Toute personne qui réside ou qui travaille à St-Henri est invitée à participer à une série de cafés causeries thématiques à l’annexe Charlevoix (633 rue De Courcelle): Discuter des enjeux locales, planifier des projets de quartier,
* mercredi le 10 février 19h-21h Qui représente les citoyens de St-Henri? Que seraient les mérites d’une coalition de citoyens à St-Henri?
* mercredi le 24 février 19h-21h Quoi de neuf au sujet des expropriations de la rue Cazelais et St-Rémi ? Invité Alain Dubé à confirmer
* mercredi le 10 mars 19h-21h Thèmes et sujets à venir selon vos besoins
* mercredi le 24 mars 19h-21h
* mercredi le 14 avril 19h-21h
* mercredi le 28 avril 19h-21h
* mercredi le 12 mai 19h-21h
* mercredi le 26 mai 19h-21h
Bâtir notre quartier: C’est à nous de le faire! Avez-vous des idées ou des projets pour St-Henri ?
Contactez forumcitoyens.sthenri@gmail.com
Un sondage sur ligne se trouve sur le babillard électronique du site www.villagedestanneries.com
St-Henri Community Cafés
Anyone who lives or works in St-Henri is welcome to attend a series of themed community conversations at the Annexe Charlevoix ( 633 rue De Courcelle). Let’s discuss local issues, develop neighborhood projects, transform our urban landscape for the better!
* Wednesday le 10 février 19h-21h Who speaks for the people of St-Henri? What would be the merits of a neighborhood citizen coalition?
* Wednesday le 24 février 19h-21h What’s new regarding the expropriations in theTanneries ? Invited guest still to be cnfirmed
* Wednesday i le 10 mars 19h-21h Themes and topics to be decided based on expressed needs
* Wednesday le 24 mars 19h-21h
* Wednesday le 14 avril 19h-21h
* Wednesday le 28 avril 19h-21h
* Wednesday le 12 mai 19h-21h
* Wednesday le 26 mai 19h-21h
Creating a sense of community: It’s up to us! Do you have ideas? Together we can build St-Henri into the neighborhood that we all want! forumcitoyens.sthenri@gmail.com
You can help by filling out the community needs assessment online at www.villagedestanneries.com
JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
Article of page 4 of today’s Gazoo suggests that Arctic ice in summer will be gone as soon as three years. I’ve been talking about this one for a while and I still don’t understand why this is page 4 news. It should be an international headline! Well, no need to panic and most of us would prefer to think it’s not happening or that there will be no consequences. But that huge white sheet reflects a lot of sun (heat) that will now just get absorbed by the deep blue sea which in turn will get warmer, and warmer, and….
Projet Montreal leader, and Executive Council member, Richard Bergeron says the city is developing an alternative plan for the Turcot rebuild that would avoid expropriations. Excellent news if Quebec is paying attention at all. The one thing that is very obvious in this whole rebuilding infrastructure debate is that in order to avoid just shooting ourselves in both feet, we need to start doing it differently. Automobile drivers are not going to like changing their habits any more than smokers wanted to go outside, but smokers, perhaps begrudgingly, adapted and so will the automobile drivers. Also important to remember that we still have choices. But if we make the wrong choices there just won’t be options in 10 years!
Taken off the Verdun Coast. The first one is from two weeks ago when we were having a pretty mild January, and the second is from yesterday after a relative cold spell – still not frozen solid straight across.
MOSCOW — The bulldozers came at night, flanked by armor-clad riot police officers, to clear the houses of a small neighborhood here at the behest of Moscow’s mayor, forcing residents out into subzero temperatures.
The mayor, Yuri M. Luzhkov, said they were living on the land illegally. But as more and more homes — some stately, some mere shacks — have come tumbling down over the last week and a half, an uncharacteristically fierce backlash has broken out, challenging one of Russia’s most powerful politicians. Politicians, human rights activists, media organizations and even nationalist and anarchist groups have come to the defense of the neighborhood, called Rechnik. Legal or not, these critics say, the demolition operation has crossed the line. Continue Reading »
Jason Prince over at Turcot.ca calls for some serious investigating of corruption and collusion in the Quebec construction industry.
“Le Devoir and other papers have been reporting for months on how the construction business works in Quebec.
It is complex, with allegations ranging from mafia influence over municipal contracts all the way up to collusion between the highest levels of the Quebec government and a handful of massive engineering consulting firms (including Dessau, SNC Lavallin, and BPR). Continue Reading »
This article in Metro yesterday implies that one third of Montreal City politicians may have other jobs that conflict with their city jobs. Is being a real estate agent a conflict with being a city councilor or a borough mayor? Why do such people have two jobs when most of the voters probably assume that the people they are voting for will be working full time on borough matters? It’s not just conflict of interest that I am concerned with, but also the ability of these people to do the job they were elected to do.
A Montreal city councillor is paid $48,851 a year plus a non-taxable stipend of $14,584 for expenses. Surely that is plenty of salary for someone who is passionate about urban issues and wants to serve the community in the best possible manner? Would you want your city councilor to be only half focused while busy with the demands of her other job? A big city like Montreal is packed with community and non profit workers who give their jobs everything they’ve got, and get paid less than half of what a possibly double jobbed city councilor is getting. Something just not right in that, folks!
Seems strange not to see the graffiti but perhaps even stranger is simply why? They have security to keep people out of the yards and no can see 90% of the graffiti at Turcot unless you are right in the yards. So what’s the deal?
I have to wonder about priorities as you can see here that there is a section of metal clearly exposed but the graffiti below has been painted over.
Looks like they missed a spot.
And nothing gone from Dead Dog Tunnel as that would still be CN property, I would think.
I can understand doing this on parts visible along Notre Dame like below, but it does seem like a waste of time and money to do it inside the yards where no one is allowed.
PS – Started this post on Friday but noticed on Saturday that the graffiti under the Ville Marie at Atwater has also been painted over, so maybe it’s part of a larger program even if it still doesn’t make sense to clean the inside of the yards. Must be the view from above annoyed someone?
There has to be limits of course. You can’t have publicly funded agencies holding public inquests into every pothole repair, sidewalk renewal, or the height of a new fence, but this is ridiculous. The Bonaventure/Dalhousie project will not have environmental hearings with the BAPE (Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environment) because it is 1.12 meters too short of being eligible!!!
You read that right. 1.12 meters! The rule states that projects have to be at least 1000 meters long to qualify for BAPE hearings.
Article here.
(Déplacement de la limite des travaux après l’audit de sécurité
Shift of the work limit after the security audit)
Why would anyone feel that this rule should be enforced when we are talking about a project that will bring 1400 buses, or more, through the zone on a daily basis? Shouldn’t there be some kind of simple leeway that allows for a BAPE hearing on a large scale project that does promise to have a strong environmental impact? Why are we so afraid to assess, and discuss, projects honestly, openly, and with full public disclosure in Montreal?
Saturday, January 23, 2010
11:00am – 1:00pm
Parc Émilie-Gamelin (métro Berri-UQAM) vers le Carré Philips
This is it, people!
It’s time to show the government that it’s accountable to us – the people of Canada – and not the other way around!
Show your support for a functioning democracy and accountability in your Canadian government and share your outrage at the Harper’s latest abuse of power.
This is a non-partisan event. Everyone is invited!
RALLY MARCH ROUTE:
Start at Parc Émilie Gamelin.
March south on Saint Hubert to René Lévesque.
March west on René Lévesque to Place Philips.
March north on Philips Place to Square Philips.
End at Square Philips.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Promote the rally for January 23.
NO to prorogation! YES to democracy! Continue Reading »
Is a short documentary film by Maud Marcaurelle and Gabriel Garcia that will debut this Saturday night at Casa Cafi. There will be a discussion afterward and then a performance by Odaya, a native woman’s group. $5.00 suggested admission.
From Gazette archives, August 11, 1941
“A panoramic photograph of part of the Turcot Yards train accident taken yesterday gives a clear picture of the wreckage caused by the collision. One man was fatally injured, 27 other persons were taken to hospital and 25 others were given medical treatment as a result of the crash Saturday.”
A passenger and freight train colliding just sounds bad and it might be a miracle of some kind that there was not more deaths. I find it very interesting that in those days they even listed all the names of the injured in the paper.
My guess is the shot was taken from the Falaise Saint Jacques and, according to the article, near Wilson avenue would put it just west of where the interchange is today. Strange to not see the 20 in the background.
“Tannery Village is located in Saint-Henri, Montreal. This little community is fighting a government plan to rebuild the Turcot interchange, a series of elevated highways that run through the area. A local citizens committee is educating residents about the environmental and health impact faced by everyone living nearby.” Adam Bemma.
In this morning’s Metro, Societe du Havre de Montreal president, Isabelle Hudron, comments that the Bonaventure project is not negotiable. Excellent timing considering that the Office de Consulatation Publique de Montreal is hearing briefs on the project again next week. Isn’t democracy wonderful?
The SHM needs to justify it’s existence, that’s understandable, but where is it written in their mandate that they are some Supreme Council that not only truly understands Montreal, but knows what is best for Montrealers, and at any cost?
Recently another questionable transportation project was announced for Windsor Station. The Dalhousie Corridor suggested by the SHM is about a 3 minute walk from the Windsor Station site. How is it possible that two major transit projects can take place besides each other without each project carefully considering the other? It’s because there is no global plan in Montreal! Are we going to build bad projects and throw the city into another 30 year debt cycle because we have given unlimited powers to people who just can’t see the big picture?
I attended the OCPM hearings on Wednesday night and while a lot of good ideas were put forth such as an alternative plan by Projet Montreal and an excellent presentation by David Hanna suggesting that the New City Gas buildings must be preserved, I was quite moved by a brief presented by Judith Bauer of Griffintown.
“Although it is what developers and city planners (or the lack thereof) seem consistently to do, I don’t believe it’s possible to reconfigure our city in a sustainable and economically viable way by giving the green light to megaprojects that are developed in isolation.
Why are these proposals presented without the context of neighbouring projects that have been approved or proposed?
Why is there no coherent plan between them all?
Why are we, the citizens who live and work here, not consulted about our needs and wishes for our community and our city prior to the long and costly development of such megaproposals?
We are here every day. We see the advantages and disadvantages of the area, we experience firsthand what works and what doesn’t, we have an insider’s view of how the various neighbourhoods integrate and could be further integrated to improve quality of life and economic health for all concerned.
Why not ask us first?!
Of course the developers and the municipality have their experts and may believe they know better but if I hire an expert to assist with remodeling my home, I first would expect them to ask me what I want, what is important to me, and second to offer proposals and solutions.
Why was the community not asked about what they want for this area prior to being presented with a project that has on several occasions been described by M. Rainville as “cannée”?
Why was Isabelle Hudon, president of the Conseil d’administration de la SHM, quoted in a September 17th press release saying:
Toute étude additionnelle qui pourrait être requise à ce stade concernant le corridor Dalhousie ne servirait qu’à obtenir un niveau de raffinement des études antérieures sans remettre en question la pertinence de ce corridor.1
If the project the SHM has presented to us is already ‘in the can’ and new input only to be used for ‘refining’ what has already been decided, what is the true value of these public consultations to the citizens and organizations participating?“
Indeed.
There are people who will suggest that activists such as myself are just against everything and that we are halting progress. They are usually the people who have vested interests in these projects or citizens who have no idea how unfairly these projects are conceived and therefore see no problems. But I can guarantee you that you would simply not tolerate this totalitarian approach were it planned for your neighborhood. It’s time we all started caring a little more.
PS I attended a meeting at the New City Gas buildings last night and I simply have to say that these are probably the most amazing 19th century buildings left in the city that are still in a well preserved state. You have to see the inside to believe it. The complex is a “jewel in the crown” of Montreal architecture and could be a wonderful starting point for a truly inspiring rehabilitation of Griffintown.
If only….
L’échangeur Turcot : entre ciel et terre L’échangeur Turcot
Photographies d’André Denis
Du 21 janvier au 28 mars 2010
Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay
Entrée libre
Le projet à l’étude pour la reconstruction de l’échangeur Turcot ne laisse personne indifférent. Masse de béton pour les uns, l’échangeur est vu comme un enchevêtrement de voies de circulation pour les autres. Le photographe André Denis s’intéresse à ce phénomène depuis 2003 et a photographié cette cathédrale urbaine sous tous ses angles en toutes saisons. Son regard poétique posé entre ciel et terre, il livre une quarantaine de photographies couleur qui feront voir l’échangeur sous un nouvel angle et peut-être offriront quelques pistes de réflexion sur son réaménagement.
Vernissage is from 5-7 on Thursday, January 21. See you there!
Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay Accessible aux personnes handicapées
6052, boulevard Monk
Montréal (Québec) H4E 3H6
514 872-2044
métro Métro Monk
autobus Circuit de l’autobus 36 Est
