Rosemont-La Petite Patrie borough has made a deal with a developer: they can build taller in Mile Ex than the zoning allows, if space will be allotted for artist and artisan studios.
Updates from January, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The northern part of Montreal was gouged out long ago by two huge quarries. One of them, the Miron quarry, later became the Complexe environnemental de Saint-Michel and Frédéric-Back park. Further east, the Francon quarry, less well known, has functioned as a snow depot, but the coming-and-going of huge trucks and the noise are not pleasant for people living nearby. Some of them have come up with an idea to repurpose the space, although there’s no indication the city is interested yet.
Incidentally, this is not the first time an idea has come along for the Francon quarry. During the Tremblay administration, they considered a plan to put a mega mall in there. Luckily, that never happened.
Bill Binns
A big part of this problem would go away if the city would simply require contractors to get rid of those universally despised reversing beepers. They came out with a far less objectionable yet equally effective noise at least 10 years ago.
I do think that truck beepers running all night is kind of worse case scenario but these complaints remind me a little of people who buy houses near the airport and then complain about airplane noise.
Frankie
I imagine there are lineups of massive dump trucks idling their engines, waiting their turns. And a snow cleanup can take up to a week at a time, so the nearby residents have to put up with the noise, traffic, and pollution caused by the idling engines. The residents pay taxes like everyone else in Montreal and are entitled to a minimum quality of life.
Bill Binns
@Frankie – I don’t disagree. I really believe that NIMBYism makes for better neighborhoods. These folks should be careful what they ask for though. The terrible scourge of gentrification is always waiting in the wings to steal people’s homes right out from under them. Remove the big black industrial smear from your neighborhood and you may be removing the very thing that allowed you to afford to live there in the first place.
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Kate
The Journal has a brilliant bit Sunday about how anglophones burned the Parliament building in Montreal in 1849, and this was just like last week’s assault on the Washington Capitol, a selection from his book Le Livre noir du Canada anglais with, of course, a blast against the remaining anglo community.
I was going to also mention how Mathieu Bock-Côté inveighed Saturday against the appalling offense of the curfew alert being also in English, but I’m tired.
Michael Black
Watching US news this week, much was made of how the invasion of the capitol was the first since the British invaded the US capitol in 1812, and it was burned.
There were some bombs set off in more recent times but nothing like this.
Jebediah Pallendrome
Jesus Christ I can feel the spittle from here
jeather
Ok this is not exactly the right place but it is about language, ish.
On Wed, I was watching the conference, and during the question period, they do French q/a, then English. Which I thought was just for convenience (and I saw it before), but at the end we had a French question during the English period and when it was asked, they said “despite the question being in French, the answer must be in English” — are there some rules about the language of these press conferences and the q/a periods?
Kate
I don’t know the answer. But I’m going to guess that it’s a convenience for the media, not a rule. Maybe the person doing the English interpretation hangs up when the French section is over?
jeather
It was the “the answer to this must be in English” that got me wondering. And no, the English interpreter translated the French question.
Kevin
There is an unwritten convention in Quebec media that French comes first: French statement, then French questions, then English questions. Having an English statement from government does not always happen.
You’ll often get a journalist wearing hats for an English and French company, so they may have to ask in broken second language for a quote in that language.
On Wednesday no reporters were allowed in the room, and one reporter couldn’t get unmuted on the Zoom call, so they texted the press attaché who read out the question in French for an English answer.
Kate
Thanks for the clarification, Kevin.
jeather
Still not clear why the answer had to be in English. Was it supposed to be asked in English as well?
I sometimes find the English period very irritating, because it’s about getting the same answer but in English instead of asking for further info.
Jack
PKP tweeted that article making the rather clear linkage that english speakers are pretty similar to Trump supporters. It’s the type of media that sells Dodge Ram 150’s to the Couronne Nord. PKP has learned a lot from Rupert Murdoch.
Kevin
@jeather
It was from an English media outlet.
Yes, there is some repetition in English, but because the anglo reporters are last, they’ve had time to come up with different questions than French media. There have been many cases where French reporters were packing up and they heard the answer to an English question, then all came back.jeather
I think I will just give up trying to understand the nuance.
Yes, sometimes the English media ask good, follow up questions that are important. And sometimes they just try to get the same quote, but in English. I really appreciate the first group, and wish there was a lot less of the second.
david37 15:53 on 2021-01-10 Permalink
As far as shakedowns go, I can live with this. More housing is built, the promoter sells the ground floors at cost in a dicey market.
L’immeuble, d’une superficie totale de 16 000 pi2, réservera 6000 pi2 de son rez-de-chaussée à des ateliers, qui pourront recevoir de 20 à 25 artistes.
Les espaces destinés aux ateliers seront vendus à l’organisme Ateliers créatifs, à un prix inférieur à leur valeur marchande, ce qui permettra ensuite de les louer aux artistes et artisans à des prix raisonnables, souligne Gilles Renaud, directeur des Ateliers créatifs.
Kate 17:12 on 2021-01-10 Permalink
I’d be curious to know whether there’s a time limit on the contract. In ten years, will those spaces be filled with busy artists and artisans, or will they have mysteriously turned into office spaces leased at market rates like the rest of the building?
DeWolf 17:38 on 2021-01-10 Permalink
It sounds like the art spaces are being sold, not leased, to Ateliers créatifs, so their fate should be in good hands. They’re a non-profit that runs a number of other art spaces around town, including three floors of the Bovril Building on Park and four floors in one of those giant industrial buildings on de Gaspé. Those have been around since 2012 and 2013, respectively, and they are leased from the building owners.
Kate 17:56 on 2021-01-10 Permalink
That’s good to know, DeWolf. Thank you.