City of Ottawa Budget - 2006

Presentation to the Committee of the Whole of Ottawa City Council by Leonard Poole, representing the Community Council of Overbrook

Tuesday December 6, 2005

Good morning, my name is Leonard Poole. I am President of the Community Council of Overbrook and am speaking on their behalf.

Last year, during the 2005 budget consultations, we came to you with a strong message regarding our crumbling infrastructure, specifically the condition of our sewers, which allowed – for the third time in 20 years – raw human waste to enter the basements of many of our homes. It is a very serious problem, not only in Overbrook, but throughout various city neighbourhoods. We demanded action. We shall now report to you on the progress to date. We shall also provide our views on what more needs to be done, not only with respect to infrastructure renewal, but the importance of developing and sticking to a vision of sustainability in our budgetary process.

We did feel heard and you responded. You directed staff to investigate, and develop an action plan. In Overbrook staff identified three areas needing attention. Remedial work is scheduled to begin in the area of Eve and Spartan Avenues in 2006. Design work and consultation will begin for the area of Queen Mary and the Vanier Parkway in 2006, with construction scheduled for 2007. A third identified cluster area requires further investigation.

Some of us in Overbrook are cautiously optimistic that the proposed work may rectify the long-standing infrastructure issue in our community. There are many, however, who question whether or not this will provide us with a level of service that would be acceptable if proposed in newer areas of the city. What is planned in the Queen Mary Street area is replacement of the sewage waste pipe on that street only, with connection to the expanded Rideau River collector. It is suggested that replacement of this one pipe will deal with sewer backup issues on the adjoining streets such as King George, Vera and Glynn. No renewal of the storm sewer system is proposed.

Let me explain our skepticism. There has been a systemic failure to provide a sustainable level of investment in our infrastructure for decades. Backups of raw sewage in Overbrook have been documented for many years, starting in 1956, then again in 1958, 59, 60, 62, 66, 71, 86, 96, and most recently in 2004. The problem was extensively investigated in the seventies and again in the eighties, yet no action was taken. We found the substantial reports gathering dust in the Ottawa Public Library.

We shall continue to follow these proposals very closely. We are determined in our efforts to secure for our community a level of service that is comparable to what is delivered to other areas.

With respect to the budgetary process, we believe it essential that you not only develop but also stick to a vision of sustainability. The infrastructure problem in Overbrook did not happen overnight. We have known about it for fifty years. Yet, the city consistently failed to respond. For fifty years or more the city has lacked a sense of vision about sustainable investment in our infrastructure. For fifty years we have continually fallen back on shortsighted decisions made in an effort to trim costs today, while failing to take into account future long-term ramifications.

We note with alarm, for example, the considerable increase in transit fares. You justify this because you decided that an increased percentage of the cost of transit should be realized from the fare box. However, the long-term implication is that it acts as a deterrent to transit use, driving up the use of individual automobiles, resulting in greater traffic congestion problems, that require ever more investment in a road network and supporting traffic infrastructure. We already spend more per household on roads than any other municipality in this province. We continue to subsidize automobile use with the provision of roadways at no cost to the user. We know that travel by automobile is the least efficient way to move people. By making transit even more expensive, we are assuring ourselves of ever escalating costs into the future, continued reliance on automobiles for transportation, and continued deterioration in our air quality.

To many, the greatest threat to humankind in this century will be degradation of our environment due to global warming. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities recently issued a report concluding that if everyone in the world enjoyed Canada's standard of living, it would take four Earths to supply our needs and dispose of our waste. The City of Ottawa is 19% above that abysmal national average. We need to start designing our cities to take this into account and change our ways. Those cities that continue to use 1950’s thinking by building ever expanding suburbs will be faced with horrendous costs in the future as they scramble to respond to the new reality. More and more of us are beginning to recognize this and are starting to plan our lives around minimal automobile use. We need to incorporate renewable and sustainable thinking into every decision we make. Increasing transit fares is one example of a step in the wrong direction.

Sustainable thinking means moving away from decisions that are short term and satisfy only our immediate needs and desires. It means placing greater emphasis on the quality rather than the quantity of growth. It means thinking long term and recognizing that we have a responsibility to ensure that we leave a manageable and sustainable legacy for our future generations.

We conclude with our definition of fiscal responsibility:

It means making appropriate investments today to ensure that in the long term we spend the least amount of money.

Consumption in the Developed World

I recognize that my perspective on consumption levels and the responsibility that I believe we need to accept and act upon are not part of the mainstream thinking in our society. One need only walk through a shopping mall in December, or view the parking lot of any "big box" store to realize that most people in Western Society shop and consume with little regard for the impact of such actions. I have often been a part of this group. However, I have discovered what I would call countless "points of light" of action in our city, across the country, and around the globe where people and organizations are expressing their concerns about these issues. And, they are doing something about it. They are talking with their neighbours, their politicians, anyone who will listen. They are teaching their children that there are alternatives to what the marketers are trying to sell us. They are writing letters, and they are changing their behaviour.

For those of you who are old enough, think back to the early 1970's. Any public meeting room would have been filled with cigarette smoke. You would have been scorned as a fringe activist who wanted to curtail personal freedoms for suggesting a ban on public smoking. How times have changed. In one generation those who advocate public smoking are viewed as being on the fringe. I believe that we can similarly change the public's view on thoughtless and irresponsible consumption.

We have our work cut out for us. Our society devotes billions of dollars of resources annually into mass media campaigns. We are constantly bombarded with the "shop 'til you drop" marketing message. This advertising assault is put together by some of our most creative minds. Their sole purpose is to convince as many people as possible to purchase their product: Whether we actually need it or not. I find it an immense challenge every day to fend off the constant appeal of advertisers.

Marketing is based on the assumption that there is no limit to what can be produced, and what society can consume. Marketers do not accept that there can be a limit. They do not have a vision of a future where a customer is satisfied and doesn't need anything. That is the time to create another need. Will The Gap be satisfied when everyone is wearing a pair of their jeans? Of course not, they will simply convince you that what you purchased last year are out of fashion, and you need different styles depending on where you are going. An so it goes on.

The marketing of toothpaste is another excellent example. A generation ago our society successfully solved the problem of providing very inexpensive dental care with fluoride toothpaste. However, since there wasn't a lot of money to be made producing toothpaste the marketers then convinced us we needed different tastes, and different kinds dispensers. We needed them with cartoon characters for our kids. They provided the same service, but often at twice the cost to the consumer and much greater profits for the producer. Most recently we have been bombarded with the "need" to whiten our teeth with white strips. They don't make our teeth healthier, but notice how much better you look! The marketers create a need, we line their pockets with our money, and the planet groans under the weight of the waste we generate.

A Brief History of Overbrook

Early signs of development of our community are evident on a map of Gloucester Township published in 1876. A large tract of land is shown owned by Fred & Samuel Sparks. They are part of the well known family that was one of the original Bytown pioneers. This property extends from the Rideau River east to the current St. Laurent Blvd., straddling both sides of a road that would later become Donald Street. In 1865 a fine double house had been constructed of limestone near the Rideau River by Nicholas Sparks. It still stands today at 936-940 North River Road. Other tracts of land are owned by Mrs. D. McArthur, the Sharp family, Alex Anderson and the Whellans.

One of the tragic events of this time period is a fire that apparently started in the bush of Gloucester Township, and raced through the area of Overbrook. Courtney C.J. Bond discusses it in his book Where Rivers Meet: An Illustrated History of Ottawa, published in 1984.

The summer of 1870 was dry, and by August Gloucester township reported bush fires. Fires then broke out on the north shore, as flames in Gloucester roared to the edge of the Rideau opposite Sandy Hill. By the 17th of August, the skies were overcast with smoke, and the air of the city was unpleasant. Telegraph poles on the north shore burned down, breaking direct communication with Montreal. The Ottawa Times tells how on August 19 the capital came under threat of destruction:

Early in the morning it was announced that the fires in the woods, of which we had heard so much during the past few days, were rapidly approaching…Families of refugees might be seen entering the city. Farmers walked wearily along, carrying all their worldly wealth upon their backs, and followed by their wives and little ones.

The fire swept through the centre of Hull in a mile-wide swath. Mill owners became alarmed. The Ottawa City Council organized a vigilance committee and called able-bodied people to fight the flames in the western suburb of Rochesterville. It also issued a proclamation closing all places of business.

The 60th Rifles and the Garrison Artillery marched to Hull; mill workers were sent out with wagons. The Times reporter went west through the suburb of Sherwood to “Lewis’s Dam,” the low St-Louis embankment impounding the north side of Dow’s Lake. James Purcell, the foreman of Baldwin’s mill, instructed his 100 men to cut through the dam, thereby releasing water to hold the fire from the western suburbs. Driving back to the city in hub-deep water, the reporter saw people burying their treasures. he wrote: “As we go to press the horizon in rear of New Edinburgh is crimson with the reflection of the fierce fires raging in that quarter.”

As the flames died down the next day, citizens tallied the damage. Chelsea village in the Gatineau hills was untouched, but residents along the river had been forced to take refuge on rafts. In March township the “Horaceville” Estate was spared, but Major-General Lloyd’s “Bessborough” and the Monk family’s “Beechmount” were devastated shells. Although the countryside was burned into “one vast, blackened, burned, dismal-looking field,” Ottawa was unscathed.

In 1875 one of the first bridges over the Rideau was built not far from the intersection of Presland Road and North River Road by W.H. Hurdman. He was Reeve of Gloucester Township from 1877-78. In 1906 the “Hurdman” bridge was replaced by one of the first bridges in Canada to be built of reinforced concrete.

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York visited Ottawa in 1901. Upon the death of King Edward VII they acceded to the throne as King George V and Queen Mary. Within a year the first reference to Overbrook is found on a map published by Thorburn & Abbott. The community of Overbrook is found consisting of seven streets. Two of these streets appear to commemorate the newly crowned King And Queen, with a third commemorating the consort of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert. King George, Queen Mary and Prince Albert Streets run east from the Russell Road (now North River Road) to about the current location of the Overbrook Community Centre. Marion, Sharp and Vera Streets are also shown. The old CP rail tracks dissect the community, where the Vanier Parkway is currently.

Overbrook was beginning during a very difficult time in the history of Ottawa. A typhoid epidemic swept through Ottawa in 1909, with a more serious onslaught in 1911, with 67 deaths by April of that year. The disease abated, but the following year 20 people had died by July. The city’s water supply was suspected as the source of the problem. In 1915 a pumping plant was built on Lemieux Island and the water brought over by a pipe suspended from a bridge. (For an online historical overview of Ottawa, go to the Bytown Museum website.)

On a map published by the City on June 26, 1912 King George, Queen Mary and Prince Albert Streets are shown running all the way to the current St. Laurent Blvd. Another railway line, identified as the Canadian Northern Railway, is also shown, following the hydro line right of way from just north of the current RCMP building to cross St. Laurent Blvd just south of Cyrville Road. The eastern boundary of the City of Ottawa is the Rideau River. Overbrook could be considered one of Ottawa’s newest “suburbs”.

Also in 1912 was the first reference to Overbrook in the Might’s City Directory. Overbrook is described as a “District lying east of the Rideau River between Cummings Bridge and Hurdmans Bridge and immediately south of Eastview.” Below is a list of the first 25 residents listed in the Directory. Do you see any names you recognize?

Last Name	First Name	Occupation	Address
Ambridge	O	painter	Russell Road
Anderson	John	gardener	Russell Road
Baker	Fred	labourer	Columbus Ave.
Brown	Herb		Queen Mary St.
Davidson	Thomas	carpenter	Glen Ave.
Foubert	Evered	carpenter	Prince Albert St.
Gladman	William	tinmaster	King George St.
Glead	Philip	carpenter	King George St.
Glen	John K.	carpenter	King George St.
Gougeon	F	builder	Russell Road
Leduc	Charles	stonemason	Russell Road
Leduc	Charles Jr.	stonemason	Russell Road
McManus	Robert	butcher	Russell Road
Nicholson	John	furnaceman	Olga St.
Potter	David	builder	Prince Albert St.
Potter	Ellen	(widow of Thomas)	Prince Albert St.
Ramsay	Henry		Russell Road
Sharpe	George	farmer	Glen Ave.
Smith	John	carpenter	King George St.
Sylvester	William	florist	Russell Road
Syms	Fred		Queen Mary St.
Taggart	William	gardener	Russell Road
Valiquette	M	tanner	Russell Road
Warne	George	painter	Russell Road
Wright	George	gardener	Russell Road

By 1918 the first reference to the “Overbrook Annex Public School”, located on King George St., is found. Isabelle Waterman is listed as the Principal. The Directory lists 79 other people in Overbrook. In 1919 we find the first reference to the Overbrook Post Office. John Sedvall is Post Master. Also in this year Laura E. Bradford replaces Isabelle Waterman as Principal of the Public School and 120 people are now listed in the Directory. By 1921 Clinton Pharoah has replaced John Sedvall as Post Master and almost 200 people are shown residing in Overbrook.

There were problems, however, as development spread east across the Rideau River. The most notable issue for development in this area was flooding of the River. The flood plain was quite extensive, as detailed in the Report of the Federal Plan Commission published in 1915, otherwise known as the “Holt Report”. All of the current parkland west of North River Road is shown as subject to flooding. Here is how it was described at the time:

The area flooded by the Rideau River is situated for the most part on the east and south bank of the river. It extends all the way from Minto Bridge, through Eastview, to Bronson Avenue. Between the Minto Bridge and Hurdman’s Bridge, the flooding is almost altogether on the east bank of the river. From Hurdman’s Bridge to Bronson Avenue, it extends along both sides of the river. The total area flooded according to the elevations is about 1,050 acres.

The “Holt Report” also recommended that Somerset Street be identified as a major arterial road, extending across the city to the east, bringing traffic from Montreal. For this reason they recommended that bridges be built across both the Rideau Canal and Rideau River. This is why what we currently know as Donald Street was identified as Somerset Street until after the Second World War.

The first map so far found to detail a boundary for Overbrook was published by the City in 1936. On it Donald Street is referred to as Somerset Street.

Interesting demographic statistics of 1941 are discussed in Jacques Greber’s Plan for the National Capital, published in 1948.

Community	Earnings/yr	Home Values	% home ownership
Overbrook	$1,480	$2,750	88.5%
Ottawa	$1,760	$4,570	29.4%
Hull	$1,070	$2,370	36.5%
Pointe Gatineau	$980	$1,160	66.7%
Rockcliffe	$4,100	$13,080	72.4%
Eastview	$990	$1,840	40.0%
Westboro	$1,600	$2,680	58.9%
Woodroffe	$1,430	$2,600	44.8%

Compared to the other “suburbs” of Ottawa, Overbrook appears to be doing quite well. What particularly stands out is the very high percentage of home ownership.

On January 1, 1950 Overbrook was annexed by the City of Ottawa together with other large sections of Gloucester and Nepean Townships. In the annexation documents Overbrook is referred to as a “Police Village” and identified as part of “Township School Area #2. It states that “Overbrook….maintain(s) their own volunteer Fire Dept. with a Hose motor, and receives help from Gloucester Fire Dept. when required.” It also had a playground consisting of a “parcel of land (measuring) 180′ X 650′, 3/5 improved. One softball diamond, one hockey rink, (and) temporary huts.”

The City Library has several copies of old issues of the Overbrook News on file from the eighties and early nineties.

Presentation to the Committee of the Whole of Ottawa City Council by Leonard Poole, representing the Community Council of Overbrook

January, 2005

Good morning, my name is Leonard Poole. I am President of the Community Council of Overbrook and am speaking on their behalf.

I am here to discuss infrastructure neglect, specifically the continual failure of our neighbourhood sewage system. I shall detail the history of this failure, the serious repercussions for our community, and how this is indicative of the city failing to live up to its commitments of smart growth.

When the village of Overbrook was developing during the First World War the Holt Commission had already documented the problem of flood control of the Rideau River. In 1950 Overbrook was annexed from Gloucester Township, leading to considerable residential growth. With this growth, however, also came recurrent sewer backup problems. Although more demand was placed on the system, the sewers themselves were never upgraded beyond a combined, or partially combined system. Backups of raw sewage occurred frequently.

The most recent event occurred this past September when, for the third time in 20 years, we were told that we had been hit with a 100-year flood. To be blunt, this explanation was beginning to wear a little thin.

It is one way to galvanize a community. Over 100 people attended a public meeting held in late October when they questioned city staff and our councilor. Unfortunately, what we were told was that we should think of our homes as “leaky boats” that we had to repair. It was also suggested that the cost of the needed upgrade could likely be far beyond the ability of the city to pay. Finally, the City told us that after the Universal Program Review, some residents of Overbrook, will be assessed a surcharge on their municipal taxes as they are deemed to benefit from flood control of the Rideau River. Some benefit!

The residents of Overbrook did not take too kindly to these suggestions. Here are some of the comments that I can repeat: “It is the 21^st century; I shouldn’t have to deal with sewage in my basement. End of story.” Or, “This is Ottawa. We don’t live in a third world country. We deserve better.” In fact, no one on this planet deserves to be subject to the flooding of his or her home with human waste. It is a deplorable situation that presents severe health risks and requires immediate attention.

Lets detail the specific problems:

Health Risks:

Property contaminated with sewage must be discarded immediately. I would appreciate comments from our own Medical Officer of Health with respect to problems caused by our citizens using furniture contaminated with fecal matter. For days there were dozens of piles of discarded household items left at the curb throughout my neighbourhood. It took weeks to get the city to remove this dangerous debris.

Insurance:

There are numerous reports of residents being told they are no longer insured for this kind of damage because it is repetitive.

Dislocation:

Many property owners continue to effect repair to their property. Families were dislocated for weeks, and months.

Financial Cost:

Damage costs in excess of $60,000 per household have been documented.

Long Term Cost

Many residents of Overbrook understand the long-term value of curbing urban sprawl through increasing density in the inner city and want to be partners in this process. However, it is proving to be an unequal partnership as our taxes pay for new infrastructure in ever expanding, and costly to serve suburbs while we don’t have basic infrastructure that works. These expansive suburbs then demand ever more costly and inefficient road systems to bring ever more cars into and through our inner city. And then we are expected to welcome increased density in our neighbourhoods, which leads to ever more sewage that cannot be removed.

As President of the Community Council of Overbrook I have urged our residents to embrace the 20/20 vision of the Official Plan. Unfortunately, more and more people are saying no to increased density, as they are afraid of the strain it places on our sewers. Some are saying no to absolutely any investment in arts, culture, social programs, transit, or anything else until this problem is addressed. They make it clear that they share my belief that these are all valuable components of a city they want to live in, but say we MUST have the basic of proper sewers in place first. Is there anything more basic than the removal of human waste?

Last year during the budget debate we offered the following definition of Fiscal Responsibility. “For some it means spending the least amount of money, every year, and do whatever it takes to avoid a tax increase. In our view, it means spending the correct amount of money today to ensure that in the long term we spend the least amount of money.”

20 years ago governments were often accused of stealing from our children as we ran up massive deficits, spending like drunken sailors to pay for our excess. Today, I submit we can be accused of the same thing, except for exactly the opposite reason. Now we are in danger of handing our children a legacy of a crumbling city, as we refuse to accept responsibility to pay our share, by ensuring that we provide proper stewardship of our infrastructure. It is our belief that we shall be doomed to catastrophic cost increases in the near future if we do not make the necessary investments today.