. Your pickup date may change, so information will be provided by letter to you if your pickup day is

changing. You can find more information by using Waste Explorer on the Citys website go to the Garbage and Recycling tab. Lets all do what we can to make these changes go as smoothly as possible.

RECREATION CENTRE CONSTRUCTION


The Richcraft Recreation Complex - Kanata is now well under construction, with closing of the building roof scheduled for October 10th. The expected completion of the entire site by the contractor is September 2013. The opening is scheduled for November 2013, after the City has completed interior requirements. Fundraising for the community requirements is well underway and you will soon be obtaining information on how you can contribute. One item is a time capsule area, where members of the public can, for a small, tax receiptable donation, obtain a vial, put family and other memorabilia in it, and place it in a cavity in the floor to be opened in 50 years. Your children (and many of you) could be present then for the opening and get your capsule back. Can you imagine what would have been placed in one 50 years ago!

INFORMATION ITEMS WINTER MAINTENANCE TRAINING on local streets has started, so if you see
ploughs out along the streets & pathways it is for training on routes so that everyone is ready for the first snowfall.

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY A coroners report has made a number of


recommendations to increase pedestrian safety. These are being reviewed for inclusion within the review of the Citys Pedestrian Plan.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL CHILD is on October 11. Please send


me your suggestions for that day & let me know of activities youve planned.

BIA (Business Improvement Area) for Kanata North Business Park was
approved through the voting process & the Steering Committee is working on an implementation plan for a Jan 1, 2013 start.

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