In 2018 the city set up a program to help merchants affected by street worksites, but has paid out only one tenth of the $25M it promised. Now it’s modifying the criteria to make the money easier to get.
Updates from March, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A woman pedestrian was killed during a police chase on Tuesday afternoon.
Chris
And to be clear: killed by the speeding motorist fleeing, not killed by the police car.
MarcG
That changes everything?
Chris
Oh yes, it flips the entire universe on its head! /s (I don’t get your comment. Kate’s use of “during” doesn’t assign a real cause, but the cause is known, it was car A, not car B.)
MarcG
Let’s pretend we’re in the schoolyard and I think you stole my shoe. I tell my friends about it and suddenly a gang of kids are chasing you through an alley and you bump into someone who falls and hurts themselves. Who is responsible?
Chris
False analogy. Your gang of kids are not analogous to police, the former a self-appointed mob, the latter duly appointed by law. Also, your analogy lacks any analogue of breaking a speed limit, or of operating a dangerous machine.
We live in a society of law. When the duly appointed law enforcement officers give you chase, you are obliged to stop, not accelerate. And, like any driver, you are obliged at all times to operate your vehicle safely, as in: not drive into other people.
Also, I didn’t even speak of responsibility, only cause.
But how about I tweak your analogy:
Let’s pretend we’re in the schoolyard and the teacher thinks you stole my shoe. She tells the other teachers about it and suddenly a bunch of teachers are chasing you, but you decide to put a blindfold on and run through an alley with a knife, then bump into someone who falls and dies. Who is responsible?
John Ross
WTF! An elderly lady, someone’s grandmother is killed, and you idiots argue like school kids
Kate
John Ross, we don’t know that the victim was anyone’s grandmother, but I will simply add: this kind of debate is one reason why the BEI investigates such incidents. Whenever a police action ends up with someone dead, there has to be a clarification of the circumstances (and, it should be added, a distribution of blame).
Police here used to be crazy about car chases – they watched too many movies, forgetting that car chase scenes in movies are carefully orchestrated and edited. At some point they were told to stop doing that, and there haven’t been many reported in recent years. In this case, some guys, probably speeding, didn’t stop when signalled by police, and it seems they may have been in a stolen car. Neither of those elements remotely justifies putting lives at risk.
Blork
Obviously none of us were there so we don’t know all the circumstances, but the idea of police not giving chase when a crime has likely been committed is not so cut-and-dried. Kate is right that sometimes the cops get a bit too carried away with the car chases, but if it’s known that cops will never give chase then it completely undermines their authority and people will always drive away because they know they won’t be followed.
I’m not as “law & order” minded as Chris, but there is an understanding that if a cop motions to you to pull over you really ought to pull over. If you don’t then it means you have something to hide. Stolen car? Trunk full of illegal guns? Kidnapped 10-year-old tied up in the back?
Imagine if it were one of those things (guns, kidnapped kid, etc.) and it came out that the cops could have pulled the car over but once the perp got up to 60KPH the cops just went ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and turned away. What kind of outrage would that create?
The point being that the cops DON’T know at that point what’s going on. If the car makes a fast exit they really need to at least follow it, if not directly chase it and maybe try for an intercept. There’s got to be some kind of protocol beyond “don’t ever chase” because nobody wants to see that 10-year-old disappear forever or all those Glocks end up on the street.
Blork
(To be clear: the scenarios above assume the cops don’t actually know that the car has guns or tied-up-kids, but it comes out later that it did, and that the cops were right there and turned away to avoid the chase.)
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Kate
The 8 p.m. curfew is scheduled to be changed to 9:30
but we don’t yet know when the change will be madeas of Wednesday night.GC
This CBC article says tomorrow: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-curfew-red-zone-orange-loosening-public-health-measures-1.5952318
Kate
Indeed. I was just going to post that. Thank you. (Initally the news story said the date for the change was uncertain.)
qatzelok
The article mentions that despite the curfew loosening: “singing and karaoke will remain banned.”
Is singing really that dangerous?
Kate
Yes, if you have Covid, singing is one of the most efficient ways to spread the virus around.
GC
It just happened that I saw the CBC article before I saw your post. I gather the day was not specified at the press conference, but maybe released later and I just happened to see it at the point it was updated?
I…think this is good? I mean, I’m all for a curfew if it’s making a difference.–though it’s hard to be sure if it is. But I also want us to find the most sensible time of day for it. I’m just concerned that, as usual, this decision isn’t particularly motivated by any science and is just Legault bowing to protest pressure.
I also found it surprising the idea that everyone who wants to will be vaccinated by June 24. I wasn’t really expecting to get a chance until September.
Mark Côté
Legault is promising that all adults will have one shot by June 24. It’s not clear if the feds’ target of Sept 1 is one or both doses, but Quebec has been big on delaying the second so more people can get the first.
Regardless, even one dose for all adults in Quebec should make a huge difference. We seem to be following the UK, US, and other governments who really didn’t know how to handle the ambiguities of social distancing and such but are getting in gear now that there’s a clear objective.
DeWolf
September was the deadline mentioned by the federal government months ago, but that seems like it was a fairly conservative estimate now that vaccine deliveries have picked up. We’re slated to get 36.5 million doses by the end of June, which is more than enough considering Canada has an adult population of 30 million.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-36-million-vaccine-doses-july-1.5944608
That means that by June 24, Quebec will have received 8 million doses – enough for every adult to have received their first shot, and for at least one million people to have received both shots.
DeWolf
Also, one thing that doesn’t get mentioned and I’m not sure why: the island of Montreal is being vaccinated at a much higher rate than the rest of Quebec, with 14.3% of the total population currently vaccinated. That figure rises to 18% if you count only the eligible (adult) population.
If our vaccination rate remains exactly the same as today, Montreal will have vaccinated 100% of its adult population by early June. But of course the vaccination rate will increase, with 400k doses arriving in Quebec next week. So realistically, we can expect the entire adult population of Montreal to have received at least one dose by mid-May.
Kate
Everyone who’s willing, DeWolf. I’ll be curious to see how many will have refused it, by early June.
DeWolf
You don’t need everyone to get the vaccine in order to reach herd immunity. There was a recent poll of people in Quebec, reported in the Gazette, that showed 35% were eager to get the vaccine, another 39% would “probably” get the vaccine and 20% were still undecided. Only 6% said they did not plan to get the vaccine.
For anyone under 65 this is all academic. My guess is that, as soon as everyone is eligible and there is a big rush to book an appointment, all those undecided people are going to quickly get in line.
GC
My expectations for September also had to do with just being naturally pessimistic. Assuming more supply delays, etc. I haven’t run the numbers, though… I’m willing to take your word for it that it’s a realistic goal to hit that by June.
Kate
Legault is making it explicit he wants it done by Saint-Jean.
MarcG
It would be nice if nationalism finally did something good.
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Kate
On British TV, Thierry Henry said he appreciated his year in Montreal but couldn’t handle staying so far away from his kids any longer.
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Kate
CultMTL summarizes a Conservative tweet from Tuesday morning that praised Justin Trudeau and his administration in what was evidently meant to be an attack tweet. There’s been a lot of gleeful tweeting over this misstep.
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Kate
Toula Drimonis talks to ordinary Montrealers bringing food to people in need, a year after the pandemic was declared.
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Kate
The Vrai Changement pour Montréal party has ceased activity, just a formality because it didn’t win a single seat in the last election. There had been a little news about it recently, talk about choosing a new leader, but interim leader Justine MacIntyre shut it down with a Facebook post.
Only Monday, the Gazette was claiming “Vrai Changement Montréal, which began life as former mayoral candidate Mélanie Joly’s Vrai changement pour Montréal in 2013, changed its name last July and is about to elect a new leader.”
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Kate
Well, there’s some good news. Dog bites are down.
dmdiem
They see all the humans walking around wearing muzzles so they are on their best behaviour because they think that humans have started biting back.
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Kate
Park Ex will soon have a new park to be named for Dickie Moore, the old hockey hero who grew up in the neighbourhood. Here are some sketches from the urban design firm, Relief Design.
Jack
I am happy to hear Dickie Moore got some recognition from his hood. It is well deserved.
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Kate
An Asian man reports a pepper spray attack in the Plateau – not a robbery, not following from any exchange of remarks, just an apparently racially motivated attack. No arrests yet.
Chris
Zero evidence is presented that it was racially motivated. It could be of course, but there’s no evidence one way or the other. Everyone sees racism always and everywhere these days. But it could have been an attempted robbery where they got cold feet after seeing someone react in pain, it could have been some kind of revenge hit, or a thousand things. Hopefully they catch the perp, then we may know. Let’s not forget that antisemitic synagogue desecration that wasn’t, or the Smollett fiasco. The truth does not always match one’s first guess.
Meezly
Yes, of course you would know far better than the director of the CRARR, the people who monitor and analyse increased incidents of racially motivated attacks over the past year, and of course, the victim himself.
Even though you were not there to witness the incident, you have analyzed the situation thoroughly and it wasn’t easy for you to come to this conclusion.
Let’s remember, everyone, that because there were a few hoaxes in the past, we must always play the devil’s advocate whenever someone plays the racism victim card, esp. when it’s from a person of colour and dismiss their opinions and experience. And btw, cancel culture sucks!
Chris
>…for you to come to this conclusion
I came to no conclusion. I did the exact opposite. I said no evidence has been presented, and thus no conclusion can/should be drawn.
Let’s remember, everyone, that whenever something bad happens to a person of colour, it must always be because of racism. We mustn’t wait for any details, we must jump to ‘because racism’ immediately.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was a racist attack. But humans have countless motives for their actions. This could be anything.
Meezly
Indeed,, humans have countless motives for randomly pepper spraying a complete stranger who was minding his own business.
What I meant was that you came to the conclusion that your own assessment of the situation was more accurate than the people involved in the actual incident.
Chris
>Indeed,, humans have countless motives for randomly pepper spraying a complete stranger who was minding his own business.
They sure do! Theft, a paid hit job, perverse fun, drug induced frenzy, a dare, notoriety, your imagination is the limit. Hopefully they catch the fuckers and we’ll find out.
Meezly
But the more likely logical motive you would rather play the devil’s advocate because you feel that whenever something bad happens to a person of colour, it must always be because of racism, racism, racism. Racism here, racism there, racism racism everywhere! Why are people of colour so obsessed with racism?
walkerp
Of course it was a racist attack, Chris. Your desperate attempts to use internet logic to cast doubt are just another example of ingrained racism (I believe what we call “structural”). This fits a pattern that has been happening in the US and Canada since the pandemic has started. It doesn’t matter if the perp was crazy or a bunch of stupid kids or sort of part of an attempted robbery, that the victim was Asian is the main factor here. By ignoring it, you ignore the real problem.
Meezly
“Let’s remember, everyone, that whenever something bad happens to a person of colour, it must always be because of racism. We mustn’t wait for any details, we must jump to ‘because racism’ immediately.”
What’s disturbing is that this same paternalistic attitude from Chris is found within the police.
There was an CBC interview this morning about a Haitian man who was attacked by three white people. I don’t think he had “proof” except for his injuries but the police convinced him to not file a complaint because they probably used Chris’ infallible logic: maybe the perpetrators were just having a bad day and they just picked you to vent their frustrations!
But don’t worry, Chris, I’m sure the police are also convincing the Korean man who got pepper sprayed that what he experienced is not a hate crime, because as you so arrogantly pointed out, there is no evidence so we must assume that it’s not racially motivated.
There was a good article yesterday outlining how this downplaying of hate crime is part of many obstacles that victims of racially motivated attacks face:
https://journalmetro.com/actualites/montreal/2624424/crimes-haineux-des-barrieres-systemiques-pour-les-victimes/amp/?fbclid=IwAR2UvQn9QwI9WGWAQcYXgYwmzOIdRCkkqzyI0OyTVU-G1FgJNW7DQAkQ9UoKate
They were just having a bad day, Chris?
Meezly
Yesterday’s tragic event in Atlanta really highlights the sad fact that you can even gun down eight people of a certain gender and/or race and the police will still try to deny that it’s a hate crime.
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Kate
The cost of maintaining the city’s water infrastructure continues to climb to deal with the chronic need to patch up the old mains.
dhomas
A water main broke close to my house last Friday. It’s still not fixed and the road has been closed ever since.
Ephraim
@dhomas – Take a picture and mark the date. We had a sewer break that waited so long that we started putting up signs saying how long and marking anniversaries of the giant hole. Our saving grace is that they use our street for filming, so as soon as they got a filming request, they had to fix the street.
Kate
Ever seen any famous actors on your street, Ephraim?
Ephraim
Quite a few have been around here. Including Xavier Dolan. Oh and Square St-Louis is very popular with Just For Laughs. The Pierre Desforges House is used as the Auberge du chien noir.
I sometimes wonder if it’s the reason that this street has been repaved so often. We certainly don’t get any real benefit, just annoyances, like the city selling our street parking and displacing us.
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Kate
It feels typical of the Journal in this story to blame the city: a young man buys a condo on rue Pauline-Julien, near the tracks that separate the borough from Rosemont. He’s complaining here about the noise from a city yard: “Nobody explained to him that he’d have to try to sleep next to a yard where city trucks come and go at all hours.”
There’s been a city yard in that location since time out of mind. There have to be depots for the city’s many working vehicles, and one of them is the environs of the old Rosemont incinerator.
The young man bought the condo without checking out the area or, I presume, talking to anyone already living in the building. The noise is nothing new – there will be trains as well, occasionally, so is he going to complain to CP?
My ruling: Not the city’s fault. Not a news story at all. It’s a hot condo market – tell the guy to move. If you want the silence of the suburbs, don’t move to the city.
dwgs
What are the odds that he bought that condo because it came at a better price than comparable ones in another location?
Kate
Right, and he didn’t investigate why he was getting such a good deal.
Blork
I doubt it was significantly cheaper than nearby condos. I’m familiar with that area (had several friends living along there) and they’re not cheap — or at least not cheapER.
Regarding noise, I had friends living less than 200 metres from that spot (east on Pauline-Julien, then a few doors south) and they never reported any noise problems. But more importantly, how could the guy go there, look out the window and see that gigantic structure and all that activity, and not ask questions?
At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, I think we’re seeing the result of children who were coddled by helicopter parents who never let them fail, never let them take risks, and never gave them a reason to think for themselves, etc. So dude is now 30 and he’s working at the maturity level of a 15-year-old because he’s always had his parents there to think for him. (OK, that’s pure speculation in this case, and of course not all youngish people were brought up like that, but many, many were; it was an epidemic in the 90s and early noughts!)
steph
He’s 100% responsible for not doing his due diligence, but I’ll cut him a bit of slack that the current market makes it difficult to properly vet a purchase.
The purchase process is insane. Places are listed for sale in the early week, If you’re quick you get 15 min visit on the weekend (they’ll do 50 showings in 2 days) Offers are due by Monday. Everything is getting 10+ offers, and selling prices are randomly near 100K above the asking. It’s just insane lately, the only advice a realtor can give is “offer the most you can afford”. You lose a half dozen offers and you realize there’s no deals to be found. It’s an exhaustive process, every week rinse and repeat.
“young man” = first time buyer. The realtors push the fear of missing out pretty hard. yet the reality is that at the current upswing in the market, first time buyers might never afford anything (like in Toronto or Vancouver)Blork
That’s actually a good point, Steph. Things are insane right now in the real estate market, and it can be hard to do your due diligence. But still it’s on him.
But here’s a question: is he the only one complaining? There are dozens of condos along that stretch. Ones on the the first two levels are somewhat protected by a sound barrier that runs along the tracks. If you’re on the top floor you’re more exposed, but there are dozens of condos in that position.
From my estimation, this guy’s condo is about 120 metres from the middle of the incinerator (where the trucks drive up). And there is an on-site one storey building plus the raised railbed and then the sound barrier between there and his condo. On the other side, you have a condo building at rue des Carrieres and Henri-Julien that is only 80 metres away and has no sound barriers between it and the old incinerator. Are those people complaining?
Some people are oblivious to noise, so that’s just fine for them. Others are not (me included), so if you’re NOT oblivious to noise you really need to double-down on your due diligence (4D for short!), especially if you look out the window and see that huge city yard sitting right there!
Ephraim
There is a law requiring disclosure of anything that’s unusual. They should therefore have told him about the noise. The agent might have some fault if they didn’t disclose.
Blork
Does that count even if the unusual thing is REALLY OBVIOUS? Do coastal real estate agents need to disclose that there’s an ocean nearby? Do urban real estate agents need to disclose there’s a falling hazard from a condo on the 30th floor?
steph
I can hear the realtor saying : “There’s no market comparables for this condo since we’re on a steep inflation in the prices. The noise issue is worth 0$ to the other bidders, so if you really want this one bid your max, TO make sure you get it we should also offer ‘no inspection, no legal warranty and your first born child”.
Blork
Regarding whether or not this is news, I’d say it is, if only because so many younger people have not had the benefit of risk-taking and learning from real life experience, so stories like this are essentially a way of crowd-sourcing your mistakes so others can learn from them.
Kevin
The guy’s got white hair in his beard: he doesn’t qualify as a young man.
2020 saw an explosion of homes on the market as 3-4 months of pent-up demand from people with qualifications for mortgages combined with lockdown created a generational shift in where people wanted to live.
But since mid-2020 we are in a seller’s market and 2021 started with *fewer properties than ever before* being put on the market nationally. That’s increased since in Toronto, BC, and Calgary, but *not in Montreal*. The Cdn Real Estate Assn. says Montreal has fewer properties for sale than anywhere else.
Unless a lot of new property comes on the market soon (and I don’t suspect it will, because a lot of development recently has been in 1 or 2 br condos) this is not the year to buy a home in Montreal. You will get screwed.
GC
Yep, the take home message here is “research a neighbourhood before buying in it”. Like, steph, however I will cut him a tiny bit of slack. With the curfew, who couldn’t easily go by and see how noisy it was at night. (Assuming he closed on it after the curfew went into place…) Beyond that, it’s like moving in next to St-Viateur and complaining about the smell of bagels.
ant6n
Even without cutting the guy any slack, making a bunch of ageist generalizations isn´t necessary (young people can´t think for themselves, are as immature as people half their age etc.)
Blork
Agreed, although I doubt the curfew was an issue. The article says he’s been in there for “a few months” which means he moved in in January or possibly earlier. And that generally means he would have closed on it in December or November (or even earlier), long before the curfew.
GC
There we have it, then, Blork :). I actually looked at a place in that same complex, when I was condo shopping. I decided those giant smoke stacks were not the first thing I wanted to see every morning, so I never even thought about the noise. (This was back in the Before Times, when I actually used to leave home most mornings…) I mention this as a way of confirming that there is no way a person with average eyesight could possibly miss that eco centre. It is not just prominent in that photo. It can NOT be missed on site.
I have a friend who does live there and he’s never complained about the noise. Of course, everyone has different tolerance levels… And some locations in the complex might be worse than others. I’m sure the traffic noise around my place would drive some nuts.
mare
Hah, and he hasn’t even had the pleasure of having his windows open all day and smelling the stench of barley malting from the large brewery next door. On windless days in the summer it can hang around quite a while.
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