Bixi is adding more than 1300 new bikes this season, 32 new stations and 68 new electric assist bicycles.
Radio-Canada has an item on new Bixi electrical recharge stations.
Updates from March, 2024 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
François Legault is to meet Justin Trudeau on Friday and demand complete control over immigration. I was struck how a government spox was saying, in audio on CBC radio, that Quebec simply had no capacity for more asylum seekers, and that it wanted a billion dollars from Ottawa, with no strings attached.
Nobody was talking about the surge in temporary workers, which doesn’t seem to be a problem, although the CAQ would like to force them to speak French. But if you bring people in, work them hard while denying them citizenship, you can’t expect them to feel like bons québécois and start speaking French in six months.
In retrospect, our treatment of temporary workers is going to be one of the shames of our era. That, and crapping relentlessly on the environment in the name of profit.
Update: Trudeau said no.
Ian
I demand everything and a billion dollars too.
See? Anyone can be premier with the right mindset.
JP
@Kate Seeing reports of their living conditions and rights here… it is a huge shame. Animals are treated better. We’re often encouraged to buy local….cause local….but what if local means supporting companies that treat temporary foreign workers badly.
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Kate
City hall has decided to back off on its 20‑20‑20 policy which ordained that new residential construction had to include 20% social housing, 20% affordable housing, and 20% family‑size housing, in an effort to spur promoters simply to build more. The policy was in effect only for three years.
Ian
Well I guess we’re going to keep getting tons of 1 and 2 bed condos as the city core hollows out and everyone wanders aroudn wringing their hands wondering what could have been done.
To be fair, I don’t expect better from any city council we might elect but the hypocrisy is what grinds my gears. Increasingly this is a city hall friendly to developers and cops, with some vague nods to environmental stuff by enacting easy stuff like bike paths and increased resident parking fees. That they don’t even talk about gentrification anymore is telling.
Chris
What’s so bad about mostly building 1 to 2 bedroom homes? Every rich country is having less kids. Sure, we need some multi-bedroom units too, but not like the mix of the past. Large families don’t seem likely to come back.
How does adding more homes constitute “hollowing out” a city core?
Blork
I think it’s not just a matter of how many bedrooms, it’s the overall size. You look at floor plans for virtually every building put up in the past decade and they are tiny. Two bedroom condos of 700 square feet with only three small closets in the whole place, and bedrooms too small to fit more than a bed and a couple of side tables. Families don’t live like that. People have stuff, especially at this latitude where you need a closet just for winter clothes.
Ian
Chris, there is a term for what you are proposing – attrition.
If “every” rich country is having fewer kids, that doesn’t mean it’s time to promote small families or being childless. How do you propose to maintain our population? You only have to look at the shortage of workers in the regions to see how that will play out.
This hollows out the city because every time a couple has a second kid they either try to have both kids share a tiny bedroom, or move to the burbs as soon as they can – a trend that the city has been trying to fix for decades for a variety of reasons. In the meantime, the few places with more bedrooms face decreasing supply so the owners can aask hugely inflated rents.
It’s harder for developers to move a 6.5 than a 3.5, and its maximizes profitability. Letting profit determine urban planning is a terrible idea as it is always based on immediate returns. It’s more profitable to buy a property in bad shape, evict everyone for “safety”, do minor repairs & flip it. By the same token it’s more profitable to let your property fall apart so you can renovict legally. It’s also more profitable not to have 20-20-20. The city is dropping this requrement under pressure from developers – as always, cui bono?
Chris
>Families don’t live like that.
Fine, but “families” aren’t the majority. Single person households are now the biggest group (almost 1/3). Couples without children are next at about 1/4. The idea that we need massive living spaces is out of date with our demographics. (We do need some of course.)
Ian
That you don’t see how demographics are affected by existing housing is perplexing.
Of course there are more small families in the city right now. Most of the available housing caters to them and developers aren’t building bigger units.
Go ahead and have 2 kids in a 750sq ft 2 bed. Enjoy. OF COURSE there are more families living in the burbs. Check the availability of 3 bedroom partments for under 2k in central Montreal.
Kevin
I’m puzzled how someone managed to live through the pandemic and not realize that a bedroom is not always a bedroom.
Ian
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Kate
The Journal has two pieces Thursday on the importance of banning appliances from sale in Quebec if they don’t have French on their controls. Gilles Proulx is all for it, whereas another op‑ed writer thinks it’s silly.
Ephraim
When the prices go up, we will see what they say. Seriously, in a sea of 372 million there are 8 million in Quebec that’s 2%. They think that they will cater to just 2% of the population without passing on the costs?
Blork
I was thinking we’d replace our W&D (sorry… L&S) in a year or two but I guess I’d better get hopping before prices go up and selection goes down. Particularly important for me as I have space restrictions, so 90% of the appliances I see in the stores won’t fit.
Ephraim
Hope you aren’t looking for anything under 24″ anymore. And most units are now 27″ or wider.
Blork
It’s not the width, it’s the depth. I have to keep it under 26” or it blocks a door. Not a lot of 26-ers out there, particularly not when you want to get a bit fancy.
Ephraim
LG WKHC152HWA otherwise you are stuck with “compact”. Samsung has a 2.9 cu ft and LG has a 2.6 cu ft. Bosch has some 2.2 cu ft. If you are a family, that’s a few extra loads. If you are 2 people, that’s 2 loads a week. Personally, I won’t buy anything but LG and Samsung front loaders
Blork
Thanks for the reccos, Ephraim, but that LG is completely wrong for us. We need side-by-side, not stacked. And we prefer top-loading washer. I’m also concerned about build quality. Much of what I’ve read about the LGs and Samsungs is that they are full of bells and whistles and fancy electronics but that they break down a lot and only last a few years. I’d rather fewer touch-screens and better build.
Ephraim
@Blork – Modern machines don’t have a “better build”. The intention is to be more energy efficient and clean better. No machine will last as long as older machines, and they don’t generally make parts past 10 years anyway. But once in top load, your only choices are GE and Maytag. Basically there are two models under 27″, if I remember correctly MVWP586GW (26″) and GNW128SSMWW (25″) or you are in the realm of things like… Danby. It’s just easier to make an energy efficient front-load machine because you can use gravity instead of a agitator. It’s like an old fridge, they use 1/5th or 1/6th of the electricity they used to use…. so $200 to $25 a year. So $2000 less to run over 10 years. Top load also used more water. Not as important in Montreal, but elsewhere people pay for water. So that’s why they have invested so heavily in front load technology…. they can’t make them energy efficient enough to meet targets
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Kate
The Gazette reports that St-Hubert Plaza is one of the world’s coolest streets according to Time Out, but note the deck: “These people need to be stopped.” In any case, St‑Hubert comes up #27 out of 30, but the Gazette whines on about how it doesn’t mention the bridal stores.
CE
Does the Gazette have zero copy editors anymore? This story is almost illegible.
Blork
Regarding that deck, The New Yorker pretty much nails it with this article: “Your City is the Most Livable in America Until We Publish This Article About It.” https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/your-city-is-the-most-livable-in-america-until-we-publish-this-article-about-it
JaneyB
I wish those Time Out people could be stopped. I’m sure that similar article on Verdun last year pushed up rent for shops along Wellington. Soon the only thing that will be profitable will be bars. Locals don’t drink in Verdun bars; we have balconies for that. Residents actually need those tiny amenity and service stores, like St-Hubert people need its dozens of bridal shops…well, not exactly lol.
@Blork – hilarious piece and so true!
Ian
Saint Hubey is fun and all but it’s hardly “cool”, lol. 2/3 occupation and pigeons, whee.
At least most of the stabby bars closed down over covid. I see there’s a new PFK across from the McDo now, nothing says “cool” like third-rate fast food I guess?
I was down there this last weekend with my kid for the first time in a couple of years and I was impressed by the variety of stores that are there now (though a florist would be a nice addition) and I was briefly amazed that such a place still manages to keep open within walking distance of both the Beaubien strip and Jean-Talon market. I suspect it’s more popular as a parking destination for adjacent neighbourhoods than for St Hubey itsellf.That said the whole “cool neighbourhood” article is totally a death sentence. It’s how we ended up with a Lululemon on Saint Viateur.
Blork
The fact that St-H isn’t particularly cool is exactly what makes it so cool. It’s fun, full of good and interesting shops and restaurants, well populated, etc. without be self-consciously “hip” or whatever. To me that makes it perfect. Every time I’m there I think to myself “this is the kind of street I want in my neighborhood.” But of course it’s always on the verge of being ruined by popularity. (See New Yorker article above.)
DeWolf
St-Hubert probably won’t suffer the fate of Wellington because they’re very different streets. Wellington had a very low vacancy rate and it’s the only major commercial street in the entire neighbourhood (Verdun has a commercial strip but it’s pretty patchy and low-intensity in comparison). St-Hubert still has a fairly high vacancy rate and it’s one of many commercial streets in the area. It still has a lot of capacity to absorb new businesses. I’m more worried about Beaubien getting too trendy and expensive than I am St-Hubert.
I live two blocks away from St-Hubert and it’s a fascinating street because it varies so much from one end to the other. Most of the buzzier new businesses are on the southern half of the street, towards Beaubien and Bellechasse whereas the north end is a bit more old school. It can be quiet on weekdays but on Saturdays there are Haitian, African, Maghrebi and Latino families from all over the northeast part of the city that go there to shop. It’s very busy and I hear lots of different languages being spoken.
The block between Bélanger and Jean-Talon is becoming more and more Latino every year and there’s tons of foot traffic any day of the week. That’s especially true on Fridays and Saturdays when it has this kind of raw immigrant energy that reminds me of certain streets in London or Queens, NY. If you haven’t been to Plaza Juarez, go – it’s like a market in Mexico packed into about 4,000 square feet. Taco and torta stalls, drinks vendors, cell phone booths, a little money transfer booth, a weekend hair salon. Sometimes there’s even a guy singing norteño tunes in the corner.
Ian
Yeah it’s true that the north end is more fun. The bottom part feels a lot more gentrified.
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Kate
Cinémas Guzzo is being threatened with eviction from its premises in the Marché Central, after renegotiating its terms during the long fallow period of pandemic lockdown.
steph
Guzzo theaters don’t sell movie tickets online. In person, the interact/cc machines are often down and they only accept cash. It can’t be a model for success (or have other financial creditors also cut them off?)
It’s documented that back in 2013 Mr Guzzo was meeting Applebaum at mafia frequented restaurant La Cantina. I’m not saying anything this means anything.
But generally, the pandemic affected many sectors. I’m not surprised that going to the movies is also taking a hit. Many people can afford a big screen TV at home.
Kate
I haven’t been to a cinema since some time before the pandemic began. I found the general lack of civility among the moviegoing public was too distracting and, eventually, annoying.
CE
I really enjoy going to the movies and go a few times a month. I definitely find more civility at the independent cinemas (du Parc, Beaubien, Moderne) than at the big chains. I’ve never been to a Guzzo but a friend went recently and said it was noisy (although, he’s pretty neurotic about noise in general so I take when he says with a grain of salt).
I find that when I go to a Cineplex, I often nearly have the whole room to myself. It’s nice because there’s less incivility but also concerning for the future of being able to see movies in cinemas.
GC
I think I’ve only been to a Guzzo once, with family from the South Shore. Not out of bias against the chain, but just because of where they are. When you live and work in the core, with no car, I don’t think any of them are very conveniently located. I gather they usually come with a big footprint, however, so that’s probably why there isn’t one downtown. The ones along the 40 are kind of hard to miss when you’re on it.
It seems crazy to me that they still don’t sell tickets online, though.
CE
I think the reason cinemas discourage buying tickets online is that it’s not really in their best interest for you to buy a ticket and then not show up. Cinemas make the vast majority of their money from concessions, not ticket sales so if a showing sells out, its much better for them to have 200 people show up, buy their tickets on site and then buy concessions than to sell 200 tickets, have 185 people show up and then lose those 15 potential concession tickets.
Also, if you look online and the movie you want to see is sold out, you’ll just do something else whereas if you show up to the cinema, see that the movie you want to see is sold out, you’ll probably buy a ticket for something else since you’re already there. These are just my theories that I came up with when I saw that Cineplex charges a fee to buy tickets online (which isn’t charged if you buy them on site).
Kate
Sometimes I miss the days of repertory cinema, but I don’t miss the conversations, the phone use, the crinkling and crackling of other people’s snacks. Say what you like about old Serge Losique, he banned food from screenings at his film festival.
GC
Those are great points, CE, and you’re probably right. Clearly it’s working for them, or they’d switch things up.
I mostly buy in advance so I don’t have to line up to buy a ticket. I’m already probably going to have to line up to get my ticket scanned, so I’d rather save one line. Also, now that so many cinemas allow you to choose seats it’s good to lock those in and then not worry about showing up early. But, in line with what you say, the customers showing up early just increases the chances that they’ll buy food–and gives the cinema more time to bombard them with ads for that food, as well.
I can live with snack sounds, Kate, but it just floors me when people leave their ringers on and sometimes even answer calls. SIGH. Or even just start fiddling with some phone app while their screen is very bright.
Ian
I stopped going to cinemas almost at the same time that they started selling those meat nachos that smell like hot cat food. Kind of ruins the experience.
Vazken
Things cannot be going well over there as they still have posters on the billboards outside for movies from 2022, also one of the IMAX screens has a tear in it, makes it look super ghetto
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Kate
The mayor is not happy with the lack of provision for public transit, present or future, in the Quebec budget.
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Kate
People lined up Monday for a food handout in Park Ex got involved in enough of a scuffle that police were called to re‑establish order. Cuisine et vie collectives Saint-Roch says the demand for its food bank is growing but it’s unable to serve a larger number.
Meezly 09:36 on 2024-03-15 Permalink
When BIXI announced earlier this year they were raising fees, I wondered why if BIXI’s been more popular than ever. Now I that I know what the higher fees are paying for, I don’t mind so much.