BAnQ: Useful fictions from Quebec
Quebec’s culture minister, Mathieu Lacombe – and isn’t it a tribute to the CAQ that I’ve never seen his name in the news before – assures us that the Grande Bibliothèque will be able to enlarge even as it sells land to Hydro‑Quebec. This is even though the cash being transferred from Hydro is going to be used for the conversion of the old Bibliothèque Saint‑Sulpice into the Maison de la chanson et de la musique du Québec and not for general library purposes at all. This whole piece drips with convenient political bullshit justifying plunking an electrical substation down next to the library.
Nicholas 15:48 on 2024-12-30 Permalink
I keep seeing complaints about this substation, but don’t see any alternatives. The substation is nearing its end of life, and needs to be expanded to provide for increased power consumption from more downtown buildings and electric vehicles. It needs to be in the centre of the electrical zone (I’m sure it could go slightly outside this circle, but too far and the power losses are too high), and they looked at all the potential sites and this, to them and me, seems like the best choice. They didn’t want to expropriate buildings, and the other identified sites had other issues (technical, historical, planned other uses (housing)). There is also a green space diagonally across the street from the library, and others nearby.
I’m open to other locations, but I think it’s incumbent on people opposing this location to suggest an alternative. This is not a nice to have, but an essential piece of infrastructure for our future downtown. Sometimes there are no good options, just less bad ones.
Also, given that the Berri substation has been there for decades, in a way they plunked a library down basically next to the substation.
Kate 16:34 on 2024-12-30 Permalink
Is there no church inside that whole perimeter that could be taken down, the substation built, then the church envelope and steeples reconstructed around it to disguise it?
Nicholas 20:59 on 2024-12-30 Permalink
Surprisingly, no! There is the Spanish church at Roy and Berri that is about ¼ in that circle, and then there’s also a church in the 13 storey building at de Maisonneuve and St Timothée where the vaccination centre is. If you wanted to expand the circle slightly more you could tear down the UQAM chapel. If we’re willing to tear down some triplexes we could put it there, but given the complaints about tearing down one in Rosemont for the STM, I don’t think that would be more popular. Even giving a subsidized apartment to a woman in a derelict building took years. It turns out that downtown has a lot of stuff already!
Orr 22:35 on 2024-12-30 Permalink
Build it elevated over top of the Berri street on the hill between Ontario and Sherbrooke streets.
Kate 23:52 on 2024-12-30 Permalink
Just when we need a disused church, we can’t find one.
DavidH 00:28 on 2024-12-31 Permalink
The southern part of ilot Voyageur just across the street had been proposed many times. The City has gone ahead and greenlit another type of development there recently. I wonder if they were keeping it in on ice with hopes of Hydro accepting it for this project and finally gave up.
dhomas 10:32 on 2024-12-31 Permalink
To be fair, the issue with the triplex in Rosemont being torn down for the STM is not about tearing down the building. It is an issue of compensation. The amount they offered that family for their plex was laughable. They would never be able to buy anything in that area with the amount they were offered. The STM has limited funds and likely cannot afford appropriate compensation. Hydro-Quebec, on the other hand, made over 3 billion dollars last year…
Nicholas 13:30 on 2024-12-31 Permalink
DavidH, if you click on my second link you’ll see a brief description of the sites they looked at and why they didn’t choose the others (second page on right). It says they talked to the city about using Ilot Voyageur, but the city preferred to use it for housing.
DavidH 13:57 on 2024-12-31 Permalink
There are many things wrong with the STM project in Rosemont. The triplex was not even the preferred site, that was the front lawn of the provincial juvenile court. The citizen group on facebook has uncovered lots of really telling documents about the STM’s faulty proceedings. They have been doing stellar journalistic work (and activism). Basically, STM were told by Quebec that since they are the main landowner in the area and have lots of unused land that seem more appropriate, they had to show they had properly considered the land they already own before building on land owned by the province. They never followed suit and produced an internal report saying the triplex was a better choice because it was cheaper and turned to forcing a family to give up real estate instead of the provincial government. It’s cheaper because they have to dig a few meters less but mostly because they offer 530 000$ to buy the land and building when comparables nearby go for literally a million $ more.
It seems very clear that they never expected public scrutiny on that project. Every new documents unveiled reeks of amateur hour and bad faith. They have to redo many of these ventilation structures in the coming years because of changing standards. It’s good that this will force them to do better diligence onwards (hopefully).
DavidH 14:04 on 2024-12-31 Permalink
Nicholas, I know. But if that was really the only thing they were considering, why wait so many years before doing it? It really seems like they waited on the Hydro thing being finalized before launching the public proceedings for housing projects. Otherwise, why not include it in UTILE’s project on the north side or offer it to other developers as they finally did. Those after the facts documents never tell the whole story as we know. It’s a summary skewed to justify the final position.
MarcG 10:36 on 2025-01-01 Permalink
Kate, I don’t know if your own comments qualify for the calendar but that last one gets a vote from me.
Kate 10:55 on 2025-01-01 Permalink
Thank you, MarcG!