NEWS ARCHIVESDecember 12, 2011 Ward Bake Sale a Success Recently, the Mayor’s Office issued a challenge to all
wards in Ottawa asking for their baked goods to be sold at a
bake sale at City Hall. The proceeds went to CHEER for
dispersal among local charities including the Ottawa Food
Bank, the Christmas Exchange and the Ottawa Senators'
Foundation to support their Christmas giving campaigns. This
year is the 61th Anniversary of the Christmas Cheer
Broadcast on 580 CFRA. It's also the 21th Anniversary of the
Christmas Cheer Breakfast at the Westin Hotel. Together,
this partnership has been making the holiday season a little
brighter for less fortunate people. The bake sale did not
disappoint as approximately $1800 was raised and some great
treats were served! A big thank you to the residents who
brought in their delicious treats and I can tell you that
they didn’t last long so a great showing from Stittsville.
Congratulations and Thank You Santa! I would like to congratulate the four winners of the Christmas card contest I held. The winners are Kiara Gocan, Anabel Conrad, Allison Gocan and Allison Maise. Their designs will be featured on my Christmas card this year. I would like to thank all the participants who submitted their drawings. Every piece of work I received was tremendous and it was a very difficult decision to choose just four submissions as they were all very impressive. I would also like to thank Santa, his helpers and
everyone who came out and celebrated the Christmas spirit
with my staff and I at the ‘Annual Christmas in the Ward’
event held at the GRC on December 10th. Many thanks to His
Worship Mayor Jim Watson and my fellow Council colleagues
for coming by and sharing the Christmas cheer with
Stittsville residents. We had a great turnout and everyone
had a wonderful time. You could tell the Christmas spirit
was in the air with so many smiling faces. Thank you all
once again! Door to Door Solicitation I would like to take a minute and remind constituents about Door to Door Soliciting. Our neighbourhoods are prime targets for Door to Door soliciting. This soliciting takes many forms and may include; roofing repairs, driveway sealing, energy fixed price contract supply, Hot Water tank replacement, and other products and services. The salespersons for these businesses can often be very aggressive and present misleading information. They often represent firms with names that resemble your current supplier and they often have limited Identification. While their practices may not be ethical they are not necessarily illegal. The following TIPS should help you in these occasions. Utility companies and their subsidiaries do not send technicians or service people to your door, without a prior appointment. You set the time and place. DO NOT let any Door to Door Salesperson into your home. Employees or Contractors for Service Providers are to carry proper identification. This is not a photocopy of some letterhead. Do Not under any circumstances show these people a copy of any bill or statement from your current provider. Your customer number or Account number should be protected at all times. Do not pay fees up front, for any renovation or repair work, to a Door-to-Door Solicitor. You have rights as a Consumer. All contracts signed in Ontario have a 10 day cooling off period that allows any consumer to unconditionally cancel a contract. Sample letters are available at the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services website: www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en For further advice and a full list of tips please call the City of Ottawa 311 Information line, check out By Laws, and current Building codes for any renovation work, including replacing exhaust vents for Hot Water Heaters Remember if its too good to be true , it
probably is.
Holiday Conservation Tips The best present you can give the environment for Christmas starts with energy-saving ideas. Here are some helpful tips: Use LED holiday lights instead of incandescent. LED lights use up to 95% less energy than traditional lights and last for many years without needing to change a bulb. Use a programmable timer for your outdoor holiday lights. Have them turn on after 7 pm when electricity rates are at their lowest. When cooking in the oven make sure to keep the doors closed as much as possible and bake several dishes at the same time and temperature. Keep extra beverages cold by placing them outside or in the garage instead of using a second, electricity guzzling fridge. For more conservation tips visit
hydroottawa.com/conservation.
With the holiday season upon us, the Ottawa Police
Service and your Community Police Centres would like to
remind Ottawa residents of a few simple steps to ensure
everyone has a safe holiday season whether you are doing
last minute shopping, visiting friends or celebrating at
home. For example, when shopping, make sure that you always
lock your vehicle and place parcels in the trunk and/or
minimize the number of bags that can be seen. For a full
list of tips please visit
http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/mediaroom/newsreleases/11-12-07/644a9230-652f-4332-a939-44c25aacab1d.aspx. Update: City Contract with Plasco On Monday December 12th, the City’s Environment Committee will debate the draft 20-year contract tentatively in place with Plasco Energy Group. Currently, the new garbage-to-energy plant contract will burn waste and provide an eco-friendly by-product nicknamed ‘slag’ that will sell as aggregate for concrete or asphalt. Slag is the non-toxic solid that is produced after the Plasco plant super-heats garbage for power. Every tonne of trash processed by Plasco produces about 150 kg of ‘slag.’ One of the issues up for debate will center on the amount of ‘slag’ that the Plasco Energy Group can sell. The City is proposing to send 109,500 tonnes of garbage annually to a new Plasco plant, which means there will be more than 16,000 tonnes of ‘slag’ up for sale. Any un-used ‘slag’ will be sent to the City’s Trail Road facility, but the City predicts only 5% of the garbage fed to the Plasco plant will return to the dump as ‘slag’ once the company has established markets for the material. The City wants to charge Plasco $20 per tonne to dump the slag during the maximum three-year “ramp-up” period of the new commercial plant. After the ramp-up period, the City would charge the
tipping fee it pays to Plasco at that time. It starts at
$83.25 per tonne in the proposed deal. Always listening and acting on your concerns As your Councillor, I always welcome your keen input and ideas on how we can sustain and improve Stittsville. Please contact our office anytime by phone at 613-580-2476 or by e-mail at Shad.Qadri@ottawa.ca. My ward office is situated in the Goulbourn Recreation Complex, located at 1500 Shea Road. Please note the summer hours of operation are Mondays 9-2pm, Wednesdays 3-8pm, Fridays 9-5pm, and Saturday 9am-1pm. Please do not hesitate to pay us a visit. I welcome your call or email to arrange an appointment. If you are not part of my electronic outreach list and would like to be added, please contact my office to ensure you receive pertinent information concerning our community. Further information about any of these articles can be found on my website or you can contact my office to obtain details. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays from myself and my office staff! |