A new skate park is going to be built under the access to the Jacques-Cartier bridge, and the skateboarding group is already complaining about it.
posted at 10:47

 
Nothing shady has been found as a cause of the fatal crash of the Montreal-bound bus on Monday. Some details on the three Montrealers who died in the incident.
posted at 10:43

 
The Casino's had a visit from the exterminator to sort out the louse problem in its keno section. Talk about having the itch to gamble.
posted at 10:39

 
Canadiens veteran Dickie Moore has been injured in a car accident. He's 75.
posted at 10:27

 
From tomorrow, it will be strictly illegal for anyone to spend the night in a park in Ville-Marie. Points are made about how unfair this is to homeless folks who can't stand the shelters, but the borough seems to be determined. On the other hand, the police know the futility of ticketing people who have no money.

(I had to look up Place de la Paix. It's the little square on Saint-Laurent just north of René-Lévesque.)
posted at 10:15

 
There's a Le Devoir piece today I can't link to about Heritage Montreal wanting to save old advertising signs on walls. But some of the local flickr photographers (including me) have been taking photos of these fading relics.
posted at 10:30

 
The impending property tax increases will mostly be passed on to tenants where possible, and tenants' groups are already bracing for the crunch.
posted at 10:10

 
The smoking law that came into force in May hasn't cut bar and restaurant profits, according to Statistics Canada, although it has turned sidewalks into smoking salons, and the law hasn't yet been tested against a Montreal winter.
posted at 09:57

 
Eyewitness accounts of Monday night's bus accident on the highway from New York to Montreal.
posted at 09:45

 
The extension of Cavendish Boulevard to the 40, a project that's been on and off again for years, is provisionally on again for the moment.
posted at 11:27

 
Homeowners should expect big property tax increases over the next few years, according to reports, although the city is not yet talking.
posted at 10:50

 
The Jewish General has opened a cancer centre with hopes of reducing waiting times for treatment.
posted at 10:45

 
A Greyhound bus on the New York City-Montreal route crashed through a rail last night and flipped over on the U.S. Interstate. Five people have been declared dead. Yahoo photo of the wreckage.
posted at 02:14

 
More on ATSA's historical frags delineating parts of the history of boulevard Saint-Laurent. ATSA's subsite has lots of great content; be aware that some of the sound files play automatically.
posted at 13:54

 
Traffic congestion is back with la rentrée but synchronized traffic lights during rush hour are meant to speed things up.
posted at 13:50

 
The Champ Car Grand Prix was halted by heavy rain yesterday, resumed this morning and won by French driver Sébastien Bourdais.
posted at 13:04

 
Michel Auger retires from the Journal de Montréal after a 40-year career reporting on crime. After being shot six times in 2000 after reporting extensively on biker gangs, Auger returned to work after his recovery.
posted at 11:56

 
Half the city's swimming pools reopen for the brief few days at the end of the season, after the bacteria scare earlier this week. The rest will have to pass tests before being allowed to reopen – at this rate, probably next summer.
posted at 13:06

 
This weekend sees the Festival cultural chinois held around the Chinese cultural centre on Clark St., also the second and final Main Madness street fair, and that car race everyone seems to be talking about.
posted at 10:37

 
Government culture czars are staying away from tonight's gala opening of the Festival des films du monde.
posted at 10:28

 
A request by west-end municipalities for more services in English meets an "invitation" by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste for the agglomeration to say no.
posted at 10:25

 
A bad story today: a man who stopped his bike to try to intervene in a bad scene downtown was stabbed to death. The killer is still at large. The La Presse photo with the bicycle and the blood is more graphic than we usually see.
posted at 10:08

 
Will Saku Koivu be ready for the Canadiens' opener on October 6? Only time will tell.
posted at 11:10

 
Île Notre-Dame is being spiffed up for this weekend's Champ Car Grand Prix.
posted at 11:07

 
Another update on the Cartier monument renovations – work is going slowly and will take longer than expected. And cost more.
posted at 11:06

 
The Jacques-Cartier bridge is to get new steel panels designed to deter people from scaling the structure. I hope they don't spoil the bridge's graceful lines.
posted at 10:44

 
Taggers have paintbombed Laurier Street in Outremont for a second time this summer.
posted at 10:37

 
Quebec is cracking down on the issue of water quality at public swimming pools.

What a lot of noise over pools that would be closing in a week or so anyway. And I've seen nothing about anyone claiming to have gotten sick from swimming in a city pool.
posted at 10:35

 
The city's pedestrian charter is being critiqued in city hall hearings, which have already heard that pedestrians are endangered on Montreal streets because the city's being too soft on dangerous drivers. (The charter is on the city website under plan de transport and can be downloaded in pdf format.)

One aspect of the plan de transport is an attempt to reduce the number of cars in the city, so it's good news that car-sharing biz Communauto is growing and thriving.
posted at 10:26

 
A cyclist died last night in the high-speed pursuit of a car thief by the owner and a friend. It seems to me that while the thief bears most of the responsibility, the pursuers also deserve some part of it. Nobody should die so that somebody can get a car back.
posted at 10:29

 
The Commission des biens culturels du Québec has refused to protect the Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine house on Overdale, with a litany of excuses of which "the owner does not give a damn" seems to be paramount.
posted at 10:02

 
Some arcane stuff here about Champ Car races and NASCAR races and which will be allowed to dominate in the city. Also, Ana Ivanovic won the Rogers Cup in the tennis event at Jarry Park yesterday.
posted at 09:55

 
Burlington writer enumerates all the restaurants and cafés on Côte-des-Neiges in a few blocks north of Queen Mary; La Presse finds the last surviving Murray's restaurant; the best outdoor terrasses of the city.
posted at 09:45

 
The local tourism season has done pretty well despite the strong loonie, the price of gas and the increased tension at border crossings. One American couple gives their impressions.
posted at 12:55

 
A media-sparked study of the quality of the water in outdoor pools in the city has found that the water is contaminated with lots of germs. Considering they're going to close in a week or so anyway, it's not so big a deal that they're closing a third of them immediately.
posted at 12:37

 
A glimpse of a formal tour of Mount Royal Cemetery, focusing on the knights who are buried there.
posted at 13:23

 
Quebec loses Claude Blanchard and Fernand Gignac on the same weekend.
posted at 13:21

 
A new blog aims to save the Farine Five Roses sign although his gallery link is broken; a link to the Flickr tag or text search will show many views of the sign.
posted at 13:50

 
The Montreal woman charged with killing her son in Vermont has pleaded not guilty in a U.S. court.
posted at 13:29

 
Misled by the wrong winning numbers printed in the Gazette's lottery box, a Montreal man wants to sue the paper for the mental anguish undergone after thinking he'd won the $42M jackpot, then finding out he had not. (I have a feeling that there's legal precedent for honest production errors incurring no blame, but the paper should give him something as a goodwill gesture.)
posted at 12:54

 
Nice piece about street artist Roadsworth and his commissioned work for the city. The plaza work described in the piece is outside Place d'Armes metro, under the overhang of the Palais des congrès, and is worth a look.
posted at 12:48

 
Marvelling over the Festival des films du monde reaching its 30th anniversary this year, something many observers wouldn't have credited two years ago.
posted at 12:44

 
The record sum of $130 million has been invested in Montreal road repairs this year.
posted at 11:45

 
Montreal woman whose son was found drowned this week over the border in Lake Champlain is being charged with murder in the U.S.; Vito Rizzuto loses his bid to have the Supreme Court block a U.S. extradition order, and is taken into FBI custody to face charges over an incident dating back to 1981.
posted at 14:00

 
ATSA is back on the Main with more historical panels and a new feature next week about the shmatte trade.
posted at 13:36

 
It sounds geeky but fun: Sunday there's a train expedition to the rail museum over in Delson-Saint-Constant.
posted at 13:30

 
The city's putting $91 million into infrastructure repairs. A reader also wrote to mention that the city's started work on two more segments of bicycle path, although the total distance of 4 kilometers isn't earth-shattering.
posted at 13:18

 
The Alouettes have been told to rethink their plans for enlarging Molson Stadium after the city's public consultation board said the proposal would do too much damage to Mount Royal. Plans involved cutting down trees and adding 5000 seats to the existing stadium.

At the same time the city is planning to redo the approach to Mount Royal from Peel Street, adding more stairs and paths.
posted at 13:12

 
One in ten Montreal high school students claims to be dependent on marijuana and more than that are smoking it daily. At least it isn't alcohol.
posted at 10:46

 
There's now a blog to support skateboarders' efforts to save the Olympic Park pipe that's threatened by demolition.
posted at 10:41

 
Brief but informative piece on the natural beaches in the metropolitan area, although there's only a few days left in their official seasons.
posted at 10:35

 
The project for a big-box Wal-Mart mall in Saint-Michel comes closer as the city approves a deal with a major mall developer.
posted at 10:29

 
Any problem with nuclear reactors in Ontario would involve more serious threats to Montreal than to Toronto, due to wind patterns. Ontario's planning to build more reactors soon.
posted at 10:26

 
Most Montrealers are satisfied with our police but police are not sure they're doing a great job.
posted at 10:23

 
Colin Powell praised the Harper government's position on the Middle East situation, and gets booed by protesters.
posted at 10:52

 
Irving Layton is to have a street named after him in Côte Saint-Luc.
posted at 10:49

 
More on the Big O's endangered legendary skateboarding pipe and on the difficulties with the proposed new indoor skate park in St-Michel.
posted at 10:42

 
A quarter of Montreal's community gardens may be contaminated with lead and other metals. Gardeners are worried. Apparently the city didn't test the soil before opening these gardens in the 1980s.
posted at 10:31

 
The city is pondering replacing the green recycling box with something else, possibly with a lid. By the descriptions in this article, one thing occurs to me: there may not be a "one size fits all" solution. Something that works for a one-family house may not be the best solution for big apartment building, for example.
posted at 10:41

 
The Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine house downtown – it's one of the few relics of what used to be called the Overdale neighbourhood, razed in the 1980s – may be saved from utter dereliction and turned into a museum about Lafontaine's life and times.
posted at 10:39

 
No upset in Pointe-aux-Trembles as PQ chief André Boisclair wins the byelection. The other byelection yesterday was taken by the PQ as well.
posted at 10:17

 
Plans by mondo cheesemakers Saputo to build a soccer stadium out by the Big O may destroy a skate park known well beyond our borders. Also, a nice little story about the city's cleanliness czar, mayoral brother Marcel Tremblay, attending a graffiti and skate fest yesterday at Foufounes.
posted at 12:45

 
A defective sprinkler alarm brought the authorities down on an ecstasy lab in Côte-des-Neiges. Apparently ecstasy is really popular. (This is news?)
posted at 12:42

 
Swingers' clubs, freed by the Supreme Court's nod last year to the legality of private sex clubs, are popping up all over, often in private residences (which, as a side benefit, frees them from adhering to the smoking ban). Of course, this culture also attracts voyeurs.
posted at 12:36

 
Another community garden is found to be contaminated with lead and arsenic.
posted at 12:31

 
A wiki called Mémoire du Québec has some timelines of Montreal history: 1535-1900, 1900-1930, 1930-1980 and 1980 to the present. The wiki's not well categorized or cross-linked, so if you want to find other topics you have to dig around. Also, note that – unlike most wikis – this one's nailed down with copyright and closed to editing.
posted at 12:30

 
Stars have been dropping out of the women's Rogers Cup tennis event, this week in Jarry Park.
posted at 12:15

 
Nice tourism piece in Spanish from Argentina. Cerezos are cherry trees, which I don't think most of us would consider iconic here.
posted at 12:57

 
This detailed pan of one of the city's fancier restaurants was a satisfying accompaniment to my coffee-and-strawberries breakfast; apparently August is the month during which we begin to cook seriously.
posted at 12:39

 
Security around Habitations Jeanne-Mance is tightened after a security guard was attacked this week. Second link has some stats about this social housing project east of downtown.
posted at 12:35

 
Community gardens are flourishing in Point St. Charles.
posted at 12:04

 
The mayor of Villeray/Saint-Michel/Parc-Ex doesn't think the new Taz project – a centre for skateboarding, roller skating and BMX biking to be built by the Miron Quarry – is what her borough needs, because the equipment's beyond the means of many of the families in the area.
posted at 12:33

 
Lesbian tourist finds the Village fascinating but gritty.
posted at 12:12

 
The city is installing lots of shiny new parking meters throughout the Cité du multimédia, which will raise an additional $2M yearly. Parking rates are going up generally, too.
posted at 11:57

 
Are there too many managers at City Hall, making too much money? Lots of numbers here, with the suggestion that the extra level of management required by the borough system may not be economical after all.
posted at 14:03

 
The noise of the city is considered unpleasant or dangerous by some people. But if you want peace and quiet, it's not good sense to go for a stroll along Ste-Catherine Street at rush hour.
posted at 13:24

 
A detailed update on the progress of the Quartier des Spectacles (a large slab of the eastern downtown core), including the reclamation of the Blumenthal building for artists and the eradication of such "louche" elements as the sex shop at the corner of Clark.
posted at 10:47

 
The city is casting a critical eye on its paramunicipal organizations to see where budget cuts can be made.
posted at 10:37

 
City Hall's to get a makeover, including a new copper roof.
posted at 10:24

 
Yes! The Farine Five Roses sign is to glow again until some kind of decision is made about it. Interesting that such a sign would not be allowed now, so the new owners can't choose to replace it with anything else.
posted at 10:34

 
The Journal de Montréal has a hilarious feature today on people buying houses that used to be hidden marijuana farms, and the trouble that ensues. I see a movie in this somewhere.
posted at 10:32

 
The issue that won't die: some of the merchants in Jean-Talon market totally hate the new rule against cars in the market on weekends. Cars are banned from 11 a.m. till 5 p.m. in the market on weekends in summer, that's all it is, but it seems to be a major problem.

Also I had not been not aware the market was one of Camillien Houde's Depression-era make-work projects (1933). Good on you, Camillien.
posted at 10:30

 
The war in the Middle East has repercussions here as a borough council meeting has to move from fear of attacks, and the council refused to honour the memory of borough residents the Al-Akhrass family, decimated in Lebanon. This kind of attitude leads to this sort of hysteria in which the old propaganda technique of tarring one's opponents with the same brush is taken out again for an airing.
posted at 10:22

 
A new condo tower is going to be built where the Unitarian church burned down on Sherbrooke almost twenty years ago.
posted at 09:52

 
The World Film Festival has announced its lineup, which this Hollywood Reporter sees as a snub to the United States. The 30th anniversary fest runs from August 24 to September 4.
posted at 01:47

 
Report says the Outgames brought $100 million worth of business to Montreal.
posted at 01:44

 
It's now Italian Week in Montreal with various festivities through Sunday.
posted at 10:27

 
Jacques Villeneuve has been dumped by his team and his Formula One career appears to be over. Whether he goes to NASCAR next year is also uncertain.
posted at 10:25

 
The Guardian UK is looking for tips about good things in Montreal.
posted at 03:11

 
The city is pondering controlling the sale of spray paint in an attempt to reduce graffiti.
posted at 10:03

 
15,000 people marched here yesterday against the war in Lebanon.
posted at 09:34

 
The Farine Five Roses sign, which has shone out from Mill Street since 1948, is to be taken down. Here are some Flickr photos and some more Flickr photos showing how many ways it's been seen by city photographers in recent years.
posted at 09:22

 
A demo supporting peace in Lebanon begins in Lafontaine Park this afternoon.
posted at 12:23

 
Bar owners, rather than delinquent smokers, are being fined under the new laws, and questions are raised whether this is fair.
posted at 12:13

 
Odd scattered piece about the joys of shopping in Montreal.
posted at 11:42

 
Now that the Outgames are over, the BBC has a good summary of the event and there are many other summaries and reports of success.
posted at 11:13

 
The Outgames closed yesterday and included a few beaten records (in various age classes) as well as accusations of locker room homophobia. Also, more Foglia, La Presse's dossier and the Journal de Montréal's dossier.
posted at 15:15

 
A community allotment garden has been found to be full of toxins, and other gardens are to have their soil tested. Good question why this hasn't been done before.
posted at 16:56

 
The program that monitors Montreal air quality is threatened by budget cuts from the Charest government.
posted at 16:49

 
Pierre Foglia on the Outgames.
posted at 12:06

 
For the first time since Canada's been in Afghanistan, a military funeral was held in Montreal. A service yesterday marked the death of Corporal Jason Patrick Warren, who fell near Kandahar.
posted at 12:01

 
Interview with Wolf Parade, one of the city's hotter acts of the moment.
posted at 12:00

 
As the Cinéma du Parc closes this evening, a new group hopes to revive it.
posted at 11:48

 
SAT is holding a benefit concert this evening for Lebanon; local unions and political parties are preparing a big demo in support of Lebanon this Sunday in Lafontaine Park.
posted at 10:32

 
The heat, rain and humidity this summer are nothing out of the ordinary, according to a meteorologist.
posted at 10:21

 
Ville-Marie suddenly makes public squares off-limits from midnight till 6, and fails to warn the homeless shelters about this change in policy.
posted at 10:18

 
A young woman who was raped by a gang in the north end has police defending their response to the case.
posted at 10:23

 
Two elderly priests and a friend were badly hurt in a small town outside Montreal when their horse spooked and their carriage overturned. Not a hundred-year-old news clipping: it happened a few days ago in Montérégie. The men are in hospital.
posted at 10:19

 
The Festival du Nouveau Cinéma will have the world premiere of the latest Lars von Trier movie. (Same CP story, but cut different ways.)
posted at 10:05

 
Ragweed is flourishing in the city after a favourable alternation of rain and sun, and the city is encouraging us to root it out.
posted at 09:49

 
Last night's storm dropped a tree on a car in Montreal, killing its driver, and blacked out power to many parts of the island. A second man died when he was struck by lightning outside of town. It was the hottest August 1 since 1955, in one of the hottest summers on record.
posted at 09:48

 
Today and tomorrow will see another heat wave drenching the city with humidity; Thursday should be cooler.
posted at 11:17

 
The city is putting off adopting changes in its social policies because money is short.
posted at 11:15

 
The comedy fest is posting a record event and looking forward to beating it for next year, its 25th anniversary.
posted at 11:13

 
Brief piece by an American kid about coming to study at what he resolutely refers to as Université McGill. I can't figure out the bit of the tale where he doesn't tip the cabbie, though. Donations? A box?
posted at 11:05

 
Laval has made changes to welcome the greying of the populace.
posted at 10:53

 
The Outgames continue, but few spectators are watching the events.
posted at 10:50