The deal to be made between Hydro‑Quebec and the BaNQ over building a huge electrical substation on the same block as the Grande Bibliothèque is being kept under wraps. This piece is worth reading for Lise Bissonnette’s sentiments about the project.
Updates from May, 2024 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
At lunchtime, CBC Radio talked to a man who walked from one end to the other of the island of Montreal in a day.
EmilyG
I heard of two people doing that, but starting from the opposite end.
I’ve been thinking myself of walking the entire length of Gouin, but not all at once.
Matthew Surridge
EmilyG: You may be thinking of my girlfriend and me; something like 16 years ago we did the walk from west to east, and wrote about it for the Gazette. That was at midsummer, so we had much better weather. We tended to stick to main roads, too, so a very different experience than this one.
Kate
Yes, I couldn’t help thinking that Dan Schaumann’s walk would’ve been more agreeable if he’d waited till this time of year, or even done it in the fall, especially the parkland sequences.
FKA Orr
Montreal being a long & skinny island, It’s not far to walk across the island north-south (“Montreal” north-south lol). We often do it on nice weather days, there is a lot of variety as you can choose many different north-south-axes to stroll along. Sometimes we bring our “Geological map of Montreal Island” for reference, and there are several “hidden watercourse” maps in the internet to reveal hints of where to look for traces of where rivers and creeks used to flow.
Ian
If you go out to Parc du Bout-de-l’Île you can walk from the north to the south of the island in 5 minutes 😀
That said I’ve walked from St Larry to where it ends in Ahuntsic down to King Edward Quay, it’s only about 2 and a half hours and as Orr points out, a very doable walk.
EmilyG
Matthew: Yes, that’s what I was thinking of. Thank you. I remember it was in the Gazette and it was on the first day of summer.
-
Kate
Ali Ngarukiye has been declared guilty of murdering his cellmate in Rivière‑des‑Prairies jail, where he was being held awaiting trial for attempting to kill policeman Sanjay Vig. (He was declared guilty in that case in December.)
…On pondering this, I wonder how much responsibility should be borne by the jail itself. Should they not have been aware that Ngarukiye’s sanity had been in question – at least, that he was known to be an unstable and occasionally violent person – so that locking another man in with him meant putting him in extraordinary danger?
CE
Do murders at prisons get counted in the city’s homicide count?
Kate
At the time I remember noticing that I didn’t see the number tick up, but although the incident was reported, little detail was given out. I could have missed it. But I don’t think it does.
DavidH
It wouldn’t be in the SPVM’s numbers because it’s the province’s responsibility (SQ). This Lagacé piece is still very relevant: https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/chroniques/2021-08-26/pourquoi-andre-lapierre-est-il-mort.php
Kate
DavidH, the province’s responsibility, but still on the island of Montreal, hence the ambiguity.
Thanks for the link. That’s a sad story.
-
Kate
A Montreal artist who was homeless for several months in 2018 after eviction from her Mile End apartment has been awarded $50,000 by the TAL. But the case seems to have turned on a false claim by the landlord that he planned to enlarge the flat, which he didn’t do. Pushing the rent up from $465 to $1597 doesn’t faze the TAL at all.
Ian
I was under the impression that if a unit stands empty for a year the landlord can jack the rent to whatever their dark little heart desires – is that not the case?
Nicholas
Ian, I believe that’s true, but you need a reason to evict someone. Major renovations that require the apartment be vacant is a valid reason, but leaving it empty for a year to raise rents is not.
Ian
Yes, I realize the eviction itself was illegal, I was more thinking about Kate’s statement about the rent hike not fazing TAL.
-
Kate
In March, a couple was kidnapped in the north end and robbed of their possessions and $25,000 in cryptocurrency. There have now been four arrests, including one at the airport in Calgary.
-
Kate
Lakeshore General has opened a new temporary ER which it will use while its permanent one is renovated, a process expected to take years.
Tim 21:57 on 2024-05-14 Permalink
More public space being sold off for a one time cash grab?
Kate 22:51 on 2024-05-14 Permalink
They’re both entities of the Quebec government. I don’t know if the real issue is that they’d be taking money out of one pocket and putting it another, or if Bissonnette’s concern – that we’re going to have a massive eyesore in the Quartier Latin – is the real problem.
qatzelok 07:48 on 2024-05-15 Permalink
I do see her point, but where else in the area could a large structure like this be built?
In a corner of parc Lafontaine?
Could this large structure be built UNDER a new building, or does it have to be exposed to the air?
qatzelok 08:19 on 2024-05-15 Permalink
Luc Ferrandez unpacks the issues:
https://www.985fm.ca/audio/624756/hydro-quebec-derange-autour-de-la-bibliotheque-de-montreal
dhomas 08:55 on 2024-05-15 Permalink
Hydro-Quebec has a large building right across Ontario street on Berri:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/K12CHHbnBJ7tAHjaA
This existing site runs 125KV and the new station would be upgraded to 315KV. The existing site needs to remain active while the new one is built.
It would be immensely costly and time-consuming, but in theory they could build a temporary station on the plot next to the BAnQ, upgrade/replace the existing building, then decommission the temporary one.
There’s a huge discussion about this on AgoraMTL:
https://forum.agoramtl.com/t/reconstruction-poste-hydro-quebec-berri/6156
PatrickC 09:40 on 2024-05-15 Permalink
Do they really think the BAnQ won’t need any expansion space down the line? That was the reason for leaving the lot open. This seems short-sighted to me.
Not directly related, but why is the construction on de Maisonneuve in that area taking so long?
CE 09:45 on 2024-05-15 Permalink
I was hoping the library would eventually be expanded onto that site because it’s been crowded since day one.
@PatrickC, that worksite was in the news a couple weeks ago. It’s taking forever because the STM keeps finding new problems the more they work. I think they’re hoping to have it done sometime this year.
Alex L 10:00 on 2024-05-15 Permalink
There’s a page on the HQ website where we can comment on the project. For what it’s worth: https://conversation.hydroquebec.com/nouveau-poste-berri
DeWolf 16:29 on 2024-05-15 Permalink
How about — wait for it — a new wing of the BAnQ built on top of an underground substation?
It’s entirely possible to build these things underground. In 2016 Toronto built one underneath a historic roundhouse and park:
https://www.torontohydro.com/improving-reliability/copeland-station
Kate 17:00 on 2024-05-15 Permalink
Any chance that the vibes from a substation would mess with the library’s computer network or cause some kind of actual physical vibrations in the building above it?
James 09:20 on 2024-05-16 Permalink
Interference can certainly be attenuated with a combination of acoustic baffles, vibration dampers, and RF shielding (it is 315kV so pretty high voltage).
Another consideration would be explosion and fire mitigation with concrete seperators and blast deflectors around the transformers. It is standard practice to have a concrete barrier between transformers in a substation to mitigate against fire propagating to the adjacent transformer. As this would be an indoor installation, additional measures would be needed.
Definately would add cost but not impossible if the desire is there.