Updates from May, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 18:52 on 2023-05-16 Permalink | Reply  

    A woman was shot dead in her car Tuesday afternoon in Côte‑des‑Neiges. TVA says it was in a parking lot; La Presse has a brief item that says the car was moving but that it came to a stop when it ran into a building after the driver was hit.

    Update: The victim has been named as Claudia Iacono, daughter‑in‑law of Moreno Gallo, a Montreal mobster killed in Mexico ten years ago. She was killed in the parking lot of a beauty spa she owned. Wednesday, CTV has some pictures of Ms Iacono and a discussion of how the mob almost never attacks women.

     

    • Kate 14:22 on 2023-05-16 Permalink | Reply  

      The city’s auditor-general is concerned that it hands out millions to nonprofits but doesn’t get much feedback on how they use it. The description here makes it sound like organizations are handed cash even without completing the paperwork or explaining what their plans are. This makes an odd contrast with stories we’ve seen, for example, about store owners having so much trouble filling out the forms and meeting the requirements for applying for city aid – such as when their street’s being dug up – that they give up on it.

      The item also mentions a few other auditor‑general notes: the city hasn’t got good oversight of sewage getting into the river, and hasn’t got a solid census of heritage buildings in its territory – even the heritage buildings it owns. The 500‑page document will probably not become the mayor’s favourite bedtime reading.

      Update: More on the heritage building angle.

       

      • Dominic 21:25 on 2023-05-16 Permalink

        Thats absolutely bonkers. If this was revealed in a private org, this would be corrected in a matter of weeks.

    • Kate 13:23 on 2023-05-16 Permalink | Reply  

      Mayor Plante says that although she has confirmed that there was a moratorium on exit route inspections by the fire department in 2018, as revealed Monday in the Globe & Mail, she says it was lifted in 2021 and not in a hurry after the fatal Place Youville fire in March, as was alleged by the Toronto paper.

      What’s interesting is that the moratorium began because the DPCP (the Crown prosecutor’s office) asked the fire department to stop doing the inspections because they seldom resulted in enough evidence to lead to a conviction in court. I don’t think this is why most members of the public would want the fire department to make exit inspections. I don’t think we’d feel it was wasted time.

       

      • Blork 17:37 on 2023-05-16 Permalink

        “…the DPCP (the Crown prosecutor’s office) asked the fire department to stop doing the inspections because they seldom resulted in enough evidence to lead to a conviction in court.”

        As Kate infers, that should NOT be the reason for those inspections. If there are few convictions, that’s a sign of SUCCESS not failure! <- Seriously. What the actual f*ck are these people thinking?

        It's only a sign of failure if you're an idiot administrator who sees inspections as revenue generators instead of public safety measures. Think such people might exist? Sure seems like it!

      • Em 09:47 on 2023-05-17 Permalink

        The fire chief said yesterday that inspections did not stop. But what did stop was some of the legal actions to force compliance, especially prosecutions, when the case was complex and involved major structural change. His answers were really not clear but he seemed to say the inspectors didn’t know enough about the building code, or something.

        Not sure if that’s any better, because it suggests they knew these buildings were dangerous and didn’t take meaningful action to force landlords to fix it. But I don’t think it’s a huge surprise either.

    • Kate 13:09 on 2023-05-16 Permalink | Reply  

      There’s now a glass observation tower in the Old Port. Item says it will be accessible to the public from May 27 and be free for two days. The Journal piece on the tower says it will cost $15 for adults after that.

       

      • thomas 13:31 on 2023-05-16 Permalink

        Isn’t it free to visit the lookout of the Tour de l’Horloge / Sailors’ Memorial Clock?

      • Blork 13:53 on 2023-05-16 Permalink

        The Tour de l’Horloge used to be free. Probably still is. But you can only fit a few people in there at a time, and it is slightly out of the way. This new one is large and located in a recently revitalized area, and looks like it could accommodate dozens, maybe hundreds, at a time. (99% of which will always be tourists.)

      • Blork 13:57 on 2023-05-16 Permalink

        …also, the new one is taller, and specifically designed to provide spectacular 360-degree views. The clock tower was designed to be a clock tower. It’s a while since I’ve been up there, but I seem to recall it was not easy to look outside. Great views of the clock mechanism and the inside of the clock faces though!

        Also: the new one is probably wheelchair accessible, whereas the clock tower involves climbing quite a few stairs in claustrophobic conditions.

    • Kate 10:57 on 2023-05-16 Permalink | Reply  

      Anna Gainey, who’s been president of the federal Liberals among other roles, will be running in the NDG–Westmount byelection, which is pretty much a preordained Liberal win. Radio‑Canada gives a brief account of Ms Gainey’s background, but doesn’t mention she’s the daughter of Bob Gainey, who captained the Canadiens for most of the 1980s.

       

      • H. John 12:48 on 2023-05-16 Permalink

        And the Green Party is running their co-leader, Jonathan Pedneault:

        https://www.greenparty.ca/en/media-release/2023-05-15/jonathan-pedneault-run-green-party-ndg-westmount

        The best the Green Party has done was in 2019 when Robert Green won 10.73% of the vote.

        The NDG part of the riding has always tended to lean towards the NDP. As Russ Copeman pointed out his provincial LPQ voters were more likely to vote NDP federally.

        It will be interesting to see the effect of possible anglo dissatisfaction over Bill C-13 on turnout and Liberal support.

    • Kate 10:24 on 2023-05-16 Permalink | Reply  

      Montreal stands out on a 100 Best Restaurants (in Canada) list, with the top establishment in the country being found on St‑Zotique in Little Italy. CTV puts the Quebec ones on a map. Full list.

      La Presse says it’s going to revisit some of the city’s oldest and best‑known restaurants, starting with a visit to L’Express.

       

      • Kate 10:19 on 2023-05-16 Permalink | Reply  

        Montreal’s Quartier international is marking 20 years although La Presse is emphasizing that it’s already looking a little run down. Which of us isn’t, though?

         

        • qatzelok 13:57 on 2023-05-16 Permalink

          …« Les bancs sont brisés, les lampadaires sont pleins de collants, le pavé uni est brisé partout sur les trottoirs à cause de l’équipement utilisé par la Ville », regrette Richard Hylands…

          These are also design issues. The benches are too fragile, the street-lamps seem like they were designed for graffiti and stickers, and the sidewalks should have been designed to withstand the normal flow of equipment.

          It’s like Michel Dallaire designed the street furniture with built-in-obsolescence in mind.

      • Kate 08:58 on 2023-05-16 Permalink | Reply  

        Thirty vehicles were torched overnight in two locations in Lachine.

         

        c
        Compose new post
        j
        Next post/Next comment
        k
        Previous post/Previous comment
        r
        Reply
        e
        Edit
        o
        Show/Hide comments
        t
        Go to top
        l
        Go to login
        h
        Show/Hide help
        shift + esc
        Cancel