A lot of kids are under stress, so the Children’s has launched a new clinic to get them help quickly, rather than putting them on interminable waiting lists. Global talked to a participant.
Updates from March, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Also Saturday, some people held a march against pandemic measures – what? Yes, some of them are still at it. They do not feel they have sufficient liberty.
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Kate
Serge Sasseville, councillor for Peter McGill district downtown, happens to live opposite the Russian consulate on Avenue du Musée, and he’s put up Ukrainian flags and has been playing the Ukrainian anthem several times a day.
There was a pro-Ukraine demonstration downtown Saturday.
Meezly
Looks like he’s blasting the anthem from his car. Was hoping he’d do it with a boombox a la Say Anything. Still, pretty admirable!
Orr
Saw a single picketer outside a Russian Orthodox church I passed this morning.
Picket sign had an ikea bag on it, as the ikea logo colour scheme is yellow and blue.
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Kate
In an interview on Radio-Canada, Mayor Plante says she won’t give the keys of the city to CDPQ-Infra. The city can’t be a passive observer when a project runs through historic and residential neighbourhoods and cleaves them in two. It’s good talk, let’s hope it buys some credit.
DisgruntledGoat
“Cleaves them in two”
I do not understand the language use that refers to electric rail that fits on a median as if it’s some 1950s Robert Moses project of 8+ lanes and frontage roads that divides a black and a white neighbourhood in a US city.
Is Sherbrooke Est this amazing pedestrian-friendly, vibrant, mixed use area I’ve been missing out on? Last time I checked it wasn’t. The cleaving has already been done, Kate. Is sticking some accessible public transit on top of the middle of it carrying out further cleaving?
dhomas
I’m guessing you don’t live around Sherbrooke Est, @DisgruntledGoat. I do. Between the 25 and Georges-V, Sherbrooke street has quite a bit of vibrant, local business. It’s not quite pedestrian friendly, but we should work to make it more so, not less by adding a giant aerial structure.
CDPQInfra has shown that its system can be put underground, as seen with the northern spur. We are going to have to live with this system for 198 years, apparently. Why can’t it be put underground on the eastern spur? Obviously, its a cost issue, but also CDPQInfra don’t believe “the poors” deserve as good a system as other neighborhoods.carswell
Anyone who claims this proposed line won’t be a near-permanent scar on the city is a shill or a dupe.
And, hey, it doesn’t just run down Sherbrooke East. As currently constituted, it will — in combination with the multi-lane René-Lévesque and Ville-Marie Expressway trough, further cut off Old Montreal and Chinatown from the rest of the city. And the barrier will be psychological as well as physical and environmental (noise, dust and who knows what else).
I’ve not been to NYC since the High Line opened. But I did spend lots of time there in the ’80s and ’90s. The elevated NY Central railway wasn’t 8+ lanes and frontage roads either but was — and, I suspect, to some extent still is — a cleavage, a tear in the urban fabric. That’s also true for the El in Chicago.
DisgruntledGoat
“As currently constituted, it will — in combination with the multi-lane René-Lévesque and Ville-Marie Expressway trough, further cut off Old Montreal and Chinatown from the rest of the city. And the barrier will be psychological as well as physical and environmental (noise, dust and who knows what else).”
Again, 2 grade-separated elevated tracks with electric rail, with a footprint that fits on an existing median and allows pedestrians to cross with no more effort than it already takes to cross René-Lévesque or Sherbrooke Est.
Why is the default kneejerk criticism always to go back to lumping in grade-separated electric rail with 6 to 8 lanes of traffic on René depending on time of day, or an 8-lane expressway? These things are not remotely similar.
“Noise, dust, and who knows what else.”
What does this even mean? This is peak NIMBY public consultation meeting, just like the insinuation that there will be rampant drug deals happening everywhere all of a sudden because of some concrete posts in the middle of the street.
Kate
DisgruntledGoat, what’s your agenda? Where do you live, that you don’t care what kind of barriers the REM de l’Est will place all through downtown and well into the east end?
Dhomas
Look, I’ll call out NIMBYism when I see it, too. And though these criticisms are somewhat NIMBYish, they do bring up valid concerns. Like I stated earlier, just because something is already not very pedestrian friendly, doesn’t mean we should push forward in that same direction. On the contrary, we should work to make things better, not worse. René-Lévesque is pretty terrible, I agree. But we should be working to slow down traffic and make it less scary to cross this thoroughfare. We should not lean into the already bad design and double down on it.
carswell
“What does this even mean? This is peak NIMBY public consultation meeting, just like [insert irrelevant comparison here].”
The pictures accompanying the latest lipstick-on-a-pîg proposal show people lolling about under and around the tracks in an almost pastoral setting, with designer gardens, kids playing games, people chatting on their phones, hanging with friends or just sitting and contemplating the universe.
No one in their right mind buys this PR bullshit. If built, the REM de l’Est is going to be an eyesore and the areas near it will be hostile to people on the ground. There will be dust and noise generated by heavy machinery on rails passing only metres overhead every other minute in each direction during rush hour. The tracks and pylons will form a wide roof over the street, blocking sunlight and trapping exhaust fumes from adjacent traffic. They’ll block the views of people on the ground and in the buildings on the street.
NIMBYism?! I live on the other side of the city. In the five decades I’ve called Montreal home, I’ve travelled to on-island locations east of the 25 maybe twice and have no plans for a repeat visit. And if I do need to travel there, the green and blue line and a bus will do the trick — I live a two-minute walk from a blue line station. Why would I bother with the REM de l’Est, which won’t even connect with the REM?
I also live 10 minutes by foot from the Édouard-Montpetit station and am going to benefit immensely from the REM I and its fast access to downtown, Griffintown, the South Shore, the airport, the West Island and even Deux Montagnes (the APdC sugar shack/Cabane d’à côté, with which I have a connection, is only a short taxi ride away from the terminus). In my neck of the woods, the REM is completely and deeply underground.
But I’ve been opposed to the REM project from the start, not because it’s in my backyard but because it’s stupid — trying to turn public transit into a profit centre for a developer, prioritizing the Caisse’s real estate projects over sensible urban planning and generally user-focused transit, greatly complicating and possibly gutting the proposed high-frequency trains between Quebec City and Windsor and generally uglifying the city wherever it’s above ground.
The only part of the Rdl’E project that’s going to impinge on my life (as opposed to my pocketbook as a taxpayer) is the downtown segment, say from Papineau west. And that is indeed a concern, because I don’t want the green and blue metro lines cannabalized and because I care about places like Chinatown and think René-Lévesque — and Sherbrooke East for that matter — should be made more welcoming, not less.
How telling that you not only wrongly attack me and every other opponent as NIMBYists but also continue wrongly insisting that the project in no way resembles the Metropolian while not even addressing the noted cleavage caused by elevated trains in other cities, which it definitely resembles.
So, shill or dupe?
Kate
Pile ou face?
Mercier-Est doesn’t want the REM and nor does anyone else living in the eastern part of the city. Petitions have been signed against it.
What carswell says is well put, DisgruntledGoat. In fact all you need to know is that for the moment even CDPQ Infra has been cowed and put the project on hold. Even they have recognized that such a massively unpopular plan was never going to fly.
Faiz Imam
Thinking through the problem, I wonder what the future of rail transit in the east end can be?
A elevated rail line for $10 billion is not acceptable, nor is a true metro line that would cost $20 to $30 billion.
an at grade street car is easy, but its capacity is far below what we need (might as well have a pie-ix style BRT at that point).
I think the only other option is a below grade LRT using a cut and cover method. Similar to Toronto’s Eglington LRT.
It will mean massive disruption to the street for years, but the cost will be something we might be able to tolerate, with a final product that enhanced the city enough to be worth it.
DisgruntledGoat
“DisgruntledGoat, what’s your agenda? Where do you live, that you don’t care what kind of barriers the REM de l’Est will place all through downtown and well into the east end?”
Hi @Kate, I live close to the 40 and also have lived close to Decarie, and I don’t drive, so I am very aware of what bad urban planning decisions can do to neighbourhoods. Those two things are non human-scale, right? They are bad situation for pedestrians. For me, that’s a barrier/cleaving.
Again, what barriers are we talking about with the REM, physically? How are concrete posts that fit on an existing median of an already pedestrian-unfriendly road an additional barrier? You guys are talking about this thing like it’s the Berlin Wall.
There is sooooooooooooooo much good criticism of the REM that centres on the political aspect and autonomy of Montreal and its transit agency side, the role of public/private management of public transit, but here we are doing the Simpsons episode about the monorail.
@carswell Thank you for your reply there is some good analysis here. I appreciate both your experiences and your criticism.
Look, I am pro-public transit and pro-less cars on the road. Montreal sucks, Quebec sucks at negotiating and delivering these large-scale transit proposals that would serve a huge population in a reasonable amount of time. My position, not my agenda, is that the project is a net positive for Montreal including the neighbourhoods it would serve, Kate.
DisgruntledGoat
Anyway, look @Kate I love the blog and do not want to be a source of annoyance for you where you are compelled to loop back and see feedback that requires a response so I will no longer comment on the REM. Comment sections can be shit so I will just continue being a silent appreciative reader.
Kevin
@DisgruntledGoat
I think you’d understand @carswell‘s point if you went by the REM pillars that are currently under construction in Pointe Claire and Kirkland. Even driving along the 40 that structure dominates the space. Imagining that running along Rene Levesque but lower is almost enough to induce claustrophobia.
Daniel D
Don’t all projects naturally have NIMBY protestors, regardless of whether there are legitimate concerns on top of the inevitable NIMBY arguments?
In this instance, I think you see supporters of this project focusing and amplifying the nimby elements, as a way of writing off all the legitimate concerns. So you end up with anyone making legitimate criticism of the project being tagged in bad faith as a NIMBY.
(for example, I think we’re seeing tactic implemented in some pretty crass ways in the videos of some prominent local YouTubers)
Of course, a look at the sheer number of transit experts criticising this project should make it obvious this isn’t about NIMBY-ism. It’s possible to be pro-transit and have legitimate concerns about this project.
carswell
Thanks for the reply, DisgruntledGoat. Much appreciated. Which is not to say I can see how anyone other than people connected with the developer and the CAQ can claim the project would be a net positive for the city, especially in face of its near universal condemnation by urban planners, transit experts, local governments, local communities and head-screwed-on-right editorialists like Michel C. Augé, not to mention should-be transit czar ant6n. If you’d care to argue your position (without accusing opponents of NIMBYism, please), I’d be interested in reading it. And while I can only speak for myself, I’m pretty sure no one here intended to shut you up. We all want to make this sweet city better.
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Kate
CBC is mourning retired arts broadcaster Jeanette Kelly. Radio‑Canada is bidding farewell to (much alive) longtime weatherman Pascal Yiacouvakis.
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Kate
Unusual situation in the Old Port: a fox is trapped on the ice, which is breaking up, and rescuers have been unable so far to get close.
Midday Sunday the Journal reported that the rescue folks are going to bring in a team including divers to fetch the fox out.
La Presse reports around 6:30 pm that rescue attempts have still not succeeded.
Meezly
Great photo. I hope they succeed.
Kate
CTV has updated not long before noon Saturday. The rescuers are still trying to reach the fox. Ice is melting fast in the rain.
QMI updated later, saying rescuers have put out a cage trap with food in it, but so far the fox hasn’t been tempted.
Meezly
This is nail biting. Hasn’t been an update from Sauvetage Animal Rescue since yesterday morning.
Kate
Meezly, it reminds me somewhat of the whale that showed up two years ago, up to a point.
But if they catch it – what then? It’s a wild animal, will they bring it to Mount Royal or let it out somewhere off-island?
Dhomas
There was a growing population of foxes in the cemetery close to my house (RSFA). The population had grown so large that the foxes started to have a lack of food and were noticeably malnourished. At some point, a rescue operation captured all of the foxes (much to the chagrin of my children) and relocated them off-Island. If I recall correctly, they mentioned bringing them to the south shore somewhere, when my wife asked.
Kate
I hope they really did, dhomas. But I doubt they were able to catch them all – they’re wily, after all, and there are a lot of hidey-holes, plus all the adjoining back yards to hide in.
dhomas
Since they had that operation, I’ve only ever seen one more fox in the cemetery, and I’m in there almost every weekday. There were really a lot of them before.
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Kate
A stabbing and two shootings in various parts of town kept police busy Friday night. TVA’s headline that these incidents were “synchronisés” is clickbaity: nothing links them except the coincidence of their timing on a Friday night.
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