Updates from November, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 20:08 on 2020-11-06 Permalink | Reply  

    A man was stabbed in a dépanneur in Ahuntsic on Friday afternoon, and has become homicide #22. No suspect has been arrested.

    Update: La Presse specifies that the victim was the owner of the dépanneur and that several possible attackers were in the store at the same time.

    I’m looking at previous posts and the homicide map I’ve been updating, and seem to have missed homicides #18, #19 and #21. …Update: I found #18 and #19, the former having been numbered late presumably after forensic work. Have not found the incident numbered #21.

     

    • Spi 11:12 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      What explains the rise of violent crimes in Ahuntsic over the past 5 years? I remember not that long ago it was mostly considered a sleepy on-island suburb. It seems like every few months there’s a stabbing or attack in the area around College Ahuntsic and now the 4th murder of the year?

    • Kate 11:34 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      Maybe gang activities are spilling over from Montreal North? That’s not a proper or complete explanation, because it simply pushes the question into a different district, but it’s the impression I get from reading the local media.

  • Kate 11:13 on 2020-11-06 Permalink | Reply  

    Aaron Derfel has a full story here (not a twitter thread) about how it’s schools now spreading Covid though the population. Many classrooms are poorly ventilated and that’s bad news.

    Police busted a clandestine party in the planning in a parking garage in Côte-des-Neiges this week.

    Update: 1133 new cases and 25 Covid deaths over the last 24 hours.

     

    • JaneyB 12:07 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      Oh, that party. Man, I hope they fine their asses off. A 200-person super-spreader event in the making…and all us other Montrealers would have to spend another month or two socially super-restricted to fix the mess. Unbelievable!

    • JaneyB 12:13 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      I don’t understand Montreal doesn’t install air purifiers in every classroom. It’s worth a shot, my goodness.

    • Meezly 12:26 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      Because they’re expensive?

    • ant6n 14:13 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      The crisis has been going on for months and the possibility of a second wave has also been talked about for months, as well as the problems with forcing kids to learn from home alone.

    • Joey 14:57 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      The official in the article says they’re unncessary since most schools have classrooms with windows that open. Not sure how that’s going to play out in winter (though who among us has not lived in an old Mtl building that had a radiator so hot the windows were open all winter long?)…

    • jeather 16:00 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      The radiator thing was deliberate because of the last giant pandemic (flu 1918-19), they wanted everyone to have fresh air with windows open, so radiators were made for that use case.

    • MarcG 16:27 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      I can’t tell if that’s a joke or not

    • mare 16:30 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      Those air purifiers are very hard to obtain right now, even if you’re willing to pay a large premium. The whole world wants them right now, and China can’t make them fast enough.

    • jeather 16:51 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      If you’re responding to me, MarcG, it is not a joke. See, eg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/the-curious-history-of-steam-heat-and-pandemics but there are a number of articles.

    • MarcG 17:14 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      I was responding to you and that is really wild. I always assumed they were broken since everything else in the building was.

    • jeather 17:35 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      Well they were also made for less efficient fuels and not changed since and also probably not well-maintained but “I need to have my windows open” was deliberate.

    • Tim S. 18:46 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      Thanks Jeather. That explains so much. And gives me some hope for the schools, at least the older ones.

    • GC 20:03 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      Thanks, jeather. That is interesting. When I first moved to Montreal, I lived one of those and the only way I could sleep during the winter was to have a window open. It seemed wasteful to me. I asked the super if it was possible to turn it down but she said the people in the basement were always complaining they were too cold. I can only image what it must have been like on the top floor.

    • Kevin 22:01 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      My kids’ schools sent out reminder letters that windows will be open 20 cms.
      And yeah, steam heat

    • Ephraim 09:39 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      Modern water heating no longer easily overheats. An external thermostat is added to the system to measure the outside temperature and adjust the temperature of the water, to keep an even temperature. The old systems had to boil the water and you had this constant up and down. Modern systems keep an even heat. So if the system has been updated, you don’t get those “swings” as you used to.

  • Kate 11:07 on 2020-11-06 Permalink | Reply  

    Projet Montréal, having reached gender parity in council, is now looking toward diversity as the key to the next election.

     

    • ant6n 18:06 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      Where the pink line at

  • Kate 10:19 on 2020-11-06 Permalink | Reply  

    Numbers show that Griffintown’s condo dwellers are fleeing for the suburbs because of the pandemic.

     

    • fliflipoune 10:28 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      By fleeing, we’re talking 70 households more than last year this summer. Would be interesting to know why Griffintown is the only sector seeing this trend. Lack of diversity in its population and housing offering maybe?

    • Kate 10:36 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      Could be. I wonder whether Griffintown dwellers feel they’ve got a community. If you moved there because it was handy to your job downtown, but the job has gone totally work-from-home and you’re sick of living isolated in a 700-sq-ft box, you might choose to leave if you had the means.

    • qatzelok 10:55 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      In the 60s, Havana quickly created a new modern neighborhood using the latest urbanist trends.
      Will Griffintown have the same future?

      https://havanatimes.org/diaries/regina/alamar-city-of-the-future/

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamar

    • Blork 11:21 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      I think it’s a safe assumption that a lot of people were lured to Griffintown by the idea of brand new condos with lots of shiny surfaces but over the past 8 months or so have been cracking up by isolating in 800 square feet with two people (or more if there are kids), and can’t believe they paid $500,000 for that. Move half an hour away and they get 2000 square feet, a back yard for the kids, no thumping neighbours, and at least $100,000 refund.

    • Joey 11:31 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      I lived in Griffintown until 2010, well before most of what’s there now was built. I don’t think my building (which had about 60-70 units ranging from 600-900 sq ft) had any families with children, though there were lots of couples. While $500K for 800 sq ft units seems fairly reasonable, I would venture that a lot of people are living in units that are quite a bit smaller and were quite a bit cheaper. A quick look at Realtor shows 500K to be about the median price, but my impression is that these buildings had many more smaller/cheaper units than larger/more expensive ones. Much easier to sell small/affordable units than big/expensive ones, especially in a neighbourhood targeting first-time buyers. Anyway, real estate is primarily about location and proximity to downtown has gone off a cliff these last few months.

    • JaneyB 12:00 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      Mostly I thinking they’re just ageing out. First-time buyers get something close to work, then they find a partner and want to have kids. Places like Griffintown with their ‘luxury dorm-like’ vibe will always have a lot of churn for this reason. It is what it is and that’s fine. I doubt people are fleeing the downtown because they can’t go to bars after work. After all, in the ‘burbs, for those without running kids, a backyard is not hugely different from a balcony and a park.

    • Mr.Chinaski 12:46 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      It’s a stupid article. If people sold their condo… it means people bought from them too. Unless you talk about price going down, it simply means that people still WANT to live in Griffintown.

    • Blork 18:01 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      Well, it shows that some people are thinking differently about how they want to live. Some, due to the pandemic and other reasons might have had a bit of a reckoning WRT Griffintown and now see it as a bit of a Potemkin village that might drive you insane if you’re self isolating or have two people working from home. They’re selling those condos to people who either haven’t figured that out yet, or have different circumstances such that living in a small space in a pandemic isn’t a problem for them.

      @Joey, revise my previous comment to 600 square feet for $400,000 and you still have a reason to look longingly at an $1800 square foot house with a yard for $350,000.

    • qatzelok 18:49 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      “a back yard for the kids”

      And once they turn five and get bored of the back yard?
      Then what, a life of video games and driving to malls?

      Griffintown is disappointing *exactly because* it’s full of former suburbanites whose only contribution to their community is dog-walking and SUV-driving. This makes Griffintown a very boring place socially – just like suburbia is.

      People in cities are supposed to be more social than this. The isolation of suburbia damages this important component of community life.

    • Blork 22:22 on 2020-11-06 Permalink

      It occurs to me that some people might think I am proselytizing suburban life in these threads. I am not. I’m just trying to understand and articulate these people in a manner free of the usual assumptions and mythologies.

      That said, the past seven or eight months of isolation might be showing some people that the mythical urban lifestyle that they’re paying dearly for isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Or maybe they feel there’s no end in sight and they’ll be trapped in their condo-boxes for years to come with no nightlife and whatnot to celebrate, so why bother?

      So there you are, a professional couple in your $1.2 million Griffintown condo, paying almost $4000 a month in mortgage payments, and used to spending another $1000 a month or so on restaurants and night life, and for the past eight months there has been no restaurants and night life, and you realize you sort of like making spectacular meals in your designer kitchen, or maybe you just think that nightlife is over indefinitely because of the pandemic.

      And then you see that for $800,000 you can get a huge house in the country with a designer kitchen and a private beach. Your lifestyle won’t be any different since you don’t ever see your friends anyway and as a Griffintown resident and busy professional you’ve gotten used to buying your groceries only once a week at Costco. So you can save $2000 a month or more by moving into a palatial country house with a private beach and wide open spaces and maybe even retire at 55 because you put that money into an RRSP instead. Why TF would you stay in Griffintown?

      Again, I’m not proselytizing, I’m just trying to imagine other people’s lives outside of the bubble of “you’re only a legitimate Montrealer if you live in a railroad triplex on the Plateau or Mile-end with exposed brick and squeaky hardwood floors.”

      And yes, this “move to the suburbs/country” scenario is rife with problems; the biggest being that after two years they will be 20 pounds heavier, bored, and sad. But we’re talking about humans from Earth; not a species well known for long-term thinking.

    • Mr.Chinaski 02:13 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      Again, it’s a moot point. If you want to get out of your 1 200 000$ condo for a 800 000$ house in the suburbs, it still means you’ve SOLD your condo for 1.2 million dollars. Somebody bought it from you at that price! Nothing has changed… ’cause hey have you seen prices? They haven’t gone down.

    • GC 10:22 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      More condos are up for sale in Griffintown and the people are moving to the burbs. But, yeah, if those condos are also being bought that means tons of people are also moving INTO Griffintown. The article does seem to gloss over that. I guess “High turnover of residents in Griffintown” isn’t as sexy a headline.

    • Kevin 12:05 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      As a middle aged man, I love my backyard. Throughout the summer my wife lived on the patio off the kitchen, looking up from her laptop to enjoy the apple trees and grape vines.

    • Blork 12:11 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      It’s not moot, Mr. Chinaski, because we’re not just talking about the numbers.

    • Uatu 12:36 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      Well we’ll see who actually stays in the burbs after a couple of years of lawn mowing, weeding, driveway and path deicing and shovelling, leaf raking, roof repairs and all the rest of the fun stuff homeownership entails

    • Tee Owe 13:13 on 2020-11-07 Permalink

      Kevin + 1

  • Kate 10:09 on 2020-11-06 Permalink | Reply  

    A lot of media are noting that Gilbert Rozon’s rape trial is drawing to a close, with final arguments expected Friday.

     

    • Kate 10:07 on 2020-11-06 Permalink | Reply  

      The drug isotonitazene is being sold in the street as counterfeit oxycodone tablets and it can kill people. CTV shows a blue tablet with its story on this, although the ones shown in the Gazette’s unhelpful blurry photo are white. Isotonitazene is a synthetic opioid stronger than fentanyl, and it can kill if people don’t know what they’re taking.

       

      • Kate 10:00 on 2020-11-06 Permalink | Reply  

        Some notes on weekend traffic problems (CTV) and sur TVA.

         

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