A lot can happen over a decade. In many cases, the neighbourhood street you live on can change dramatically over 10 years.
When I was first elected in 2010, Vanier was a very different place – don’t get me wrong – it was a vibrant, caring, and passionate community. Still, it was at the beginning of a significant transformation.
This community lives the impacts of being a small, tight-knit community within a big city, and it struggled with the concern of losing its individuality.
Infills were popping up; Policing changes impacted our community; Ageing infrastructure was hurting for an upgrade.
And the community was no longer turning a blind eye to its needs or desires.
The issues, in the beginning, were tackled individually. We managed to make significant inroads with projects and working alongside the Vanier Community Association, the Quartier Vanier BIA and local organizations, great initiatives took place.
One of the biggest things was the conversation and desire to get involved, to have a voice and for that voice and ideas to be heard.
This is where Vision Vanier has stepped up and filled this void.
The idea was to create a coordinated communication and engagement approach to city projects for residents, businesses, community associations and other key stakeholders and remove confusion about where to find information and better understand City projects that are planned in our community.
The goal of Vision Vanier is to raise awareness, share information, gather feedback, and effect positive change.
Six projects were placed under the Vision Vanier umbrella:
- Building Better Revitalized Neighbourhoods Vanier
- Montreal Road Community Improvement Plan
- Montreal Road Revitalization
- Vanier: Culture in Action
- Vanier Public Art Program
- Riverain Park Improvements
This platform allows the space to connect and stay connected on ideas, and projects and bring the community together. I am happy to say it has helped break barriers in bringing individuals to participate in processes they might have felt were too daunting or complicated.
Here we have art, culture, and infrastructure in one place.
And I am pleased to say we have seen some fantastic outcomes of the six projects created.
Montreal Road Revitalization is near completion. With it, Vanier will have a brand new main street with cycling, pedestrian, bus stops and landscaping additions that will improve our community and give us peace of mind that the infrastructure below is finally up-to-date.
Our Vanier culture and art programs have increased local artist participation, opportunities and artistic flair on our streets and in our parks.
One of the most significant modernization projects for the city, Riverain Park improvements have taken a large, mainly unused and ageing park to the spot in the community for skateboarding, basketball, and pickleball, to name a few. A new dog park, fieldhouse and river access have added features to this park that I know will go a long way.
As I have said before, this community is passionate, and with passion comes purpose – And I think we can take this tremendously coordinated approach of Vision Vanier can continue to do great things.
We have many vacant storefronts that need to be redeveloped. Our other two main streets, Beechwood Avenue and McArthur Avenue, still need attention. This attention includes proper cycling tracks throughout the entire avenue, not just piece by piece. Still, an actual complete street that considers pedestrians, cyclists, transit and vehicles.
My push for policy updates for the Vanier Parkway is another project on the horizon where Vision Vanier could take the reins. I hope the direction I set the city on, with urbanizing the parkway to become another one of our walkable, friendly streets, will come to fruition in the coming years.
For more information on Vision Vanier, the projects or how to get involved, please visit Ottawa.ca