Updates from August, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 17:57 on 2019-08-04 Permalink | Reply  

    The new bridge has 760 flaws to be corrected, including ten major ones. The construction consortium is not giving out a list.

     
    • Mr.Chinaski 18:12 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      …working in the construction field, this is actually suprisingly low for the sheer size of the project.

    • ProposMontréal 19:25 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      Knowing nothing about major infrastructure of this size, is that normal and just a number to freak people out or is it a bit on the high end ?

    • Tim F 08:04 on 2019-08-05 Permalink

      Oh boy… I wonder how many flaws it would take to fill the Albert Hall?

    • Douglas 09:42 on 2019-08-05 Permalink

      There are almost always defaults to rectify in any construction project post completion.

      The only thing to worry about are the major ones. And how major.

  • Kate 10:17 on 2019-08-04 Permalink | Reply  

    There will be another big detour for cyclists taking the north side path on the Lachine Canal.

     
    • jaddle 11:39 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      That’s not so much a detour as a “just go somewhere else”. Completely useless for people that are actually trying to get somewhere…

    • Roman 11:43 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      Argh, I used to love living in the area. But now it’s just construction on top of construction.

      Turcot, bike paths, buildings in Griffintown.

      I’m for progress, but this is just too much at once.

    • Alex L 14:08 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      Ça sent l’incompétence à plein nez. Les gens iront rouler sur Saint-Patrick et mettront leur vie en danger, tout ça parce que Parcs Canada est incapable de communiquer avec la communauté et de prévoir l’impact de ces fermetures à l’avance.

    • Mark Côté 17:53 on 2019-08-05 Permalink

      Come to NDG. It’s like the whole borough is being rebuilt.

    • Kate 21:38 on 2019-08-05 Permalink

      Mark Côté, how do you mean? From the Turcot northward, or are there a lot of other sites?

    • Michael Black 21:46 on 2019-08-05 Permalink

      Speaking of the Turcot, Greene Avenue below Dorchester reopened to pedestrians, according to something I read. It added that there may be a future need for temporary closure. No word on when traffic will be allowed in that block, it just mentioned pedestrians.

      Michael

    • Tim S. 08:40 on 2019-08-06 Permalink

      It seems as though almost every street in NDG is being repaved this summer, and some are getting their sidewalks and water mains redone too. The apparently random detours that change day by day are a great way to discover new little neighbourhoods. Also to be late for wherever you’re going.

    • dwgs 09:19 on 2019-08-06 Permalink

      They’re also working on St. Jacques in three places (and the bridge is closed again), Sherbrooke, Cavendish, Cote St Luc…

    • Mark Côté 21:11 on 2019-08-06 Permalink

      There’s still a sign up on Cavendish that says work will run until June… Both walking and driving along it is tricky and has been for months. And everything Tim S. and dwgs said. The sidewalk work is baffling because I don’t recall very many being in bad shape (except in front of the library, which is still not being fixed). But I imagine it’s preventative work, something that most Montrealers haven’t seen in decades.

  • Kate 10:16 on 2019-08-04 Permalink | Reply  

    There is now a system allowing you to rent a dog for a few hours, although this brief piece also quotes veterinarians as having their doubts about its safety – as do I, after seeing the website suggests dogs for office parties or photo shoots.

     
    • Bert 15:46 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      This was reported on the local Ceeb, I believe on Thursday PM. They interview the app developer, who said that the app was initially designed exclusively as a rent-a-dog-to-walk system but that companies contacted them to see if he could find dogs for parties, therapy work, wedding, photo shoots, etc The developer found initial do owners by scrubing Facebook / Instagram / etc. for dog profiles. One of the first participants, as a dog owner, was also interviewed. She said that her dog has a fair amount of “regulars” and that she asks for the renter (note a fee is not always required, or may be optional) to leave something of value / importance in order to walk her dog. Further she requires that the renter leave mobility services enabled on their phone and that they take pictures of the dog and to post it on-line. (unsure if it was the usual social media or on the rent-a-pooch site).

  • Kate 09:05 on 2019-08-04 Permalink | Reply  

    Philippe Pichet, who used to be police chief here, will be going up north to run Fermont while staying on the Montreal payroll. Fermont sounds like a Martian colony: “The town is notable for the huge self-contained structure containing apartments, stores, schools, bars, a hotel, restaurants, a supermarket and swimming pool which shelters a community of smaller apartment buildings and homes on its leeward side. The structure was designed to be a windscreen to the rest of the town. It permits residents (other than mine workers) to never leave the building during the long winter…”

     
    • Michael Black 09:27 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      In the seventies I knew someone who’d go to northern Quebec where they were constructing something, and work as a cook. He’d disappear for months, earn some money, then return and write. I got the impression that the pay was great, but nobody wanted to live there too long.

      So maybe in some places they have to make things especially comfortable to attract workers, especially since the locations are remote.

      Michael

    • Blork 09:40 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      Here’s a pretty good write-up about Fermont and “the wall” (with further good links within the article).

    • Michael Black 12:40 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      That reference was interesting, I’d never heard of this before.

      Why am I suddenly thinking of Siberia in Soviet times? They wanted to populate the area because if the resources. So the Gulag was mostly there, and that was labor to build housing. “one Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch” a good but relatively short book, is mostly about building housing like that.

      But the bleak apartment buildings were utilitarian only, not much in the way of style or luxury. Likely not so warm in the winter. And people were lured, or exiled to Siberia to populate the area.

      Not the same thing as this, but both about getting people into an unfriendly environment who might otherwise stay home.

      Michael

    • Uatu 16:16 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      It looks like a setting for one of those Scandinavian murder mysteries you see on Netflix where the characters are snowed in and trapped with someone who’s a murderer.

    • Kate 07:42 on 2019-08-05 Permalink

      Uatu, it does, and that’s no coincidence. Wikipedia says it was inspired by a Swedish mining town designed by British architect Ralph Erskine, who mostly worked in that country.

  • Kate 08:55 on 2019-08-04 Permalink | Reply  

    A particularly ferocious fire broke out in a street near Lionel-Groulx metro early Sunday and has thrown nine households into the street.

     
    • jeather 14:30 on 2019-08-04 Permalink

      I live on that block, but not in one of the affected buildings. I woke up in the middle of the night when the power was cut and I heard some sirens but I fell back asleep, which is great, I would not have been able to sleep had I known what was happening. The buildings are completely torched, the area was closed a few hours ago — I had to leave to breathe. My cats are pretty freaked.

    • Kate 07:42 on 2019-08-05 Permalink

      I’m glad to know you’re OK, heather.

    • MarcG 08:54 on 2019-08-05 Permalink

      It’s terrifying that we can wake up to sirens, smoke, and no power and then just go back to sleep – I thought your “which is great” was sarcasm!

    • jeather 19:58 on 2019-08-05 Permalink

      I think I am just far enough away that the smoke that night didn’t bother me — I smell it now, but I didn’t smell anything that night. The sirens stopped once the fire trucks all arrived, and it’s not uncommon for me to hear sirens go by. And of course a brief power cut can be meaningless. And I am in the wrong location to be able to see the flames.

      But really fires freak me out, so I’m glad I didn’t know until I woke up and the fires were all out. Still absolutely reeks, even when you’re on St-Antoine.

c
Compose new post
j
Next post/Next comment
k
Previous post/Previous comment
r
Reply
e
Edit
o
Show/Hide comments
t
Go to top
l
Go to login
h
Show/Hide help
shift + esc
Cancel