Updates from April, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 20:14 on 2023-04-21 Permalink | Reply  

    The boss of the Banque Nationale wants everyone back to the downtown office five days a week – and the fact that his bank just built a gigantic new office tower might have something to do with it.

    I’ve said before and will say again: downtown came into existence to serve people, people don’t exist to service downtown. Downtown Montreal grew up over more than a century because people were doing certain kinds of business there. But retail was already changing, jobs were already becoming more decentralized, before the pandemic accelerated those trends. We don’t need to go back to 1940, we need to find ways of working productively as we do now.

     

    • David S 20:35 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

      Last year, I was at a fairly crowded coffee shop in Saint-Henri and, at the next table, a woman was working “from home” on her laptop. She was a bank worker and I had a clear view of very confidential client information on her laptop screen. I am all for working from home, but not when it poses serious risk to personal information. And even from home, family members or roommates can potentially see that personal information.

    • Kevin 22:08 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

      The head of another bank, RBC, has been very clear that the reason he wants employees back in the office is that it is affecting the value of commercial real estate assets, i.e. the bank is experiencing a drop in “productivity.”

      Meanwhile the city of Calgary is busy funding the conversion of unused office space to residential towers.

    • DeWolf 23:10 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

      Bloviating from corporate bosses means absolutely nothing. Companies can force their employees back to the office five days a week, but they’ll need to deal with a lot of turnover if they do so. Maybe they’re banking on an upcoming recession to force people’s hands. (The recession that has been promised for what, seven or eight months now? And still hasn’t arrived…)

      But downtown will be fine. It has never been an office district and nothing else. 100,000 residents, four universities, two big cégeps, several major museums, countless cultural events every year… This isn’t Calgary.

  • Kate 20:01 on 2023-04-21 Permalink | Reply  

    Six years ago, police responded to a 911 call from an Île Bizard woman who was afraid that her son, who’d mixed pain meds and alcohol, was going to try to drive his car. By the time the police visit was over, Koray Kevin Celik was dead – kicked, choked and beaten with batons.

    The coroner’s report is in, and contains only one recommendation: there needs to be better communication between 911 and police, especially in cases of mental distress.

     

    • DavidH 13:07 on 2023-04-22 Permalink

      I see nothing in the article about problems with 911/police communication. It states the opposite, that police must gather info onsite and never rely only on the infos from 911 (think of any swatting case). It present police’s need to gather info on site as the only standard that was not met. It never says that the info should have come from 911. Is the coroner report different from what the article says?

  • Kate 15:31 on 2023-04-21 Permalink | Reply  

    Police have arrested five suspects in connection with various firebombings and shootings in the west end earlier this year.

     

    • Kate 15:24 on 2023-04-21 Permalink | Reply  

      I’m not sure that these drink protection lids in the news this week will serve any purpose besides allowing bars to claim they’ve done something about the prevalent spiking of drinks. If you leave your drink unattended, what would stop someone from prying the lid up when you’re not looking?

       

      • MarcG 15:42 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

        Another example of turning a social problem into “individual choice” and pushing the responsibility for action onto the victims.

      • Blork 16:00 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

        Well, to be fair, you cannot expect every bar to monitor every drink after it’s been delivered to the client. So ultimately it is the individual’s responsibility to take measures to keep themselves safe. If these lids help with that, at least it’s something.

      • Blork 16:12 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

        To Kate’s question, I don’t think those lids are tamper-proof, but the process of prying off a lid, dropping in the drug, then reapplying the lid requires a lot more time and movement than just dropping in a pill, so they will definitely help (if people use them).

        It’s a bit like using a flimsy lock versus no lock at all on your bicycle. If the bike is parked somewhere where a person hacking away at a cheap lock will attract attention then the lock is somewhat effective at least in that context. Same here.

        So, while these are only somewhat effective, they also probably help raise awareness of the problem.

        THAT SAID, here’s the real flaw I think: I suspect many cases of drink doping happen when the person steps away from their drink but there are still other people at the table. The perp then waits until the other people at the table are looking elsewhere (maybe even doing something to make them look away) and then drops the pill when the tablemates are distracted. But in a case like that, where the person is leaving their drink unattended by themselves but still attended by a couple of friends, will they bother to use one of these lids?

        Also, what if the victim is having a chat with someone they just met, and they’re getting along, and then they need to go to the bathroom. Will they use one of those lids, which basically is like waving a flag saying I DON’T TRUST YOU to the person they’re sitting with? (The question isn’t whether or not they SHOULD do that; the question is whether or not they WILL do that; social conventions running interference and all…)

      • jeather 16:56 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

        Yeah, this is probably good enough if you get the drink from the bartender or server yourself, put the top on immediately, and never leave it alone — you’ve made yourself a difficult enough target that a stranger isn’t likely to bother with you. But that leaves a lot of room for error and, inevitably, blame if something happens.

      • Blork 18:20 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

        The more I think about this the more I see it as a not very effective workaround to a serious problem. It might be a little bit effective in a few scenarios, but it should not be seen as any kind of SOLUTION.

    • Kate 15:20 on 2023-04-21 Permalink | Reply  

      La Presse has several transit items Friday:

      Several stations on the blue line will be closed on April 30 so work can be done to make Édouard‑Montpetit station more accessible.

      Transit police and STM drivers are asking for more security, warning that the level of violence seen on Toronto transit could crop up here.

      The REM will remain in testing mode at least till September.

      Other items have clarified that the REM will gradually come into service before the fall, but different media are emphasizing different angles: Metro says, for example. that there’s still no opening date .

      I think they should make the REM free till the formal opening, acknowledging that the system is still working out bugs and that people would be voluntarily beta‑testing.

       

      • DeWolf 15:48 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

        Re. the REM – they’re still promising to open this spring, they’re just warning customers that they’ll be working out the kinks until September. Basically just covering their asses in case something goes wrong in the first few months of operations.

      • Faiz Imam 16:28 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

        Things always go wrong when new systems open. Pretty smart PR to lower expectations.

      • CE 17:16 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

        I’ve been seeing REM trains pulling into and out of Bonaventure quite a bit lately.

      • DeWolf 18:05 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

        I don’t think they’ve started the official “marche à vide” (regular service but with empty trains) but it should be soon if they’re going to open by June.

      • James 09:59 on 2023-04-22 Permalink

        Opening a new transit system to the public is a lot different to buying and operating a new car. There are many things that need to be working 100% and all these things need to interface correctly to lots of other systems. There is a lot of complexity that the general public will never see.
        Seeing the trains move at higher and higher speed & frequency is just a small part of what needs to happen to be able to open to the public.
        I’m proud of my contribution to the project (5 years of work) and I think people will be very impressed when it opens.

    • Kate 13:55 on 2023-04-21 Permalink | Reply  

      Usine C has had to cancel some presentations of Rome because of an outbreak of Covid. Rome is a six‑hour “rewritten” Shakespeare piece weaving together all four plays set in ancient Rome, plus The Rape of Lucrece.

       

      • Kate 10:24 on 2023-04-21 Permalink | Reply  

        Linda Gyulai pursues the story of the Sanaaq centre and the deal made with Ville‑Marie borough council that was not approved by the city at the time. But she doesn’t directly answer the question posed in the headline: who signed off on it?

         

        • Kate 09:32 on 2023-04-21 Permalink | Reply  

          Things to do this weekend in Metro, CityCrunch, CultMTL, Sarah’s Weekend List.

          Also reports of traffic problems, and the weather.

           

          • shawn 10:32 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            Justin Bur at Bibliothèque Mordecai-Richler this Sunday: “Conférence : Le Mile End avant l’urbanisation : ruisseaux, chemins, tanneries, carrières, vergers”
            https://montreal.ca/evenements/conference-le-mile-end-avant-lurbanisation-ruisseaux-chemins-tanneries-carrieres-vergers-43904

          • Kate 10:40 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            Nice!

          • shawn 11:28 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            Now Justin’s gotta be an accredited guide, no? That and a lot more I daresay? I do see him in Mile End doing this thing from time to time.

          • CE 11:32 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            He is an accredited guide.

          • Kate 11:54 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            I went on one walk Justin Bur did around the Jean-Talon market area and northern Plateau last year, or maybe 2021? Anyway, he’s good.

          • shawn 12:01 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            I created the French Wikipédia article on the ruisseau d’Outremont – or rather, I wrote some text and it was split off by someone else into its own article – and it’s just fascinating to think about a creek making its way through what is now Mile End and bending its way down into what is now the Lafontaine Park pond.

          • Kate 15:27 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            Any reason it wasn’t also created on the English Wikipedia side, shawn?

          • Shawn Goldwater 15:41 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            Well, I quit the English wiki for a couple of reasons and only work on the French side. I think that I am one of the more active Montréal editors, for better or worse. No more than that really…

          • Kate 15:52 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            Spare my feelings, Shawn. Don’t put that accent on Montreal in English.

          • shawn 16:35 on 2023-04-21 Permalink

            Ha. You know what, Kate, I was always sort of opposed to it in English as well. But I wonder if we’re not moving towards the day quite soon when it will become the accepted style. I see it used a lot on federal gov’t webpages now in English, but very unevenly.

            Anyway, I will adhere to the Montreal City Weblog style guide!

          • Daisy 07:43 on 2023-04-22 Permalink

            Do people who put an accent on Montreal when writing in English also pronounce it that way? Or do they write it in French and pronounce it in English?

          • Kate 09:38 on 2023-04-22 Permalink

            See, that’s the thing, Daisy. When I see the accent I hear the name in French. I’ve never heard the name spoken as in French in the middle of English conversation, so why do it in writing? (If anyone has heard someone doing that, please tell me. But we don’t usually say “Paree” in English, so…)

            shawn, there are 2 categories of people who do it like that, broadly speaking: people intent on using the “official” style in their work, and people bending over backwards to be politically correct. I was once told by some American online that they liked adding the accent because it made the city seem more exotic. Yeah.

          • shawn 10:30 on 2023-04-22 Permalink

            Yep. I just think it’s heading that way. Like we’re now using the Kanienʼkéha language a lot in place names (tho I had no clear idea how to type that, I just copypasted it, instead of calling in Mohawk).

            As for pronunciation, I realize I still pronounce it Montreal in English but I DO pronounce the province and capital Québec, even in English. No longer Kweebec. And it is 100% political correctness for sure. It was sort of this epiphany I had that the war is over and “we” lost. 🙂

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