Centretown Community Association Releases City of Ottawa Budget 2026 Recommendations

The Centretown Community Association (CCA) appreciates the opportunity to participate in the 2026 City of Ottawa Budget process. CCA Committees submitted budget recommendations, the CCA considered the recommendations and what follows are the recommendations we’re asking Somerset Councillor Ariel Troster, Mayor Sutcliffe and Ottawa City Council to consider in their deliberations.

Our Transportation Committee recommends:

● The city funds adequate snow removal and to have streets cleared faster following large snowfalls.

●  funding for sustainable transportation improvements, like priority bus lanes and active transportation projects and

●  along with SEPAW (CCA Safety Committee), asks for traffic safety, including e-scooter and e-bike safety and education.

●  most importantly asks that OC Transpo be adequately and properly funded, with no budget gaps or shortages of funding.

The Heritage Committee would like to see the continuation of funding for the Golden Triangle Heritage District and for grants to refurbish the heritage elements of heritage buildings.

From the CCA SEPAW (Safety Committee):

●  We call for an increase in the budgets of our Councillors’ Offices. We see the need for residents of Somerset Ward, and all wards to see increased capacity in the assistance they receive. Increased population across the city without increased capacity in a Councillor’s office does not serve the residents well.

●  Centretown desperately and specifically needs more Community/Neighbourhood Police to help residents in the ward feel safe. The crime rates for the ward have increased, there has been a significant increase of people in the ward with mental health challenges, including those with drug addictions: there are not enough resources to meet this need.

●  SEPAW also calls for the education of residents in programs like Bystander Intervention Training, Neighbourhood Watch, CPTED reviews for multi-unit buildings, greater promotion of CAMSafe, and much better lighting.

●  We recommend special meetings to hear what residents in the community want, need and what they can learn how to assist in making their community safe(r).

The CCA Planning Committee recommends:

● the city fund and facilitate a community-based branch of the Ottawa Public Library, to replace the relocation of the main branch out of our community.

The Planning Committee and SEPAW noted that on January 9, 2020, the city council declared that Ottawa has a housing crisis and emergency. The motion on that day called for “more aggressive targets” to preserve and bolster Ottawa’s affordable housing supply and eliminate chronic homelessness completely by 2024, which the city set as its goal in its 10-year housing and homelessness plan. Since this date, the numbers have significantly increased, and both situations are much worse.

●  We ask the city, in the budget, to prioritize people before buildings and to establish more supportive and transitional homes. We call on Ottawa to follow the lead of other cities to build tiny homes and smaller trailer homes.

●  Ottawa should follow the lead of other cities and have specific guidelines for landlords when seeking to renovate their multi-unit buildings.

The Trees & Greenspace & Sustainbility Committee, one of the CCA’s most active committees advocates for:

●  greater support for our greenspaces with funding for acquisition of greenspace, recreational facilities to match the increased population density in Centretown,

●  funding for maintenance of gardens in city parks and quicker replacement of lost trees.

●  A recommendation was made to fund a need for McNabb Park to have electricity.

The CCA expressed a need for continued funding for insurance costs for qualified not-for-profit organizations.

The CCA noted Somerset Ward and specifically, Centretown generates a very large pot of revenue through taxes and asks that this is taken into consideration when debating the budget recommendations from the CCA.

We submit these recommendations as a part of the Council's community consultation for the 2026 City of Ottawa Budget.

Robert Dekker, President Centretown Community Association president@centretowncitizens.ca