It's good news that the Blumenthal Building, standing vacant on Ste-Catherine for several years now, will become the Maison du festival de jazz with offices, a gallery, a café and so forth. posted at 17:58

 
The folks on Delphis-Delorme Street on the far eastern tip of the island get their tax bills reduced but not cancelled after a wave of protest followed outrageously high bills being issued. I suppose the moral is you can fight city hall and win – partially.

Incidentally, Delphis Delorme was a councillor of the town of Pointe-aux-Trembles from 1921 to 1923. With a name like that he should've been a poet. posted at 17:53

 
Tories' bill C-10 allows for the withdrawal of tax credits from film productions deemed "contrary to public order". In other words, any of these seven feature films supported by Telefilm Canada could effectively be nixed if someone in the federal government found them subversive or distasteful. Do we really want that government dictating our cultural life? posted at 13:41

 
Salvia divinorum, being called la menthe magique locally – actually, it's a sage – is a short-acting psychoactive substance, not a party drug and with very little potential for abuse; nonetheless, journalists seem intent on pressuring government to make it illegal. posted at 13:23

 
Engineers hired by The Bay store downtown are claiming that construction of the new bike path along de Maisonneuve caused the damage in the underground slab that started a panic about the reliability of construction around McGill metro last year. The city doesn't agree. posted at 12:32

 
Missed this piece in last week's Hour about the impact that the Université de Montréal's development of the railyards north of Outremont is likely to have on adjoining Park Extension. With UQÀM's spectacular financial mess in everyone's mind, I wonder if the U of M is likely to be able to ramp up to developing that area into the sort of high-tech enclave that's been envisioned. posted at 15:05

 
There are so many things to do during the Nuit Blanche that people are making selections and lists of suggestions; there's lifedrawing with nude models at Ex-Centris, a noise music performance at Galerie Oboro, graffiti clothing and screenings at the CinéRobothèque.

In unrelated news from a different Nuit Blanche event, the Nuit blanche sur tableau noir event is looking for artists to participate in the all-night street decoration fest in June. posted at 15:00

 
The city has launched a new web subsite called La nature en ville to promote its parks and ecoterritories. posted at 13:55

 
Ben's Deli is on the brink of demolition to clear space for a boutique-hotel complex. Some of the fittings now belong to the McCord Museum. posted at 17:29

 
Three environmental groups are fighting the extension of Highway 25 into a bridge to Laval. I can't find a specific link for the donation they mention, but the Conseil régional de l'environnement has an item on it.

I wish government departments (at all levels) and NGOs did not think it sufficient to put up PDF files of a lot of their content. Occasionally there's a good reason: the STM's big transit maps simply would not work as a gif or jpeg, for example. But the file on the environment site is plain text which could be turned into html in about a minute. posted at 16:17

 
Mayors Tremblay and Vaillancourt are pleased with a provision in the federal budget that gives cities an ongoing cut of gasoline taxes, and also with money for public transit. But things are not so rosy at the provincial level. posted at 12:58

 
Thoughts about whether the Griffintown project could founder on hard economic times, leaving the entire area flattened like a giant Overdale project; the bitter offer of a Griffintown tenant who does not want to be forced out. posted at 12:48

 
There's a study afoot to reinstitute train service to Sherbrooke. I'm beginning to think the future may see our time as the beginning of the resurgence of rail transport. posted at 11:23

 
Possibility of a transit strike has been averted as the drivers' union votes 92% in favour of a new contract, whose details have not been made public. posted at 11:04

 
The Canadiens have traded goalie Cristobal Huet to the Washington Capitals – and made no immediate deal for any new player. posted at 12:39

 
It would be hard to say whether the federal budget or the NHL trade deadline has more people here in suspense, but agglomeration mayors are looking forward to a windfall from Flaherty's budget today. posted at 11:49

 
Part of the Canadiens' new training facility in Brossard, still under construction, fell down yesterday afternoon but only four workers were hurt and nobody died.

Meanwhile, the team has recalled Mikhail Grabovski, possibly toward a trade for Marian Hossa, an announcement the city awaits with excitement. posted at 11:47

 
Demo at City Hall urged the city to be more severe with delinquent landlords in Cartierville, but it isn't just poor north-end tenants who have housing problems in this city. posted at 11:33

 
Big snow is back in town, with a storm system expected to dump 30 cm on the city by the end of tomorrow – and then more snowfall expected Friday. posted at 10:25

 
History has shown that increasing highway capacity always increases traffic jams, contrary to expectations. And yet politicians keep courting votes by doing just that. posted at 22:22

 
A little Boston preview of the all-night DJ fest held at Metropolis as part of the Nuit Blanche. posted at 14:23

 
Serbian nationalists demonstrated in Montreal Sunday, hoping to persuade the Canadian government not to recognize the sovereign state of Kosovo. Canada's issue with its own chronically dissatisfied and intermittently secessionist territory is understood to be a factor in its unwillingness to heartily second the U.S.'s almost immediate welcome of the new country. posted at 14:10

 
There's a law against idling your car for more than three minutes, but you'd never know it from how few tickets are issued for the infraction. posted at 14:04

 
The federal government is handing out largesse to Montreal cultural groups plus a million bucks each for the jazz festival and Just For Laughs, a thawing of funds that whispers softly of impending elections. posted at 14:02

 
Owners of a few modest houses at the far eastern tip of the island have been hit with outrageous tax bills for roadwork done two years ago. They plan to fight. posted at 13:39

 
Interesting piece about a group working hard to reduce the really shameful euthanasia numbers we have here for unwanted pets. posted at 13:53

 
Bob Gainey becomes the Canadiens' 14th immortal but his team gets turfed by the Blue Jackets. posted at 13:49

 
A study on attitudes to Quebec's Jews shows that many respondents have uninformed ideas about the diversity of the Jewish community and its contributions to our society. But if the Bouchard-Taylor commission can be blamed for having turned over a few old rocks to see what was under them, it also helps define the areas where some education can be done and some light can be shed to dispel old ignorances. posted at 13:44

 
There are still a few bodies left to bury as Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery catches up with the backlog left by last year's long lockout. I imagine that when spring comes, there will be more gardening and cleanup work to do too. posted at 13:27

 
Montreal is experimenting with a new method to fix potholes; its blue-collar workers are still negotiating a new contract. posted at 13:14

 
Chris DeWolf has a really nice survey of ethnic media in Montreal, from the venerable Corriere Italiano (site not live yet) to the site and newspaper serving the small Japanese community here. posted at 22:27

 
Sketch of a Korean-run dépanneur in Saint-Henri; interview with filmmaker Yung Chang of Up the Yangtze; indifferent review of Taiwanese veg resto Yuan. posted at 14:42

 
The really quite old building at the southeast corner of Saint-Laurent and Sainte-Catherine was demolished this week, but there's no very clear idea how the city plans to proceed with building something new there. posted at 14:06

 
A detailed look at Josée di Stasio, Quebec's cooking show vedette, with recipes; a consideration of Toronto as a gastronomical town, also with recipes (pheasant and truffles?!) and addresses; food diary from the Lumière festival. posted at 13:55

 
Bob Gainey's jersey number is to be retired tonight in a ceremony before the Canadiens' match with the Columbus Blue Jackets. There are retrospectives on the man's career and his toughness.

There's also a lot of talk about Gainey's scheming to get the team a star forward before the trade deadline: the Journal has an entire dossier on the subject. posted at 13:36

 
A look at the Yiddish language as spoken by Montreal's Hasidic Jews.

Here we go again. "Montreal has one of North America's only Yiddish theatres." Either it has the only one, or it has one of the few. This solecism bugs me because it always sounds like the writer thinks it's the only one but hasn't bothered to look it up. posted at 13:16

 
After the Canadiens' big comeback game this week, Yves Boisvert reflects on hockey as outil de montréalisation. posted at 22:46

 
If Montreal pedestrians are not knocked down by motorists more than others in Canada it is because we've adapted to their aggressive ways, says this La Presse writer. I think it's true. In Toronto I've been aware of disconcerting motorists by hanging back to let them pass, where a local would have sauntered casually in front of the oncoming traffic. posted at 22:29

 
An objective report by an American consultancy says that the CHUM and the MUHC must work together, or else they won't be able to build the world-class research centre that each group dreams of. I wonder if the consultants pondered the effort and friction that would follow from those two prickly organizations trying to create and steer such an entity together. posted at 22:25

 
Grocery stores are mounting a protest against the Quebec law obliging them to redeem empty containers, saying consumers should just put the empties into their recycling boxes. posted at 22:20

 
A Toronto developer has struck a deal with the city to build a $200-million shopping centre in the old Francon quarry in Saint-Michel – this isn't the Miron quarry but the one that lies further east. Initial neighbourhood nervousness seems to have been overcome by a promise of jobs. posted at 22:16

 
Litany of problems created by the construction sites at Guy and de Maisonneuve with expectations it could all take three years to complete. posted at 22:07

 
The agglomeration wants to get Quebec government money for a scheme to compost organic urban waste or turn it into energy. posted at 15:39

 
A lot of people showed up last night at the ÉTS for the first dog and pony show on the proposed Devimco plan for Griffintown, so many that extra chairs were hastily added and some folks stood gazing down from a staircase and landing above. The sketches shown looked like a mashup of Nuns' Island and parts of René-Lévesque Boulevard, so that the repeated mantra of échelle humaine was kind of a joke. Devimco knows what people want to hear – green spaces, sustainability, bike paths – but they could learn that just saying these phrases does not make it so.

Amusingly, another developer is annoyed at Devimco for blithely handwaving "his" part of the Peel Basin into its plans. It might be interesting if developer competition introduced more consultation and diversity into the process. posted at 13:39

 
Butterflies fly free in the Botanical Garden's big greenhouse, till the end of April; review of Houdini on at the Segal Centre; review of The Elusive closing after this weekend; thoughts on flypostering as a cultural source; Adrian Tomine at D&Q; Margie Gillis does two nights at PdA at the end of the month. posted at 13:33

 
Lachine mayor to fight plans for a new flight path for cargo planes leaving Trudeau airport early in the morning. posted at 12:35

 
Montreal's job market is not very welcoming to anglophones, especially those from elsewhere whose French is rudimentary. posted at 23:00

 
The Montréal en lumière fest has opened, there's a festival site down around the Old Port, cheese at Complexe Desjardins and general noshing. Here's a view from south of the border. posted at 22:54

 
It doesn't bode well that on the first day of the scheme, there's already been a serious medical error at Rockland MD, the private clinic to which the public system is outsourcing some supposedly minor surgeries. Are the staff there properly trained and experienced? posted at 11:55

 
The city has marked an all-time record in fines, having raked in $130 million in 2007, and that's not counting the additional administrative fees. One downtown promoter thinks this passion for fines is counterproductive and will deter people from coming back to Montreal. The administration says the goal is public safety, not collecting those sweet sweet fines. posted at 11:49

 
Another round of construction hits the commercial strip on the Main, still reeling from the year-long dig that forced twenty businesses to close. posted at 11:19

 
An arbitrator has ruled in the standoff between the STM and its drivers' union, and the union only needs to meet next week to vote on it. Details of the deal haven't been announced.

City firefighters, however, have reached no such deal, and are using PR tactics to swing public opinion and shame the city administration. posted at 11:14

 
Spacing has good pieces today: the refashioning of Norman Bethune Square near Concordia, and another news roundup on Griffintown. posted at 11:40

 
City councillor Sammy Forcillo is dead set against plans to close Ste-Catherine Street to traffic between Berri and Papineau, all summer. posted at 11:25

 
The city left an open trench in the street near the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and a visually impaired man fell in. He was lucky to escape with minor injuries. posted at 11:15

 
An alert commuter noticed that recycling bins at Central Station are emptied right into garbage bags, and CN has admitted to it, with vague promises for the future. posted at 11:00

 
The Canadiens pulled off a trick last night they've never done before: they came back from being down 5-0 to the Rangers in the second to win 6-5 in overtime. If anyone left the Bell Centre early to beat the crowds they have to be kicking themselves now.

The triumph should lend a certain extra glamour to tonight's Canadiens tribute by the MSO under Kent Nagano: it's sold out but will be broadcast on Radio-Canada this evening. posted at 10:16

 
The Journal's current shock series is about the backstage nastiness of fast food, but I can't do a better job than Fagstein on summarizing it. posted at 11:01

 
The UQÀM students who went on strike earlier this month voted to prolong their strike as a statement against increased tuition and fees; their university faces a growing deficit after several major financial missteps. posted at 10:35

 
The weather is seesawing up and down as yesterday's brief thaw ends with snow and a snap. This is perfect breeding weather for potholes, with the city repair trucks working around the clock to fill them in. posted at 09:57

 
The Spectrum could be demolished as early as next month along with five other adjoining buildings on that corner. posted at 09:50

 
The city is pouring money into water mains and sewers to rejuvenate its aging water system and cut in half the water main leaks that are wasting half the city's drinkable water. posted at 09:31

 
Enjoy while you can: with their defeat of Philadelphia on Saturday, the Canadiens now share first place in the Eastern Conference with Ottawa. posted at 10:36

 
Vision Montreal held a meeting today to plan a leadership convention: so far, Benoit Labonté is the only candidate, the two members who've been housekeeping since Pierre Bourque quit in November 2005 not being interested in the job. The party doesn't look very impressive these days with only 15 councillors to its name. posted at 23:40

 
Irish media have got hold of the McKibbin's story. posted at 23:31

 
Many Montrealers must have wondered what it's like living in Habitat 67: Chris DeWolf interviewed a resident and had a look. posted at 14:05

 
Motorists are sending in complaints to the city about vehicles dinged during snow clearance maneuvers; we're expecting a brief thaw tomorrow (it crossed my mind, walking around town yesterday, what a mess we're going to have this spring); some snow removal contractors are working at a loss because they base their contract bids on averages, and in a season like this they lose the toss. posted at 11:29

 
A summary of the changing statistics on road accidents in Montreal and the numbers on pedestrian deaths. Chris on Spacing has some thoughts about it and a link to a piece he wrote on Urbanphoto in 2006 about why pedestrian primacy should be respected and encouraged in certain parts of town.

I've said it before on this blog, but it bears repeating: until police ticket motorists turning through no-turn arrows at busy intersections – so usual here that drivers who don't do it are honked by others waiting behind them – and in general make it safe for people to cross on foot where aggressive drivers want to turn, often it is safer for a pedestrian to jaywalk at many intersections than to cross on the green. Why? Because the pedestrian can see whether traffic is coming straight at him on the street he's crossing. He can't so easily monitor whether someone's going to come up from behind and pick him off on the turn. I don't know why this is never taken into account when people do the finger-shaking routine at Montreal's "bad" pedestrians. We know perfectly well where we're safe, and where we're endangered. We're not just doing it to be perverse.

(On the other hand, I don't think you'll ever get the Montreal pedestrian to wait passively at a red light with no traffic visible in either direction, as I've seen people do in Ontario. That's just weird.) posted at 11:01

 
Some notes on art events taking place around the Lumière festival. posted at 09:07

 
McKibbin's Irish Pub is planning to fight the OQLF over its decorative signage, but Fagstein points out a media blog in which it's explained that the bar owner only has to write a letter requesting that an exception be made for his vintage posters with words on them in English only. You may think that surely anyone ought to be able to distinguish between a 1920s Guinness poster and today's special, but that's to underestimate the subtleties of the bureaucratic mind. posted at 19:31

 
The city's snow depots are bursting at the seams so it's looking for more places where cleared snow can be piled up. posted at 19:22

 
Some of the great Canadiens players of the past are dubious and disapproving about the kind of hijinks that got two players arrested in Florida this week – but then hint about the rookie initiation of their own time. posted at 01:42

 
Snow removal machinery is beginning to wear out and we're still only halfway through February. posted at 01:33

 
A plea for classier architecture done with less obsession about the bottom line (but no practical suggestions how to arrive at this outcome). posted at 01:32

 
A nice piece by someone named Viau about the origins of the Whippet cookie introduces a museum show about the Viau plant at the Écomusée du fier monde. posted at 01:26

 
In retrospect, it will be obvious that the decline of general medical practice in Montreal has been specifically engineered to soften up the populace to accept the return of private clinics for which we have to pay – even though we have already paid for medical services for decades with some of the highest taxes on the continent. The sad thing is that health problems make us desperate enough to put up with this. posted at 20:19

 
Food writers are getting excited about the special nosh events scheduled as part of the Montréal en lumière fest. Does anyone go to these events besides food writers, I wonder. posted at 19:45

 
The 334.7 centimetres of snow that have fallen so far this winter are a record for snowfall up to this date. posted at 23:50

 
Cinéma du Parc is holding an Academy Awards event with contest prizes for best guesses on the awards. Nice idea. posted at 23:40

 
The Office de la langue française is making a downtown Irish pub remove its vintage Irish advertising posters because the words on them are in English. This kind of incident makes me wonder if the Office isn't harbouring an anglophile mole who invents ways of bringing Bill 101 into disrepute. posted at 23:36

 

Great piece from Coolopolis about vanished news vendors in the city. There are still folks who sell newspapers to people at night at certain intersections around town, but they can't possibly make a living doing that. Photo by me. posted at 23:32

 
Our police have been breaking their own rules about circumstances for using tasers. posted at 22:50

 
A teenager who brought a gun to his brother's high school this week has already pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm; yesterday a man went to his kid's high school and punched a gym teacher in the nose over marks (which suggests two immediate questions: shouldn't a gym teacher be able to defend himself more effectively, and who cares that much about gym marks anyway?). Still these incidents pale before more violent school incidents in the U.S. posted at 22:30

 
Sentimental Valentine piece about Jean Béliveau and his 55-year marriage. posted at 13:29

 
Uncritical glance at changes planned at the Ritz as the landmark hotel strives to remain relevant in a new century. But it's Spacing that had the architect's rendering of how the renovations will look. posted at 13:24

 
City is planning to reconfigure intersections to make them safer for pedestrians, calm traffic and reduce top speeds on residential streets as new stats show that pedestrian accidents are on the rise – particularly in poorer parts of town – and one in five accidents involves a child. Chris has some thoughts on Spacing, and I'm not sure myself how traffic calming notions fit with recent news about work being done to synchronize lights so that traffic can flow faster and unimpeded through town. posted at 10:59

 
The Public Consultation office wants the city to have an overall plan for new development, which seems an entirely reasonable notion, especially with big projects cropping up all over town. What kind of city do we want this to be, looking at the big picture? Isn't it time we had some way for studies to be done on that scale, and citizen views to be heard? posted at 15:08

 
More snow has been added to the vast quantities we've already got – between 10 and 17 cm depending who you read. The usual transportation troubles ensue. posted at 13:51

 
Benoit Labonté, mayor of Ville-Marie and only candidate so far for the leadership of the Vision Montreal party, has his borough working on a new by-law to limit the number of dogs a person can be seen with in the street. Itinerant Mario Paquet, shown here in a photo by Ben Soo, thinks the law is specifically aimed at him and his pack of eight dogs. posted at 11:06

 
A video and photo report on Montreal's firefighters adopting Toronto insignia as a protest. posted at 10:39

 
Giant lobster won in a contest will come to live at the Biodome instead of becoming someone's dinner. posted at 10:36

 
It's going to cost megabucks to cover the Ville-Marie and the new trench planned for the Notre-Dame enlargement to make the area tolerable for the Radio-Canada residential development. posted at 09:33

 
As if we didn't already have enough to worry about, now it turns out that radioactive waste is turning up in city sewage, probably from medical procedures. City authorities say it's no big deal, but if so, why is it tripping alarms? posted at 09:23

 
More thoughts on dépanneurs from Chris DeWolf; a recap on rental rules from Midnight Poutine; Neath ponders the Notre-Dame East trench plan and thinks my estimate of $1.5B as the ultimate pricetag is still way under; Spacing also has a potted guide to a recent McGill Daily issue on Montreal housing. posted at 19:39

 
The two Canadiens players arrested in Florida are in some hot water since, even if not disciplined by their team or by the league, a criminal record could make it impossible to travel to the U.S. to play. One columnist blames the incident on a kind of hazing. posted at 11:58

 
Montreal museums have shown themselves pretty blasé about jumping for the federal government's national portrait gallery idea. posted at 11:47

 
More on the provincial road repair money which will start 55 separate repair sites including the beginning of the work on Notre-Dame East and the refashioning of the Turcot yards – and this is only the start of a $12-billion road infrastructure program. posted at 11:43

 
Despite difficulties, our hardier cyclists are still using the de Maisonneuve bike path, being kept open year-round by the city. posted at 11:38

 
The boroughs are running out of snow removal money, we're not even halfway through February and there's snow in the forecast. But the snow will be cleared anyway, since nobody has the power to push snowstorms away from the city, and somehow we will cope. posted at 11:28

 
A new book published in Brussels brings into prominence Montreal's modern architecture and its heritage value. posted at 11:23

 
Two buildings on Amherst near René-Lévesque were destroyed by a major fire last night, which blocked streets and threw a number of folks homeless into the chilly night. posted at 11:12

 
Another in a series of studies is to consider a train linking the downtown core to the airport, a project which isn't expected to materialize in any case before 2012. posted at 18:15

 
Quebec has big plans to spend money on Montreal-area road and bridge repairs, plus the extension of Highway 25 to Laval (which – at one time anyway – Montreal did not want) and the extension of Highway 440, likely to wipe out some scarce green space on Île Bizard. posted at 17:27

 
Social sciences students at UQÀM are on strike all week to protest increases in tuition. I have to admit, I've never quite seen the point of students going on strike. posted at 13:10

 
Two members of the Canadiens, Ryan O'Byrne and Tom Kostopoulos, were arrested outside a Tampa bar last night, and O'Byrne was charged with theft. posted at 12:06

 
The Gazette, in reporting on yesterday's protest against Scientology, dismisses protesters' claims as being based on "websites and books" and lends a certain credibility to the Scientologist spokesman. Perhaps once the "church" moves into its more high-profile digs on Ste-Catherine, local media will pay more attention.

Here's a set of photos of the event from an independent source, showing RDI and TQS media looking on. posted at 11:45

 
Last year's snow removal surpluses are melting away this season after snowfall that's been much heavier than average. posted at 13:36

 
Avenue Mont-Royal has evolved into a street of bakeries. List of addresses and comments for those in search of artisanal bread, croissants and other viennoiseries. posted at 13:08

 
Global warming is going to wreck Quebec's ski industry over the next couple of decades, says a new study. posted at 12:04

 
Montrealers are about to join an international wave of protest against Scientology today at the cult's Papineau Street headquarters, using deliberate anonymity as a defence against the soi-disant church's history of aggressive attacks against outspoken critics. posted at 09:43

 
We do it right because we push envelopes all the time. I must look into this envelope-pushing thing, but if I have to scoot them along the floor with my nose it's right out. Montreal is also marketing itself as a big getaway for Valentine's Day this week, so if you see stunned couples staggering through the slush looking for romantic restaurants, you know who to blame. posted at 09:18

 
Elected officials from east-end boroughs are unanimously in favour of the trench plan for Notre-Dame East.

I have two predictions about the plan: it will end up costing far more than the purported $750 million – closer to $1.25 billion by the end – and, within a year of its completion, it will be just as badly gridlocked at rush hours as the existing street is now.

(I'd also like to see where these elected officials live in relation to the planned trench. Wanna bet none of them live within 5 kilometers of the thing?) posted at 22:55

 
On Spacing, Chris DeWolf has an item on blogger Steve Faguy's article on Cedric Sam's Comme les Chinois blog. I'm blogging about a blog article on a news article about a blog. I feel dizzy. posted at 22:42

 
Globe and Mail all but calls the Museum of Fine Arts fellow travellers for not making the Cuba exhibit more of a political statement; a list of our smaller museums pitched at Ottawa residents, but with a few useful remarks; a look at three artists with current exhibits at the Musée d'art contemporain. posted at 22:40

 
People have been falling on icy sidewalks this winter, and the city's seeing injury claims as a result. I did a pratfall myself this week on an unsalted corner, but luckily got nothing worse than a bruised knee. posted at 21:54

 
Chris DeWolf looks at the city's 1,127 depanneurs and focuses in on two Park Avenue deps and their owners. Fascinating reading. posted at 21:09

 
The 26th Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois opens next week with a new film about teenage suicide, more English and subtitled films than in previous years. There's a suggested highlights list and an interview with festival honcha Ségolène Roederer. posted at 15:46

 
Canada's mayors went to Ottawa asking for infrastructure money in the federal budget, expected February 26. Although Harper's finance minister has said Ottawa is "not in the pothole business" Mayor Tremblay has faith that Ottawa may even share gas tax revenue with the cities. He also says investing in cities helps stave off recession. posted at 12:59

 
Vision Montreal