Our next meeting of Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee will take place on Thursday, March 3rd.  The main Rideau-Goulbourn related item is the commemorative naming of the fire station in North Gower after 50-year volunteer firefighter Allen Sadler.  This application was submitted by the local firefighters and was subject to a 60-day public consultation period, which concluded in January.  Following that, which resulted in near unanimous support for the naming, the commemoration was approved by the Commemorative Naming Committee.  This is now the next step, following which, if approved, it will rise to Council in March.

ARAC will be receiving a presentation on the 2016 Wild Parsnip Strategy at the March meeting as well.  This will speak to the work undertaken over the summer of 2015, which featured accelerated grass cutting and herbicide application as well as detailed mapping of the proliferation of this noxious weed.  Further, the plan for 2016 will also be discussed as well as the efforts of the City to work with our partners and neighbours on this file, such as the NCC, the City of Gatineau, OMAFRA, the Ministry of the Environment, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, among others.  Stay tuned to this column and to our website (www.rideaugoulbourn.ca) for more information as we move into the spring.  Extensive information on wild parsnip is always available here on my website.

Other agenda items at our March 3rd meeting include: zoning by-law amendments for 211 Donald B. Munro Drive (West Carleton) and 5371 Boundary Road (Cumberland); zoning by-law amendments relating to surplus farm severances for 6210 Corduroy Road (Cumberland) and 2184 Blackcreek Road (Osgoode); speed limit reduction on Wall Road.

As always, there is an Open Mic Session at the end of the meeting for anyone wishing to speak on any issue.  The meeting begins at 10:00am in the Chambers at Ben Franklin Place.

Culvert Replacement/Road Closures

The City of Ottawa will excavate and replace a culvert on Malakoff Road over a period of two weeks, which began on Monday, February 22nd and on Franktown Road starting Monday, February 29th.

Replacement of the culvert on Malakoff Road, located almost a kilometre north of Cowell Road, will require the full closure of a section of Malakoff with a detour via Pierce Road, McCordick Road and Donnelly Drive. Signage will be in place to notify the public of the temporary closure.     

Starting on Monday, February 29th, construction will begin on Franktown Road for two weeks. During the culvert replacement on Franktown Road, 1.5 kilometres east of Munster Road, one lane will remain open for traffic at all times. Flagpersons will control alternating traffic in the open lane.

For current information about traffic and construction around the city, visit ottawa.ca.

Human Library: Real People. Real Conversations. 
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When is the last time you interacted with someone from a completely different walk of life? Or, had a frank conversation with someone whose life experience is far from your own? On February 27th, 2016 you are invited to engage with human “books” to help start conversations between the great range of people who make up our city.

The Human Library will take place at three OPL branches across Ottawa: Beaverbrook, Main, and St-Laurent. Thirty people from Ottawa have volunteered to be “books” and share their stories with the public. Visitors to the Ottawa Human Library will be able to speak informally with a variety of individuals, including:

• Heather Imming, Domestic Violence Survivor
• Ayan Yusuf, Living with Schizophrenia & Depression 
• Simone Bell, Human Trafficking Survivor
• Major Réjean Richard, Living with PTSD
• Denis Collin, Correctional Officer
• Ted Thompson, Naturist
• Sikander Hashmi, Imam
• Chelby Daigle, Daughter of a Deportee

The Ottawa Human Library is held in an effort to help dispel myths and stereotypes by creating an opportunity for one-on-one conversations between people who may never otherwise meet.  People with various life experiences, including local CBC personalities, will volunteer their time as 'books':

• Omar Dabaghi-Pacheco, Host, CBC Ottawa News at 11
• Doug Hempstead, Traffic Reporter, CBC Ottawa
• Gerry Buffett, Television Control Room Director

Members of the public will have a chance to 'check out' a 'book' and ask questions to learn about the person and his or her life.  Participants are encouraged to engage in conversations on Twitter by using the hashtag #HumanLibraryOTT.
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The Human Library was created by a group of young people in Copenhagen to fight prejudice. They organized the first Human Library at a festival in 2000. Since then, there have been Human Libraries in 60 countries. For complete details, please visit the OPL website at www.BiblioOttawaLibrary.ca/HumanLibrary, call 613-580-2940 or email [email protected].

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If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at [email protected] or contact me by phone at 613-580-2491.