There had been plans for a new installation to replace the baubles that floated over the Village in summertime, but it’s been postponed till next summer. A decision whether that part of Ste-Catherine will become a pedestrian mall again this year hasn’t yet been made.
Updates from March, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Mayor Plante declared a local state of emergency Friday afternoon, but the city is not yet cordoned off from the rest of Quebec. Plante is specifically concerned about how to manage the people with no homes to go to – how can you ask them to stay home if you don’t provide means for them to do so?
JP
I saw a pretty enthusiastic soccer game happening at a local park as well as a full basketball court on my daily 6pm walk…looked like a bunch of young guys. I didn’t get too close. Normally, I think this is great. I understand the need for exercise and being outdoors, but it grates me that people still don’t get it!! Stay home or go for a walk/bike ride/jog!!!
walkerp
You saw a full basketball court? Outside? In Montreal? I haven’t seen this pre-corona. Where, pray tell?
Kate
Cops should be breaking up scenes like that, JP.
JP
I’m questioning my definition of a full basketball court now…but I’d say there were about 10 or so kids (teens?) there. It’s a court on Acadie across from the La Dauversiere high school.
I agree that the cops should break up scenes like that.
walkerp
Thanks, JP. Not good that they are doing it now, but if this all gets fixed, I may take a look over there to see if there actually is a place in Montreal outside with pickup games.
Tim S.
So, question for everyone: We (me, wife, kids) have been in pretty much full isolation for 12-14 days now, and are healthy. We were planning to go visit my 70+ father, who’s been by himself for most of the past two weeks, but others in my family think this could be considered an illegal gathering and neighbours might call the cops on us. Should we go?
Kate
Tim S., there are variables, but on the whole I don’t think it’s a good idea. If you really did isolate and he lives on his own nearby, just maybe, but if you have to drive any distance, or if he lives in a residence, you can see how many ways it could slip up. If you have to stop on the way for food or bathrooms or to buy groceries, or if one of the kids forgets to wash their hands, etc. etc., no, not now. I don’t know about illegal, but I think the phone will have to do for now, or Skype or Facetime if he can do that.
John B
@Tim S: From the definition that Quebec provided, it would be an illegal gathering. I also saw something recently, (maybe on CBC’s nightly “ask the doctors” segment), where someone asked the question “If I’ve been in isolation and am symptom free, can I go visit someone else in isolation who is symptom free?” and the response was that it’s a bad idea.
I doubt that anyone will call the cops, but it does go against the social contract to stay isolated & stop the spread of the disease.
Also, schools only closed 15 days ago. How sure can you be that nobody in your home is carrying the disease? Has anybody coughed even once in those 15 days? If so maybe they have the virus but almost no symptoms, and maybe they passed it to someone else in the family who isn’t showing symptoms yet. If you’ve been out to buy food, especially near the beginning, there’s a chance you picked it up and don’t know it yet. Is it worth the risk of maybe bringing it to your father?
Alison Cummins
Tim S.,
Kids can carry the virus without showing any symptoms. People your father’s age are much more likely to become very sick and die. (Alone, not surrounded by family, because family are not allowed in.)
Even if the risk is low — which we can’t know, it might be high — the consequences could be devastating.
If you choose to visit your father, respect the fact that he is particularly vulnerable. Go alone, don’t touch him (keep a distance of a dining table between you at all times), wear a mask and wash your hands before and after touching anything in his home or any part of your face.
Does he have the ability to video chat? I call my father every day to video chat with him and tell him to stay the fuck home,
dwgs
Off topic @ walkerp…Not sure what neighbourhood you live in but in Georges St. Pierre park in lower NDG (aka Oxford Park) there is a full size outdoor b-ball court where there is often a pick up game in progress during normal times. It’s at the corner of Upper Lachine and Oxford. You can go have a sub at Momesso’s afterwards.
walkerp
Thank you, dwgs! I did not know about that. Added to the list to check out post-corona.
Tim S.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments everyone. Lots to think about.
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Kate
A jewelry shop on the Main – in the space where Simcha’s used to be, at Napoléon – was burgled this week while closed, and two very heavy safes were removed from the premises. The Journal says half a million bucks’ worth of goods were stolen.
walkerp
Total speculation, but this feels like organized crime. Was probably cased a long time ago, maybe by somebody who worked at the restaurant. But they would have needed more funding and muscle to do the job, especially move the safes and then get them open later. Just waiting for the right moment and boy did they get it. Really sad for that guy.
Douglas
I’m 100% sure he had those stones insured.
Douglas
Something smells fishy. Almost all the time, buildings next to each other have either brick walls / ciment blocks dividing the two buildings from top to bottom.
You can see on google street view the bricks of the Rosas building…. Those bricks are never sitting on just 2×4 wood planks as I saw in the video.
Someone knew there was an easy section with just gypse separating the two buildings. Robbers would never be able to destroy a hole big enough in the bricks / ciment blocks without it collapsing on them or waking up the entire area.
Very fishy. Owner could have done this.
Kate
Well, let’s not have aspersions cast on anyone. Police who investigate such things are not stupid, and insurance investigators are not stupid. If there’s been dirty work at the crossroads, it’ll be found out.
JP
I’m very much in agreement with Douglas here. You own a jewelry store and store your jewelry safe in a room that is barely secure from the building next to you. Inside job. Very clean. Worked in tandem with someone at the restaurant, maybe even the owner of the restaurant. They’ll split the “insurance profits.” That acting for CBC’s cameras was just awful. I would hope investigators would try to see through it, but if they can’t prove anything…
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Kate
Spring in Villeray has usually involved opening the window to hear the endless procession of planes coming in over the neighbourhood on their way to YUL. I don’t mind this as much as some people do, but it’s a definite feature of the warmer months under a flight path.
Here’s a bit of silver lining: there are not so many planes these days.
Has anyone seen any reporting about the state of the air around Montreal at the moment?
JF Prieur
Here is a chart i posted on Twitter, I track planes for Flights were
https://twitter.com/AdmiralHackbar/status/1243245627460460549?s=20
Kate
Thank you. It’s always nice to know one hasn’t imagined a change in things.
Brett
For air quality, you can check https://aqicn.org/city/montreal/ and scroll down for historical data. It seems numbers for PM2.5 have been lower since the lockdown started.
qatzelok
I’m usually really sick with dust allergies during March and April every year. This year, my sinuses are fine, even with the windows open. Also, I usually have to keep a fan next to my head to block out car noise. This year, I can sleep silently, which is a much better sleep. : )
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Kate
The SPCA is seeing a surge in pet adoptions as people cope with the isolation of COVID-19. People are also looking into animal fostering, for a more temporary solution to their problems.
jeather
I was looking into fostering but apparently the need is very low. And tbh my cats would not love it.
Kate
My fostering days are over: my cat flatly refuses to accept that other cats have the right to exist, even if they’re only walking by in the alley and she’s safe inside the back door.
jeather
I think they might accept a v small kitten, as historically they’ve been ok with them. But really I won’t do anything as I have an 18 year old cat and she suffers enough from the other cats already. I just sort of want a teensy baby kitten to show up by magic.
Kate
jeather, you know the Pussy Patrol, don’t you? They always have kittens to manage at this time of year. They posted they weren’t allowing any potential adoption visits now, but they might, just might, have a kitten to be looked after.
jeather
I really, really shouldn’t, but boy do I want to.
GC
I really hope a lot of these people just foster and not adopt. If you were already looking to adopt a month ago, fine. For the others, if they didn’t want a pet before–or couldn’t because of their job/lifestyle–then they are not going to want it after isolation ends, either.
Kate
What’s odd is I saw one post about people abandoning pets, too, but haven’t seen anything else suggesting that’s been common. There’s zero indication that our pet animals pose a risk, and I’m seeing a lot of anecdotes about how happy everyone’s cats and dogs are to have their people around more, and in general how humanizing it is to have a pet when you’re isolating, especially alone.
GC, I know what you mean. Especially with dogs, it’s one thing to adopt a dog when you’re home all the time, quite another to deal with its needs when you’re out for long periods at work. People need to be realistic about this.
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Kate
The city’s church bells will all be ringing for ten minutes Sunday at noon, in an apparent attempt to comfort people, not to alarm them thinking it’s a warning of alien invasion.
Update: This item says it will be “every Sunday till Easter” i.e. three consecutive Sundays if Easter is included.
denpanosekai
I don’t want none of this. No church bells, no mosque loudspeakers, no nothing at all.
Kate
Without being religious at all, I like church bells. Try standing on Place d’Armes when the bells of Notre Dame let loose. You can feel them all the way down your spine. But even a decent-sized parish church can make a great sound.
Ian
Besides as we’ve been told repeatedly, Catholicism isn’t religion, it’s patrimoine. /s
That said now that synagogues are closed my neighbours have taken to praying loudly every morning on their stoops so I get woken up by people chanting. Bells wouldn’t be more annoying and would at least be shorter.
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Kate
Hydro-Quebec is warning of scams in the form of fraudulent text messages offering refunds. There may also be bogus tax refunds offered via text.
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Kate
Montreal’s major festivals are facing the axe this summer and will have to acknowledge this soon before planning goes any further. Cirque du Soleil has already laid off most of its workers and Just For Laughs three quarters of theirs.
Minor baseball leagues are also looking at a shutdown, and the revival of major league baseball here is also facing a setback.
Kevin 20:06 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
Magic 8 Ball says don’t bet on it
Tim F 08:07 on 2020-03-28 Permalink
Non sequitur: What happens to projects like Royalmount and the Quartier des lumières (Maison Radio-Canada) do you think? Full steam ahead? Mothballed? Dead for the next 10 years?