Workers are busy trying to contain the new oil spill off Pointe‑aux‑Trembles. I hope they can figure out who’s responsible and fine them up the wazoo.
Updates from July, 2024 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The city was going to buy a building in Ahuntsic‑Cartierville so’s to transfer 50 of the homeless people that have been living in a Verdun shelter, but it isn’t going to happen. The foundation that owns the Centre Bois‑de‑Boulogne won’t let it be used as a homeless shelter.
Meantime, the city was in the process of buying the old Sainte‑Bibiane church in Rosemont, but a nonprofit that helps people with AIDS was already in the process of getting set up in the presbytery. As in other neighbourhoods, its residents would prefer not to see a homeless shelter established there.
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Kate
The OQLF says it wasn’t inspecting Santa Cabrini hospital, it merely sent an advisor to discuss its francization progress.
Annette
Of all the hospitals in town that, rather, need a sanitation advisor – or a medical malpractice advisor – or a demolition advisor.
Kate
I know nothing about Santa Cabrini. Are you alleging that it’s substandard?
Uatu
Make sure everything is in French for your 16hr wait in the ER. Priorities, you know.
Annette
And so that the staff there will ignore you in the Correct Language if you dare enquire about your file after the 8th hour, Uatu.
Yes Kate, sorry for grammar malfunction. With only a couple exceptions, I’ve been an urgent care guest of every major hospital in town. After so many years, I’ve seen things that bring great shame to medicine and Montreal both. But Cabrini is the only place I categorically refused a follow-up visit to. It is below the very lowest bar.
So for a province that created it’s own branded strain of C. difficile to be focused on THIS aspect of medical care – I (obviously) can’t verbalize how infuriating that is.
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Kate
Weekend highlights from La Presse, CityCrunch, CultMTL, although I suspect the Olympics may swamp most other events for the next couple of weeks. CBC has notes on watching the opening ceremony on Friday starting at 1 pm.
Blork
I caught the last 40 minutes or so of the opening ceremony. Pretty mind-blowing light show centered around the Eiffel Tower. And Celine Dion showed up to belt out the closing song, perched half way up the Eiffel Tower. The whole thing is so over-the-top that it’s ridiculous, but still oddly captivating.
Blork
BTW, closing song from mid-tower by Celine Dion was l’hymne a l’amour (of course).
Subscribe for more Olympics play-by-play from Blork!
Tee Owe
Found it both captivating and moving – Celine Dion was an unexpected treat – what a show, all of it! Let the games begin – !
Blork
I gotta say, future Olympic host cities will be challenged to beat an opening ceremony that takes place on a river that runs through the city instead of inside a stadium. That image of a woman floating down the Seine singing “Imagine” in her little birdie voice next to a flaming piano will not soon be forgotten.
Mozai
No mentions of Fantasia? It’s still going this weekend.
Kate
Blork, don’t challenge a future Jean Drapeau to stage an opening ceremony on the St Lawrence!
Mozai, usually media will mention the opening of a festival, they’re less interested in what’s ongoing.
Uatu
Was really innovative and a lot more interesting than a stadium centered ceremony. I especially liked the masked torch guy running through the city because it like watching a live action version of Assassin’s Creed lol
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Kate
I put the question about the reason for our many outdoor staircases to Gabriel Deschambault of the Plateau historical society. He didn’t quote chapter and verse, but he says this (my translation):
We must go back to the first residential subdivisions (for example on the Plateau), where the buildings were located on the lot line, at the edge of the sidewalk. This led to a rather poor outdoor space with uninteresting street views.
At some point, the City began to require that new constructions should have a setback, to offer a more open urban vista and an area for greenery in front of houses. Of course, this meant a reduction in the buildable surface area for housing, so developers quickly understood that by taking the staircase out of the area of the house, they gained more square footage inside.
This also meant that each dwelling had its own private entrance, which offered a certain standard of living. Everyone in their own home!
The church, too, was not very fond of common interior accesses that allowed for the sharing of neighbours’ problems, promiscuity, cooking odors, etc.
I remember someone telling me the church liked the outdoor stairs because you couldn’t get too kissy when saying good night to your date, but it seems to be considered an actual factor. So think about that when you’re clearing snow off your picturesque spiral stairs!
Ian
The church prudes and “to every man his own front door” were the versions I always heard. Developers skimping for tax purposes I didn’t know though, so thanks for that!
carswell
Thanks for the follow-up, Kate.
Blork
Deschambault’s description is one I’ve heard before and the one that always made sense to me, so I’m buying it. The various tax explanations offered don’t make any sense to me at all.
Fun fact(ish): a friend from Dublin told me that the reason why Guiness has a relatively low level of alcohol (4.2%, but apparently there used to be one at around 3% that was sold in pubs in Dublin). He said it was because of the tax on alcohol, which affected the price. The lower the alcohol, the lower the price at the pub. Truth? Who knows. I can’t find anything about that on the Google, but that doesn’t mean much.
thomas
I also read that external staircases were controversial at first and some people considered them an eyesore and by the 1940s they were banned for new construction. However, eventually they became iconic to the city and with this acceptance the ban on construction was lifted in the 1970s.
Uatu
I remember reading an article in the Gazette years ago about this and the quote about “dark hallways as an invitation to sin”. Also they mentioned the idea that the parents would eventually move into the bottom apartment because it’s easier when you get older and the kids would move upstairs and they could keep an eye on who was visiting their young adult kids. And knowing the church it’s probably the daughters’ suitors that need most surveillance lol
CE
This is basically the story I’ve heard too. The tax side of it I hadn’t really heard. I generally present the Catholic church story as a bit of an urban legend (which demonstrates the perceived influence the church had on the population). There’s also a bit of a Scotland connection as many of the developers of working-class houses were Scottish (as they had the money). I’ve actually had people from Scotland tell me that the plexes remind of them of their houses back home.
Source for the Scottish Connection: Hanna, David B., and Dufaux, Francois. (2002). “Montreal: A Rich Tradition in Medium Density Housing.” CMHC Research Report (External Research Program).
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Kate
Police arrested six more suspects this week in connection with two murders last year, although four of them were already behind bars on other charges.
Chris 19:48 on 2024-07-26 Permalink
Fine them? Throw them in jail!
James 08:25 on 2024-07-27 Permalink
Absolutely disgusting!
Kate 09:33 on 2024-07-27 Permalink
Chris, it would be better to make the guilty business pay for the cleanup than to put someone behind bars.
Chris 11:10 on 2024-07-27 Permalink
Better still to do both.