Stay alert to odd encounters

This from a resident near Fairmont Park after seeing the break-in reports:

A few days before I read about the first warning of breakins in the area something odd happened at my door.
In the afternoon a young man, slim, slightly red-blond hair, about 18 or so rang the bell and asked politely if he could have a glass of water.
I told him that I felt a bit uncomfortable about this rather strange request but I obliged, locked the front door with him standing on the front porch and returned with the glass of water. He drank 2/3 of it. I asked him why he was thirsty and he said he had been running. I should have said..but you don't seem to be sweating very much..but I did not. Another young man, dark haired, slim and about the same age stood in the driveway texting on his phone during this episode and said nothing.
This could have been an attempt to find out if anyone was home.

Kenilworth break-in also on June 21st

A resident on Kenilworth saw our email alerting residents to the break in today on Orrin and informed us that  there was another one on Kenilworth today. "A tool was used to pry the door and then it was kicked in. Access to the door was via screened porch. No one was home at the time. The alarm went off and the criminals left without taking anything."

Another break-in today. Orrin Avenue

Incident reported this afternoon on Orrin Avenue.  

The intruder entered their back porch.  One of the homeowners happened to be home and chased him off then called the police. The guy said he thought a cat got hit and went to see if it was okay. BUT he was inside their screened in porch. 

Please remember to make sure you lock your doors and windows even when you are at home!

If you see anyone or anything out of the ordinary call the police and report it.  CHNA has requested increased police presence in our area but we need to get the word out to residents so that they can all take the necessary precautions.

Details of recent crime in our area

Break in on Fairmont last week also by the basement window.

Guy who came to our Hickory St door on Saturday June 9th was asking for ventolin ( ashtma puffer) for his 8 yr old daughter. He claimed to be looking after a neighbour's house for the weekend. Gave a long song and dance about forgeting his wallet in his work truck near Bayshore and didn't have money to pick up a ventolin prescription on Rideau St.

 Caucasian male late forties/ early fifties with tan. Short salt and pepper hair. Approx 5'10, 150lbs. He was wearing a torn neon green t-shirt. Introduced himself as Tom Jr. Drove off in a dark green convertible that may have been parked around the corner for a quick get-away. He approached the neighbour across the street that morning.

 I called the police and reported the incident. My neighbour did not report the incident with "ventolin" guy immediately but ended up calling police on Wed June 13th when she arrived home at night to find a different guy sitting on her back patio in the dark. He scooted off when confronted. She reported the ventolin incident at the time of reporting the patio incident. The police think that "ventolin" guy may have been scoping the houses and is known to police ( getting money from you to fill the prescription is a bonus!) . They think that it is possible that "patio" guy may be working with him. I don't have a clear description of patio guy.

Hi, We live on Reid Av and today (June 14) our house was broken into, despite a car in the driveway and a large dog at home. The police officer mentioned that a home on Spadina was also broken into today. Both instances had an entry via the rear window. Please pass this along to our Civic Hospital neighbours and remember to lock all doors and windows!

PLEASE ALERT YOUR NEIGHBOURS OF THE RECENT CRIME ACTIVITY. 

Break-ins and crime CHNA area- Be Alert

We have had a number of residents report scam artists coming to their door, break-ins and trespassing.
1.  Please ensure your doors and windows are always locked.
2.  Tell your neighbours if you are going to be away and ask them to keep an eye open for anything unusual
3.  Don't let newspapers or mail pile up if you are on vacation or at the cottage
4.  Do not open your door to strangers if at home or stop your car if they are on the street flagging you down.  Desperate people will do desperate things, don't give them the opportunity.  Call 311 to report these incidents.  If there is an emergency call 911.
5.  If you see anything unusual call 311 to report.

More access to healthcare for the Civic's Centennial?

If you didn't see the story in the Metro last week regarding the future of the Civic here is the link: http://metronews.ca/news/ottawa/254085/ottawa-needs-a-new-hospital-maybe-at-the-experimental-farm-kitts/

Access to healthcare is difficult now and will only get worse as the population ages. 

Our local icon-the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital was built in the 1920's to support the community needs during the Spanish Flu epidemic and over the years has been added on to, reconstructed in areas and renovated to the extent that they could in order to deliver the best possible healthcare to not just our community and our city but nationally as it is home to Canada’s largest and foremost cardiovascular health centre which sees over 80,000 cardiac patients a year. 

On May 17th, Dr. Gisele Microys and myself met with Cameron Love, the Senior Vice President of Clinical Programs, Planning and Support Services at TOH to discuss updates to their plans to provide parking in support of the Heart Institute expansion.  It was then that we learned about the possibility of the Civic moving across the street to the experimental farm.  Financing, building and moving a hospital of this size is not a quick or easy task regardless of the location.  We were told that a project such as this would likely take 15-20 years to complete but the migration of some buildings would occur incrementally as the new buildings were constructed.  If, it were to move across the street to the farm, the first phase would be to construct a parking lot to accommodate the heart institute expansion and provide parking for staff that are currently parking on Champagne Ave and taking a shuttle bus to the hospital.  (The Champagne lot will cease to exist soon because of a new development that will be built.)  

There is no plan at this point to make any major changes to the Ruskin Lot.  The lot will likely continue to be used as it currently is for parking until the migration of the hospital is complete at which time the hospital expects to return it to the community as a green space or park.

We will be meeting with Mr. Love again in the Fall for another update.  He has offered to attend one of our public meetings to do a Q&A session on this topic as well so we will invite him to attend our end of year public meetings.