A big deal is being made of the Peel Street terrasses incident. TVA gets a business type to say that it wasn’t an isolated incident, as if we see blighted Grands Prix every weekend; Martineau rends his garment; various honchos demand the resignation of the fire chief; the mayor herself says it was terrible to see. Although promises were made to suspend employees of the fire department, that isn’t so easy when the consequences in the case are actually not so serious.
Toula Drimonis, calling the incident “terrassegate,” demolishes a couple of the more extreme viewpoints in a few terse words – but I can’t help feeling that more outrage is being performed over a few interrupted dinners than was spent on the deaths of seven people in a fire last year because fire inspections hadn’t been properly carried out!
Editing to add a tweet from Christopher Curtis: “I understand Grand Prix is when the poor get to collect scraps from the rich — believe me, we all have to do it — and I understand that the city fucked up but can we maybe bump it down to like the second or third news item this week. There’s other stories.”
bob 15:46 on 2024-06-11 Permalink
This did not come out of nowhere. https://montrealgazette.com/news/police-blue-collar-workers-confront-chez-alexandre-owner-over-terrasse
Not to mention that the terrasse in question tends host a specific clientele: https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/779865/restauration-le-restaurant-alexandre-force-de-fermer-30-jours
Also a favorite spot for corrupt city employees: https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2023/12/05/scandale-a-locpm-quebec-veut-modifier-la-loi-pour-empecher-les-depenses-abusives
Ramsay 21:23 on 2024-06-11 Permalink
Bob’s secondary considerations were my first thought when I heard about this.
walkerp 07:16 on 2024-06-12 Permalink
But that is exactly the outrage, that the city or whatever complex corrupt mechanisms are going on put all this effort in going after this one place while not actually dealing with important safety issues.
Andrew 10:39 on 2024-06-12 Permalink
Maybe I watch too many documentaries, but some of the most horrifying fires of the last century have been crowded nightclubs, Cocoanut grove, The Station, our own Blue Bird Cafe. That’s how we wrote the rules that the SIM should be enforcing and it’s a good thing that they’re doing it on the busiest night of the year.