Stephen Blais doesn’t immediately see why he has a reputation for being arrogant.

Of course, the Cumberland Ward councillor has asked city staff and developers to leave his office for not being prepared enough for meetings. And he has pushed hard on the city’s bureaucracy to move forward on what he sees as key issues for the residents he represents in Orléans and Cumberland. And, he admits, he has “walked around process” on occasion instead of “walking through” it.

“Do you piss people off when you do that? Sometimes,” Blais concedes.

here's already disagreement over a proposed LRT extension after a City of Ottawa report suggests bus money for Orleans could go towards light rail instead.

Commuters in the city's east end said it can take as many as two hours to get to work with traffic.

"When going from one end to another, there are no direct routes; I take three buses to work," said Trevor Smith. "It's too much time commuting every day."

City staff are to assess how light-rail transit can be brought to Orléans “at the earliest opportunity” by reviewing whether to invest in trains rather than buses in one of two rapid-transit corridors, says Cumberland Councillor Stephen Blais, whose bid to have options studied was approved by council last year.

The city plans to eventually extend light-rail east of Blair Road along a pair of routes: One south of Highway 174 and the other a Cumberland transit corridor that stretches along a section of Innes Road and continues south of Innes before ending east of Trim Road.

Orléans residents might actually see LRT in their lifetimes.

The city’s planning chief told council Friday staff will investigate if it’s a good idea to take all the rapid transit money earmarked for the east end and use it for extending light rail there.

The area has one of the highest transit demands in Ottawa.

Roadwork is to begin this summer after a permanent solution was found to bumps in the road along a section of Highway 174, says Cumberland Councillor Stephen Blais.

A stretch of the highway between Montreal Road and an area east of the split with Highway 417 was well-known for its poor conditions. Last fall, workers ground down humps and sealed cracks in the highway as “interim measures” aimed at improving the road.