Today's letters: Violence in Lowertown is everyone's problem

Tuesday, June 11: This Ottawa neighbourhood was supposed to support a vibrant residential and commercial community, says a reader. You can write to us too, at [email protected]

Published Jun 11, 2024 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 2 minute read

Ottawa Police investigate an overnight shooting in the ByWard Market in 2022. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA

Lowertown is everyone’s issue

Re: Lowertown’s crisis of violence is the entire city’s problem, June 4.

Thank you for the article by Bruce Deachman about the problems of Lowertown. The violence and decay there is a problem for all of Ottawa.

Lowertown/Byward has the potential to be a social and economic engine for Ottawa. Instead, 20 years of neglect have turned it into an expensive eyesore that is dragging down the whole city. Crime has become the hallmark reputation of Lowertown and the kneejerk reaction of increasing the police presence will not solve the problem. As Deachman points out, we need a citywide commitment to change and that change has to deal with the underlying factors that produce the crime.

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I have lived most of my life in Ottawa, the last 17 in Lowertown. When I moved to Lowertown, the vision of the city for this neighbourhood was to support a vibrant residential and commercial community. The ByWard Market was the centre of this vision: a thriving farmers’ market during the day, a lively bar and restaurant scene and a significant population of permanent residents. The architectural heritage would be respected while encouraging small-scale new development. The truck route through the centre of the community would be managed by distributing the traffic on existing and new connections between Ontario and Quebec. Finally, the problems of homelessness, drug abuse and crime would be managed through new housing programs, community policing and a move away from large homeless shelters.

Instead, none of the elements of this vision have been implemented. More services for the homeless have been added, increasing the concentration of persons in difficulty. The number of bars ballooned, drawing people from the suburbs to places where drugs were easily available. The farmers’ market was allowed to die. A half-baked idea of an “entertainment district” was tacitly accepted by the city.

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Trucks continue to roll through the community. Residential development in high-rise condos, mostly for students or short-term residents, has scarred the streetscapes and done little to create a strong community.

Today, the city should commit to a formal visioning and planning process for the revitalization of Lowertown based on the concept of the 15-minute neighbourhood that it once was. The lead stakeholders in this process should be the residents, landowners, business leaders and institutions that have a direct stake in ByWard/Lowertown.

Norman Moyer, past-president of the Lowertown Citizens Association

Poisoning rats won’t get rid of them

Re: City of Ottawa unveils new strategy in war on rats, June 7.

Utilizing poisonous rodenticides does not solve the causes of rodent infestations but results in the inhumane deaths of a multitude of wildlife species as well as companion animals.

Human behaviour affects rodent behaviour. We’ve been poisoning rodents for decades and it obviously isn’t working. Studies regarding the consequences of sewer-baiting clearly demonstrate that highly toxic rodenticides end up in wastewater, rivers and are found in freshwater fish livers. Since rodenticides have a long half-life, secondary poisoning of predators is an ongoing risk with any use of these products. There are many, many cost-effective and long-term alternatives to the reckless use of poison. Even New York politicians say “we can’t poison our way out of this.”

Janice Freund, Pickering

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