A bit late in the game, the OCPM recommends limiting the height of buildings in Chinatown.
More on the Chinatown report from CBC.
Updates from October, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
La Presse has an explainer about the work in the tunnel; the Journal tells us that businesses are expecting the worst; a wave of resignations is expected in the city’s hospitals as workers get too stressed by traffic difficulties; hotels are preparing to put workers up who can’t get home.
The Journal is already calling the closure a calvaire and it has not started yet.
TVA has one piece saying Mayor Plante will actually be at the tunnel to observe the crisis, and another complaining that she spoke about the Publisac issue with the tunnel hanging over her. As if they didn’t understand that one of the skills necessary from a big city mayor is to be able to juggle a number of dossiers. Plante can think about pushing back against Canada Post in the Publisac matter while tackling the tunnel problem at the same time!
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Kate
Aaron Derfel tweets Thursday to note that Quebec has crossed a sombre threshold, notching up 16 more Covid deaths over the last 24 hours to pass 17,000. The sidebar on the blog will show you 17,014 deaths to date. Derfel has more stats in the thread.
Kevin
At this rate, we’ll have twice as many Covid deaths this year than last.
MarcG
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Kate
Premier Legault is said to be pondering a ban on solo drivers at rush hour in the constricted Lafontaine tunnel, and the mayor is also considering all options.
The recycling service is asking for patience, as it may take longer to move materials off-island.
Faiz
I’m responsible for over a 100 trucks à day circulating in the Montreal area from Boucherville, and let me tell you these are interesting times…
Lots of contingency plans and talk, but for the most part the hope is to keep running as normal next week and hope things are not too terrible.
But in terms of staff it’s basically covid 2.0. Anyone white collar is back at home. Though if you’re a warehouse worker sucks to be you.
The plans RTL and stm have made are admirable, but in talking with people here too many are just too addicted to their cars to consider it.
On the other hand, a LOT of employees around me live in other suburbs, Laval, PAT, even Blainville. Transit isn’t going to help them much.
Azrhey
Question … has there ever been talk of a bridge further east, at the tip of the island or further east ? Like join the 640 with the 132 or the 30 ?
I don’t see with people in ST Jerome need to get on the island to get to St Hyacinthe ?
Seems I nerves heard of it not even in Crazy ideas forums?
Or am I missing something that would prevent that?dhomas
I’ve mentioned it before on another thread that the Autoroute 30 only really functions as a “ring road” if you’re coming from the west/Ontario. Coming from the west, you can bypass Montreal and stay on the South Shore via the 30. No real way to avoid the island if your final destination is on the North Shore, though.
Coming from the East (say Joliette), you can bypass Montreal (and Laval) on the north side via the 640, but to continue westward, you’ll still need to get on the island via the 13 down to the 40 West. If your final destination is the South Shore, then you have no choice but to get on the island via the 40 and go down the 25 South to the South Shore.
There should be a proper ring road (toll bridges, too) around the island so people aren’t just passing through unnecessarily. This would require a bridge from somewhere around Repentigny or possibly a little further around Sorel-Tracy to the area south of the St-Lawrence. It would also require a bridge around Oka and the extension of the 640 to that bridge. All in all a pretty expensive endeavour. It’s also not very likely as the 30 is seen mostly as a means to reduce traffic on the 132, which apparently isn’t high enough beyond Sorel-Tracy to justify the cost.
DeWolf
There’s also the problem of induced demand. The 30 was clear for a few years and now it’s congested, and the 132 is just as congested as before.
Ian
Yes of course, despite our best efforts to stay isolated despite being on an island, there are many cars and trucks going back and forth every day. As any urban planning undergrad can tell you, roads lead to cars. To reduce personal vehicle usage, we should shut down all the ingress and egress to the city, obviously.
/s
DeWolf
What’s the point of your reply, Ian?
An eastern toll bridge would be a good idea to give North Shore trucks and commuters an alternative to passing through the island. But it would need to be accompanied by strict land use policies to prevent even more suburban sprawl in places like Varennes. Unless somebody here thinks it’s a good idea to pave over forests and farmland for single-family houses.
We also need a regional transit system that isn’t garbage.
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Kate
Mayor Plante welcomes the ruling against random police stops, but Premier Legault is not keen, saying police should be “allowed to do their work.” But he has not said yet whether he will set an appeal in motion.
Going further, a police spokesman says this ruling will cost lives on the road, somehow missing the fact that it’s still perfectly fine for police to stop motorists for a reason – speeding, dangerous driving or whatever. The point is to hold police back from stopping people simply because they’re Driving While Black and systemic racism makes police suspect that Black people must be up to something.
Ephraim
I wonder if they will also stop the random targeting by licence plate. I’ve know a few people who have had their vehicle stopped repeatedly by different police forces. Not for any crime. It just seems to be “flagged”
There are a number of privacy data changes that need to be made. For example, before a stop, if the police run a plate, the data should only display if they are wanted for an offence, not even the name of the owner. After a stop, they should be required to enter the VIN or scan the registration to prove that they have made a stop. And only then should they have access to further data. The police have too much access to data with not enough tracking of their access. Which leads to abuse and/or criminality
Kevin
If police were actually concerned about road safety, they would remove officers from light-switching duty and instead stop those with burnt-out lights, or who are smoking pot, or are watching movies on their dash-mounted phones.
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Kate
24heures outlines the legal difference between a sublet and an Airbnb-type rental.
Ephraim
The rental board has already ruled that even if you put it on AirBnB (or even sublet), you cannot legally charge anything higher than the rental rate and if you do, the lease is broken and the owner can seek to have you evicted. So, considering the costs of a licence, the extra taxes, etc, it isn’t actually worth it.
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Kate
Bicycle use is way up in Montreal.
So is demand on food banks, which are having trouble meeting demand as food prices soar.
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Kate
CTV reports that the 2021 census shows that the proportion of immigrants arriving in Quebec with sufficient French has declined slightly, while the Gazette sees it as most immigrants to Quebec speak French. Either way, this is a highly politicized statistic here, which we’ll hear much more about.
Meantime, a mural in honour of refugees was unveiled this week, Radio‑Canada placing it in CDN‑NDG, but nothing more specific about its location. This Radio‑Canada piece also talks about a new mural in the Village that honours Jean Duceppe on his centenary.
carswell
Finding Home Again, the refugee mural, is at 7110 Côte-des-Neiges, on the west side of the street halfway between the train tracks and Jean-Talon. Initiated by Médecins Sans Frontières. Hardly the centre of the borough or the ‘hood, but at least TMR commuters in their Audis and BMWs will have it in their face every morning…
Kate
Thanks, carswell.
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Kate
A Montreal woman who went to join Islamic State in 2014, when she was 19, but was captured and held in a camp there, has been repatriated and was immediately arrested and charged on her arrival Wednesday with “participating in a terrorist group, leaving Canada to do so and making property or services available for terrorist purposes.” A second Canadian woman has also been brought back, but no charges are mentioned.
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