“The downtown is sterile, dark, dank, not nearly enough room on the sidewalks for people who use the buses,” Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes said. “It’s really an unsatisfactory situation.”

Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury takes a glass-half-full view.

“It’s improving. We’re seeing little signs of more life,” Fleury said. “People are putting a lot energy around the LRT, but there’s a broader view here. People want to come back to the downtown.”

Labels: ottawa, urban planning