Ottawa, the City
There's a situation in Ottawa right now that really does define this city, which isn't so much a city as it is a bunch of by-laws and regulations, top heavy with an almost military-style government presence, and a rigid bureaucracy of two solitudes - one bitterly resigned to being resented for its inside track to the best jobs, the other bitterly resigned to the fact that learning a second language in adulthood is now both de riguer and completely pointless.
But back to this Ottawa-defining situation I want to tell you about. (And I've lived in Toronto, so, believe me, when I say "Ottawa-defining", I mean it.)
Recently, more than a month ago now, there was some kind of incident in a building at the corner of Bank and Somerset, which is smack dab in downtown Ottawa, in as much as downtown Ottawa has a smack dab. The details I have are sketchy and hearsay, but from what I understand, the building is an empty heritage building, the owner has been cited for several safety violations regarding work he has been doing on the site (and I don't know if any of that work ever involved the proper permits or not, or if proper permits are even required anymore), and the incident involved a cave in that briefly trapped a handful of workers who were rescued in short order by one of the millions of emergency vehicles and personnel that rushed to the scene as soon as the near tragedy occurred.
Anyway, as a result of this near tragedy (that turned out A-Okay for the workers, so don't worry your pretty little head about them), an entire city block - a fairly major downtown city block - has been cordoned off for at least a month, while buses - very popular main street city buses - have been diverted way off their normal routes, and an around the clock police presence has occupied the scene - an around the clock police presence which involves young bored and pissed off cops sitting for hours in idling police cars (occasionally racing them backwards down Somerset and going up over the curb to almost run over one Sooey-at-large who yelled, "Hey!" before noticing the cop was black and reflexively biting her guilty W.A.S.P. tongue) and other young bored and pissed off cops directing pedestrian traffic in the surliest of manners while clearly hoping that some naive soul, not realizing how Ottawa cops respond to pedestrian backtalk, will say, "WTF?" so that they can pull out their tasers and stun a few citizens to death.
If this was any other city, citizens would rest assured that the situation would not go on much longer, but as it's Ottawa, we who must now live and work AROUND the, I'm sure, "officially cordoned off indefinitely site", know that it will continue as such through the winter, spring, summer - possibly forever - while an investigation (and one can only hope - fervently - that there IS an investigation) is conducted very very slowly because it no doubt involves many many slightly less than legitimate transactions and characters attempting to bulldoze their way past very very legitimate heritage building by-laws and regulations.
Alas, at this point, I no longer care if the building - heritage or not - is torn down, the owner locked up for the rest of his life without trial, and a toxic waste dump run by the Mafia - or Laidlaw, even - put on the site in its stead. Just so long as the buses are allowed to run up Bank Street again as they should. Because it kills me, it truly kills me, that this city which is also the Nation's Capital, shows so little regard for citizens, including tourists, that it has made absolutely no attempt to inform public transit users - WHO PAY FOR THE SERVICE - of the very very inconvenient bus route alterations that have been just one result of this single building incident.
Really. I'm serious. This is what it's like living and working in Ottawa, where we are held hostage by OC Transpo, employer of the rudest, meanest, most uncompromisingly unhelpful bus drivers in the world, and a company that can't even be bothered to put up signs to indicate to unsuspecting public transit users that, not only is the system rude, mean, and uncompromisingly unhelpful, but the buses no longer go where they are supposed to go because of some slightly less than legitimate guy who owns a slightly less than legitimate building somewhere way the hell up the bus route.
Oh - and at least one store is completely shut down because it's beside the bad building that caused all this fuss - the bad building whose owner has had so many safety violations cited against him that, well, one wonders what an investigation will turn up that wasn't already there, if you catch my drift.
Anyway, it's all very typical of Ottawa, the city that isn't really, so, if you have a choice and any sense, I would advise you not to move here.
Also, our Mayor is a complete fucking nut.
