Weekly newsletter: December 12, 2023
Hello!
Other than today, it’s expected to be a sunny week. Friday’s forecast looks particularly intriguing!
Curb and sidewalk vegetation – update two
In the August 15 and September 12 newsletters, I raised the issue of vegetation poking through gaps and cracks in our curbs and sidewalks and shared that the City actually has no formalised programme to address it. Currently, that vegetation is trimmed by request.
In fairness, it was a very wet summer, making it worse than normal, but it’s still not an excuse for the lack of maintenance.
Since then, staff and I have had several conversations about ways to move towards a more proactive strategy of taking care of curbside vegetation.
One of the strategies discussed was outfitting a pickup truck with a nozzle to target-spray an environmentally-friendly solution a few times a year (thank you to everyone who offered home gardening recipes). Unfortunately, the province prohibits municipalities from spraying anything, unless the weeds are deemed noxious.
That left us with just a physical solution, whereby crews and/or equipment would need to physically remove the weeds from the location.
Yesterday, staff and I attended a demonstration of equipment the city could potentially use. The piece of equipment is an add-on compatible with many construction-type vehicles the City already has in its fleet, and features brushes that tear the weeds out and pushes them into a container which can be emptied into a dump truck.
According to the demonstration, the add-on was used or piloted in several Canadian cities in 2022 and 2023, generating positive feedback from entities like Pearson Airport in Toronto and the public works departments in Niagara Falls and Burnaby, among others.
While one of the types of brushes demonstrated appeared to be much too aggressive, the softer brush seems like the ideal tool for what I hope to achieve.
Thankfully, much of the vegetation poking through gaps and cracks in our sidewalks and curbs need to be addressed just once or twice a year. With properly planned maintenance plans, that could reduce the amount of equipment needed to be effective.
Regardless, staff and I will be debriefing today and determining next steps, including finding support from my Council colleagues. While the spending ask may be small, a pilot technically represents a change in policy, which requires Council approval.
As always, I will be sharing updates as it progresses!
Property tax payment
Several residents who currently pay their property taxes through their mortgage provided by a bank may have received correspondence from their bank indicating that option is being phased out for existing and new customers.
This is a nationwide change affecting customers of at least two major Canadian banks.
The City has been receiving notifications about which accounts have been rolled off payment-by-bank as the banks phase them out. Although the City is not privy to the banks’ timelines and internal processes, the current understanding is all accounts will be rolled off before March 2024.
Part of the correspondence affected customers have received includes a recommendation to contact their municipality to ensure arrangements are made to ensure residents can pay their property taxes next year. The City has been automatically making these adjustments as the bank notices are being received.
Currently, no action is required on your part to change the payment method from “through financial institution,” but residents who have not already done so are recommended to create a MyServiceOttawa account to view and pay property taxes online. Monthly payment plans are also available through the pre-authorised debit (PAD) plan.
To confirm if this change affects you, please contact your mortgage provider. Residents who want assurances from the City may email revenue@ottawa.ca to advise or confirm a change.
Until next week!
-Wilson