Ottawa City Hall year in review

2013 was a year of bold visionand spectacular failure. It was also the last full year of this councils term, setting the stage for another election.

Heres a look at some of the highlights and low points of the year that was at Ottawa City Hall.

LRT:the mayors bold vision

This was the first year those of us unfamiliar with heavy tunnelling equipment first heard the term Roadheader.

Thats the enormous, orange machine three machines, actually that are now burrowing through the bedrock under our feet to complete the $2.1-billion Confederation Line in time for 2018.

At a public ceremony marking the beginning of the project, Mayor Jim Watson was moved to tears a first, as far as anyone covering the mayor can recall.

But the real earth-shattering news came two days earlierwhen Watson unveiled a far more ambitious transit plan, with light rail tendrils stretching east, west and south, all by 2023.

At another $3billion, the plan practically empties the piggy bank for the decade beyond. It also requires equal one-third contributions from the federal and provincial governments.

And while the early signals from Watsons friends at Queens Park have been positive, Conservative MP Royal Galipeauquipped his government is no Santa Claus.

Still, this is clearly Jim Watsons legacy projectand one he plans to at least get started before he cedes the mayors chair.

Watson doubles down

2013 will also go down as the year the mayor gambled, and lost. Badly.

Last fall Jim Watson was betting everything on a downtown casino. Without any meaningful public consultation, and without properly studying the potential social or economic impact, city council barrelled ahead and asked the OLG to get the bidding process rolling.

But Watson badly underestimated the support for keeping the slots at the Rideau Carleton Raceway, so in June he asked the OLG to grant the city two casino zones.

The province declined, and council pulled the plug, voting for an expanded gambling facility at the Raceway.

That enraged Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, whod been working on a bid of his own for a casino complex at the Canadian Tire Centre.

The very public feud culminated with Melnyk telling a Toronto radio station that Watson acts like hes flown in from another planet.

Offering what may be a candidate for Understatement of the Year, a sombre Watson admitted, I dont think its been a particularly smooth process, and Ill take the blame for that.

A bridge so far

It sounded simple enough: Build a footbridge over the Ottawa Airport Parkway, connecting two pedestrian paths and giving residents west of the busy roadway safe access to shops and transit stations on the east side.

But the problems began almost as soon as construction commenced in the summer of 2011.

First faulty concrete halted the project for monthsand forced the contractor to demolish and rebuild the structure, then a city engineer began questioning the unusual design of the bridges support system.

Independent engineering studies concurred, culminating with Delcans report earlier this month that concluded failure of any one structural element would almost certainly result in the collapse of the bridge.

The debacle has brought about significant changes to the way the city oversees infrastructure projects, particularly bridges. And the city is vowing to go after the designer, Genivar, for every penny.

But in the end council voted to spend another $4.65million to fix the embarrassing mistake, and a "simple" job that was originally supposed to take three months will take three years.

Out with the old

This was the last full year of this councils term. Just two days into 2014, candidates can begin filing their nomination papers, marking the start of silly season: that special time when a politicians every word takes on special significance, and every flub earns extra scrutiny.

Jim Watson will seek re-election. If theres a real contender out there, he or she is keeping very quiet in a town where secrets dont keep too well.

Some councillors might not get off so lightly. Its too early to say whether Election 2014 will see as thorough a house-cleaning as Election 2010, when six incumbents with decades of political experience among them lost their bids for re-election, and 10 new nameplates appeared on Councillors Row.

Already some strong challengers are expressing their intentions, like community activist Jeff Lieper, who will give Katherine Hobbs a fight in Kitchissippi Ward. Expect similar battles to emerge across the electoral map.

Also, expect Jim Watson to keep his friends close. Loyalty to the mayor can pay off at election time, and while Watson denied backing a slate of candidates in the last election, that wont stop some of them from calling in favours if and when the going gets tough.