Wake up Ottawa!

by Sara MacLennan on August 20, 201220. Aug, 2012 in Around Edmonton, Investing in Alberta Real Estate

 A recent article in the Ottawa Citizen criticizes its own city planners by saying Edmonton of all places is doing a better job than they are. 

When a city like Ottawa has fallen behind Edmonton, it ought to be a wake-up call.

According to the author the only thing Edmonton has going for it is the City Centre Redevelopment, and he calls our city “dull.” The article got over two pages of comments supporting our city and I have to wonder if the author has ever visited Edmonton. 

The author says our best know cultural achievement is the West Edmonton Mall. My first reaction to this article was this guy is a pompous ass. I could list dozens of reasons to choose Edmonton over Ottawa. But then I realized, perception is reality in many cases. Just because Edmonton has tons of great features, it doesn’t mean the rest of the country or the world knows about them. I think our city is getting better and better all the time, and eventually people are going to start to notice. In the meantime, here are some of the reason I think Edmonton kicks Ottawa’s butt:

  • Festivals, festivals, festivals – over 30 each year including one of the world’s largest Fringe Festivals and Folk Festivals
  • Canada’s largest Urban Park – our river valley is 22x larger than Central Park in New York with over 150km of trails
  • 17 hour days in the summer
  • Cultural capital of Canada a few years ago
  • One of the 10 best shopping districts in Canada – Old Strathcona
  • Ottawa hasn’t one the Stanley Cup since 1927, if that even counts
  • Capital Health continually recognized as one of the best health care systems in the Country
  • The Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute has made Edmonton the undisputed heart transplant capital of Canada
  • One of the best publicly funded education systems in North America
  • 10 post secondary schools including one of the top-funded research Universities in Canada and the largest technical school in Canada
  • 830 parks, 338 playgrounds and 40 off-leash dog parks.
  • The city’s residential recycling programs keep 70 per cent of the city’s waste out of the landfill
  • One of the highest per capita incomes, and lowest personal tax burden in Canada. Low municipal property taxes and no provincial sales tax.
  • Less traffic
  • Lower cost of doing business
  • I could go on and on…

Stats taken from City of Edmonton web site. What reasons do you think Edmonton is better than Ottawa?

*I have never lived in Ottawa, but I have been there many times and I have lived in Ontario.

About

Sara MacLennan is the Director of Marketing at Liv Real Estate and a licensed Real Estate Associate. The bulk of Sara’s experience and wealth of expertise lies in on-line technology and marketing both for agents and consumers. Sara is the former National Director for Interactive Marketing for Coldwell Banker Canada where she was responsible for an extensive training program traveling to offices across the country training agents and brokers on marketing and technology. Find Sara on Twitter @edmontonblogger.

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11 Responses to “Wake up Ottawa!”

  1. GregNo Gravatar 20. Aug, 2012 at 2:43 pm #

    I have lived in both. Apples and oranges.

    Both have great things about them. Depends what your lifestyle is. I prefer Edmonton.

  2. Inspector GadgetNo Gravatar 20. Aug, 2012 at 4:30 pm #

    While I totally agree that both cities have advantages and disadvantages in the grand scheme of things Ottawa is a much nicer city. I have the unique experience of attending University in Ottawa and living there several years after, and have lived in Edmonton for over 13 years now.
    Ottawa is a gorgeous city with old buildings, beautiful rivers and canals, and great recreation very nearby in the Gatineau hills. Even the skiing is even decent in Quebec. You are a reasonable drive from so many amazing places too, including NYC, Montreal, Quebec City, and even the maritimes.
    I love the proximity to the big mountains that Edmonton offers and the city has been very good to me financially…and the Fringe and Folk and Oilers etc are great, but really the city is just ok. Too many downsides to make it great.

  3. GMNo Gravatar 20. Aug, 2012 at 7:59 pm #

    Don’t forget Edmonton has such a highly regarded mayor and councillors, who brought us such wonderful ideas as the $600,000 pile of steel balls, and Katz’s money pit, resulting in having to raise property taxes substantially year after year.

    Also, because they continually blow our money on stuff like the above, they have no money for things like mosquito control.

    • GregNo Gravatar 21. Aug, 2012 at 7:35 am #

      Ha! Complaining about politicians in Edmonton vs Ottawa?!?! Please…

  4. NathanNo Gravatar 21. Aug, 2012 at 11:52 am #

    I’ve never been to Ottawa, but I have been to other world-class cities. Edmonton is pretty good overall. It has improved remarkably in the last 10 years or so, from a typical North American city, to something we should be proud of.

    Edmonton isn’t perfect, we don’t have many historical landmarks or the most stunning architecture, but we do have a great cultural wealth, and a rugged beauty.

    The thing that makes Edmonton great isn’t so much what it is, or what it has been, but what it aspires to be: Innovative, Sustainable, Diverse, Vibrant and Prosperous. A city for the 21st Century.

    • Sara MacLennanNo Gravatar 21. Aug, 2012 at 12:19 pm #

      Well said! Couldn’t agree with you more. While I wish we had more historical buildings, we do have some cool new architecture – the Art Gallery of Alberta building won the 2012 American Architecture Award.

      • wsnNo Gravatar 22. Aug, 2012 at 1:59 pm #

        It’s sad that people still never heard of Edmonton even with the award. Here is a link to the site:

        link to chi-athenaeum.org

        It states:

        ART GALLERY OF ALBERTA
        Alberta, British Columbia, Canada, 2010
        Architects: Randall Stout Architects, Inc.
        Client: Art Gallery of Alberta
        Contractor: Ledcor Construction Ltd.
        Photographers: Robert Lemermeyer

  5. Sara MacLennanNo Gravatar 22. Aug, 2012 at 11:11 am #

    I was forced to delete an entire conversation here due to trolling.

  6. gmNo Gravatar 24. Aug, 2012 at 9:51 am #

    I have never been to Ottawa but would beg to differ with the comment that West Edmonton Mall is a “cultural achievement”. I wouldn’t even list WEM in my list of things that are wonderful about Edmonton. I think it is an ugly monstrosity. Fortunately Edmonton has many other things that overpower the WEM, things that matter much more to families day-to-day, like great schools, the U of A, the river valley, Fort Edmonton (OK maybe not day-to-day, but I’d much rather go there than WEM), beautiful parks and neighborhoods.

    • GMNo Gravatar 24. Aug, 2012 at 10:01 am #

      Hey, gm…

      How about using a different name for yourself so everyone doesn’t confuse you with me.

      Thanks.
      GM

      • wsnNo Gravatar 24. Aug, 2012 at 10:34 am #

        Size does matter.