Ottawa here we come!

The conditions are all removed from the sale of our house so it's time to go house hunting!! Anyone got any opinions or info about the various areas of Ottawa? We're seeing lots of houses in Kanata and Barrhaven that are nice and in our price range....but it's soooo suburbia. We're talking white picket fence, no funky shops or corner stores, just big chain strip malls. I'd like to live in the city now while the kids are young, but I don't want to be in an area that would have parks and playgrounds littered with beer cans and dirty needles. Not that it couldn't happen in suburbia, but it's not as prevalent in Kanata and Barrhaven from what I hear. Time to do some research, but it's so hard from here.