Delighted to return as your Mayor!
The last few months have been difficult and exhausting and I want to extend my thanks to you, the citizens of Ottawa, for your warm wishes of support and encouragement. While I regret that my family and I had to go through this painful ordeal, it was very important for me to defend my name and to have justice and the truth come out.
Now it is time to turn this unhappy page and move forward. And that is exactly what I have done. This morning I was very pleased to return to City Hall and continue my work as Mayor of the greatest city in Canada. I have spent my day being fully briefed by City staff on a variety of issues including the recent flooding in Kanata and Stittsville, Lansdowne Park proposal, the transit file and upcoming Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference.
I have returned to the office with a renewed sense of purpose and I thank you once again for your continued support.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Welcome back Larry - you are right where you should be, and right where we need you to be! Congratulations !
Kevin Shea
August 6th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Welcome back Larry - you are right where you should be, and right where we need you to be! Congratulations !
Kevin Shea
August 6th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Glad you’re back at work!
August 7th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Welcome back Mayor O’Brien!
August 7th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Welcome “home” Larry.
You have my full support. Please consider putting our Ottawa River a priority.
It makes me sick to think of all that raw sewage being dumped in our river.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if families could go to one of our beaches and actually “SWIM”.
Before any new libraries, O Trains etc, we should have CLEAN water.
Sincerely,
Wendy
August 7th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Welcome back, I figured you would be found not guilty all along and now you can put it behind you. I just hope the rest of council now realises that and gets back to the table to get the numerous problems fixed, especially this sewage fiasco.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Congratulations on clearing your name Larry, having worked for you in the past I was very confident that you would beat these bogus charges. As you say, the honour of your family name has been restored and you can hold your head high and get back to the job you were elected to do. I no longer reside in Ottawa but have followed this story with great interest.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I echo Wendy’s sentiments 100% - as a matter of fact, the library system and budget should be cut, not expanded. They have been “out of contol” for too many years. What the residents want in this city - first and foremost - are “basic essential services” and that includes properly functioning sewage systems - the rest of this garbage about expanding library services etc. is all just “nice to have, but NON ESSENTIAL” !
Kevin Shea
August 7th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Larry - I would love to see you move the issue of organized labor in this City to the front burner - as difficult a task as that might be - it is very very necessary:
The problems and waste at City Hall can be laid right at the feet of Organized Labor in this City- and our Councillor’s feet because they are afraid to deal with the Unions ! If we had a staff of non unionized City employees, we could reduce the ranks by one third and we would also have a much more productive and cost effective workforce in this City! We will not escapoe the financial mess that we are in in this City until we deal with the Unions very very harshly ( and the same is true in cities right across this country ) !
Kevin Shea
August 10th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Congrats on standing firm and beating what was a bum rap.
Everyone seems to be concerned about the sewage spills and wants immediate action. Most seem to be unaware that the City recently put in place a five year plan to deal with the problem. It appears to be a doable plan that should improve hings considerably. I think more publicity needs to be given to it so people understand the steps that are being taken, Perhaps the city should publish some full page ads in the newspapers so Ottawans can get a better understanding of it.
Transit and building a better system will be on the front burner for the next twenty years as plans evolve, I do think that the key is getting the downtown tunnel built and the rest will flow from there.
Hopefully the City and the Lansdowne Live group will hammer out a wonderful deal for the people of Ottawa by the end of the month. A deal that council can and will support. Then we get that important issue off the table and move forward with other issues.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Larry, it’s good to have you back.
I’d just like to concur with Kevin’s comments - basic essential services are #1. And the Unions? How on earth did they get so out of control? With Canadian law firmly slanted in favour of Unions, I just don’t know what can be done to put the control back into the hands of the taxpayers and our elected officials.
August 12th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Welcome back it is a shame you and your family (and to a lesser degree the citizens of Ottawa) were put threw this ordeal and it says a lot for your character that you were willing to come back to the table. Time to role back up the sleeves and get back to cutting our runaway budget and getting back to basics… i.e. roads and sewers ahead of new library’s and other non essentials, not that it will be easy with the council “we” elected.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
From Orleans My wife and I are very happy to see you back and pull this city of ours, in working order and hope you will decide to run again and keep on doing your good work for our city.
Welcome back
August 13th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Welcome back!
You have many tasks on hand, I know. Would it not be nice if the taxpayer once again had a say instead of the Unions running our city.