Sutcliffe promises more festivals, attractions to bring people downtown

Mayoral candidate Mark Sutcliffe said, if elected, he'll focus on bringing life back to Ottawa's downtown, releasing a plank of his platformhe hopes will address long-standing issuesand makeit a major destination once more.

"Ottawa is facing significant challenges in the core, with fewer workers, residents, and visitors coming downtown," Sutcliffe said in a Monday press release.

"Without a plan to attract more people, the future of our downtown is at risk."

According to the candidate, he'drevitalize the downtown by working with various organizations and levels of government tocreate a new museum or cultural centre, increasethe number of festivals and connect Ottawa'sLRT toGatineau's rail plans.

For key pieces of Sutcliffe'splan, like a new major attraction,he's looking to work with thefederal government.He also sees the parliamentary precinct being redeveloped into a "grand national gathering place."

To get more people living downtown, he wantsto encourage the conversion ofunused office space into market and affordable housing with the help of $30 million in federal spending.

His campaign said that figure is based on a federal election promise from the Liberals that $600 million would be made available to convert commercial spaces to housing, calculatingthe $30 million based on Ottawa's population.

Address 'safety issues' in ByWard Market

Sutcliffe said a plan is needed to turn around the ByWard Market "so that it regains its status as one of the city's most attractive destinations."

He sees that happening through bringingmore live music,art and festivals into theneighbourhood, as well as byincreasingwalkways, car-free zones and public seating to encourage people to stay downtown longer.

More also needs to be done to support vulnerable residents in the neighbourhood, according to his release.

Sutcliffe said he'd create a task forcewithin 30 days of taking office to look at how to improve the response to mental illness and substance abuse disorders. This would work in conjunction witha new ByWard Market Storefront Neighbourhood Operations Centre of police and social servicesthat would work to address those problems andcrime.

"We can't continue to ignore the safety issues that are acutely felt in this neighbourhood," the release reads.

Catherine McKenney's campaignsaid the pandemic has created issues for downtown Ottawa that need addressing.

The candidate is a member of a task force which includes an MP and local business and community leaders working on "innovative and ambitious ideas" for downtown, a campaign spokesperson said.

If elected, they propose moving toward a "mixed-use model" that includes housing, commercial and retail, arts and culture and community services by working with the federal government and other local stakeholders.

Complete communities

Brandon Bay, anothercandidate for mayor,also wants to tap into the unused office space downtownand supports more municipally-owned housing.

"I don't know that it needs to be agovernment service forever, but it does seem to work better that way and that affordable housing is just often not profitable," he said.

We need to prioritize getting people back into the downtown.- Brandon Bay, candidate for mayor

Bay said one focus of his campaign is creating complete communities throughout the city places where everything someone might need is within a 15-minute walk.

To do that in the downtown core, he said thepopulation needs to increase to where it can support businesses and services without the help of commuters and tourists.

He said a big part of that is getting affordable housing into the area, as the city declared a homelessness emergency and saw it worsen during the pandemic.

"We need to prioritize getting people back into the downtown and we need to prioritize building a downtown in a way that, you know, supports those people very well."

There are 14 people running for mayor. Future advance voting days are Oct. 7 and 14 and election day is Oct. 24.