The waters surrounding Montreal declined in quality in 2011 for the ironic reason that we had too much rain and it fell in heavy storms that caused direct sewage discharge into the river, without any treatment.
This summer we’re getting public notices of low water levels in the river.
The city has crews out repairing nine water mains that popped open Monday night. Apparently some recent adjustment of water reserves increased the pressure and caused pipes to fail in different parts of town.
I haven’t blogged this story closely because it’s been a little too micro-local but now there’s a legal angle that makes it kind of interesting from an urbanism point of view.
The Marguerite-Bourgeoys school commission wants to build a elementary school on Nuns Island, not a bad thing in itself, but they want to build it in a public park. A lot of residents have gone through the process of signing a register to demand a referendum on the issue.
Now Montreal seems likely to make a change in its charter to do an end run around the residents by declaring that building a school is on a different legal level and renders the referendum process null and void.
Sounds like they’re still in for a fight.
I followed that a bit since it has been on-going for some time. It seems that there is quite a large consensus that a second school is needed on the island. This may also be the need of the relatively rich residents to stay in their ghetto. But it also makes a lot of sense to reduce transportation times for children and parents.
On the other hand, a certain amount of green space will be destroyed forever, but a school in a park is also great for the children.
I think the real issue is that more than the actual space that the school building takes, will be used to build parking lots around it. This and the accompanying noise and danger it creates is why the residents put up a fight.
What about a school only accessible via active and public transport? Would it be possible in that case where supposedly all children can bike there in reasonable time and a shuttle could be organized for teachers coming from outside?
What fascinates me the most about this story is how much they seem to struggle to find a little bit of space to build a school. The answer is always “There is no space available anywhere on the island”.
Yet space is found all the time on the island to build more and more condos.
Clément: exactly. If you look at the google map you can see there are still open areas on the island without cutting into parkland. But they may be too desirable for profitable development.
Stefan: I pondered the point you make, about motivations for keeping the kids on the island. But I think I understand how parents would feel more comfortable knowing their kids are not being bused into a different neighbourhood over a busy bridge every day. I think ideally any kid ought to be able to walk to school. (Don’t forget, in this climate it’s not too realistic to expect people to cycle year-round, especially little kids.)
oops, one winter outside montreal and i already had quite forgotten about its seasonal challenges … but you’re right about the ability to walk.
nun’s island is about 3.5 by 1km. so, assuming both schools are located in the center of the two halves of the island, maximal distance to school is 1km (figuring in some curved streets). this is exactly the distance that i walked to primary school, in an area with about half the population density. is that still acceptable for primary school children nowadays?
RAPSIM, an organization that helps the homeless, carefully built a grant request on solid grounds but had its request turned down by the federal minister because it’s on a long list of organizations that are known to be outspoken to government about their needs – a list that the Harper government is calmly starving out of existence: women’s groups, environmental groups, groups that advocate for the disadvantaged.
Also today, the Harper government’s environmental tendencies are exposed and critiqued in the Guardian – one scientist says “This government is not going to let anything get in the way of resource development” so I guess he can kiss his grants goodbye.
This nonsense always comes back to bite us in the a$$. Eventually we have to fix it and at a greater cost. Some of these groups that help the homeless are wonderful, not just hiding the problem but actually getting people into housing, then jobs. (In that order, specifically.)
More barriers will go up Tuesday toward work on rebuilding the Turcot as part of Saint-Rémi is closed off.
Andy Riga reports on how more bus routes will be added to the successful 10 Minutes Max bus network – although as a slavish 55 rider I have to say sometimes the 10 minute thing is more honoured in the breach than in the observance.
Riga also links to a giant jpeg showing the 10-minute routes – the list is here and if you’re at a stop you can also just look for the 10 minute logo on the bus stop sign (although note that not all buses run on the 10-minute schedule all day).
Anyone want to time the 24 and see if it ever honours the 10 minute max?
This is the right direction for the STM, it’s good that they may add more lines. Anybody find a list of lines they may add?
Lately they actually seem to have removed the 211 bus – because of the new express bus to the west island, the service on the 211 was thinned to below the threshold.
The Journal notes a half dozen water main breaks in different parts of town Monday with no obvious common cause.
The Internet Archive now has the Montreal Mirror archive from 1997 to 2010. I fear that everything the Mirror posted and printed since changing to WordPress in September 2010 might have been zorched.
The archive is also still available on the old site but no way to know how long that will be up.
Beautiful
Also Google cache should have all the relevant recent links. You know to things like this – INSECT: Mind-boggling city contracts The day after construction magnate and accused fraudster Tony Accurso’s name was raised at the Charbonneau commission, which is investigating the province’s allegedly hopelessly corrupt construction industry, city hall found itself handing Accurso a plump $17-million worth of city contracts. Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay said that provincial laws designed to curb this sort of thing are toothless, and the city had no choice but to award the contracts to a company owned by Accurso. Meanwhile, the small group of contractors who allegedly control the construction trade in the province carry on. That’s just great. Quebec’s infrastructure is a laughing stock, the city’s coming apart at the seams, construction drags on seemingly forever—and those said to be responsible are getting even richer off it. ‘
What search request gets this material? Is there any way of building a script that could extract it all?
No idea , i just grabbed this from google cache a few days after the shutdown
Some good samaritan brought the Rant Line back!!
http://www.montrealrant.com/
514-446-1512
It didn’t last. Alastair Sutherland, aka Al South, told the guy who revived it that it was his intellectual property, and if you go to that site now you’ll see only a slightly grouchy letter saying this is why it was shut down.
I’ll be honest, I also quickly snapped up mtlrantline.com when I saw the beginnings of this, thinking we could maybe hang it off montreal.com, but with this development obviously I’ll let the domain lapse or give it to Mr. Sutherland myself.
The Canadiens have signed up Francis Bouillon, Colby Armstrong and Brandon Prust but turned down an opportunity to sign Jaromir Jagr. They also signed Carey Price for six years. New Habs DG Marc Bergevin says he’s happy with his free agent choices so far.
Terrible terrible moves… I’ll never forgive nor forget the Halak trade.
I don’t know enough about those 3 guys to have an opinion of those choices, but getting rid of Halak was just one of a series of mistakes the Canadiens have made. Shuffling Saku Koivu away after years of loyal service was low. Moving to the Bell Centre, destroying a major rail link, was obviously bad for the team and the city. But you know the time my heart sank worst? It was when Patrick Roy took the Stanley Cup in 1993 and skated with it, shouting “I’m going to Disneyworld!” and it was later used in a commercial. I don’t know why that so cheapened the whole thing for me, but it did.
it’s def a problem with the front office, not with anglo coaches or what-have-you
I personally think all the moves the team has made recently have been excellent.
The 3 players they brought in are cheap, low risk regulars that can be called upon in various roles. Bergevin was asked today why he did not go for any of the big names on the market, and he said the price was just too high,the terms too long and he would rather give those minutes to young developing players that will have a better long term upside. Great answer.
The price move is exactly what everyone expected, with a salary cap of $70 million, its the new reality. Price is a all-star, Canadian national team calibre goalie that can win you a cup. That comes at a cost and we paid it.
And Halak? It’s still to early to tell who won out in that trade, and the mere fact that there is no consensus favorite suggests that the move was not “terrible”.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Halak, but Price was the unpopular choice and it seems to have worked out thus far.
The main problem is now gone, and that was Pierre Gauthier. One of the worst GM’s in history. He was awful in San Jose, stank even worse in Ottawa, and we all kno what he did here. He’s one of those perpetual failures at everything he does in life yet keeps getting cushier and cushier jobs.
Also, Carey Price for 6 years means at least 6 more years with no Cup. Bergevin was on a good streak last week, then he had to make that blunder.
Why does everyone hate on Carey? Who else are the Canadiens going to sign? Philly has been searching for a goaltender for years and still haven’t found one. Remember the 2010-2011 season? He was in for 72 games and won 38. Anything over .500 is pretty reliable if you ask me.
I don’t read a dogpile on Carey Price here. I have to say I thought he was the obvious pretty-boy choice at the time, although a more daring management might’ve gone with Halak, but the choice was pretty even and once it’s made you can’t keep looking back.
@Kate
Patrick’s Disney line was worked out in advance.
I know – that makes it worse.
Halak might be marginally better than Price right now but he’s small, high-strung and prone to injury, as you saw in the playoffs this year. Price has the better Q-rating, half-native Indian pure Canadian boy, girls swoon at his boyish charm while Halak was a scary little fucker from some weird country. And personality does matter cuz it is, after all, entertainment.
Anyone still complaining about the Halak move isn’t paying enough attention. People who know hockey agree now that Price was the horse to bet on.
I’ve been seeing them releasing water all over the street from fire hydrants all over town.