Not surprisingly, city parking revenues were way down in 2020, cut almost in half by effects of the pandemic.
Updates from November, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A survey showed that Montreal taxpayers are willing to kick in $68 more yearly to support tree cover in the city.
DeWolf
Some boroughs have been doing a great job of adding trees to streets that never had them (eg rue de Bienville on the Plateau). And the new device being used on recently renovated streets like St-Hubert and Peel means those trees will thrive more than their predecessors. But in so many spots around the city, the management of existing street trees is horrible. When you walk downtown there are hundreds of spots where trees have disappeared and never been replanted.
Ian
Don’t even get me started on the brutal overpruning Hydro Quebec does…
That said, almost all the maple trees on Laurier between Parc and St Laurent have verticillium wilt and over the years I’ve seen it spread from tree to tree all along the strip. I called the city some 10 years ago when I noticed it taking hold around St. Urbain and nobody had any clue whatsoever what I was talking about or who to direct me to. There must be city arborists but I am guessing they are few and far between, and probably most of their time is taken up with ash trees and removing dying trees.
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Kate
Now that Covid vaccinations are being prepared for kids aged 5 to 11, under a plan to be announced Tuesday, a demonstration is planned at Ste‑Justine Thursday against vaccination. François Amalega, recently released from jail under conditions, is continuing his campaign against modern medicine.
jeather
The appointments, not yet officially announced, are absolutely disappearing from Clic Sante. Not sure that finding out because you opened the clicsante website bc your Ontario friend mentioned making an appt, or finding out from twitter, is the best way to do scheduling. (I believe for 5-11 they are scheduling 2x the time as for 12+.)
walkerp
Aren’t those protests now illegal?
Ephraim
Eventually, the number of protesters will die down, their numbers are dwindling. Dying at 10X the rate as the vaccinated population will do that to you. But the number of cases will certainly go down as soon as the kids are vaccinated. It’s the main source of outbreaks at the moment, Take a look at https://twitter.com/vaccintrackerqc/status/1459237307744202752 to see a fantastic representation of how age and vaccination status intersect.
Bert
This week’s CBC medical show – White Coat, Black Art – covers just this point. A saddening listen but well worth it. – https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-75-white-coat-black-art
Kate
Bert, thank you. That’s disturbing (a doctor receiving death threats for immunizing people).
walkerp: I don’t think François Amalega is too concerned about legality. The more he gets repressed by police, the more his followers will think he’s right.
Raymond Lutz
just asking, but doesn’t vaccination only marginally decrease transmission rates? It is primarily useful for decreasing the severity of the disease among adults (which is a good thing) but kids never clogged ERs for covid… Won’t vaccination adverse effects among children outweigh benefits?
Mark Côté
I was wondering that as well. There is a Nature article that says that vaccines do lower transmission rates, but not for long. However, that means that it should really slow down transmission in schools for the winter, at least. And if boosters start to roll out to the general population in the New Year, that’d further curb outbreaks.
This Lancet article was harder for me to understand, but if I’m reading it correctly, vaccines will lower the amount of time that someone is infectious, and it takes longer contact with a vaccinated person to get infected. So in a household where you are together most of the time vaccines probably don’t do much to stop the spread, but in the community and maybe even in schools they would also curb transmission rates.
jeather
It reduces transmission rates, it reduces severity, it reduces long covid (which is going to be something we will see a LOT more of, including from children, in the future — we’ve barely had time for long term effects). The chance of getting very sick from covid is much higher than the chance of any side effect from the vaccine. There is a much higher rate of transmission among elementary schools than secondary this year (compared to last year, when it was comparable). This is just why it’s good for each individual kid to be vaccinated, not the obvious public health reasons re herd immunity, reduction in spread, reduction in variants, etc etc.
H. John
Demonstrations are not illegal per se.
As the name of Bill 105, passed by QC says:
“An Act to establish a perimeter around certain places in order to regulate demonstrations in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic”The perimeter is 50 metres.
The federal Liberals during the campaign said they would do something; but obviously with Parliament only returning this week, they haven’t introduced any legislation yet.
qatzelok
@Ephraim: “Dying at 10X the rate as the vaccinated population will do that to you”
On the continent of Africa, a very low number of people are vaccinated. Does this mean rapid depopulation is coming there? Your unsourced statistic seems to suggest imminent disaster there.
Should we send in the army?
Max
Life expectancy on the African continent is about 15 years less than that here in North America. How’s that for a depressing disparity? If Covid is wreaking less per-capita havoc over there, it’s likely because poverty and / or some other opportunistic disease will have killed you off long before Covid gets a chance to.
Max
Re: “Dying at 10X the rate as the vaccinated population will do that to you”
I don’t know if that factor applies here what with our first-world health care system, but take a look at recent per-capita mortality rates in Romania and Bulgaria (two of the least vaccinated countries in the EU). They’re like 15-25 times higher than ours! How anyone could look at these data and still be vaccine-hesitant is beyond me.
thomas
Further to Max’s point the average age in Africa is ~20 years versus ~40 years in North America. Also, obesity is less common. So 2 most common predictors are of COVID mortality are less prevalent.
walkerp
Just common sense says the vaccine is reducing transmission. Cases are way down while social restrictions have been significantly relaxed. Getting the kids vaccinated should bring spread down even more, perhaps to the point of making covid more like the flu (though travel remains a problematic vector).
Kevin
Max
The vaccine hesitant look at the number of people in hospitals and go “Hey, some people in hospital with Covid are vaccinated, therefore vaccines don’t work.”
But they should be looking at the *ratio* of people who are in hospital compared to vaccination status. So over the past 4 weeks that’s 235 out of 2.1 million unvaxxed, compared to 159 out of 6.4 million fully vaxxed.
The hesitant are missing half of the equation but don’t realize it.
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Kate
In March, a 79‑year‑old woman was mowed down on a Rivière‑des‑Prairies sidewalk by a 17‑year‑old with no driving permit. This week the driver was given the harshest penalty that can be meted out to a minor: three years.
Notably, the victim had been the main caretaker for her mother, who was nearly a hundred years old and had to be placed in a CHSLD after her daughter’s death. Article doesn’t say whether she is still alive.
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Kate
It’s odd to see news now about Tremblay-era corruption at city hall. Last week it was Frank Zampino, this week it’s Bernard Poulin of Groupe SM who has admitted his collusion to the Order of Engineers. Zampino and Poulin both escaped trial because of conversations that were deemed illegally recorded by investigators.
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