A community advocate and organizer is questioning the quality control and enforcement of contracted projects at the City of Ottawa after seeing a trend of “shoddy” workmanship and unfinished results.
Neil Saravanamuttoo is the executive director of CitySHAPES, a not-for-profit in Ottawa focused on city-building and community.
Recently, he published a post on his Substack page, called The613, examining some recent cleaning and repair projects around his neighbourhood that he said made him question the standards within the City when it comes to contracted jobs. The post garnered the most attention and reaction from the public that he’s seen on the Substack, he said.
“I’m someone that paid a lot of attention to the city that we’re in, and I love Ottawa and want it to work as well as it can,” he told Ottawa Compass. “And I’ve just been out in my neighbourhood and have looked at recent public works that have happened very close to my home.
“I can’t help but notice that there’s a common theme, which is that they all have somewhat shoddy standards, and it’s really disappointing,” he explained. “And so I’ve been asking the question, ‘why is this happening?’”
There are a few examples that he drew on. One was the sweeping of debris and leftover road salt on the Flora Footbridge, which crosses the Rideau Canal near Lansdowne Park, connecting the Glebe with Echo Drive and Clegg Street.
“I’m out there every single day walking my dog, so I know exactly when something changes. It has been swept on two different occasions and each time, they never quite finished the job,” said Saravanamuttoo. “Why is this happening? Where is the quality control?
“And my second question is, ‘is this specific job ever going to get finished?’ I mean, I suspect not at this point,” he continued. “I think what we’ve got, we’ve got, and perhaps the rain will wash away whatever is left by the end of the summer, but even a good month after the last sweeping, there’s still a lot of a lot of mess there.”
Another issue in the neighbourhood is the renewal of Glebe Ave, an ongoing project that includes replacing the existing watermain — built in 1906 — and sanitary sewer — built in 1910 — between Bank Street and O’Connor Street. The project also involves the reconstruction of the road and curbs, the addition of traffic calming features and a bike lane, and the widening of the existing sidewalk.
To date, the approved project funds are $5,575,000.
The majority of the construction was completed in summer of 2024, but Saravanamuttoo said the job is far from finished.
He says the new road has been built to “state of the art” standards to allow for active transportation, buses and cars in order to accommodate all different users. But it isn’t without its flaws.
“The bike lane, which is brand new, is actually quite bumpy, so it would be too bumpy for, say, a skateboarder to be able to use, I think,” he explained. “How do you build something that’s brand new, and yet it has such quality issues?”
“I think that if you asked most people, ‘is this up to standard?’ People would say no,” he continued. “I’m spending my tax tax dollars on this. We expect better. We expect what is undoubtedly in the contract, that it will be created up to certain quality standards, but we’re just not meeting those.”
Another example near Saravanamuttoo’s home is something that he expects occurs all over the city — a botched sidewalk repair.
“Last summer, I watched a crew repair cracks in the sidewalk. There were two contractors, and they were being supervised by a city employee in his truck, and they would create these big mounds of asphalt over all the cracks,” he said. “The first snowfall, plows came and took off a layer of this asphalt.
“And, quite frankly, after two or three passes, some of them had been completely removed” he continued. “So I don’t know why we are spending so much money to fix something that is only going to last for a few months. If we’re going to do it, let’s do it right.”
Ottawa Compass reached out to the City of Ottawa about these projects.
In regard to the sweeping of the footbridge, Bryden Denyes, area manager for roads services with the City, said that sweeping was completed spring and that maintenance will continue on an “as-needed” basis.
He recommended residents report areas in need of maintenance using the Ottawa.ca online form or by calling 3-1-1, but did not respond to questions about why the first sweeps on the bridge were seemingly unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, city staff acknowledged that the Glebe Avenue renewal project is not yet officially complete and that they are aware of concerns regarding the bike lane. He also said taxpayers will not be billed for the cost of repairing errors made by the contractor.
Randy Dempsey, City of Ottawa’s acting manager of design and construction, said the remaining work on the project includes construction of the speed humps, sod touch ups, small plantings and “correcting any deficiencies from work completed last year.”
“Staff are aware of issues with the cycle track, which has been identified as a deficiency and the City is currently assessing the extent of the repairs required,” Dempsey told Ottawa Compass. “The cost of these repairs will be the responsibility of the contractor.”
Sidewalk repairs also fall under Dryden’s purview. He said the City of Ottawa adheres to the Municipal Maintenance Standards (MMS), which is provincially mandated.
When it comes to sidewalks, any surface discontinuity greater than 2 cm — as is the case with the repair Saravanamuttoo described — is classified as a Class A hazard under the City’s council-approved Maintenance Quality Standards (MQS).
This means the issue is defined as a safety issue that “poses a risk to pedestrians, such as a potential tripping hazard, and requires prompt attention,” said Dryen.
“These hazards are typically marked with high-visibility paint and addressed within 14 calendar days of identification,” he continued. “Corrective actions may involve grinding, patching, or full panel replacement, depending on the severity of the hazard and other factors.”
This also seems to require that a resident report the issue. Dryden did not elaborate on whether City inspectors are evaluating work as it is being completed to ensure it meets standards, rather than repairing it after the fact.
“It’s quite difficult to engage with the city on these issues…The onus should not be on residents to have to report shoddy work,” said Saravanamuttoo. “There should be city inspectors that come and inspect a job as it’s being completed and sign off on it if it meets standards.
“If it doesn’t meet the quality standards, then the contractor should finish the job properly, but that does not appear to be happening,” he continued. “And so what’s happening is that the onus is falling on residents to report when work is not up to quality, and who knows whether anything will ever get done about it.”
He said he received more reaction to this post than any others in the past, both in online comments and in private messages or emails. Some online comments claimed that city staff have told residents that there is “little to no oversight” on contracted jobs. One comment, posted by investigative journalist and academic Declan Hill, called Ottawa a “ramshackle, 3rd world hell hole.”
Saravanamuttoo said he also received a variety of emails from residents who simply wanted to share their experiences. In some cases, he said they were just happy to see someone advocating for the issues they were facing.
“I think one of the reactions that I did get was that people feel we can complain about these issues, but does anything ever happen?” he continued. “Does that specific issue get fixed, but perhaps more importantly, does the City learn its lesson and do better the next time?
“And that’s where there’s a lot of cynicism. I see a lot of people that have essentially lost faith and trust in their City Hall.”
