Attack of the killer potholes

Warmer temps means more potholes. Drivers hate 'em, but potholes don't just hurt cars -- delicate old ladies and stoned bike couriers fall prey to them too.

A pothole killed one Montreal skateboarder back on April 24, 1986. Twenty-two-year-old Barry Casselman was riding his board when he struck a pothole on the grounds of the St. Joseph Oratory. He struck his head and died at hospital after two brain scans and two operations. He wasn't wearing a helmet.

Fixing potholes can be dangerous, too. Gilles Matte, a 33-year-old Transport Department employee was filling in a pothole on the Laurentian Autoroute near St. Jerome on March 7, 1985, when a passing car struck and killed him. There had been no truck with a large flashing arrow to warn passing drivers that road work was in progress.

In the city...

Not that we spend time on Twitter or anything but, according to her latest "tweet," the Juno and Gemini award-nominated singer Kellylee Evans is taking in the sights around town today.

We mention this because the Toronto-born, Ottawa-based urban-jazz artist performs a gig tonight at the Ville St. Laurent community centre.

You can check out her tunes here.

Condos in Cote des Neiges, tricky bizness

40 units 3330 Bedford
32 units 4711-4715 Plamondon.

These two buildings were part of the real estate empire of Claudio Di Giambatista.

For whatever reason, this landlord allowed them to fall into such a serious state of disrepair that Mayor Pierre Bourque ordered them repaired at the cost of the landlord in 2000.

About half of the 250 tenants were placed directly into government subsidized housing. It was a good turn of events for them because most have to wait years to get into such units. That also meant however that about 125 should have had the right to return to their former dwellings.

A co-op offered $600,000 for the Plamondon building. Di Giambatista was apparently ready to sign until another offer came in from 9057-5390 Quebec Inc, ultimately Howard Rossdeutscher of Cote St. Luc. He got that one for $720,000.

The same purchasor also snapped up the battered Bedford building for $760,000 which - considerings its nasty state of disrepair - raised a few eyebrows at the time.

But in May 2002 the City of Montreal gave Rossdeutscher a grant of $560,000 to renovate the Bedford building. The building was entirely redone and rented out to new tenants. Old tenants had their right to return confirmed by Rental Board Judge Helene Chicoyne on April 17, 2003, but as the whole thing as already set, they received no compensation.
The Plamondon building, meanwhile, was turned into condos and those who had lived there previously also did not return.

At the time, some believed that City Councillor Saulie Zajdel was to blame for the city screwup that led those residents to lose the right to return to their apartments.

In February 2005 Rossdeutscher's company (along with partner Peter Gallant) bought the 39 units, commercial space and adjacent outdoor parking lot at 3600 Van Horne for $2.35 million. Fifteen months later Rossdeutscher sold the commercial units and parking lot for $2.15 mil to David Nordheims numbered company. He received a city subsidy of $12,000 per door to renovate, for a total of $480,000. He sold the co-properties off for under $150,000 per unit for an estimated profit of $3.6 million. The co-property owners have since become quite unhappy with the result, complaining about ventilation, faulty windows, empty promises and poorly written deeds which have apparently left the owner of the commercial units, a numbered Tel Aviv-based company represented locally by Las Vegas resident David Nordheim, feeling that he doesn't have to pay condo fees. The condo owners currently feel that they are owed over $100,000 by the owners of the commercial unit. The condo purchasors were also unsatisfied with work done by notaries Levy and Steinberg, which also gave them unfavourable results.

Meanwhile condo fees for commercial unit rose from $75 to $180 per month, the condo association had $100,000 in unseen costs, plus another $700,000 in required repairs, according to their building inspector. Apparently it's almost impossible to sell a unit in the place now too and the residents are planning further legal action.

Here's a TV report from a few months back about the thing, with some useful tips about how to buy a co-property. The irrepressibly amiable Brit U of Montreal Musicologist Phillip Tagg has a site with various pesonal accounts and timelines of the his own lamentable experience at the Van Horne building.

Where to score drugs in Montreal, 1959

50 years ago, marijuana and heroin were very popular with the hepcats of Montreal and the way to get them would be to go down to the port and find some foreign sailors that would sell you some.

All the latest city scuttlebutt

Observers of the Montreal Transit Commission (aka, the MTC - prounounced 'empty seat') might have noticed that Mayor Tremblay has found yet another old acquaintance from his days in provincial politics to another top city job. In this case it's a fellow named Michel Labrecque who is an avid bike riding, metro-taking Plateau transit afficionado.

I don't know much about Labrecque but the profile of those who care deeply about public transit is ..uh.. interesting. So this isn't to say that the new MTC boss, the non-car owning Labrecque - who has taken over from Verdun Mayor Claude Trudel wears a tinfoil covered-

collander on his head, but it doesn't mean he doesn't either.

Among the plans the MTC has for this year is to roll out super-long Ottawa-style accordion buses, which - of course - will require the elimination of much parking on the various high streets on the island, to allow the buses to pull in to the curb. Merchants, already besieged by high taxes and big box stores, will cry murder. Labrecque will then be able to prove whether he's a crafty administrator or the new-Bicycle Bob.

So what happened to Verdun Mayor Claude Trudel? As

boss of the MTC Trudel spent little time running the borough.

There's even whispers that longtime former Verdun Mayor Georges Bosse wants to return to the game and could be on a ballot November 1, although Bosse's work as lobbyist for the Griffintown makeover won't endear him to Verdun, as the project was seen as a threat to the riverside borough.

Meanwhile with the dismal poll numbers of both Vision's Labonte and Project Montreal's Bergeron, the chances of a fourth party jumping into the scene is growing. That fourth

party would be led by Lise Harel, who - as we've mentioned here previously - has been building a team in the east end. Harel is not a viable mayoralty candidate mainly because she can't speak Henglish and the post-merger/demerger Montreal isn't as favourable to separatists as the old map would have been. So Harel is looking to catch a whale of a candidate and her first choice would be Pierre Marc Johnson.

If Johnson were to run, it would be about ego and prestige not money. It is said that he's bagging something around a million dollars a year in his various consulting jobs.

Quebec voters are famous for giving two mandates before moving onto a new political vehicle lease deal. But as things currently stand, Mayor Tremblay and his team look to be a safe bet to score a threepeat in November.

Quiz - ! Who is this Montreal icon and why is tonight his special night, or not really special?

Hint: the guy at the left, photographed apparently showing off his new Eastern Promises image is behind the dog above.

Answer: yes we have some correct replies. To many Montrealers, the name Slum Dog indicates not so much the film Slumdog Millionaire, but rather, the Peter Sandmark cartoon of the same name which came in to being 20 years ago. Sandmark moved from NDG to Victoria BC about 3 years ago to run some kinda video co-operative.


The Sandman sayeth unto Coolopolis concerning the genesis of Slumdog: The birth was when I was living upstairs from my brother and his girlfriend, and they had a crazy dog, used to run free in the Plateau Mont Royal neighbourhood. I based Slumdog on him.

Behind the Scenes- interview with veteran B movie director Tom Berry in Montreal 1993

Here's 10 minutes of a 30 minute interview with local B movie director Tom Berry. He came on our show Behind the Scenes to discuss the movies he makes. During the half hour we showed about 8 clips of his films, which made the timing of this interview quite complex, so the secret clockwatching added to the stiffness. Here's part 2 and here's part 3 of 3.

How to conduct a book tour innerview

Uh. What's the story behind this again?

A familiar site in Old Montreal. We might've known the story about it but..have sorta forgotten. It's a bank vault and I believe it's down there ... like..near the Centaur theatre, or am I wrong? This photosnappography is part of the Where Separate Parts Join exhibit, a collection of contemporary art photos in Banff until June 21.

!-Q-! Who is famous Montrealer whispered to be a mayoral candidate in November?

Yes it is indeed Dr. Dr. Pierre Marc Johnson, who - like his father and brother - briefly served as Premier of Quebec. He is the perennial potential mayoral candidate, being all things to all people, a separatist, former separatist, doctor, lawyer and so forth. The recent city polls suggest that the opposition is massively suffering without a quality high-profile leader. Tremblay leads by a good margin but the undecided factor is very high, so the time seems ripe for someone like this to toss his hat into the ring.

!zuiQ - who is this Montreal chick magnet and whats the reason for his surprisingly enduring fame?

Clue: he likes Pepsi. Clue 2: Diet Pepsi anyway.

Quiz over! Nobody recognized Pascal Languirand, founder and composer for the music group Trans X. Languirand put out some atmospheric electronica prior to penning a catchy little ditty called Vivre Sur Video - (translated into Living on Video) that became an enduring techno classic. Languirand, who was born in Paris and lived in Montreal most of his life attended McGill University but has spent a lot of time in Mexico because hes had a lifelong fascination with the country. This hasnt hurt his popularity among Latinos and the current usage of his song in a new Pepsi ad (see link above) might be a marketing ploy to sell more saccharine soda to the Spanish speaking community.

West End institutions droppin like flyes!

The magnificent dollar store next to the Super C and PJs Bar on St. James Street West is closing its doors for good. The friendly staff has been offering doodads and goodies for a mere buck for a decade but have been informed that their lease wont be renewed after April 1. The management company that runs the place is vague on their intentions but it is understood that they seek to demolish the building and put up something else in its spot. New zoning rules have stipulated that no bars can open up anywhere in NDG or Cote des Neiges except for on this little strip near to the West end of the street (which changes names to Ste Anne de Bellevue before ending a klick or two west). Following that logic a bar mightve seemed likely, but then again it adjoints the massive PJ Pub so a drinking establishment seems unlikely.

Combined with the closing of the iconic Picassos 24 hour restaurant, the ongoing remake of St. James Street West is accerating at an even speedier pace than in the past few years.

Trout Stanley, funny stuff on until Feb 21.

Having seen about 15 plays since September, I can tell youze that the bizness now on stage at the cozy St Catherine Theatre (246 St Cat E) until Feb 21 called Trout Stanley is solid value and that you should shell out the 18$ buckx. The trio of actors includes a pair of wacky sisters traumatized by their parents death ten years prior. One is a frumpress (Stephanie Breton) who never leaves the house or changes the shitty sweatsuit once owned by her mom. The other is an extroverted hottie (Vanessa Matsui) who works collecting garbage and recently scored a modelling gig on a billboard.
The depressed sweatsuit sister meets a charming drifter (Vincent Leclerc) and they hit it off, which disturbs the sister dynamic. Meanwhile the town is terrorized by a killer who killed a scrabble champ stripper. Everybody suspects everybody else. The at-times ridiculous dialogue includes some great lines, my fave being when the drifter claims, in passing, to have mated cats with snakes, to create a half-cat, half-snake creature he calls cakes. Excellent cast, set, ambiance, etc.

When killers don't go to jail..they kill more.

Thursday June 26, 1975. A jury of 12 set out to decide a murder verdict against Jean-Yves Poulin and Jean-Paul Levesque (aka Johnny Levesque). They took until Saturday night to come back with a decision. The jury stood and laid it out: guilty, as charged. Upon hearing the news, Levesque burst out into a tirade at the jury. "Do you think I would do that? I would have killed myself in prison if I had!" But the eight women and four men had decided that the duo had committed the grisly double murder of Victorin Lavoie (a man) and Suzanne Roussel in a home on Sherbrooke East. The victims had been stabbed repeatedly with kitchen knives, many of which were still found jabbed into the bodies. The only evidence against the duo were incriminating statements that friends and family reported them to have made. Their defence counsel suggested that those who reported these statements might have been guilty of the crime themselves.

The duo were sentenced to life in prison, which meant that they must serve at least 20 years before being considered for parole in 1995.

Poulin had likely been involved in plenty of other murders prior to this but had never been found guilty, surely due to ineptitude.

In a separate case, Poulin had been charged with attempted murder, but those charges were dropped 20 December 1972. He was once again charged with two more attempted murders but those charges were scquashed 9 December 1973. Then on 22 March 1974 Poulin was acquitted of a double murder committed at the Hotel Chomedy, early in the morning of 8 June 1973. Bruno Cyrenne and Gaetan Jacques had been killed with bullets to the head while sleeping in a car. A third, Alain Arsenault, was also shot while sleeping in the vehicle but ended up as a human vegetable, unable to help as a witness. Poulin had been found walking down the stairs with the murder weapon in his hand. Poulin also had blood stains on his pants and gunpowder on his sleeves. Poulin claimed that he heard the noise and went with his gun to check it out and that the blood got on his clothing after he visited the scene of the crime. He said the gunpowder residue came from a visit to a shooting range the night before. Poulin had previously served time for assault, drug dealing and was awaiting trail on six other charges, ranging from car theft to weapons possession. In spite of what might seem to be pretty strong evidence, the earlier jury found Poulin not guilty, thus freeing him to commit other homicides.

Levesque, meanwhile, has spent plenty of time in prison, mostly for theft, between 1962 and 1975. Levesque had once been shot twice in the head in front of a place called Bar Caprice.

After being found guilty of the crime, the duo faced charges of the murder of Leo Migneault, who was killed in an even more sadistic manner during the night of 5 to 6 January 1975.

!Q- replacement quiz -the last one was too easy

This chap died relatively young in Montreal and was so highly-considered that - to this day - his face adorns a currency.

Winner! Yes. A winner has been declared. It's former Donald Sangster who died in Montreal in April 1967 from a brain situation while serving in the office of Prime Minister of Jamaica. He was brought here for treatment at our Neurological Hospital but they couldn't save him. He only served for one full month as PM but it must've been a good month. He's on the hunnret dollar bill and there's an airport named after him.

Q-Who is this?

This little-known Montreal model, pictured here at about 20 years of age in 1963, would climb to great heights in bizness and be named to the Order of Canada. Anybody?

Clearly this was too easy for some kinda weirdo brainaique who nailed it right away. Way to hustle on the basepaths guy! It is a youthful Lise Watier. She went on to create a fairly big makeup empire.

Yes, you are a thief if you leave the boutique, even if you're still in the club...

You've surely heard of Gino Boggia. Gino struggled to earn a law degree from McGill, narrowly avoiding expulsion due to poor grades. He got the degree, for a while anyway. His days as a member of the bar ended after he got involved in a series of ridiculous stunts, such as trying to cash in on an unclaimed balance by claiming the woman couldn't sign a paper due to amputation of her arm. Then there was the deal where he was convicted of vandalizing cars. Them ugly details can be found elsewhere.

But another story that you might know less concerns a dispute that he had with the Brossard Golf Club, of which he was a longstanding member. On 2 September, 2005 Boggia entered the pro shop, asking them to lend him a golf cart because he forgot his cell phone on a distant green. Clerks Danny de Courval and David Leblanc, who suspected Boggia of occasionally pocketing items from the boutique without paying, told Boggia that he'd have to pay for the service of renting the cart and left him alone to think it over.

Boggia, in his raging solitude, furtively pocketed two golf balls and took off. The clerk spotted him outside and asked him for payment. Boggia coughed up a $20 and the clerk said he'd didn't have change and would give $5 in change when Boggia returned from fetching his cell phone. $15 for two balls, a generous sum for two little balls. When Boggia returned the clerk refused to cough up the blue Laurier. Boggia called the police and they all had a sit down in the club bar, which Boggia found humiliating.

Boggia got his five bucks.

Boggia then sued the golf club for $7,000 for damages. He argued that he should not have been treated as a shoplifter, because he never left the golf club with the merchandise. Judge Virgile Buffoni disagreed. Boggia had departed the boutique with the unpaid goods, ergo the police interrogation was justified. On Valentine's Day 2007 Boggia lost his bid to score the $7,000. The case cost Boggia $178 in court fees.

Montreal: world capital of showering with your clothing on

The other side of Vegas

Hometown lad, financial guru and globetrotting photographer John Archer has fired up a new site, OnceVegas.com, in tribute to a little-known, often avoided side of Las Vegas. Archer's works, in all their dayglo glory, are based on a series of large prints he unveiled at a well attended 2008 vernissage.

Q-What international 19 th century luminary insulted Montreal by complimenting our "hill," much to the delight of our Toronto rivals.

Answer: Coolopolis reader Michel bags the winner just before the siren. When Oscar Wilde visited Montreal, he stayed at the Windsor Hotel and amusedly looked out the window at big signs advertising his stay. His hosts brought him on a tour of the city, such spots as a girls school on Gouin and he politely complimented Montreal for its attractions, which included Mount Royal hill, which - as we know - is a mountain, not a hill. All this according to a book called Oscar Wilde in Canada, which I scanned while laying around a used book shop (the book was laying around a book shop or you were laying around a book shop?).

Update: the fine people at Encore Books on Sherbrooke Street explained that the Kevin O'Brien text is a rare book, a first edition, that's why it's $25. He told me that Wilde stayed here from May 15, 1882 and visited Notre Dame Church, "After dinner in the smoking room, Wilde posed in his armchair, fingering his curls and locks and in the lobby, preparing to leave, he put on the learge feathered hat which had provoked Frechette at the lecture." ... elsewhere: "An article in the Montreal Star compliments Wilde for leading a crusade against bad taste."

Q!-What happened here?

This empty lot on Park between Fairmount and St. Viateur once housed a building at the center of a famous dispute over civil rights that went all the way to the top courts. Anybody know?

Hint: The 1957 dispute involved a common rental board style battle but with a twist, a result of a controversial legal contrivance that the province has since repealed. I will reveal the answer on the radio tonight at 10:25 Team 990, tune in if you can.

Empathic Answer: 5321 Park Avenue, was an apartment owned by local Communist supporter Freda Elbling. It was used as a hangout for likeminded politicos, including city councillor Fred Bailey who in 1948 decided to give his lease over to John Switzman, all of them Marxists. The landlord Elbling knew that the Padlock Law allowed police to simply lock up any place suspected of being a Marxist hangout, or even worse, a Jehovah's Witness meeting place. So Elbling knew she could lose out on a lot of rent money if the deal went through. She tried to block it all the way to the Supreme Court but lost in 1957. According to her granddaughter Sandy Elbling, Freda was friends with Switzman and the entire case was meant as a challenge to the Padlock Law, so they were happy with the results because it brought scrutiny on this ridiculous law, which was ultimately rescinded, although brought back sorta in in anti biker law legislation. Switzman continued his friendship with Elbling and was, at last notice, living in Wales and sometimes talks fondly of the event. Freda eventually lost faith in Marxism and transferred her efforts to other progressive agenda, such as human rights, women's right and so forth (animal rights? - Chimples).

Quizlleheader: Name that centurion

Who's that playing centurion to Cher's Cleopatra, circa 1972? And what's the Montreal angle?

Answer time: That's right, it's Ted Ziegler, the late star of CFCF's local after school (and sometimes at noon) kids' show of the 1960s, Johnny Jellybean. He later scored a supporting cast gig on the Sonny and Cher Show. Alas, they say the Johnny Jellybean tapes have all been erased, except for a promo or two.

Q-What on earth was this thing?

It's an easy-to-assemble 320 foot tall "tree" apartment house with cabins on its branches, designed by the German Horst Dollinger for Expo 67.Here's more.

Todaze Nooze

1-Pre-pre-spring starts today. It is marked by the thought that This Is The Last Cold Day and meanwhile, the seven pm sunset is only four weeks away... 2-Big box hardware stores are no longer selling such assorted goodies as fireplaces, rat poison, sticky mouse traps and certain other goods because the province is now applying an old ignored law that says such stuff can only be sold by specialists and the stores are too cheap to hire a guy just to stand around next to these items... 3-The St. Raymonds Catholic church on St. James Street West, a well-attended old establishment in Italian lower NDG, is apparently going to be closed down and turned into some sort of mental health facility, which totally sucks, expect opposition to emerge...4-Fire juggling artist Stacey Ross, eight time Coolopolis Scenester of the Week is leaving Montreal for BC next month.

Ol pix...

Decarie at Namur
Dorchester Street looking east

The spookiest place in Quebec

The Dorea Insane Asylum sits about 600 feet from the US border on Covey Hill Near Ormstown and Franklin Quebec. It was closed in 1995 and remains a rewarding place to visit for those unscared of haunting sights, a gun-wielding guard and the odd drug dealers or squatters. According to at least one hospitalized witness, the institution had an electric chair and elaborate tunnels which might even have crossed the border into the states towards Lake Placid where Dr. Ewan Cameron lived while not performing experimental drug trials on unwary and innocent people. As with so many old defunct psychiatric institutes in this province, Dorea holds secrets to the ongoing mystery of the evil treatment afforded the Duplessis Orphans, children forced to live in psychiatric institutions.

Q-Who is - was - this and why does Chimples find him so impressive?

Quiz time is over! Nobody recognized the great Hans Marotte, who at the very tender age of just 20 spray painted commercial signs across the city which were not entirely and exclusively in French. His next fearless political statement involved climbing the cross on Mount Royal in favour of repressing the English language in Quebec, which we all agree needs to be radically repressed. He climbed that cross like it was nothing and camped out there with a big Bill 101 poster! His climbing skills have impressed Chimples, the Superintelligent Chimp Implanted Great Coolopolis Monkey. Marotte is still around but - sadly - renounces his onetime heroic actions trying to beat down the English threat. We hope he changes his mind and gets busy with the spray can again and maybe climbs something else with a big poster. Coolopolis is working behind the scenes to make sure that English in Montreal keeps getting battered. Go repression! Go Hans! We are also big fans of Gilles Rheaume, picture in the background, who has also fought the creeping Englishification of Montreal. We think the two of them should tour the province with Pierre Falardeau and give an All Star Old Timer tour, doing speeches in farm villages about the evils of English because people have to know whats going on!

Traffic wonk talk - interview with an expert

I have long admired Ottavio Galella, a thoughtful, veteran, local private traffic engineer from Trafix Consultants, who has organized tons of lights and intersections in Montreal.

I am a bit fan of Monderman who suggests that traffic become rehumanized by removing signage. People tend to make eye contact with others rather than simply look at signs. Excessive traffic lights, is - in my opinion - the main cause of aggressive driving in this city. Drivers become so depressed waiting at constant and often unecessary red lights that they lash out.

I interviewed him yesterday to ask him about this and assorted issues.

What is the future of right on reds?
Its not smart to prohibit right turn on red at some interesections like in industrial parks or isolated intersections where there are very few pedestrian movements. Its extremely interesting to allow a right turn on red at intersections where there is no real potential danger.
What do you think about rehumanizing intersections by removing signage?
This is not the first time someone has asked me this. I believe that signage is a necessary. Signs allow to better guide motorists whether its for the purpose of informing them or to warn them of a danger or for other decisions we want the motorists to make
What do you think about the proliferation of stop signs as a form of traffic calming?
In some neighbourhoods there is an exaggeration of stop sign usage and unfortunately in some communities people request a repetition of stop signs in order to control speed and stop signs are not designed as a speed control measure on such streets. (Road networks involve four classes of streets: highways, arterials, collectors and local streets).
The city says they are putting in more traffic lights.
Traffic lights cost $200,000 to install and probably anywhere between $1,000 to $2,000 a year to maintain. Coorindation of lights is a must on arterials because we want to reduce the unnecessary delay and the emissions. All of this has to be subject to the function of the street, are we moving pedestrians or truck traffic? We must determine what we trying to favor and then act in accordance.
How can it be rigged to be more efficient?
Moving 30 buses per hour on a reserved bus lane means moving 1,800 peope per hour. whereas we could only accommodate 1,200 persons per hour occupying individual vehicles which are usually 1.2 persons per car, so the whole idea of mobility has to take that into consideration. Traffic control is tricky its not just a mater of ensuring safety but also getting the best output out of the investment.
I suspect people drive faster to get a green light and it leads to fatalities.
If traffic lights are well co-ordinated and theres detection of side streets and theres detection of turning movements then there will be less disruption so motorists would have better compliance and would feel more comfortable in respecting the posted speeds. They would know that they would not experience any unnecessary delays. In a region like Montreal there is not enough traffic engineers to do the job, we re talking 2,000 - 3,000 traffic lights. Traffic conditions change year after year traffic volumes change, pedestrian volumes change, introduction of mass transportation changes, new bike lanes, and so on. So the work is continuous so even the best planned of traffic lights cannot do the job for more than a year or two at a time, as it takes a follow up. This is why the smart technology that relies on traffic responsive systems, involving the co-ordination, synchronisation of movement should be considered.
Pedestrian signs. Those little white walking men that stop cars often for no reason under the assumption that cars will run people over. It infantalizes all parties.
I believe that Montreal has lack of pedestrian signals with the walk or don’t-walk or the numerical signals. I believe that in any city the lack of pedestrian signals is a shame and we cannot let pedestrians rely only on a yellow signal to warn them not to cross the street - how can we get pedestrians to respect a traffic light that is intended for motorists? The equation just doesn’t work. We brought pedestrians to rely on traffic signals because no pedestrian signals have been systematically installed even now as we are modernizating and upgrading traffic light systems. We are a bit infantilizing the users thru the straight arrow configuration which forces motorists not to turn to the right on a green light during an initial period of 8 or 10 seconds. We need to create this cohabitation between pedestrians and vehicles. It is not impossible to achieve that and the three elements that are subjacent to his pact: the technical engineering, the education and the enforcement. Quebec drivers learn very well to wear the safety belts on the cars I don’t see why Quebecers cannot abide by a sound efficient traffic control system that designates the time lapses which the pedestrians could cross an intersection safely or to introduce a traffic system for pedestrian crossings. I believe we didn’t invest enough time and attention for this up to now. And the construction of roads and equipment is getting more and more expensive we should try and obtain a new deal to obtain maximum safety.
How about more roundabouts.

For traffic volumes which are limited it makes sense but we cannot modify tens of thousand of existing intersections with roundabouts , financially it doesn’t make sense. There are situations that warrant such geometric designs which work very well by the way yet it is not a miracle solution for all the users and it is actually a problematic design for the handicapped for the visually impaired and for other vulnerable users so generally the generaly the design is appropriate in low density areas or some industrial park and it certainly constitutes a good solution under specific circumstances but should not be used as an overall tool or approach to solve the issue of traffic.
The MUHC is proposing that eastbound traffic at Demaisonneuve and Decarie be reserved for ambulances and police cars, same with the plan for a new bridge to Nuns Island. Do these work elsewhere?
There are very few such streets in north America again it has to be justified and I did not study that situation.
Do we have any streets which detect pedestrians and change the light?
There are many such systems that I installed myself when pedestrians or cyclists only show up occasionally and those pedestrians or cyclists are not expected to push a button, that is when automatic detection should be considered. Radar systems exist, these are systems that detect the presence of pedestrians day or night they are extremely efficient. I have installed them at the corner of Dollard and De Laverendre and Dollard and Champlain, both in the Lasalle borough, there is a microwave technology that will work no matter the condition, at St. Jacques and Maisonneuve in Longeuil.
What about systems that recognize cars and turn the right green?
There are hundreds and hundreds of detectors loop detection or radar detection we have installed all over the place. Sometimes we install detectors for snow trucks that exit depots and we detect the trucks. We have an entrance of Jacques Cartier Bridge for snow trucks and we detect them automatically and the gate opens. Detection systems are used everywhere even main arterials so the synchronization plans, co ordination lanes every five minute they automatically take into consideration the density of traffic and everything else. The technology exists what is missing is perhaps human resources to use that technology to optimize the efficiency.
What is an example of a street that works really well?
The city has done a relatively good job on Notre Dame. It was chaotic up until 2 or 3 years ago. There was a high number of accidents and the traffic engineers the city traffic engineers did an excellent job to optimize the mobility and improve safety at the same time. There are some movements that are being detective thru loop detectors and otherwise and the duration of the traffic light changes according to demand, and some side streets are not getting a green light but this kind of approach is traditional is has been used for decade especially in the outskirts were streets were created more modern. There is no money for detection systems in Montreal. The system was archaic, controllers were electro- mechanical until five years ago. Even human resources were not used at such systems and whereas in any other city municipal engineers were doing the job and ordering the right equipment. Theres been a discrepancy between the way they were managing traffic and the way the cities in the outskirts were but that was a matter of investment.
What about a MIRT? I want to get one. Would they work on local intersections? I know they are illegal but I hate waiting at red lights.
The answer is: don’t try.
So which way should traffic be headed?
We have good technology we must get the most efficiency out of our infrastructure investments. Its costing more and more and we must take into consideration mass transportation, we must give priority to buses, we must detect buses and give them a green light or give them a head start, we must accommodate pedestrians and cyclists and we must try to achieve a better cohabitation between the various users that we meet in our city streets.

Ye olde Rymark

Whenever Coolopolis sinks furtive anchor at the Montreal Port we hit McLean's Pub, which is pretty much identical to the Rymark Tavern, a spot which flung opened doors around 1927. But the current friendly staff had long been curious about the origins of a family crest carved onto the mantelpiece. They speculated and guessed as to the origins of this lovely bit of carpentery, best guess being that a funeral home was the original occupant of the building. But google those words and you`ll find that its the family motto of the Inglis clan. Check the Lovell"s for Inglis and you'll quickly learn that the Inglis clan ran a tailor shop from that location starting about a century ago. So ends much speculation, thanks to a couple of handy online tools. Now bring me a Guiness and a plate of fish and chips, an extra plate for the Chimp.

A no-Expos exposé

Here's an inside tour (Thanks, I needed a snooze -- Chimples) of a vacant unit (asking $292,000) in the Windsor Terraces. That's a downtown condo project looming where where the Expos stadium wasn't built.

This phase of the project is located just off the quite newly-minted Jean d'Estree Street (a sort of north-south alley between Mountain and Peel, just north of Notre Dame). It's a bourgening area, with a new Metro grocery store and a few restaurants. But condo life ebbs and flows through the garage doors, so the sidewalks are kind of quiet. That explains why it's risky to park your car on Jean d'Estree, as shattered glass has repeatedly been viewed near the witnessless sidewalks on the east side.

Not long before the stadium dream was pricked, the land was sold to developers and the towers went up about five or six years ago, this land was part of a vast urban wasteland that stood vacant after the old Grand Trunk (later, CN) tracks had been pulled up. You don't have to be that old to remember the viaducts (overpasses) that crossed above these apocalyptic stretches, which were strewn with shattered stubbies, stray-stained sofas and birth-control gadgets.

When it was planned, Jean d'Estree Street effectively bridged two existing streets, Murray (to the south) and Jean d'Estree (a no-house street that got its name in the seventies) to the north.

So what to call this new street? The city seemed to prefer another choice over the time-honoured Murray, which suggested itself by intimate proximity. But provincial guidelines are clear in such instances: the municipality is supposed to name the new section after the street that has the greater number or residents.

As the story goes, Murray Street, which has been on Griffintown maps since the mid-19th century, has scores of residents living in detached homes, lofts and apartments. Jean d'Estree, which stands atop the memory of bulldozed structures south of the Windsor Station, had a grand total of zero residents.

But the city liked Jean d'Estree better (Why dat? -- Chimples), and defended their new moniker by pointing out how much wider the new street is than Murray, and therefore wasn't really the same street (despite being a plain-faced extension of it).

Meanwhile, the Murray Street sign has somehow been removed from the south side of Notre Dame, right next to the Universite du Quebec engineering building. Is Jean d'Estree -- where so many cars have been smash-grabbed -- creeping southward?

As for the condos. One owner reported that a number of them adjacent to him (in a different tower) were occupied by students -- the aging anglo kids of West Island families and come-from-away real-estate investors who let their juniors go wild, cranking the tunes and par-taying. As the owner explained with a theatrical wave of his hand in front of his face, "You should smell it around here sometimes."