In the general blaze of activity of other things I managed to forget mentioning the public consultations on the Bonaventure/Dalhousie Corridor project Tuesday night. Round 2 is tonight.
24 11 09 Les consultations publiques commencent ce soir / Public consultations begin tonight – 19h, Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, 1110 rue Mansfield .
Gazette review of Round 1 here.
Have to say these public consultations have moved quite a ways from kitchen tables, community centres, and coffee shops.

The Manifestival That Promotes Proper Social Hygiene

Running from November 25th to November 29th at Place Emillie-Gamelin.
Each day from noon to 3am with daily breakfast at 8am!

There will be art installations, food, art, music, animation, circus, art, people, just tons of stuff, so take advantage of this mild November and make a point of stopping in!

L’Etat d’Urgence

I recently began a job that has taken me to Decarie Circle. If I ever had doubt that fate wants me to become some kind of freeway interchange chronicler, well, the denial part is getting a littler harder…anyway… November sure has been an interesting month for photography as I don’t remember ever seeing this much steady sunlight before. Shadows are very long and dark so it’s something of a challenge or maybe just play along with it. Here are some shots from around the south east quadrant of Decarie Circle.

While it doesn’t have the intense decaying look like Turcot, it hardly looks new, and has been given support braces at least in this spot.

Could be a good opportunity to network and discuss local projects such as that for The Dalhousie Corridor. That’s Wednesday, November 25th from 6-8 pm at the Griffintown cafe dining at 1378 Notre Dame O between Mountain and Guy.

One of the most significant events in the city lately was Gerald Tremblay naming Richard Bergeron of Projet Montreal and Lyne Theriault of Vision Montreal to the executive committee. It’s an excellent move that gives a lot of legitimacy to City Hall at a time when there have been many questionable projects given the green light by the committee. It’s not the open committee many of us would prefer to see, but Tremblay and Bergeron respect each other and that will go a long way to ensuring that projects submitted to the city will be subject to more relevant standards and objectives than in the past. And, more importantly, better opportunities for citizens to get involved in projects that may affect their neighborhoods. And Richard Bergeron has stressed that Turcot is a priority which is excellent.

* * * * *
Windsor Station is at the core of a new project that claims to be a transportation hub for the city. The irony here is sublime. Incoming trains are going to have to go around the Bell Centre to a new building across the street from Windsor Station. We started ripping up the downtown rail system in the late 80’s and that whole disregard for rail culminated in the Bell Centre being built on the tracks site at Windsor Station. It’s hard to find a place that may have gone out of it’s way to destroy a system it would desperately need in less than 20 years, but we are stuck with it, it seems. Unless, you think tearing down the Bell Centre is a good idea. It certainly is the simplest option. But this plan just reeks of being one of those “all in one” projects that in trying to be everything to everybody will end up pleasing no one. It would be terrible to end up with another Place Bonaventure type ramp sticking out of another building that effectively kills everything around it. Development south and west of that project has been very lame since the tracks were removed, another irony, creating dull automobile dependent neighborhoods with almost no access to public transportation.
It s always going to be risky putting the cart before the horse. Building one “transportation hub” that demands everything link to it is a recipe for disaster. I think they should go back to the drawing board, look at the global picture, and consider some options. It is probably not a good idea to have trains and buses converging at one location, something that would most certainly cause “pedestrian congestion” (gotta laugh). All in one links are very seductive but they need to be realistically thought out.

* * * * *
We keep hearing people in government telling us that projects have to go forward because otherwise they will cost more. So what’s the point of building bad projects in order to save money? And there is almost a threatening tone to these comments. What is the government nervous about? And why is the Charest government backing away from an open dialogue on corruption allegations in the construction industry? Appointed investigatory commissions in the past have accomplished nothing beyond placating public curiosity while it’s all business as usual. It’s time we get to the truth in these matters. And it’s time the taxpayer’s get an honest answer for how their money is really spent!

* * * * *

Henry Aubin writes about the “Superhospitals” suggesting it is not too late to abandon the PPP method of financing and maintaining these projects. The McGill University Health Centre people were very conspicuous by their absence at the BAPE hearings into the Turcot project last June. No matter what is eventually done at Turcot one has to think they would be extremely interested in the project as it would profoundly affect the quality of life around the hospital planned to be built on the old Glen Yards site. But they never showed up. Is that because they have simply handed the whole thing over to private developers, who, it might be understood, would have the best interests of the project in mind? Or is it because Turcot, in any form, is of no great concern to the developers, who may have their own reasons for not wanting to tread on a government project? It seems to me that hospitals are locations of the greatest importance and everything that can possibly affect the quality of life around the hospital should be considered very deeply. So where are they?

*****

And, finally, the good folks over at Turcot.ca have reconfigured their blog into a treasure trove of information on the Turcot project. It has a nice look and is easy to navigate through various categories making it much easier to find specific things. I ask you to be patient because the site is still being updated and the French side is currently being translated! Do check it out and keep in mind that there is more to that site than only Turcot, it is also a repository of good ideas, good urban planning!

Climate change that is. The evidence is overwhelming, yet we continue to ignore it. Article by Albert Nerenberg here.
And I like this bit about how we are reacting.
“Here’s the weird part: When people hear about carbon offsets or climate-change agreements, now suddenly they’re upset. Instead of being mad at oil companies, they get mad at Al Gore. When people hear that fighting climate change might hit them in the pocketbook, they really freak out. Now we get it. It’s a plot by the environmentalists or the “alarmist” scientists. The amazing thing is that we’re at the unreal stage where some people would burn Al Gore at the stake rather than save their world from burning.”
Must be some kind of shooting the messenger syndrome!

Sexy béton II: Justice
Corruption, construction, and last of all, construction
November 24 to December 1 at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts
5170, ch. De la Côte-Ste-Catherine (Just a five-minute walk from Metro Côte-Ste-Catherine)

Part one was excellent and I urge everyone who enjoys theatre and has an interest in how local infrastructure is built, and the political systems that surround it, to check this out!

See you there!

Info.

Photo: Kirk Wight for Porte Parole

Photo by Serge Clement for Porte Parole.

Send Hydro Quebec A Message, Sunday, November 22 at 5pm. 75 Rene Levesque West (South Side).

Grand rassemblement devant Hydro-Québec : le dimanche 22 novembre à 17h. en face du 75 boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest (trottoir sud) à
Montréal.

En prime, sachez que des personnalités du milieu artistique. politique. écologiste, syndicales et scientifique seront là

pour témoigner de:

-L’IMPORTANCE POUR LE QUÉBEC DE FAIRE SON INDÉPENDANCE DES ÉNERGIES FOSSILES

-L’IMPORTANCE DE LA TOURNÉE DE “MAÎTRES CHEZ NOUS-21e SIÈCLE” POUR DISCUTER DE NOTRE AVENIR

ÉNERGÉTIQUE AVEC TOUTES LES QUÉBÉCOISES, TOUS LES QUÉBÉCOIS ET LES GENS DES PREMIÈRES NATIONS

-L’IMPORTANCE QUE CE DÉBAT SE FASSE DE FAÇON DÉMOCRATIQUE ET TRANSPARENTE

Tous ceux et celles qui seront présents n’auront pas LA même opinion sur les façons d’y arriver, mais une chose est sûre,

nous ne pouvons continuer à ne faire que subir des décisions prises derrière des portes closes sur l’avenir énergétique du Québec.

Qu’il s’agisse:

-Du Plan Nord

-De la réfection de Gentilly 2

-De la privatisation de notre énergie

-De l’exploitation du gaz de schiste

-Du manque d’intérêt pour les énergies du 21e siècle

-ou de l’achat par Hydro-Québec de Hydro Nouveau-Brunswick…

sans débat, le gouvernement et la direction d’Hydro-Québec agit EN TOUTE ILLÉGITIMITÉ.

Daniel Breton

514-799-3553

The BAPE report has been made public and some people don’t like it and some people don’t think it’s so bad. I tend to think that while it could have been harder in some specific areas, health, public transit, the use of Turcot yards, it is still a fairly positive report that is probably a key part of the changes that will occur with the Turcot Plan. Perhaps the most interesting thing so far is seeing Alan DeSouza, of Montreal Executive Committee fame, saying that the BAPE report does not go far enough with recommendations for public transit. Two years ago, or before Mobilization Turcot, this simply would not have happened. The Turcot plan was never criticized by the city until this (election) year. And there is also no doubt that the emergence of Projet Montreal has prompted the Tremblay administration to start going green for real, at least on this project anyway.
I have been one of the Tremblay administration’s most severe critics, and will continue to be so, but I will be happy to give them credit when credit is due. So I will say thank you, Mr. DeSouza, for jumping on board!
Story here.

This excellent news is on the BAPE (Bureau d’audience publiques sur l’environnement) site here.Version Francais.

About expropriating housing in the Village des Tanneries in Saint Henri -
“The project, as it is currently planned, would lead, in an urban environment already fragmented by the original construction, to other acquisitions of residential properties, something to which the commission of inquiry cannot subscribe. Instead, the commission proposes that the proponent examine, in partnership with the Cities of Montréal and Westmount, a way of reconfiguring the project to avoid such acquisitions. If, by common consent, the acquisition of homes were to prove to be unavoidable, the affected individuals would have to be adequately compensated.”

Ok, so the option to expropriate would go to Montreal and Westmount and it’s hard to imagine either wanting to do that at this stage of the game.

On the Falaise Saint Jacques-
“The project offers the opportunity to create new green spaces in the Turcot Complex. The commission of inquiry is of the opinion that a corridor should be maintained and that it should be wooded between the foot of the Saint-Jacques escarpment and the right-of-way of the rail and road infrastructures to ensure the protection and contribute to the enhancement of the eco-territory. The commission also considers that a wooded hillock should be added south of Autoroute 20 along Turcot Yard in order to surround it with vegetation.”

Not the great park I had visualized but this is pretty darn sweet compared to the MTQ’s organic noise barrier concept for the falaise, which would have basically killed it.

The momentum is building!

It is beginning to look like the BAPE (Bureau d’audience publiques sur l’environnement) hearings last June, with over 100 groups discussing the project, 85% against, will lead to some changes in the Turcot project.
Government has to make the BAPE report public tomorrow.
Yes!!!!!
Story here.

Good turnout, couldn’t ask for better weather!
There was a good feeling in the air as people gathered in front of Lionel-Groulx Metro.

Here I am talking with Richard Bergeron (sent in by Factotum). I am the one smoking.

And up Atwater we go.


Detail on Bell building at Sainte Antoine.

Approaching the Ville Marie.



Sign says “La Crap”

Ended up at Cabot Square.


And we will finish with our hard working band.

It was a great event. Now let’s hope there will be good news from the government this week!

Story by Jacob Larsen here.
“La Presse reported that in a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, the Minister of Health, Yves Bolduc, recommended that the government adopt a moratorium on all highway projects that will increase the amount of traffic in the Greater Montreal region. In addition to the Turcot, this recommendation includes the highway 25 extension, as well as the ‘Modernization of Notre Dame’ in the east end.”