I switched out the sandals in the front closet for boots and finally pulled out the real down coats. I do not like it, but here we are.

Stay alert: Fake QR codes are sometimes posted on Ottawa Pay & Display machines that link to a fraudulent PayByPhone site. Never scan! If you see one, call 311. If you fall victim, call Ottawa Police at 613-236-1222 and your credit card provider.

Thank you to everyone who wrote to me about Lansdowne 2.0. It passed by 15-10 today, which I know is not the outcome you wanted. I pledge to keep holding the city accountable and fighting for the priorities you really care about.

It really is my own damn fault for suggesting we go to Costco on a Saturday afternoon …

The latest issue of the Somerset Ward newsletter just dropped, with updates on Lansdowne 2.0, the upcoming city budget, the reconstruction of Elgin and Laurier, safety concerns in Chinatown and more! Read it and sign up here: www.arieltroster.com/swm_60

Today, Lansdowne 2.0 was passed with a 15 - 10 vote at Council. This is going to be an important issue in 2026, and I hope you'll stay engaged with Council in the coming months.

Thank you to everyone who wrote to me about Lansdowne 2.0. It passed by 15-10 today, which I know is not the outcome you wanted. I pledge to keep holding the city accountable and fighting for the priorities you really care about.

Lansdowne 2.0 is not what residents are telling us we need as a city. The cost is too much, the outcome too inadequate and uncertain, and the benefits accrue to too few. This morning's rally was energizing. We have an off-ramp; we should take it.

I am buoyed by the community who stood in the cold to say they don’t support Lansdowne 2.0. Ottawa deserves better, and so do women’s hockey fans. There is no stadium emergency. This plan is built on financial fiction and my grandkids will still be paying for it. I will vote no with my whole heart.

The Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition held the most beautiful gathering last night, celebrating their incredible work, including the upcoming construction of an Indigenous women’s healing lodge and the city’s first-ever shelter for Inuit women escaping intimate partner violence.

Thanks to everyone who attended our online budget consultation meeting last night. Both @jleiper.bsky.social and I heard you loud and clear: you want a city that works, one that is affordable and one where no one gets left behind.

Final Lansdowne vote is tomorrow. I am still a no. Here’s why ⬇️

Is there anything greater than belting out your favourite songs with your kid to the band you both love? The Beaches blew the roof off of TD Place last night. I love them so much. Go see live music!

“The reason we’re here is that the rosy projections from Lansdowne 1.0 never materialized. The lesson from that shouldn’t be to double down.”

Thanks to everyone who attended our online budget consultation meeting last night. Both @jleiper.bsky.social and I heard you loud and clear: you want a city that works, one that is affordable and one where no one gets left behind.

City staff confirmed with me that they removed 75% of these scam stickers from city parking metres today, and will have the rest done by tomorrow.

Hope.

I was a coms staffer at PSAC when the Harper government slashed the public service — a miserable time for everyone. All it led to was layoffs, followed by the fed govt hiring more temps and expensive consultants. And then eventually hiring back even more people. It takes humans to run a country 🤷‍♀️

I want Ottawa Charge fans to understand that if Lansdowne 2.0 goes through as-is, there’s a genuine threat that we’ll lose our women’s hockey team. This would be devastating to our city, and to all the women + girls who have found hope and community in the PWHL. ottawacitizen.com/opinion/pwhl...

Thank you to CBC Ottawa Morning for having me on this morning to talk about the reconstruction of Elgin and Laurier, and the need to fund fixes to our city’s most dangerous intersections. Anything less than Vision Zero is a failure. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Join @jleiper.bsky.social and I tonight at our virtual As We Heard It meeting on the city budget. Sign up here: www.arieltroster.com/as_we_heard_...

Thanks, I hate it

Tonight! Coun. @arieltroster.com and I are hosting our follow-up budget consultation and releasing the as-we-heard-it report stemming from last June's session. Join us to chat about building a better budget for everyone in Ottawa! www.arieltroster.com/as_we_heard_...

Happy Zohran Mamdani Day, to all who celebrate. New Yorkers — don’t let us down. This election is such a huge source of hope to all of us.

The four-month pilot project that allowed alcohol in designated areas of select #OttCity parks ended on Friday, October 31. You can provide your feedback about the pilot project at [email protected]. More: https://bit.ly/4qNyAhB

This is my neighborhood & it is home to a great diversity of people The consumption site was chosen based on evidence - the 2nd highest rate of overdoses in the city The closure of the site has caused chaos and destruction for residents-including those who live with addictions - and businesses

A reminder that the Ford govt closed the supervised consumption site in Chinatown and refuses to approve injectable opioid agonist treatment for people with serious addictions. Right now, private addiction clinics are proliferating and the whole community is suffering. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The Elgin and Laurier intersection is finally getting fixed. It should have happened years ago, after a cyclist was killed in 2019. And just this summer, Saloni Aitawadekar died after being hit by a pickup truck driver while she was crossing the street. www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

I do apologize for stating that the church monetizes its parking lot, which it does not.

I am listening to Lily Allen’s new breakup album while cooking today and ooh boy, I have not felt this involved in someone’s romantic betrayal since Natalie Maines from The Chicks found another woman’s tights on her boat …

I have been relatively quiet on here this week, because my office has been dealing with a barrage of email from people who attend a particular church, upset about the addition of paid parking on Saturdays nearby. BTW: there 525 free parking spots within the 400m zone (and 202 spots within 200m).

I look forward to footage from the NYC Halloween parade every year. Hundreds of people learning the Thriller dance and filling the streets? Yes, please. Cities are for joy.

Three years ago, I was elected to represent Somerset Ward at City Hall, the greatest honour of my life. I am proud of the work we have been able to do together and will keep on fighting for a better city and for more resources to improve our downtown communities.

One of my favourite trainers at my gym brings her dog Baloo with her as her assistant. 14/10, best coach.

Once you go full sized, you never go back. I hope enough kids brave the rain to share in the bounty.

“What would you think if I told you that in Ottawa, between 2017 and 2020, 95 people died in elevators? What would we be doing here in the Legislature?” @cmckenney.bsky.social on banning automated speed enforcement.

Before the moon rises and the pumpkins begin to glow, #OttCity’s waste collection trucks will vanish from the roads by 6 pm today, October 31. If your leaf and yard waste collection is missed, it will be collected on November 1. Have a wickedly good Halloween!

I am getting a tonne of email this morning, urging me to vote no to Lansdowne 2.0. Already on it!

Everyone think of the teachers today, dealing with hyped up kids on Halloween when it’s pouring and recess will be indoors. Also, drive carefully this afternoon. It will be rainy and dark — remember that the littlest kids start trick or treating as early as 5.

Rent is high. Groceries are impossible. But instead of taxing billionaires, the govt is pushing Bill C-12 to deport workers. Syed Hussan explains how migrant blaming is a strategy to distract us. Stop Bill C-12. Stop the scapegoating: migrantrights.ca/StopC12 #StatusForAll

People will die just as democracy has. No consultation. It’s Trumpy.

My FB memories tell me that I graduated with my MA in women’s studies 14 years ago. It has proved to be very useful — I am still using drafts of my thesis as scrap paper for grocery lists.

I had so much fun facilitating a panel at the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness conference on ways that housing/homelessness advocates can work with municipal governments to make change. Ending homelessness takes all of us. Building relationships leads to social and political transformation.

Lansdowne 2.0 goes to committee today. Here is where I stand.

There's lots to mull in this Citizen article exploring 417 congestion. All is not hopeless but there are challenges. Transit is the key to quicker commutes. Restoring and then improving transit will help speed everyone along.

I am at the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness conference in Montreal this week. Looking forward to learning from experts from across Canada and sharing Ottawa challenges and success stories. This is a national crisis and it will take all of us to end it.

Exactly what we said would happen when the Ford govt forced the supervised consumption site at Somerset West Community Health Centre: more overdoses in public. Bad for people with addictions, a burden on city services and terrible for the vitality of Chinatown. www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

Great to see so many council colleagues and community partners today at Cross-Sector Dialogue: Systemic Solutions to Food Security in Ottawa. Right now, 1/4 people in our city experience food insecurity. No one should go hungry in a rich country like ours.

This would have led to catastrophic new levels of homelessness — thank you to everyone who spoke out. Now let’s keep hammering the Ford government on its bad decisions about bike lanes, supervised consumption sites and speed cameras. www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/poli...