Do you want a 2-bit LRT station or a 4-star one?

Would you rather see a food court through tinted 1980s windows or THIS when you step off the O-Train downtown?

The short-sightedness of municipal politicans never ceases to amaze me.  When it comes to the LRT plans in our nation’s capital, Ottawa City Council is  obviously due for a trip to the eye doctor.

Transit expansion is an issue everywhere you look and certainly not without reason.  Current systems are downright archaic in many cases (Toronto especially) and the supply simply can’t keep up with the demand.  I commend Ottawa for finally putting their  money where their mouth is and getting on with it.  (You can read up on their drawn-out and oft-changed plans here).

But I’m disappointed in their ignorant snafu regarding station placement, which I read about in this morning’s Citizen. In a nutshell, Jeff Gillin, the son of prominent and well-respected hotelier and business owner, Patrick Gillin, has chosen to speak up against City Council’s recent decison to move an LRT station from a venerable location straddling Elgin and Sussex to the considerably less hallowed location of the Rideau Centre.

Although Jeff’s father was known for his reserved nature and generosity, Jeff rightfully felt compelled to voice his opinion and I’m here to second it. The Gillin family owns the Lord Elgin Hotel, the diminutive, though no less classy cousin of the Chateau Laurier.  Jeff and his siblings have donated a whopping $2 million to Ottawa’s light rail and if that doesn’t buy an open ear from Council, I don’t know what will.

Ottawa’s lack of long-term version and imagination has been discussed a fair bit lately. For a nation’s capital, we do a lot of development that is downright forgettable. The positioning of this station is shaping up to be a missed opportunity—an opportunity for out-of-towners to revel in the majestic epicentre of Canada’s capital, and for local residents to be reminded of what a fabulous city they live in.

Exit an LRT station at the Rideau Centre and the most you’ll be captivated by is the new BLT at Subway or the 50% sale at Forever 21.

Now, I’ll be the first person in the room to cry foul when money buys power and influences decision making that affects the general public. But this Jeff Gillin instance is an exception.

Go ahead and tell me that Jeff’s preference for Elgin and Sussex is entirely self-serving — a marquis location adjacent to his 4-star hotel. I disagree. I believe Jeff is expressing a thoughtful and far more inspired view of Ottawa’s future. The fact that he’s willing to throw money at the initiative with no promise of “getting his way” pretty much says it all. Bottom line, he knows LRT expansion is important. He just wishes City Council would quit being so penny-wise and pound foolish. Ambitious transit plans such as this are generally a one shot deal. Once it’s built, it’s built.  Or in the words of not-so-thoughtful New York developer, Robert Moses, “Once you sink that first stake, they’ll never make you pull it up.”

Good on Jeff for calling Council on this. I hope they stop and listen.

As a side note, I worked in the United Cigar Shop at the Lord Elgin Hotel in the mid 90s. I remember Jeff Gillin as the somewhat stern young son of the hotel owner, always milling about the lobby making sure everything was as it should be.

20 years later, Jeff is stepping out of the lobby and doing his best to make sure things are as they should be in his city. Really, when it comes down to it, he’s counselling city politicians on what it takes to make a 4-star city.

An LRT station at iconic Elgin and Sussex is an excellent start.

One key step closer to a Better Broadview

Mike Carson (aka Jeff "Skunk" Baxter's long lost, not-nearly-as cool cousin), Superintendent of Facilities for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

The say the squeaky wheel gets the grease and I have to agree. The steely determination and collective smarts of the Broadview Parents Council showed its strength last night in a pivotal vote of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.  Broadview Public School will be my boys’ school and thanks to the tireless efforts of many of my new neighbours and friends, my boys’ school stands a very good chance of getting a much-needed rebuild.

If you need some background, give this a read.

It’s a laundry list of far-gone disrepair that is only compounded by the dog’s breakfast of additions put on over the years.  Band-aid solutions have all added up to a chronically ill building that is stoned on pain medication.

But the OCDSB felt that $4 million was all that could be allocated for renewal—plus $1.5 million for the ANOTHER addition to accommodate full-day kindergarten in 2013.  After announcing their token allotment, Superintendent of Facilities, Mike Carson assumed the appropriate body language of crossed arms and disengaged slouch. He knew what was coming.

Rightful opposition.

Normally I get along with long-haired bearded men. Anyone who looks like Skunk Baxter is generally my kind of guy. Friendly, left-leaning and laid back with a dry sense of humour. Looks are deceiving in the case of Mike Carson.

I’m going to go listen to Steely Dan’s “Old School” now.

Has Hintonburg reached the HIP-ping point?

Hibiscus Rose and Choco Frito donuts reek of hipster. And for now, I'm happy to inhale the sweet aroma.

Last week, one of my close friends made the observation that Hintonburg may be approaching its/her threshold for precious hipsterness. The subject line of her email was “Hintonburg Twee”.

The tipping point for her was the impending arrival of Merry Dairy—a new homemade ice cream joint offering frozen custard—a Coney Island original. It’s not that the girl doesn’t like ice cream—she’s just feeling slightly suffocated by the plethora of seemingly over-thought, affected indie restos. Never mind the potential for a growing obesity epidemic in Hintonburg — it’s the idea of these places that’s giving her pause:

i’m an anti-popular girl. all this hipsterism in ottawa is making me dangerously close to adopting my teenage punk again.

Right away, I knew where she was coming from but I just moved here from Burlington—the antithesis of overly hip—so I’m still a bit of a kid in a candy shop here in Ottawa.  Bridgehead alone  makes me go gaga. So when you throw a warm maple bacon donut into the mix, I’m basically a helpless enabler of the Hintonburg twee-ness.

And I can easily say I’ve never been one to scoff at small, independent business either. I get excited when I see craft paper covering the window of a former gas station or corner store. I admire the people who have the vision and take the risk when it comes to small storefront-type businesses. Almost always, it’s a labour of love with only a slight few making a killing at the end of the day.

We’ve been living in a furnished rental in the heart of Hintonburg for the past month. This week we get the keys to our new house on the western edge of Westboro. I’ve grown fond of Hintonburg in a short period of time. The view from our kitchen window at Parkdale and Bullman has been a masterpiece of humanity in motion.  Good-hearted hosers with two-fours  wedged on their shoulder.  Civil servants with their trusty knapsacks enroute to Tunney’s Pasture.  An elderly blind woman.  Tarted-up 20-somethings. A teenager walking her little sister to school. And yes, a healthy amount of  hipsters decked out in irony. It has all made for an incredibly entertaining introduction to Ottawa for my husband and boys.

Even for myself, who always played it safe living on or just off Elgin in the 90s, Hintonburg has been a really thought-provoking treat. With its industrial, working-class edge, parts of it remind me of Toronto’s Leslieville, while other bits bring to mind St. John’s, Newfoundland. Leslieville too has approached its tipping point in many ways. While the restaurants and shops are a pleasing mix to locals and tourists alike and there’s a stronghold of locals who abhor and have successfully managed to avoid the influx of the soul-less big box, very few authentic remnants of the past remain. A few examples include Hastings Snack Bar and Jim’s Restaurant. How they survive, I’m not sure, but their presence is important. They remind us of what was once there by virtue of still being there themselves. To put it simply, places like Jim’s Restaurant “keep it real.”

I certainly haven’t been in Hintonburg long enough to know everything about its evolution and cultural make-up but I know I like it a lot and I hope it continues on a positive path that manages to balance the new and cool with the time-honoured and true.

You done good, Jim Green

A city builder who definitely made a mark - Jim Green May 25, 1943 – February 28, 2012

I’ve been to the east side of Vancouver. I’ve seen the gritty and the grotty and the downright frightening side of Vancouver. But it’s hard to ignore the humanity in such places and if you do, you’re not my kind. One man who was very much my kind was Jim Green—at first a seemingly gruff and hard-nosed man but just beneath the surface a very warm-hearted, tolerant man with great vision and determination. Jim Green died of lung cancer this past Tuesday and the east side of Vancouver will surely not be the same without his presence.

I had the pleasure of seeing Jim Green speak at the Actions Speak Louder conference in Hamilton in November 2010. The focus was largely on his work to convert an abandoned department store called Woodwards on Vancouver’s east side into a mixed use residential/retail/commercial complex. With steely determination, the city councillor fought the naysayers who said no one in their right mind would invest in such a lousy part of town. In the end, his vision was realized with a dynamic, vibrant public space—the biggest development in Vancouver’s history, replete with 200 social housing units, a grocery store, daycare, a bank, a department store, a public atrium and 536 market value condos.

It takes a special person to be a city builder in both the literal bricks and mortar sense, and the social capital sense. Jim was this rare breed. Vancouver and cities at large are that much better for his work.

Sarah does Proust

Selfie taken on my 40th birthday in Trinity Bellwoods Park.

So I turned 40 last week. It wasn’t nearly as traumatic as I had anticipated. I’m feeling much better now that it’s behind me. There’s been a lot of inward thinking and reflection (classy code speak for navel gazing) and I decided to take it to the apex of my me obsession with a Vanity Fair Proust questionnaire. Why should Alec Baldwin and Shirley Maclaine be the only ones to share their favourite colours and virtues with the world. I’m no less important! So here you go… 

PROUST QUESTIONAIRRE

My favourite virtue — Without question, kindness

The most overrated virtue — Obviously chastity

My favourite qualities in a man — Confidence, humour, rhythm

My favourite qualities in a woman — Honesty, humour, loyalty

My idea of happiness — 1. watching my young boys eat quietly at the breakfast table, 2. cranking some old school R&B or new jack swing—alone, or 3. wandering an outdoor flea market for hours with lots of cash and no sense of time.

What infuriates me —- Ignorance, narrow-mindedness

My idea of misery —- Feeling lonely and dejected or misunderstood.

If not myself, who would I be? — I’m happy with who I am. What I am is something different however. If I wasn’t a marketing professional, I think I’d be working in urban design.

My favourite colour and flower — Chartreuse and ranunculus.

My favourite artist — Can’t pick just one. Edward Hopper, Jack Chambers, Coles Phillips, Robert Bechtle, Alex Colville. Plus, American photojournalists—Leonard Freed, Helen Levitt, Todd Webb and Walker Evans.

My greatest fear — Losing the ones I love the most

My favourite singers and musicians — Van Morrison, Paul Simon, Michael McDonald, Steely Dan, The Band, Rickie-Lee Jones, Al Green, Stevie Wonder. Marvin Gaye

Natural gift I’d most like to possess — The ability to sing. Well.

My principle defect — Lack of patience

My life’s motto — I’ve got two. “Be yourself. There’s only one of you.”- Me, and “You gotta love your face.” – My Dad

My reverse bucket list

This pic was likely taken the year I was diagnosed with epilepsy. 1976.

I’m just a few weeks away from turning 40 and feeling very uneasy about the whole thing. Saying I’m FORTY just doesn’t sound accurate or comforting in any way. But I’m determined to embrace it the best I can.

One of the ways I’ve been addressing this discomfort is reminding myself that 40 years in, I have a good handle on who I am and I’ve managed to do a fair number of things in my life.

Identity is important to me. My confidence has always come from tapping into what makes me Sarah—the good and the bad. There’s only one of me, right? Now I haven’t climbed Mt Everest or learned how to drive, but I’ve lived on my own in Newfoundland and I’ve found my way onto the tour bus of The Band—two experiences not to be forgotten and that have helped make me who I am.

In a way, I’ve found myself doing a reverse bucket list these last few months—in other words, recounting all the things I have managed to accomplish or experience in my 40 years on earth. Some may seem trivial but when lumped together, they make for a pretty satisfying journey thus far.  In no particular order, here are the drops that comprise my bucket on the edge of 40.

• I’ve lived in no less than 28 different houses or apartments, in 5 different cities across Canada
• I’ve worked at McDonalds, I’ve cleaned toilets, done retail, been a chambermaid, acted as guest liaison for Tom Green and a public affairs officer for our nation’s brightest researchers
• I’ve asked Norman Jewison for his signature (not autograph) and had him say in return “Sarah Wilkinson! I’ve been seeing your name all over the place. Nice to finally meet you!”
• I’ve sat beside Rick Danko and Levon Helm on a tour bus and even got to sing a few bars of a song with Rick.
• I’ve climbed heights great enough (Mt Garibaldi) to experience colder air and less oxygen
• I’ve visited Jimi Hendrix’s grave
• I lived with epilepsy as a child
• I’ve been a stand-in on a Canadian feature film, Dirty
• I’ve had books influence who I am and what is important to me – The Catcher in the Rye, The Beautiful and Damned, The Death and Life of Great American Cities…
• I’ve had movies do the same — Saturday Night Fever, The Last Waltz, Manhattan, Frankie & Johnny, The Big Chill, Goin’ Down the Road
• I’ve gotten piss drunk a few times and have partaken of a few other mind-altering substances
• I’ve had Plantar’s warts, a blue nevus, mono, scarlet fever, a broken arm, a total thyroidectomy, a C-section, ingrown toenail surgery, mistakenly stabbed my palm with an X-acto knife, and experienced roughly 10 vasovagal episodes in my life.
• I found my husband and my oldest son on the Internet
• I’ve seen UB40, Indigo Girls, The Northern Pikes, Crash Test Dummies, The Tragically Hip, Steely Dan, The Band, Lauryn Hill, Ben Harper, Jamiroquai and Van Morrison in concert
• I’ve written letters to the editor
• I’ve been on a school bus with a keg of beer and no bathroom
• I’ve voted in many an election
• I’ve been on a French exchange that was a disaster and flew home early
• And last but by no means least, I’m a mother at age 40 of 2 dear and distinctly different boys who enrich my life in the most delightful ways.

Not bad, I must say. And with average life expectancy on the upswing, my life is really only half over, right?

The Dark Horse is released

Thought-provoking little booklet handed out at the release of The Dark Horse Conversation: Nonprofit Leaders Talk About Vocational, Organizational and Civic Renewal

If you’ve ever wondered if you were in the wrong occupation or felt you ought to be doing something more meaningful or reflective of yourself, read on. Last night, I had the privilege of attending the release of The Dark Horse: Nonprofit Leaders Talk About Vocational, Organizational and Civic Renewal–a paper produced by Pat Thompson, Metcalf Foundation Innovation Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Massey College.

I’ve noted before on this blog that Pat is a friend and mentor of mine who has lent me her ear on a number of occasions. In addition to being extremely bright and insightful, Pat is infinitely curious–a quality that in my view always makes a person that much more interesting and engaging. A navel gazer, she is not. She is immensely intrigued by the vocational paths people choose and what  may or may not make them take the path less traveled, or the path that invokes trepidation. Needless to say, she is encouraging when it comes to facing one’s fears or turning a preconceived notion on its head.

In conjunction with the release of The Dark Horse paper, Pat has also launched onealphaavenue.org - the home of good conversation about work and vocation. It’s sure to evolve into a lively online spot for people to share stories and seek guidance on their own vocations and how they can best land on, or jump off with both feet, to a place that brings them joy and satisfaction.

Lucky me, Pat has featured my personal story on the website. And for the record, I’m still searching, both internally and externally.

As a take away at last night’s release party, Pat handed out the cool little booklet that you see above. A conversation piece to be sure, with plenty of thought provoking questions and quotations.

Some may be quick to dismiss a question like ” What is my life telling me about who I am?” as flaky. In fact, I could easily be classified as that dismissive type. But at this stage in my life, when I’m at a vocational crossroads, I figure I owe it to myself to examine all angles.

What have I got to lose? Certainly not a job.