It’s with almost sentimental Montreal pride that I post this story: delivery of the new stadium roof has been delayed again.
Updates from February, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Simon Jolin-Barrette’s Bill 96 will mandate that everyone coming to Quebec has to learn French within 6 months, even refugees and asylum seekers.
It must have taken even little Simon J-B longer than six months to learn French.
Uatu
So 6mos. to move to Toronto. Ok.
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Kate
People living in the east end are struggling with the possible impact of more industrialization, including the extension of rue Souligny for truck traffic, the construction of the Ray‑Mont terminal, a new Hydro‑Quebec post, and the REM de l’Est.
dhomas
The only part of these developments that kinda makes sense is the extension of l’Assomption and Souligny. Right now, trucks leaving the port need to take Notre-Dame to Dickson, then get on Souligny “bretelle” on their way to the 25. It’s a mess and it prevents that area from developing properly. I used to bike on the bike path alongside Notre-Dame on that stretch and the dust and debris created by the passing trucks made for quite an inhospitable environment. I later decided to bypass that area altogether and cut through HoMa at Bennett street instead.
Getting those trucks get on a near dedicated artery which leads directly to the highway system could make sense.
As for the rest, the Ray-Mont project is absolutely bonkers; the REM de l’Est doesn’t make much sense; and I don’t know much about the Hydro-Quebec project.
Faiz Imam
I don’t know the technical spefifics of this Hydro facility, but we should expect a lot more electrical infrastructure built in inconvenient places in the years ahead.
Our city was built with a certain expected population and density, and as it grows both larger and denser, we will need much more electricity in a given area.
So much of the infrastrure is old and is at the edge of its current carying capacity.
Not to mention, modern houses all have air conditioning, electric heating, plus the rise of EV charging. It all means we need more transformers, more sub-stations and more excavation to add wires to built up areas.
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Kate
Google sometimes turns up odd stories I don’t find in the local media. Here’s an incident reported on trains.com: a new train car meant for Exo trains was damaged last weekend because it didn’t fit under an old lift bridge structure. Exo certainly hasn’t trumpeted the fact that its new trains are coming from China.
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Kate
Dezeen’s got a house renovation this weekend, a small house on Berri with “a residential extension wrapped in galvanised metal.” Check out that matte black kitchen too.
Would it be so difficult to “wrap” an extension in brick to fit in with the structures around it?
Also like “The Berri House is located on a short street in Montreal” given that Berri stretches from the St Lawrence to the Back River, albeit with a few breaks.
Blork
I have notes.
First, it probably would be hard (although not impossible) to clad the extension in brick, because the extension is elevated and there isn’t a bottom platform to carry the weight of the bricks. Regardless, I think the metal cladding is fine. It’s set back from the street, and is barely visible when the tree has leaves. Plus it’s an extension, not a primary facade, and it coordinates well with the grey fence.
The inside is another story. I like modern architecture, and much of what some people see as “sterile” actually appeals to me. But not this place.
First of all, if you want a modern house, build (or buy) a modern house. Converting a 1910 house to a modern interior is not the way to go. (Adding modern touches to century home is one thing, but completely re-doing the interior is another.) That said, the nicest room in the house is the extension; it’s no coincidence that the extension is new and modern inside and out.
I don’t like the plywood. I’ve seen plywood used successfully, but in this case it just makes that part of the interior seem unfinished.
The exposed floor structure — which on the main floor is exposed ceiling — is also not great. I suppose it looks OK, but whenever I’ve been in a place with that kind of ceiling there has been zero soundproofing between floors. If you’re going to live in a very expensive renovated house, the least you should expect is to not hear every thump-thump-thump of the people upstairs (even if they’re your own kids).
That black kitchen. No. Just no. Light and visibility is very important in a kitchen. Not only for that warm and fuzzy “homeyness” but also so you can see WTF you’re doing when you’re cooking.
Love the breakfast bar (if only the counter top were not black.)
The address is 4705 Berri.
DeWolf
I love the extension. I like the way the metallic cladding reflects the light, and the sheltered space underneath is interesting. But the interiors are cold and uninviting. The whole vibe is more office than home.
I can understand why you’d want to gut the interiors and build something more modern, though. A lot of Montreal apartments have very little vintage charm left, just crooked floors and ten layers of lead paint on whatever woodwork hasn’t been stripped out or massacred.
As for modernist interventions in a historic setting, I think thoughtful contrast is always better than imitation. We aren’t in the 1910s anymore and if you try to build something that looks just like its century-old neighbours, it’s going to look like it got lost on its way to Disneyland.
qatzelok
The metallic cladding is a nice reference to the sheds that normally resided behind many plexes.
The black kitchen is design-over-function.
GC
Calling Berri a “short street” is laughable. I don’t expect the writer to be in Montreal, but couldn’t they spend the five seconds to look at a Google map?
Kate
Blork, is there a breakfast bar? I can’t see one, but maybe it’s black on black.
qatzelok, you have a point re metal-clad sheds. There are still some of those around.
Blork
The large kitchen counter has a row of seats on the far side (closest to the dining table). I assume that’s what’s meant by “breakfast bar…”
Blork
I just looked again. The counter is designed to accommodate seats, but there are no seats in the photos.
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Kate
CBC has been running a lot of pieces around the Black History Month theme. Black Changemakers profiles active people doing all kinds of things around Montreal. I haven’t linked one each day because they’re features, not news; presumably CBC will keep running more till the end of the month.
CTV also has some features on the theme including the first Black player in the CFL (1946!), and the story of Fred Christie, a Black Montrealer who was denied service in a tavern in 1936, and took the discrimination to the Supreme Court, where he was stood up by a ruling that a private business had the right to serve whomever it pleased. This item mentions a 1975 ruling in Quebec that contravened that principle, but doesn’t expand on it. Possibly they mean the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was passed that year.
There’s also some coverage of an upcoming CBC series, The Porter, about the lives of Black railway workers in Montreal a century ago.
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Kate
The death of a woman on the CP tracks separating Plateau and Rosemont boroughs early this month is described here as angering people who want a level crossing near there, and have been asking for one for years, while people commonly cross through holes in the fencing.
Not to cast shade on the incident, but I’ve crossed there, and seen trains go through there. We’re not talking about a TGV or a bullet train. They’re heavy freight trains. You don’t only hear them but feel them coming from a distance. How an apparently able‑bodied person (there’s nothing in the story about her having any disability) was able to get hit by a train on those tracks by daylight puzzles me. If you were setting out to cross, you could not miss the fact that a freight train was bearing down on you.
Blork
It’s a mystery to me how this happened. I used to work on railroad documents, including safety and whatnot, and have read many accounts of things like this, and you’d be surprised how often it happens.
It usually comes down to a lack of basic awareness on the part of the victim, such as walking along tracks while wearing headphones or earbuds, thinking they’ll see a train coming because they’re looking straight ahead but it doesn’t occur to them that the train could come from behind. (Yes, that happens.) But I doubt that’s the case here.
The only scenario I can think of is that a train was parked on one set of tracks, and the woman crossed in front of the parked train and right into the path of a train approaching on the other track — as in, the parked train obscured her view. The timing in order for that to happen is so precise as to defy belief, but again, this has been known to happen. (This is essentially the same scenario as the jogger who was killed crossing Ave. du Parc a few years ago; she jogged in front of a parked bus and right into the path of an approaching vehicle that was blowing through a red light. If she had been two seconds slower or faster it wouldn’t have happened. The bad luck of precise timing.)
Kate
There are signs on level pedestrian crossings, like the one in Jarry Park, with a graphic that warns you that there are two sets of track. Trains don’t usually pause on those tracks normally, but even so, you’re made aware that it’s not safe to pass around a stopped train without checking the second track.
Freight trains do sometimes stop on the CP tracks in that story, so I suppose it’s possible that a stationary train could account for the accident.
DeWolf
I’m also mystified as to how this could have happened. But it doesn’t change the fact that hundreds of people cross daily without any incident.
Unfortunately, the Canadian Transport Agency ruled against level crossings in Mile End. CP is obliged to allow the city to build crossings at St-Dominique and Henri-Julien, but they must either be underpasses or overpasses, which are expensive, space intensive and not nearly as pleasant as a level crossing.
There will be a surface crossing further west at de l’Épée though.
GC
I’m also perplexed about it. It really is not that far for an able-bodied person, as you say, and–assuming you are not impaired in those senses–you can see and hear it coming from a long way away. A parked train on one track might explain it, but I can’t recall ever seeing a train parked in that stretch the whole time I’ve lived around here. That being said, there was mention in the article of CP “sometimes [storing] empty rail cars there”, so maybe I’ve just missed it.
I was wondering if maybe she heard it, but didn’t see it yet, and thought “I can make it…” I was wondering if more would come out about this story, after we discussed it at the beginning of the month, but I suppose that would require a witness to have been there.
Kate
GC, I’ve seen a train stopped along there, because I climbed over it. Yes, I know.
GC
Kate, I’m also a bit surprised that there are up to nine trains per day. I would have guessed fewer, so apparently I don’t go by there enough to really judge what’s normal and what’s not.
walkerp
Equally perplexed here. Pure speculation, but I was wondering if maybe she slipped and sprained her ankle or it got stuck somehow. Anyhow, I think we all agree it would be nice to have a bit more explanation on what actually happened.
Kate
GC, I think some may run overnight, which might explain why it’s not often you’ll see one. You can pass there often and yet never see a train go by.
Alex
I live right by the tracks, you get some around 9am, lunchtime, 6pm, 9pm and oftentimes in the middle of the night
Alex
And speculating on how it happened, there are a lot of people who will stroll down the tracks and hang out, I have even seen people skiing down there or walking their dogs (which they probably wouldn’t do if they knew how much herbicide the CP spray down there)
Daniel D
“These [raised walkway] projects are not part of the City’s short-term planning, due to their complexity and the costs associated with the creation of such infrastructures,”
I disagree. Here’s an example from the U.K., where Network Rail have built an affordable pedestrian bridge: https://youtu.be/cJTMOft_2nM
GC
Thanks, Alex. I live a very short walk away, but just far enough that I can’t really hear them over all the St-Denis car traffic. And my windows all face in the opposite direction.
I looked at some of the online photos in that Clayton Bailey project and they definitely show people who just seem to be lingering on the tracks. That is…questionable behaviour, but I suppose some would say the same about just scampering over them and I’ve been guilty of that a few times. The story of this woman who was recently killed, however, suggests she was on a work errand. And in the middle of winter, to boot. You’d think she’d just be looking to get over to the other side ASAP, but I guess we’ll never know for sure.
Meezly
We’ve had a similar discussion some years before when another local person was killed by a train and s/he was also wearing earphones, though I don’t know whether this poor woman was wearing them or not. I recall trying to look up similar accidents because I couldn’t comprehend how people could be so careless, esp. when using earphones and you’d be surprised!
I remember reading about how one person died falling into a subway track because they walked in between two cars by mistake instead of entering through the door. Quite a few didn’t even notice when the train conductor was blasting his horn before hitting them.
There have been studies done about this “inattentional blindness” and the rise of pedestrian deaths related to device use and earphones.
Blork
Meezly, that last case — where the person fell between the Metro cars — was a result of her looking at her phone instead of watching where she was going (no so much about earphones). That led to questions about if the same thing could happen to vision-impaired people. It’s moot now with the new Metro cars but some of the old trains are still in use.
Meezly
@Blork, that’s right. Whether it’s listening or looking, it’s all device-related and it puts you in a “device bubble” that impairs you from being aware of your physical surroundings.
Bert
Sorry to be unsympathetic, but the person seems to have been in a place they should not have been. There was no crossing or whatever. I saw the changes that the AMT that happened after the “kid” died at the Bois-Franc station +- 4 more years ago, but that was crossing the double tracks on a pedestrian crossing.
Is this a real-life of the trolley dilemma question?
walkerp
Bert, the railway is a gigantic barrier between two contiguous neighbourhoods with many reasons to cross between. It forces you to walk multiple blocks out of your way, often doubling back if your destination is just on the other side. Furthermore, the two underpasses where you can “legally” cross at St-Denis and St-Laurent are unpleasant at best and dangerous and scary at night. There are reasons people are constantly cutting holes in the fences the length between St-Laurent and St-Denis.
Blork
It should also be added that people have been cutting through that fence and short-cutting across those tracks for decades. That doesn’t make it right, but it does provide some context that this isn’t a case of a few wayward people “going where they’re not supposed to be.” There’s a steady stream of people going through there every day. I used to do it in 1990-92 when I lived on St-Laurent near Bernard; that was the quickest way to get to Rosemont Metro station.
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Kate
The city has plans to remove almost all the docks from the Lachine marina by mid-June, a gesture being called premature by the outfit that wants to keep the marina for boat owners only, and not be turned into a waterside park for the hoi polloi.
The city has had to apply to Transports Canada for permission in this, which I don’t think has been mentioned before in this issue. But there’s also mention of keeping docks for police riverboats and Coast Guard craft, so I guess they have some dibs on the area.
Nick D
It’s a federal park area, the Canal, isn’t it? I wonder whether the park area includes the marina?
Kate
The canal is federal as is some of the waterfront, but I don’t know the extent.
dwgs
All navigable waters and the bridges that cross them are federal. That’s the general rule.
Kate
But also the shores, dwgs? I understood that the area we call the Old Port is federal, and I had the idea this was established initially during World War II, although I might be wrong there. But I didn’t think the feds had control of the shores beyond the port area.
carswell
Based on indicators like signage, picnic tables, where Parks Canada vehicles park and a low wall, I’ve always assumed the western limit of the federally managed land was a few metres west of the westernmost lock, basically up to the road that leads to/from the marina.
From mid-spring to mid-fall, guards at the marina entrance would prevent anyone unauthorized from entering, so I’ve only been on the peninsula after all the boats and guards have left. Without the rigging, it’s kind of desolate and unnatural but it’s potential as a park, both recreational and scenic, is obvious: rehabilitated properly, it could be a stupendous resource for city-bound kids, who’d suddenly have access to kayak/sailboard/canoe/etc. lessons, and a freshwater beach that’d also be a draw for cyclists. Smart land and waterscaping could create some very attractive animal habit (too bad the police station and its docks are remaining). A promenade along the north side would enjoy beautiful views over the water to the north shore park and old Lachine, with its huge trees and towering church spires.
Also, there’s a fairly large housing development that’s just gone up on former industrial land between Lachine and Ville-St-Pierre, with more to come, so the need for green space in the area is only going to increase.
Currently in the rough, this diamond shouldn’t be the playground of a privileged few. The sooner they take out the docks, the less likely the docks are to go back in. Too bad they can’t do it today.
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Kate
Sault-au-Recollet, which an interviewee here says is a neighbourhood not well known by most Montrealers, is at grips with the construction of a glaringly modern new house among its vintage buildings.
qatzelok
Spi
cute country style houses have been outnumbered by ugly 60’s duplexes for a long time now, so to characterize that stretch of Gouin as such is disingenuous.
Kate
I had that impression too. I used to cycle up that way from time to time and it seemed like quite a mix. There are only a few places where you’ll see more than 2 or 3 older buildings side by side, without a newer building interposed.
dhomas
My parents live in Sault-au-Récollet, so I know the area quite well (I actually got married in the church mentioned in the story). So, the neighborhood actually isn’t only along Gouin. It extends South all the way to close to Sauve street, which is closer to where my folks live. I think Google’s got the boundaries a little wrong, as they don’t include the church nor the park itself.
But just because others have destroyed parts of what was a historic neighborhood in the past, doesn’t mean we should continue doing it, though. There are still pockets of cute little homes on and off Gouin.Here is the house in the story:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ydo178fNHAV8mJgM9The lot next to it was, strangely, a car mechanic. The story said “garage”, which could leave you wondering if it was just a single garage for a home. Though I’m not sad to see the garage go, the developers seem to be stacking the new house right next to the country style house. I just hope it’s tasteful when it’s done. All in all, this smells of Nimbyism. I can’t imagine it would preferable to have a mechanic shop next door; it certainly didn’t add to the “rustic charm”.
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Kate
The BA.2 variant of Covid is spreading in Canada and the world short-track skating competition meant to take place here in March has been cancelled. (Probably this story would normally sink without a trace, but coming right after the Olympics there may be more of a fuss.)
These stories are against a background of reopening stories: the resumption of international conferences and pressure to ease travel rules.
But this is nothing new. From the start, the media have had, on the one hand, stories about the development of the pandemic itself, the medical and political responses to it, and on the other, stories about the people who want their profession or their business or their person to be excused pandemic measures. But did anyone foresee the social disruption that would be happening at this stage of things?
La Presse surveys how things will look this spring, as far as we know at this stage.
Meezly
I don’t believe in god, but Jesus H. Christ!
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/health/ba-2-covid-severity/index.htmlKate
Meezly, we’re not out of the woods yet.
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Kate
Excellent piece by Patrick Lagacé on liberty.
René Bruemmer asks why, as governments have obediently lifted Covid restrictions, protesters continue their demonstrations in Ottawa and Quebec City.
Kevin
Similar pieces put out this week by Michael Williams of U of Ottawa.
It’s more about regime change by any means possible.
Kate
Did anyone ask those protesters whether they voted in the September federal election?
I think this is the piece Kevin means.
The point made in that piece is that mainstream politics has to somehow address the dissatisfactions being expressed, however crassly, in these demonstrations. But the demonstrators are not exactly coherent or consistent in expressing what they want, are they?
Updating to add a link to this opinion piece about fascism in Canada. Although individual protesters tend not to be the most articulate, it is indeed possible to discern what they want, or what kind of Canada they want to be living in. The sad irony is that the kind of Christian dictatorship many of them seem to want is much further from “freedom” than what we have now, imperfect though it might be.
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Kate
Parking rates are going up by 25 cents an hour, all over town, as of Monday.
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Kate
Again, not surprising news, snow removal is going to get in gear shortly and tidy the place up. CBC radio says we got 18 cm and can expect another 4 cm this weekend.
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Kate
The city has spawned a new category of bureaucracy to be called Direction générale adjointe (DGA) to oversee the police and fire services, plus the city clerk and its legal affairs department. This is supposed to be in response to the rise in violence throughout 2021 and into this year. There are some other reshufflings of bureaucracy described in the brief piece.
In other mild-mannered city news, the OCPM has a new chairperson.
I’ve been cringing away so much from the news out of Ottawa that, for the first time in the history of the blog, I haven’t wanted to look at the news in the morning.
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Kate
It seems hardly to be news that rents are rising in Montreal.
Ian
I’d love to see this mythical $932 apartment in Montreal… I know centreville is inflated but even out in the far west and far east these seem like strangely low prices…
dhomas
My 5 & 1/2 (3 bedroom) is rented for 1000$, next to Radisson metro. When I was looking to buy a house, there were a bunch of places I had to pass on because the owners had paid off their mortgages years ago and so never bothered to raise the rent. 600$/month might be fine for someone who has no mortgage, since it’s all gravy. But when they were asking $650k for their duplex, that rent won’t put a dent in the mortgage. My parents are some of those landlords who never raise the rent “because they’re good tenants”. They rent a 4 & 1/2 for about 500$/month toa tenant who has lived there longer than they’ve owned the house. All those “historical” rents likely drive down the average price.
DeWolf
Yes, exactly. I have friends who pay a little over $900 for a big 7 1/2 in a relatively central location. If they moved and weren’t able to transfer the lease, it would be renting for at least $2000.
dhomas
Here’s the thing, though. If/when my current tenant moves out, I will have to raise the rent to match the market rates. I didn’t last time and I ended up with a shitty tenant who in the span of 4 years wrecked my freshly renovated apartment and caused me $20k in water damage to my house (the unit I live in). Not to mention he’s rude (mysoginistic) to my wife, always pays the rent about a week late, and makes lots of noise in the middle of the night.
If I charge the “cheap” rent that I’ve always charged for my unit and the apartment buildings not too far away charge the same amount, I’ll attract the same clientele as those slummy apartments. Someone considering those cheaper apartments would gladly take my upper triplex apartment for the same monthly fee. In order to attract a better renter, I need to charge more for rent. It’s unfortunate that it has to go down this way, but I need to think of my family and their quality of life. I’ve learned my lesson.j2
Meh, I and separately my partner have fantastically cheap rents and we’re not assholes. The people who moved in upstairs from her place are paying more since it was renovated and ARE assholes (noise, overflowing bathrooms, parties during lockdowns, smoking weed indoors and on balconies in a no-weed building, etc etc etc).
Oh, it seems to me late rent is one of the few things that can (eventually) get people evicted, no?
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