The city is about to hold sessions on what to do with disused industrial lands in Lachine but developers are already ahead of them as usual.
Updates from February, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Several major festivals have written an open letter complaining of problems at the Quartier des spectacles which divide into two main categories: the resurgence of the area means there are many new bars and restaurants with which the festivals’ own offerings can’t compete, and the popularity of the area for condo development has filled up all the empty lots the festivals once used.
I’ve wondered before on the blog about the wisdom of turning the area into a residential one, and here we are. And the noise complaints haven’t started coming in yet.
Update: The city is already concerned about noise from the Quartier des spectacles during festivals, and is putting in devices to estimate the sound levels.
Blork
“…the resurgence of the area means there are many new bars and restaurants with which the festivals’ own offerings can’t compete.” I find it hard to shed any tears about this one. Are they really complaining about downtown revitalization because it means they have a harder time selling overpriced and underwhelming snacks? Come on! I’d much rather a vitalized area with a lot of activity and smaller-level festivities than a downtown wasteland going through cycles of cash-grabbing and opportunism otherwise known as “festivals.”.
For example, imagine if the jazz festival had to scale back and just be about jazz, instead of being about creating a fenced-off private bar with overpriced shitty beer. Would that really be a bad thing?
Chris
Ahem to that. The “beer” they sell at Jazz Fest is depressing. And of course they want to search you coming in in case you’ve brought something actually drinkable.
DeWolf
Notice it’s just the big guys complaining. Somehow, smaller festivals have figured out that, if they sell booze that people actually want to drink at reasonable prices, people will buy a lot of it. Last year, Mutek partnered with Harricana to release a custom-brewed pale ale, and Pouzza has something like 20 different beers on tap from Beau’s and Trou du diable.
If you take the Jazz Fest route and sell cans of Coors Light for $8, well, you can’t really blame anyone for going somewhere else to drink.
I have noticed that the food offerings at the major festivals have improved a lot over the years, to the point where it’s actually worthwhile stopping by just to get something to eat from one of the food trucks. So clearly the festivals are adapting, but I guess they just wanted to whinge a bit along the way.
Kevin
The longest food lineup at the JazzFest is for the people who carve mangoes.
I was sorely disappointed last year with the rest of the offerings because the food was very pricey for a tiny portion — so I walked away.
Francofolies had some nice offerings foodwise.
Kate
So the question is: are the festivals merely a profit-making venture for a few people, and is that a good thing for the city?
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Kate
The city says that Lafontaine Park must lose 132 trees over the next two years, because they’re not safe. There are more than 3000 trees in the park, according to the report cited, but some had their structure permanently damaged during the 1998 ice storm.
Chris
“must”? I feel they don’t try hard enough here to preserve old/sick trees. You never see them trying to prop them up or anything. Pity.
Kate
It’s insurance, Chris – got to be. It’s why they took down that splendid elm everyone remembers in Jarry Park. The city doesn’t want the insurance consequences if someone gets hit with a falling branch so they’re extra cautious.
Chris
Yeah, probably. But I still disagree. I think society should accept the occasional injury/death due to falling trees in exchange for all the benefits of trees. In the same way we accept the occasional injury/death due to icy sidewalks, automobile use, pollution, etc. etc.
Kate
Incidentally, I’m willing to give the city the benefit of the doubt about those trees. They did try to preserve trees after the ice storm and some of those trees may now be in a more weakened and fragile state than they otherwise would’ve been. In a forest a big branch might drop off, or the tree itself fall down, and that’s how it is. I don’t think the city can be quite as nonchalant about the branch falling on a person as you are, Chris: the bad PR, the complaints, the resulting loss of more trees if their condition were called into question, it’s not something they want to risk and I can see why.
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Kate
The Gazette interviews the father of a teenager murdered 25 years ago in the West Island, as he prepares to attend the killer’s parole hearing in British Columbia. Gregory Bromby has been denied parole twice before but has been living in what Michael Manning calls “the Taj Mahal of prisons” on Vancouver Island.
Update: Parole denied.
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Kate
The Centre d’histoire takes a walk on Sherbrooke in 1910 with thoughts on the use of horses in town and the origins of one of the city’s most recognizable residential buildings.
Ephraim
That building is Maison Arthur-Dubuc https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maison_Arthur-Dubuc
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Kate
Patrick Lagacé writes about his love-hate feelings for Montreal, specifically reacting to the recent news about the net loss of 25,000 residents to off-island suburbs in 2017-18. It’s a short, relevant piece and I like his determination to stay in town despite the blandishments of the burbs – besides, as a city columnist it wouldn’t look great for him to be writing from Boucherville or Repentigny.
(Why does he give us two footnote references but no footnotes, though? Here’s the New Yorker piece he cites although it’s from 2007, not 2006.)
At the same time, Josh Freed in the Gazette talks about icy sidewalks and how other towns have heated ones. Why does Freed’s tone annoy me so much when Lagacé’s doesn’t? It’s this:
So why did we abandon our own plan? The city tried a pilot project in Old Montreal’s Place-Vauquelin and botched the job, so costs spiralled, as they do for everything in this town.
(Anyone want an overpriced Montreal composting plant?)
It’s that fatalistic sourness, which the Gazette has been fostering in the anglo population for years. I read a few Montreal-based Facebook groups (mostly looking for interesting bits for the blog) and so many old anglos have adopted this weary, negative tone they don’t even notice it any more. It sounds wise and world-weary but it isn’t, because it means people don’t vote, they don’t give a shit – this town is doomed so fuck it.
I counter this tone on the odd occasion when I think there’s any point. Also, part of the reason this blog exists is in resistance to that tone.
Kevin
I disagree.
Read Lagacé on the bumbling ineptness of francophone school boards and his realization they cannot be saved.
Freed is calling for Montreal to stop reinventing the wheel and just copy other jurisdictions.qatzelok
I agree with you here, Kate.
The Gazette’s “Maitre Chez Nous indeed!” tone got olde a long time ago.Kate
qatzelok, the Gazette’s view is nothing to do with that, in my view. In fact, if the paper had stood up for the anglo community long ago instead of withdrawing into a snide passive-aggressive self-pitying position about things, it would’ve deserved a lot more respect, and done better journalism as well.
Hamza
The thinking behind that snide, negative tone is simply – ‘everything is rotten. This is the government’s fault. Therefore – privatise everything.’
DeWolf
It’s a good column and it touches on how people underestimate the mental, physical and financial toll of commuting every day. What changes the equation, though, is that there is a growing amount of employment in the suburbs (not to mention self-employment) so that might change the equation.
Incidentally, if Lagacé’s suburban siren is Saint-Lambert, he really is a city boy. Of all the Montreal suburbs, that’s the one that most resembles a city neighbourhood. I’d rather live there than in many on-island areas. Same goes for Vieux-Longueuil.
Kate
DeWolf, you’re right. Parts of St-Lambert and Montreal West are interchangeable, architecturally, and Victoria is a nice little commercial street. I had relatives who lived near there a long time so I’m vaguely familiar with it. I don’t know Vieux-Longueuil – maybe I’ll take a walk in the summertime.
At some point on the blog, someone recommended another old part of the south shore as worth a look, but now I can’t find the place. I had a peek on Streetview and it looked nice, with old buildings and little cafés. Somewhere you can get to by bus from Bonaventure. Anyone?
Blork
Vieux La Prairie is very adorable, but tiny. However, it’s not well served by public transit. There’s the 340 bus from Terminus Longueuil, which takes about 15 minutes but it leaves you 1.7 kilometres from the pretty part. If you’re lucky you can transfer to the 29, which will take you just a few hundred metres from the pretty bit, but I don’t know how long you’d have to wait for the transfer.
You can also take the 321 from Place Bonaventure. Same drop-off point as the 29.
I’m not sure the payoff is worth the trip. Streetview:
Blork
Edit: the 321 has the same drop-off point as the 340. (So you can walk 1.7km or wait for the 29.)
Blork
Oh… and that 29? It’s an EXO bus that only runs on commuter rush hours. Not to be confused with the RTL 29, which is a regular service bus that runs through Vieux Longueuil.
Kate
Blork, thanks – that’s the place. On the map not so far from town, but complicated to get to without a car.
denpanosekai
Vieux La Prairie is beautiful and well worth the walk outside of the “core”. What about this old house?. Go for a virtual “drive” if nothing else. “Chez Bonbon” is also a stunning shop.
qatzelok
There are, in fact, a few parts of the South Shore that don’t make you want to tear out your eyeballs. But you have to drive to them. And with your eyes closed, to avoid nausea, that’s dangerous.
Kate
denpanosekai, almost all the houses on that street are equally quaint.
Faiz Imam
Very much a relic from a bygone era, unfortunately.
I used to work in La prairie, and it was always a bit of a shock to pass through that old district. The rest of town is the worst tendencies of suburbia, large commercial streets with strip malls and massive single family cul-de-sacs zones solely residentially.
Unlike other south shore cities(and other older suburbs) that have built up most of their farmland and now have no choice but to build inwards, La Prarie is still largely empty. And its following the trend of many exurban cities and running roughshod all other its greenfields.
At least Longeuil, Brossard and the like have interesting greyfield projects to draw some optimism from. The exurbs are nothing but depression.
Uatu
Oh yeah st. Lambert is a lot like MTL. West. I went to school in the area and ironically the kids that grew up there couldn’t wait to move out of the ‘burbs and into the big city and ended up mostly in… NDG 😛
Tim S.
@ Uatu: huh. That’s pretty much my life story in a sentence.
One of my main ambitions for the greater Montreal region has been to grow a lot more St Lamberts. I lived in Philadelphia for a while, and the whole metropolitan area is filled with small suburban towns built around commuter train stations, with cute walkable cores surrounded by suburban houses and even apartments – just like St Lambert. We have these commuter train lines, and at the moment the stations are surrounded by, well, nothing. The one out towards St Basile, for example, has a BMR near it, and that’s it. Build nice commuter towns out there, increase the train schedule to something reasonable, and you take a lot of the pressure off the Plateau, St Henri, etc, without increasing car traffic.Blork
Old Boucherville is quite pretty as well, although there is very little retail. This Streetview image lands on a sweet café called Le Saint-Laurent, which is one of the highlights:
https://goo.gl/maps/Wk6ygyHrroE2
It’s mostly just nice to walk around and see the old houses, some of which are tiny. It’s also nice a block away, on Marie-Victorin, which is along the river and has a nice little park with views of the Boucherville Islands.
Boucherville is easier to get to by bus than La Prairie. It’s also easy to get to by bicycle; the bike path that goes along the river is fully segregated from the highway (although you usually can see and hear the traffic). It goes along the water and if you look towards the river instead of the other way it can be quite pleasant, and you can usually see a variety of birdlife (egrets, ducks, geese, cormorants, chickadees, etc.) and other animals (goddamn marmots, foxes, etc.). The path had a major upgrade a year ago, so the bit between the Lafontaine tunnel and Old Boucherville is now very wide, a lot shorter than it was, and fully along the water. To go from the Pont Jacques Cartier to Old Boucherville is about a 12km ride that takes 35 minutes or so.
Blork
Here’s a YouTube video showing the new stretch of the bike path between Longueuil and Boucherville. As you can see, this stretch is close to the highway traffic (on the right) but the views to the left are quite nice.
This part also is very fenced in, unlike the rest of the run. It’s like that because of the proximity of the highway and to protect the shoreline. Also, some of it is actually built on a platform because there was not enough flat ground between the highway and the water.
The part shown in this video is about 2 km I think, and it replaces a highly convoluted route around the La Fontaine Tunnel cloverleaf that added at least another kilometer to the ride and required you to cross the busy service road in a couple of places. While the proximity of the traffic can be annoying it’s easy to ignore if you just choose to. Also, the rest of the 12km ride is way calmer than this (farther from the road, not fenced in, etc.)
denpanosekai
Thanks for sharing Blork. There’s an absurd amount of trees, coupled with extremely narrow streets and mostly well maintained houses which kind of blows me away. Gonna need to visit.
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Kate
You know, mostly I don’t blog about sports, partly because I don’t care much and partly because I figure fans will have better sources than my blog for scores and stats and so on, but when the Canadiens blow a 3-0 lead to go down in defeat 6-3 – to the Leafs – even I can feel the iron enter my soul a little bit.
Vazken
I was planning to drive to Toronto to watch this. Thankfully my plans changed and I was unable to go. I could not imagine watching this live.
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Kate
Frederick Silva, suspected of a murder in NDG in 2017 and another in Laval in October, was arrested by a SWAT team early Saturday.
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Kate
Michel Cadotte has been found guilty of manslaughter in the death of his wife, Jocelyne Lizotte, whom he smothered with a pillow after years of watching her decline from early-onset Alzheimer’s. Lizotte was only 60 years old but had progressed to a state of total helplessness. Cadotte said he was relieved by the verdict. He will be sentenced next month.
dwgs
Given that the jury was given only two option, manslaughter or second degree murder, I’d say they did the right thing.Hopefully he receives a reasonably light sentence.
Kate
I agree. But the judge may want to draw a line here because of the distinction between formally and informally assisted death. A court case was running in parallel looking at the existing law and its limits, and people are talking about extending the law to allow for advance planning if someone knows they’re facing a condition that will leave them unable to make a competent request as their illness gets worse. Arguably, Lizotte might have done that if the law had allowed for it, and Cadotte decided to take it into his own hands – but he must have known he was putting himself in the wrong, legally, to do so. Remember the Robert Latimer case here too.
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Kate
The city is having to contract to engineering firms to hire people to supervise construction sites but this brief piece only lightly touches on the origin of this problem. Governments shed expertise like crazy through the 1990s and early 2000s as budgets for internal people dried up, based on the neoliberal credo that only private ownership was worthy of respect and dollars. And now the city doesn’t have many of its own people with the expertise and experience for these roles.
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Kate
There was a non-fatal stabbing Friday evening in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve; no arrests.
Very early Saturday a young man was found on St-Laurent at Milton in bad shape from a head injury following a brawl, and is in critical condition.
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Kate
One of the two men hurt in the Decarie Square stabbing this week died, and now the other has been charged with murder in the second degree. TVA says the suspect was an engineer and the victim a real estate agent. I’d like to hear the back story on this one.
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Kate
It seems like a long time we’ve had protest stickers on SAQ outlets, but that era is ending with a strong approval for a proposed new contract.
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Kate
Students have again blown off classes to hold a climate demonstration Friday afternoon in tandem with young people in other cities.
JaneyB
Good for them. Does anyone know a reliable site for news of coming climate protests? I know about La planète s’invite au parlement but theirs isn’t (yet?) mentioning the 15 March global event. Of course, I learn about them after the fact in the standard news…
Kate
Extinction Rebellion Quebec is one source. The Twitter feed @pourlefuturmtl also.
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Kate
It’s not really news to most of us, but it’s always better if an impression is backed up by facts: 911 has received more calls for falls on ice than in other recent winters.
Veronik
It really doesn’t mean anything. From the article: “Il est important de rappeler que l’ambulance ou le 9-1-1 n’est pas toujours le moyen approprié à la situation.”
Kate
The article isn’t saying calling 911 is always the right thing to do. It’s simply using the number of calls as a way to estimate the degree of ice hazard this winter.
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