Welcome to my new video series: Who To Call. The first edition features ANCHOR, Centretown’s 24/7 response team for people experiencing mental health and substance use crises.

Thanks, Arlo, for hitting a few volleys with me to test out the ping-pong table in our new Papichì park at Spencer/Huron. I popped in to their block party this afternoon and am thrilled with the park's reception.

I've just hit "send" on the 449th weekly Kitchissippi ward newsletter. View a video version of that here. Tunney's open house, upcoming Council and committee meetings, community association AGMs and more!

Also related lloydalter.substack.com/p/looking-ba...

For many years I've been pleased to show my support for the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder activities. This year they held a picnic in lovely Laroche Park and I was happy to drop by to wish them well!

It was a perfect afternoon for a huge turnout of residents to the City View/Ryan Farm fall festival. Thanks to @lainejohnson.bsky.social for the warm welcome and to the volunteers who made it happen. The taco-in-a-bag is my new favourite food.

Thanks to the Dementia Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County for inviting @rawlson.bsky.social and I to welcome participants in their annual walk. Over 300 took part to raise awareness and funds to help ensure everyone diagnosed with dementia feels cared for.

I've been a strong voice in Ottawa urging caution in the rush to build an incinerator to deal with our waste. I'm glad to see similar pushback in Toronto where they face the same issue as landfill capacity runs out.

The Kinburn Community Association rocked a corn roast tonight. I'm grateful for the warm welcome, and the opportunity to sling the beans. Always a pleasure to see @clarkekelly.bsky.social in his ward, and to run into @karenmccrimmon.bsky.social!

The Drip House block party (3-8) is bleeding into the Parkdale Market's thrift market is bleeding into Taste of Wellington. It is absolutely hopping in Wellington West and Hintonburg today.

I enjoyed meeting the organizers and my Council colleagues at the Chateauneuf community BBQ in Orléans. Huge turnout and so many activities! Thanks to @lauradudas.bsky.social for the role organizers say she played in pulling it together, and always great to see Matt Luloff.

Happy to see @envirocentre.bsky.social at today’s Taste of Wellington event! Ravi de voir @envirocentre.bsky.social à l'événement Taste of Wellington d'aujourd'hui !

Abbeyfield is hosting its fundraising walk today - great turnout and perfect weather! Thanks for inviting me to say a few words about the importance of this housing model in great neighbourhoods like Hintonburg.

Taste of Wellington is on today! Right now CKCU is broadcasting from the Pet Valu parking lot. The Wellington Bruces on sax and guitar! Taste of Wellington, c'est aujourd'hui ! CKCU diffuse actuellement depuis le stationnement Pet Valu. Les Wellington Bruces au saxophone et à la guitare !

I look forward to digging deeper into this at Planning Committee, but I don’t support pausing Community Benefits Charges for 5 yrs. This is what helps fund traffic calming, bike lanes and affordable housing. We need to build whole communities, not just housing units. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Mayor Sutcliffe's housing acceleration task force has made multiple recommendations to spur housing construction in Ottawa. Council should support those, but should reject a proposal to give developers a five-year holiday from paying benefits charges. Read more: kitchissippiward.ca/2025/09/19/d...

The second night of public engagement on the 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan was well-attended. Very glad to get caught up with @jchianello.bsky.social and Kaite Burkholder Harris. It's a critical discussion for this City, and I'm grateful we have the benefit of their perspectives.

Thanks to the Kitchissippi Times for speaking with me about the Tunney's Pasture development. I'm hosting an open house to look at the draft plan of subdivision on Monday at 6:30 at the Hintonburg Community Centre.

The Ottawa Real Estate Forum has assembled a great panel on affordable housing that I'll have the privilege to moderate on October 9. There's lots to talk about.

📚 Les finalistes du Prix du livre d’Ottawa 2025 sont maintenant dévoilés! Ces prix mettent en valeur des livres exceptionnels en anglais et en français écrits par des auteurs d’Ottawa, explorant la condition humaine à travers des récits puissants et inspirants.

I enjoyed hosting an engaged group of Carleton journalism students this week at City Hall for a broad-ranging discussion on municipal issues. We talked a lot about the role the student press could be playing, and how Council can help.

Thanks to everyone who came to our open house consultation about the Gladstone/Gilmour bike lanes and the Bay Street integrated sewer renewal project. You can read more about the projects and submit your feedback at these links: engage.ottawa.ca/gladstone-an... ottawa.ca/en/city-hall...

It was Chair Laura Dudas's and my pleasure to attend with Councillor Carr the first of two engagement sessions on the 10- year Housing and Homelessness Plan refresh, along with City staff and partner organizations. A second session will be held tomorrow at Tom Brown arena, 6-8.

Moderately exciting: my first time taking my bike on Line 2 as I head to a south end event tonight.

J'apprécie l'accent mis par la FCM sur les infrastructures dans le contexte de l'annonce fédérale de dimanche sur le logement.

I appreciate FCM's focus on infrastructure in the context of Sunday's federal housing announcement. Ambitious action on building new housing requires matching ambition to build the necessary pipes, transit and transportation networks to underpin that growth.

The city is doing public consultation on the new bylaw to prevent renovictions (championed by my office). Please fill out the survey, especially if you have had the experience of being unfairly evicted. We need to ensure that this new bylaw will protect tenants. ottawa.ca/en/city-hall...

Pleased to be with @glengower.ca at @otttransitriders.bsky.social event tonight featuring @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social. We used to have one of the best transit systems in North America - these folks want us to get back to that!

Nous pouvons absolument mettre fin à l’itinérance chez les jeunes d'ici quatre ans, et je me réjouis de l'engagement du maire.

Ending youth homelessness by 2030 is entirely possible, and today I was so happy to see @mayormarksutcliffe.bsky.social and @ottawaalliance.bsky.social commit to that goal.

We can absolutely end youth homelessness in the next four years, and I'm pleased to see the Mayor's commitment. We'll need to see a concrete budget proposal, and understand what tough choices within the proposed tax cap have to be made to accomplish it, but it aligns well with Council's priorities.

It's Rail Safety Week and OC Transpo is at Hurdman station from 9 am until 1 pm to spread awareness about safe habits around trains and rail tracks. Drop by!

My thanks to Visavie’s Heather Hyndman for inviting me to help cut the ribbon at their new location on the Civic campus. I was very interested to learn more about their retirement-living free consulting service. I’ll have more in this weekend’s newsletter.

Lionhearts' warehouse manager Tristan Kuracina and founder Travis Blackmore showed me around their incredible food and goods rescue operation this morning (lionhearts.ca). They're making partnerships with organizations like Amazon and Costco work to rescue food and goods to help those who need it.

What a day in the community! From door-knocking on Valewood Crescent to celebrating at the Burndale Street party, it was a joy connecting with Blackburn Hamlet residents. Capped it off with the always fun Annual Dog Swim at Bearbrook Pool with Councillor Kitts. A perfect Sunday!

Great to see some of my colleagues this weekend as they do the work of engaging, supporting and celebrating the residents of their wards. I'm proud to work with people like Tim Tierney, Clarke Kelly, Ariel Troster, David Brown and Marty Carr who are on the ground each day. I see and thank you.

I very much enjoyed dropping by Marty Carr’s ward corn roast! Huge attendance for ice cream, BBQ, petting zoo, bouncy castle and more! Some great chats with her very engaged, thoughtful residents.

Big federal housing announcement today. I’m intrigued by plans to quickly build factory-built homes on federal sites including in Ottawa, the transfer of Canada Lands to a new federal housing agency, and a buy-Canadian policy. Lots to digest in the coming days.

I got off the bus a few stops early on my way to the Cenotaph this morning to say hi to Ariel staying in touch with residents at her Elgin Market booth. I have a ton of respect for her efforts to be accessible at events like these!

I was pleased to join MP Marie-France Lalonde, members of the diplomatic corps, veterans, members of the armed forces and the public to observe Merchant Navy Day at the Cenotaph this morning. Those marine lifelines in the fight against fascism were preserved with a terrible human toll.

Yesterday’s testing went very well, with 23 trains running on the planned schedule for several hours from Tunney’s to Trim. 👍

The 95 was a workhorse that got me from Orleans to school, work and downtown fun for years. It sounds like train testing went very well, which is hopefully encouraging that Orléans residents will soon get that easy, fast connection back!

Dropkick Murphys merch at CityFolk is on point

I'm won't try to post captures from the @ncc-ccn.gc.ca's glorious night bike ride tonight - won't do it justice. But my thanks go to them for organizing it. It was great to see friends old like Tobi Nussbaum and new like Gabriel St-Pierre who organizes Montreal's Tour de l’Île for Vélo Quebec.

Constance Bay Days was a very well-attended, chill community festival with BBQ, pickleball, softball and more! Thanks Councillor Clarke Kelly for the warm welcome, and especially Heather Lucente who took time to chat with me about her work with West Carleton Disaster Relief.

I arrived WAY too late to enjoy any butter tarts at the festival in Stittsville today. Even sold out, the event attracted huge crowds. I was very glad to see Kitchissippi represent at the event, including Sugar Tarts Bakery and The Piggy Market!

Taste of Manotick was off the scale! Lots of great food and vendors - a big success for the Manotick BIA and their ED Kelly Bélair. Thanks, Councillor David Brown, for the warm welcome to the village!

Thanks to @timtierney.ca for inviting me to drop by his Gloucester 50+ Centre afternoon tea event yesterday. It was great to meet attendees and learn more about the work the centre does. The donut wall was a bonus.

Natalie is at her mom’s. IYKYK.

I'm overjoyed to say that the City is now consulting on re-naming the field house at Van Lang as the Paul Dewar Field House. I thank community members and Paul's wife Julia Sneyd for their patience and leadership. View the consultation details here: ottawa.ca/en/city-hall...