Deceptive progress

Debris is now being carried down the Rideau, rather than ice. The river's full, but not dramatically so. Walking on its grassy banks this morning the ground still felt hard underfoot and the grass has very little green in it, as yet.

The Minto Bridge renovation that has taken so long is nearly done. The tarpaulin cover has been removed and it looks from a distance as if we have a new road surface and new board walk beside it, but the fences are still up, so I can't yet take a closer look. There are still vehicles parked on the bridge and workers' huts at this end of it.

Work on the new condo buildings at WaterStreet, though very well publicized all around the city, hasn't begun yet, either, though the street itself was dug up in places a week or so ago, presumably to check the infrastructure––the pipes and cables. The location is being advertised as "a quiet haven amid the excitement and energy of the downtown core" and will no doubt be seen as a desirable place to live. However, someone else's blogpost points out how misleading that map on the Claridge website is, when you take a close look at it:

The actual location of the WaterStreet development is more or less correct, however the developer has taken the liberty to redraw the boundaries of the Byward Market and New Edinburgh (both are highlighted in purple). As one can see from the map, the Byward Market area has leaped across King Edward placing it (conveniently) at the doorsteps of the new Claridge development. New Edinburgh on the other hand covers most of Lindenlea and portions of Vanier. In addition, the entire area located between Mackay and Stanley is turned into parkland.