![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Ottawa has long had a reputation for being the town that fun forgot. A boring civil service town where they rolled up the streets, sidewalks and patios at 5PM after all the office workers had fled the downtown core.
Then COVID struck. Suddenly downtown was a barren wasteland, no matter the time of day. People worked from home. All the services that had previously supported office workers - the coffee shops, restaurants, dry cleaners, shoe repair places, bookstores, office supply places, intriguing little boutiques - no longer had customers. Staff were laid off, owners and renters were no longer able to afford overhead costs, businesspeople went out of business.
When restrictions were lifted, workers didn't flock back to the office in droves. Those that did go back, whether by choice or against their will, often had to fight tooth and nail to get any kind of office space, let alone the equipment they needed to carry out their duties. At best, office buildings were converted to something useful and functional, at worst they died of neglect or could only be reached by tromping through virtually impassable construction zones.
Just over a year ago, the City of Ottawa decided it would be a fine idea to appoint a Nightlife Commissioner, popularly known as a "night mayor" and pronounced like "nightmare". Then just as this summer was getting underway, the City even started implementing a few ideas to stimulate Ottawa nightlife. Soon there will be a new entertainment venue in the location of the old Chapters store at Rideau and Sussex. And behind it, in the Byward Market, there's this Night Ambassadors program:
https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/city-news/newsroom/night-ambassadors-are-coming-byward-market-help-ensure-everyone-has-safe-night-out
It seems to me, however, that maybe we'd have a better, more vibrant city if we could first realize a few of our daydreams! For working-aged people, nightlife often evolves from the after-work drink or dinner date or show somewhere. I can vividly remember the Tap Room that was in the basement of a downtown hotel (possibly the Beacon Arms?) In the early 1970s, my university days, we used to flock there on Friday afternoons when classes were over, and enjoy a glass of cheap beer. Very often there was a lineup stretching all the way down the stairs. They did a roaring trade!
Besides, not everyone is keen on going out and partying at night. But most want or need to be out and about, at least occasionally, during the day. There are errands to run, appointments to get to, people to see, things to do.
When I first retired in 2009, there were far more opportunities out there. I enjoyed going to museums, art galleries, parks, libraries and book clubs. Carleton had this wonderful Learning in Retirement program, similar to the Open University concept, and I took many non-credit courses covering a whole range of things - Buddhism, detective fiction, wine and food regions of Italy, Italian language programs, the neurology of aging, women and Islam. Some were walking tours or alternated walking tours with lectures, like one covering Ottawa monuments and third spaces. The courses were almost always fully enrolled and even had waiting lists. But just a few months ago, it all closed down, although some of the individual facilitators have started contacting past participants and setting up courses independent of the university infrastructure.
Many things pivoted to on-line only during COVID lockdowns and have never re-emerged into their former in-person incarnations. But hey, I'm still here in the real world, a living, breathing human being. I'm not a bot or an AI. So there!!
Then COVID struck. Suddenly downtown was a barren wasteland, no matter the time of day. People worked from home. All the services that had previously supported office workers - the coffee shops, restaurants, dry cleaners, shoe repair places, bookstores, office supply places, intriguing little boutiques - no longer had customers. Staff were laid off, owners and renters were no longer able to afford overhead costs, businesspeople went out of business.
When restrictions were lifted, workers didn't flock back to the office in droves. Those that did go back, whether by choice or against their will, often had to fight tooth and nail to get any kind of office space, let alone the equipment they needed to carry out their duties. At best, office buildings were converted to something useful and functional, at worst they died of neglect or could only be reached by tromping through virtually impassable construction zones.
Just over a year ago, the City of Ottawa decided it would be a fine idea to appoint a Nightlife Commissioner, popularly known as a "night mayor" and pronounced like "nightmare". Then just as this summer was getting underway, the City even started implementing a few ideas to stimulate Ottawa nightlife. Soon there will be a new entertainment venue in the location of the old Chapters store at Rideau and Sussex. And behind it, in the Byward Market, there's this Night Ambassadors program:
https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/city-news/newsroom/night-ambassadors-are-coming-byward-market-help-ensure-everyone-has-safe-night-out
It seems to me, however, that maybe we'd have a better, more vibrant city if we could first realize a few of our daydreams! For working-aged people, nightlife often evolves from the after-work drink or dinner date or show somewhere. I can vividly remember the Tap Room that was in the basement of a downtown hotel (possibly the Beacon Arms?) In the early 1970s, my university days, we used to flock there on Friday afternoons when classes were over, and enjoy a glass of cheap beer. Very often there was a lineup stretching all the way down the stairs. They did a roaring trade!
Besides, not everyone is keen on going out and partying at night. But most want or need to be out and about, at least occasionally, during the day. There are errands to run, appointments to get to, people to see, things to do.
When I first retired in 2009, there were far more opportunities out there. I enjoyed going to museums, art galleries, parks, libraries and book clubs. Carleton had this wonderful Learning in Retirement program, similar to the Open University concept, and I took many non-credit courses covering a whole range of things - Buddhism, detective fiction, wine and food regions of Italy, Italian language programs, the neurology of aging, women and Islam. Some were walking tours or alternated walking tours with lectures, like one covering Ottawa monuments and third spaces. The courses were almost always fully enrolled and even had waiting lists. But just a few months ago, it all closed down, although some of the individual facilitators have started contacting past participants and setting up courses independent of the university infrastructure.
Many things pivoted to on-line only during COVID lockdowns and have never re-emerged into their former in-person incarnations. But hey, I'm still here in the real world, a living, breathing human being. I'm not a bot or an AI. So there!!
