RIDEAU STREET – SUSSEX DRIVE TO NICHOLAS STREET

RUE RIDEAU – PROMENADE SUSSEX À LA RUE NICHOLAS

ACS2007-PTE-DCM-0001

Agreeing that there was no need for a staff presentation, the Committee heard from the following delegation:

Peggy DuCharme, Executive Director, Downtown Rideau BIA (DRBIA) - Ottawa's Arts & Theatre District, using a PowerPoint Presentation, which is on file with the City Clerk, showed photographs and provided the following comments:

· The DRBIA is support of the recommendations and appreciates the commitment the City has made to Rideau Street with respect to the zero tolerance.

· In response to Recommendation 1, she stated that not all obstruction and loitering elements have been removed and relocated in this area. She suggested relocation of bicycle rack, vending boxes, and securing of waste receptacles. She noted that adjacent businesses are still reporting poor maintenance levels of the shelters, and that OC Transpo buses still disembark riders in areas outside of the actual transit stop. She also noted that the DRBIA removes posters from lampposts 3 times a week, and 5 days a week in the summer.

· In response to Recommendation 2, she noted that the cooperation between security services (OC Transpo, Ottawa Police Service and the DRBIA) has been greatly improved and the DRBIA encourages further cooperation in this area. She requested the DRBIA’s participation on the Rideau Street Zero Tolerance Committee, which they did not know existed.

· In response to Recommendation 3, the DRBIA has identified that a key stakeholder, The Bay has been missed in the consultation process. The DRBIA requests that the City’s Business Advisory Committee be consulted. The DRBIA has concerns with providing transit benches. The DRBIA supports the introduction of on street parking in off-peak transit hours. The DRBIA does not support heating the shelters.

· In response to Recommendation 4, the DRBIA disagrees with the Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee (PTAC) and the Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) regarding redesign and removal of the transit shelters.

Ms. DuCharme then showed photographs to demonstrate how the recommendations to date have not had the desired impact on Rideau Street.

A copy of Ms DuCharme’s detailed presentation and written comments are held on file with the City Clerk.

Councillor McRae then posed questions to the delegation and staff, and the following points were raised:

· The Bay is a stand-alone entity from Rideau Centre and is a key stakeholder that undertakes its own security measures that could be shared in this process.

· As requested by the Councillor, staff agreed to undertake to invite the Bay to be part of the follow-up process.

· In the next step dealing with the Rideau Street Urban Design issues, staff has identified the Bay as a stakeholder to invite to the table.

· Staff will go through the DRBIA’s Report to consider the recommendations and comments contained in it before the March Planning and Environment Committee Meeting dealing with the Urban Design.

Councillor Bédard questioned the March timing of the report back from staff because there is still a great deal of meetings to be held, and felt that June would be a more appropriate time. He then proposed the following motion:

That staff be directed to review the report tabled by the Rideau BIA dated 6 March 2007, and report back to Transit Committee by June 2007 after consultation with the BIA.

In response to Councillor Legendre’s questions to the delegation, the following points were raised:

· The DRBIA does not support the proposal for heating the current transit shelters because of what had existed in the Rideau Mall days, and that proved to be extremely detrimental to the safety of the adjacent community. The DRBIA feels that the same situation will repeat, and it has to be determined whether Rideau Street is a transit priority or a transit way location because of the different criteria.

· Ms. DuCharme will forward the electronic version of her presentation to the Committee, and in future, will endeavour to forward such presentation in advance as opposed to providing copies at the meeting in order to give Members of the Committee an opportunity to consider and review the presentation before the meeting.

The Committee then proceeded with questions to staff, and the following clarifications were provided in response to Councillor Bédard’s questions:

· The report, being presented to the Planning and Environment Committee on March 27, 2007, deals with the terms of reference for an urban design plan for Rideau Street. This would kick off a process, which could incorporate some of the elements of the DRBIA’s recommendations in the final urban design plan.

· Specific transit issues raised in the DRBIA’s Report will be dealt with separately, and could come forward in June following staff review of this Report.

· The DRBIA needs to be involved in the urban design plan exercise.

· The key focus for monitoring has been a systematic contact on the street in collaboration with the Ottawa Police Services, and is a staged plan of schedule review, identifying issues, getting local community stakeholder feedback, and coordinating security forces.

· Security camera is also an element for monitoring.

· Transit Services Staff is currently building the statistics and would share the conclusion of the monitoring with those interested.

· Transit Law Enforcement Unit has increased slightly in terms of head count. More importantly, Staff has instituted a new structure within the transit security forces using a zone system, which would focus resources more intensively in certain areas.

· Staff’s goal is to increase the actual security resources on Rideau Street as part of its implementation of assigning monitoring hours on a community basis.

· There are three levels of security resources – (1) Law Enforcement Officers, who will soon be Special Constables and are the frontline security service. (2) Transit Supervisors, who have a mobile mandate and are assigned at peak periods; they are also assigned at times to specific station for an extended period depending on the traffic flows and incidences that may arise. (3) Fare Enforcement Officers, who are being increased, are also assigned to specific areas. Therefore, using a combination of those three elements, Staff is addressing Rideau Street and/or any other area that require specific attention. No one is specifically dedicated to a specific area during peak hours on a daily basis.

· Drive-bys are not used; a supervisor or an officer would be assigned on a full shift basis to a specific area if deemed necessary.

· Staff has set an objective to increase the video surveillance on the system. There are approximately 100 cameras that would be installed over the year.

· Staff is aware that the Bay at Rideau has added video surveillance behind the bus shelters.

· Video surveillance is a scope item and is part of the Transit Security Program, which staff just signed with the Federal Government.

· No complaints were received because of the whole week removal of the walls of the transit shelters at Rideau for maintenance, which appears to be of some benefits in terms of clarity of view as demonstrated in the DRBIA’S photographs. However, there is the issue of the heating standards for those shelters, which staff would have to look into and report back to Committee.

Councillor Legendre questioned the tardiness of staff response to the June 14^th 2006 Council Resolution that specifically directed staff to report on progress to the Committee by October 2006. He expressed disappointment not only on this report but this happening repeatedly. He feels this situation needs to be addressed, and asked for staff comments.

In response, Deputy City Manager Schepers stated that she appreciates Councillor Legendre’s comments, and noted her priority and commitment to get back to Committee and Council as directed; however, from time to time, Staff is not able to do so. Since she was not with the City of Ottawa at that time, she undertook to investigate the situation and discuss the outcome with the Councillor personally.

Councillor Legendre encouraged Ms. Schepers to raise this matter with Mr. Kirkpatrick, the City Manager at the weekly meeting of the Senior Management, and he will do so too in a generic sense because the problem is endemic throughout the Corporation.

Not being able to provide Councillor Legendre with a response at the meeting, Mr. Mercier, the Director of Transit Services agreed to look into the scheduling aspect of the involvement of the BIA and the Bay in this process, and inform the Councillor in due time whether the Bay were invited at the table.

In response to Councillor Legendre’s question, Mr. Jacobs, the Director of Planning, Environment & Infrastructure Policy advised that the urban design concept plan only started this year as it was only identified in the 2007 Planning, Environment, and Infrastructure Policy Branch Work Program, and was not part of the 2006 Work Program due to lack of staff.

The Committee then considered the following motion:

Moved by Councillor G. Bédard:

That staff be directed to review the report tabled by the Rideau BIA dated 6 March 2007, and report back to Transit Committee by June 2007 after consultation with the BIA.

CARRIED

That the Transit Committee receive this report for information.

RECEIVED with the aforementioned directive to staff.