Responses to the REM de l’Est continue to be chilly as people clearly refuse to buy the line that it’s all lovely.
In other rail news, the proposed fast rail link from Quebec City to Windsor is choking on the fact that the train will not be able to use the Mount Royal tunnel now that it belongs to CDPQ‑Infra, and they’ll have to find some more circuitous route to bring trains downtown.
[Insert Nelson Muntz “Ha-ha!!” sound here.]
Some west end groups are complaining that the lion’s share of crime prevention money is going to the east end, and they’re making a language issue of it.
Last May I wrote a brief note to the borough asking them to come pick up some furniture and other stuff that a departing tenant had dumped outside my place.
In the event, the pile was picked over and the rest finally hauled away, and I forgot about it.
I got an email today saying the issue had been resolved.
Interesting. I put in a request via the city’s app a couple of weeks ago. The compost collectors were throwing the bins across the street after they’d unloaded each one like deranged lunatics. Ours was so badly damaged by this the wheels had come off. (Also, the truck had “freedom convoy” written on the side in the accumulated dirt)
Yesterday got a message saying the issue had been handled and resolved. No additional information, and we still have a broken bin.
I created an account on allrecipes.com and after realizing I didn’t want it and since there was no “delete account” option in the settings, I sent them an email asking to remove it. I got a reply over 2 years later saying it was done! I’m pretty sure you can go grab a new compost bin at your local city hall building – call 311.
That’s not very fast, but surprisingly in English.
As a counterpoint, on a windy afternoon a few weeks ago, I heard a banging metal noise coming from the top of one of the giant, 40 metres tall light pylons that illuminate the artificial turf soccer field near my house. I reported through the Montreal 311 app that some bolts needed a bit of tightening.
The next day there was an inspection with a crane and during the weekend the pylon was completely removed. Now, two weeks later, all four pylons are gone and the field will be dark.
So nobody can play soccer or frisbee in the evening anymore. I can’t help myself feeling very bad about it…
Replacing the lights of the neighbouring baseball field, during Coderre’s administration, took an astounding year between the start and finish of the work. So it might take a while before there will be light again.
mare, they were probably planning to do that anyway. I doubt your one report caused them to undertake such a big job so quickly.
@Kate Well, I talked to the engineer (coincidentally he called me back while I was walking the dogs, 200 meters from where he was, so we actually met) and he thought something had already fallen down. Even though that hadn’t happened yet, he told me they took this very seriously. That afternoon all pylons had fences around them and three days later they took the one I reported down, on a Saturday while it was very cold. Didn’t feel like it was planned long in advance. I was frankly surprised that they also took down the other ones. The inspection apparently found they were in bad shape.
There’s still one pylon standing I saw today, but the electrical wires are sticking out of a hole at the bottom so I don’t think it will last very long.
Wow! Mine only took 4 months to get closed.
Thing is, the light is still broken. I’ve actually noticed a very high failure rate of those new LED street lamps. The light also doesn’t seem to reach the road as effectively, so it barely helps road visibility. It is nice that they don’t blind me when I open my curtains at night, though.
The city is putting up some cash to help relaunch some festivals and other cultural events that went virtual during the pandemic.
The general lines of the redevelopment of the Molson brewery site have been revealed, the developer beginning by promising to keep some of the familiar features that might be called heritage, like the clock. I’d be more concerned about keeping the oldest parts of the huge installation, like these handsome frontages along Notre-Dame.
I’m looking out for items showing more preliminary sketches of the plans, but nothing so far.
La Presse now has an item up.
Based on the initial plans and renderings, the old buildings along Notre-Dame will be preserved and used for a micro-brewery, offices and shops.
https://forum.agoramtl.com/t/ilot-des-voltigeurs-site-molson-20-a-27-etages/
Thanks, DeWolf.
And a huge row of plain glass boxes between there and the river.
I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything else.
The first item on the annual news cycle is in full swing with pothole stories propagating like the potholes themselves.
Are the stories sponsored by Fromagerie Hamel, the unofficial sponsor of Montreal streets? 😀
The head of the city’s main Russian Orthodox congregation, Archibishop Gabriel Tchemodakov, says the invasion of Ukraine is justified. The Journal writer goes on to imply that Quebec should stop allowing this church the tax exemption it grants to places of worship.
The 2018 split between the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (a subset of the Russian Orthodox Church) is one of Putin’s motives for this war, according to some pieces I’ve read.
The Patriarch of the ROC has repeatedly denounced ‘westernization’ and said there’s a war between 2 cultures going on, with the west symbolized by gay pride parades, and true faith holders opposing that kind of abomination.
> Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Like the split between the Judean People’s Front and the People’s Front of Judea?
I think Putin and Patriarch Kirill see it more like Martin Luther nailing stuff to a door — or a King deciding he should be allowed to get a divorce — or Crusaders heading to Jerusalem.
Don’t get me started on the Judean Popular People’s Front.
Ce que Poutine fait est ignoble. Absolument rien dans ce monde civiliser ne justifie de détruire un pays en le bombardant, et tuer une bonne partie de sa population. Poutine est un assassin et devra être traité comme tel. Monseigneur qui appuis les actions de ce tueur d’enfants devrais retourner combattre au coté du meurtrier.
Thomas 17:29 on 2022-03-09 Permalink
That the Mount Royal tunnel would not be available was already known when the HFR project was announced, and continues to be a source of discussion and speculation among local transit enthusiasts. Not really news tbh
Kate 17:54 on 2022-03-09 Permalink
Not news, but it brings it home when a big project like this may fall down over the bad planning. Things may not be news but it can take awhile for implications to filter through – like the incredible stupidity of building the Bell Centre to block Windsor Station from ever being used as a station again.
Robert H 19:47 on 2022-03-09 Permalink
“…the incredible stupidity of building the Bell Centre to block Windsor Station from ever being used as a station again.”
Amen ! J’ai le fantasme de trouver l’argent pour réparer cette incroyable erreur qu’est le Centre Bell. Ce serait un grand projet civique que de surélever l’édifice et de redonner à la gare Windsor sa vocation première.
In other words, raise it…or better yet, just raze it.
Mais vous pouvez dire que je rêve en Technicolor.
Ant6n 09:40 on 2022-03-10 Permalink
@Thomas not true
HFR was worked on since before REM. Back in 2016 when REM was announced it was a big point of contention. VIA had tried to work something out but cdpqinfra didn’t want to play with others. VIA went to the BAPE as well but they were apparently too scared to talk about how REM as planned would make HFR very difficult. I extensively wrote about how sharing would’ve been possible, even included a 100 page memoir to the BAPE.
Blocking Mont Royal tunnel is arguably more stupid than blocking Windsor. Gare Centrale is better connected and better positioned than Windsor and it would be a through station on the Toronto-Quebec city line, which makes it much better.
Daniel D 10:44 on 2022-03-10 Permalink
I can’t recall where I read this (likely on Twitter), but I think there was a proposal to have Montreal’s HSR station in Laval at de la Concorde.
It got me thinking that this is the approach you see on Japan’s Shinkansen a lot. You have the HSR stations in large cities (eg: Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe) which are on the urban outskirts, and connected to the city centre by rapid transit. This makes for faster overall journeys as the line doesn’t have to traverse into town, potentially over non-high speed infrastructure.
On the surface, this seems like a good fit for Montreal with a rapid Metro connection to downtown. And you know, they could also upgrade the Saint-Jérôme line to make it more useful too.
Curious to hear from others why this may or may not be a good compromise in light of VIA Rail’s catastrophic own goal in losing the tunnel.
Kate 11:09 on 2022-03-10 Permalink
Daniel D, it crossed my mind to propose the suburban station idea but just as a provocation. Yes, it would make more sense in one way, but if there’s this huge project putting in this fast train line and the main Montreal station is in Laval, in a way it’s a final concession that the city of Montreal is no longer the main hub of the metropolitan area.
Joey 11:42 on 2022-03-10 Permalink
It would be fitting if Via’s high-speed train to Montreal was neither high-speed nor stopped in Montreal. Concorde –> Bonaventure is 16 stops, far from rapid.
Daniel D 12:18 on 2022-03-10 Permalink
Kate: This is a good point. A lot of people would also want to get to places like the South Shore anyway, so it kind of doesn’t make sense to not have the station in the city centre if you want to serve the region properly.
Joey: I was going to argue that the time to get downtown from Laval is probably going to be equivalent to a standard trip from the airport, but then I realised one of the main appeals of rail over air is simply you get delivered to the heart of the city and don’t have to undertake an additional journey.
Ant6n 12:45 on 2022-03-10 Permalink
Sometimes it can make sense to have a suburban high speed train station if the overall population it serves is small, most people travel through that station, the line speed is fast (and there would be significant delay to directly connect downtown) and the connection to downtown with local transit is quick.
None of these things will be true for HFR in Montreal.
That said, a secondary stop at de la Concorde could’ve made a lot of sense for HFR, it certainly makes much more sense than st lambert.