In defence of Sandy Hill: Residents weigh in on criticism of eclectic neighbourhood

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Tending to the tidy, colourful garden in front of her Sandy Hill home on a quiet mid-week afternoon, Kathryn Holst is pushing back against the tide of heavy criticism against the neighbourhood.

It has been a hot topic on the streets here ever since RE/MAX received a flood of ridicule for labelling the area — bordered by Rideau Street to the north, Highway 417 to the south, the Rideau River to the east and the Rideau Canal to the west — as one of Canada’s best neighbourhoods in Canada, according to its 2024 Liveability Report earlier this month.

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“We’ve lived in Westboro, West Wellington Village, Alta Vista and lots of other places before we got married,” Holst says of life with her husband, Brian Gottheil. “This is my favourite neighbourhood of all those, totally. And all of those other neighbourhoods were awesome.”

Holst and Gottheil live a five-minute walk away from Strathcona Park, an inner-city 15-acre gem of stately trees, bordered on one side by the flowing Rideau River and a row of embassies on the other.

The couple can easily bike to get their groceries, to check out the Lansdowne Park markets or to see what’s playing at the National Arts Centre. They’re regulars for Jazz Fest at Confederation Park.

Casually stroll around for 10 minutes and you’ll see an eclectic mix of restaurants offering tastes of the world.

“It’s an amazing neighbourhood to live in for all those reasons; the green spaces, the services, the heritage, the culture,” Holst continues. “Some would say it’s trilingual … bilingual for sure. It’s near both the canal and the Ottawa River, too.”

Nicolas Alvarez, a University of Ottawa chemical engineering student from Winnipeg, echoes all of the above.

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“I love this area because it’s so peaceful, calm,” said Alvarez, taking a break from his part-time gig, dog walking white terriers Pedro and Olivia, in Strathcona Park. “I can sit here in the sun or take a nap here and I know for sure that nothing will happen to me. It’s really close to everything. I feel really secure here.

“Of course, there are some parts where … in every part of the world, there are some homeless issues, but apart from that, this is a really nice place to live.”

Ah, therein lies the rub.

For all the great, there’s a lot of grime: the idyllic side of Sandy Hill is in stark contrast to its darker edge.

It’s also home to overflowing homeless shelters, a safe drug injection site and streets of shady student housing. On weekend nights, there’s bleed from the well-publicized ByWard Market issues. And while police have done a better job of shutting down out-of-control post-Panda Game partying around Russell Avenue in recent years, the photos of the past paint an ugly picture of the neighbourhood.

Ward 12, which also includes the bordering communities of Lowertown, the ByWard Market and Vanier, has the highest rate of violent crime in the city, based on Ottawa police statistics from 2023.

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Considering all that, many found the RE/MAX assessment of Sandy Hill laughable and out of touch.

RE/MAX has since done some back-pedalling, emphasizing that the report was based on criteria including “affordability, proximity to work, easily walkable, access to green spaces and parks, proximity to health or medical services, proximity to public transit and childcare/schools, access to bike/walking paths, diverse cultures and ethnicities, and high-density neighbourhoods.”

Rideau-Valley Coun. Stephanie Plante, who lives in Sandy Hill, was surprised at the study.

She’s a huge fan of the community — “I like to keep up with the students and the trends, and we have better food choices now” — but says the over-concentration of emergency services in the area is an issue.

In many ways, she says it’s a tale of two neighbourhoods in one.

“There’s a huge difference between people on Mann Avenue or Range Road and the single-family homes and those living near Daly, Besserer and King Edward,” Plante said. “It’s a different reality.”

There’s also the reality of student living in the midst of the two extremes.

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Sophia Lacey, who spent four years studying nursing at the University of Ottawa, works as a server at Fathers and Sons, the long-established restaurant at the corner of King Edward and Osgoode. She still lives nearby.

“I think it has its charm and its character, but it has definitely changed a lot,” she said. “This year, we had a homeless guy break into our home. It’s really dirty around here with trash and there’s an insane rat problem, but other than that, it’s great.

“Everybody is close. You can walk just about anywhere you want in 10 minutes, max. Usually, that’s the best part of the night, walking with friends.”

She has learned to keep her eyes open.

“The safe injection site is right there and a couple of times, coming home from shopping, I’ve had my Ritz crackers stolen. I don’t know why they always go for the Ritz crackers, it’s kind of funny. It is a great place to live. Even bad things have their charm.”

Likewise for Tonya Miller, Sandy Hill offers a mixed-bag experience.

“There are some great little neighbourhoods and nice old houses, but a lot has been turned into apartments for students,” said Miller, a New Edinburgh resident biking through the city to show it off to friends visiting from Philadelphia.

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“We go to the Ottawa Little Theatre and Lansdowne, so we will go through Sandy Hill to get there, but I feel like it’s getting a little rundown with the homelessness problems.”

As for Holst and Gottheil, they concede they’re living in a “nicer pocket” of the neighbourhood. At the same time, though, they believe that the homelessness and abuse crises that exist within should be considered a wider city problem.

“I’ve heard some folks complaining about the neighbourhood, but I disagree with a lot of it,” said Gottheil. “Whether I’m living in Sandy Hill or living in Westboro or living in a rural area, I’m concerned about that as a community member, and we all need to discuss those issues.”

kwarren@postmedia.com

X: Citizenkwarren

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