Pointe-aux-Trembles has finally settled on a borough hall, reviving a disused convent to house 125 fonctionnaires now working in six scattered offices. A previous borough mayor had planned to plunk a brand new building into a park; this is a far better solution.
Updates from February, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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A group of folks with experience in the film biz are pondering ways of returning the Empress Theatre to use as a cinema.
I was sent a link to a music video about the building and its resurgence. There’s also this site that talks about plans for the building, once also known as the Cinema V. Not sure how all this fits together but with any luck the building will be saved from ruin and made useful again.
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More details about the planned Train de l’Ouest – or at least the studies to be made toward creating one. The line will run from Lucien-L’Allier along the existing Vaudreuil-Hudson route. Half-hourly trains around the clock, with trains every 12 minutes during rush hour, are planned.
Curiously, none of these items mention that the reconstruction of the Turcot will intensify a need for better train service. Nor do they mention whether these new studies will encompass the airport train.
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Marc
Does anyone actually believe this will materialize? It’s not like any political party, least of all the Liberals, has to cater to the needs of the West Island. And West Islanders only have themselves to blame for they are incapable of voting for anyone but the Liberals. The votes are in the bag so why cater?
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Kate
I think it has to. The Turcot will either be rebuilt according to the current MTQ scheme, or some other rebuild or repair scheme will have to be undertaken. Either way, there will be a reduction in highway lanes for some time and they will absolutely need to be able to offer an alternative.
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ant6n
Although it seems by the time they have the new dedicated track in place, Turcot will be rebuilt.
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Stefan
turcot and train de l’ouest are both planned by the provincial government. one would think that the person responsible, sam hamad (minister of transports), could make the connection between those two.
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JaneyB
I’m not sure this is actually for the West Island. I’m guessing it’s more for Vaudreuil-Dorion and Ile-Perrot where there is quite a population boom underway – even school-building. (Those areas are one of the few areas near the city that young families can afford to live in). Hopefully, there will be stops along the West Island too (well, and hopefully it will happen period….)
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The city spied on its own auditor, reading his private email for ten months, including exchanges with his personal lawyer, and examining email attachments.
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Everyone’s delighted about Arcade Fire winning the Grammy for album of the year, the city put up a banner to congratulate them, shown above, the band thanked the city when accepting the award, and it’s all a big love-in except for some sour-grapesy folks whose tweets were collected on Who Is Arcade Fire??!!?.-
J-P
*yawn*
I thought the neo-lite-rock trend was over already. Wake me when it’s over!
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Marc
Meh, it’s a Grammy; not like it’s award worth anything.
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Decibels
Way to go Arcade Fire! Couldn’t have happened to a nicer or more talented bunch. To
the haters: keep on hating and wake me up when you’ve got something positive to contribute. -
Steve Quilliam
That’s a nice touch by the city. It brings something different to their web site (something unusual) and it promotes a local band. After all, Montreal is a cultural city, right ?
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J-P
Haha, they’re nether nice, nor ‘local’ – but I leave further comment for that message board they used to haunt.
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Metro has a report on the rooftop farm project, Ferme Lufa.
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Stefan
urban agriculture, having become popular in havanna/cuba in the nineties due to economic restrictions, converges many benefits. in our cold climate the heat rising from the offices also contributes to the greenhouse – a very interesting project.
one issue that i did not see mentioned however is the possible pollution from the highways 15 and 40, which are both only a few hundred metres away – anybody has information on that? i’m sure that must have been taken into consideration. maybe air filters?
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Chris
Stefan, I suspect they’ll get slightly polluted food then; but of course, all food is slightly polluted, since we have polluted the whole planet to some extent (water cycle and atmosphere one big planetary system). I’m sure something grown near an autoroute will be no worse that what agribusiness gives us all…
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Stefan
Chris: of course there is pollution to some extent everywhere. non-organic agriculture using fertilizers also has a certain pollution level. but this farm is supposed to be organic, so i think it should be measured in these terms (a farm far from urban developments where the air and ground are relatively little polluted).
considering that children growing up near such a highway will very likely have reduced lung function (i.e. asthma) and ~6000 people die each year in quebec due to effects from (mostly automobile) pollution, i don’t think it’s something that should be neglected.
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The city’s buying a chunk of land in
Hochelaga-Maisonneuveeastern Ville-Marie to move a public works site there from Old Montreal, and buying another chunk in the West Island for parkland. It’s typical of how things are going here that in both cases some suspicion hangs over the land valuation and the city’s handling of it.-
qatzelok
Isn’t Bercy in Ste-Marie, rather than HoMa?
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Kate
Sigh. I guess my sniping at others’ borough mistakes has come back to bite me in the ass. Yes, it’s in Ste-Marie, the eastern part of Ville-Marie borough.
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MB
It’s ok Kate, we still love you!
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Chris
The government is of questionable morals, but the citizenry are not doing such a good job with their democracy either. And Kate: ha ha! :)
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Money’s being chucked at studies to build new rail lines to the West Island so the commuter trains wouldn’t have to share track time with freight.
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Tux
How do you get into the “studying” business? Seems like it would be a good racket to get into in Quebec. You’d probably make more “studying” than “doing” !
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We’re in for it today, as the temperature slides above freezing and brings rain, followed by a sudden blast of chill later this evening down to –18. It’s mostly expressed in commuting terms but anyone with snow to clear would be wise to get it finished before everything ices up.
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A café in Rosemont was firebombed a second time on Saturday night, having reopened after sustaining damage on Halloween night.
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Rue Frontenac says that Jean Charest and Gérald Tremblay are going to announce that they’re buying the Bell Centre, persuaded by Quebec City mayor Régis Labeaume that a major stadium should be a public building. Nobody else has this story.
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BruB
The article was written as a tongue in cheek by a jealous journalist and nothing else. Although for a second after reading the article yesterday, I had a doubt, it has to be read as sarcasm and nothing else.
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Kate
That’s why I wondered why nobody else even mentioned it. I’m sure you’re right.
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Martin
It’s a joke, meant to ridicule Charest and Labeaume. That’s why the journalist says at the end that his text is meant to be taken on a “second degré”.
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Alanah Heffez has some short but pertinent pieces on Spacing about heritage preservation sometimes being a matter of details and procedure rather than saving something big and obvious, and inquiring into the value of heritage preservation generally.
Carlos 11:17 on 2011/02/15 Permalink
Reduce, reuse, recycle… it works with everything