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Mon premier tour d'hélicoptère... malheureusement il y avait beaucoup de smog/humidité et ça rendais la prise de photo pénible... sans compter l'espace très restreint pour manœuvrer une grosse Canon 5D MK3. Certaines photos donnent l'impression d'une aquarelle à cause de la pollution. On a aussi eus une permission spéciale de faire un 360 autour du centre ville, le pilote l'as demandé puisqu'il voyait que je prenais des photos :-) Je vais sûrement refaire le tour une journée moins humide pour avoir de meilleures photos. Here's my helicopter by Malek Racho, on Flickr Montreal's suburb - pool paradise by Malek Racho, on Flickr Montreal's suburb - pool paradise by Malek Racho, on Flickr Montreal's suburb - pool paradise by Malek Racho, on Flickr Montreal's suburb - pool paradise by Malek Racho, on Flickr St-Laurence river by Malek Racho, on Flickr Hazy downtown Montreal by Malek Racho, on Flickr Notre-Dame boulevard and Montreal port by Malek Racho, on Flickr Montreal density by Malek Racho, on Flickr Olympic stadium by Malek Racho, on Flickr Olympic stadium by Malek Racho, on Flickr Olympic Stadium by Malek Racho, on Flickr Montreal's biodome by Malek Racho, on Flickr Olympic Stadium by Malek Racho, on Flickr Montreal's density by Malek Racho, on Flickr A green oasis in Montreal's density by Malek Racho, on Flickr University of Montreal campus by Malek Racho, on Flickr University of Montreal campus by Malek Racho, on Flickr MUHC and Turcot interchange by Malek Racho, on Flickr MUHC and Turcot interchange by Malek Racho, on Flickr Downtown Montreal by Malek Racho, on Flickr Downtown Montreal by Malek Racho, on Flickr Downtown Montreal by Malek Racho, on Flickr Downtown Montreal by Malek Racho, on Flickr Construction frenzy around the Bell Center by Malek Racho, on Flickr Downtown Montreal by Malek Racho, on Flickr Downtown Montreal by Malek Racho, on Flickr Downtown Montreal by Malek Racho, on Flickr Downtown Montreal by Malek Racho, on Flickr

Westmount needs you! With this mailing, we are appealing to your civic duty. We need your input on the most important project the City of Westmount has put forward in its long history: the rebuilding of the Westmount arena and pool. Council would like to proceed with this project, but only if a majority of taxpayers is behind it. It is your money, after all, that will help pay for it. I shall not pretend that the history of this rebuilding project so far has been a smooth one. Mind you, nor was the struggle to restore and expand the Westmount Library in the 1990s, but it was a project most citizens became very proud of. Your Council feels this same success can be repeated with the arena/pool project. But only if it is a rallying point and not a focus of division and rancour. There were two separate designs suggested for the arena/pool project by the previous Council during 2009. A great deal of work went into these proposals, but they received mixed reviews in a series of public meetings. The whole of Westmount, however, was never canvassed. The new Council, since its election in November 2009, has been working on ways to address the objections raised by citizens to the prior proposals. Objectors fell into two broad camps: people in the neighbourhood saw the new arena as a massive intrusion, a wall 30 feet high by 500 feet long from St Catherine Street to de Maisonneuve, jutting into Westmount Park; meanwhile, the pool itself ate up precious green space. For the rest of Westmount, concerns had more to do with the cost: do we really need to go from one-and-one-half to two rinks? Why can’t we just fix up the existing arena? Others felt we needed an indoor pool more than a replication of our current sports mix. The cost concerns were substantially mitigated by the crowning achievement of my predecessor Mayor Karin Marks: she managed, by dint of incredible perseverance - and the help of Jacques Chagnon, our local MNA - to get $20 million of infrastructure grants for the project. It is Canada’s and Quebec’s contribution that allows us to build a $37 million arena/pool complex that will cost Westmounters $17 million. In fact, the cost to taxpayers will probably be closer to $12 million, thanks to contributions from Westmount schools, foundations, and private donors. This cost translates into an additional $200 a year in taxes for the average single-family dwelling. What about the neighbours and the sheer bulk of the arena? Well, if we had to describe the essence of our city, we would surely be torn between invoking Westmount’s unique architectural heritage and Westmount’s prized greenspace. This Council wants a project that respects both. We want the park to win the battle between it and the arena. We do not wish to plunk a massive piece of architecture down in an established greenspace. So we have gone underground. Council’s plan is to bury the ice rinks, putting tennis courts and grass on top of them - creating the ultimate green roof. Skylights will bring in natural light. Only the entrance pavilion and Teen Centre will be above-ground. more pics and full desc. http://www.westmount.org/pdf_files/ArenaPool_Proposal.pdf

http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreal-working-group-formed-to-improve-citys-business-outlook Montreal has considerable assets when we think of our quality of life, of our spot as the second largest pool of higher-education students in North America and certainly when we think of how safe it is…” Hubert said. There should be a working group that looks at how to retain students. It's all about retention. Students come here from abroad, live for cheap, party hard and then leave. Aside from high taxes, this should be highest priority.

Avis aux gens de Longueuil, Saint-Hubert, n'importe qui en réalité : Le Dooly's Longueuil - chemin de chambly pas loin de l'aéroport Saint-Hubert, en face du "Bunker" (Projet Les Fontaines - 7É) Entièrement renové de A à Z cet hiver. J'allais là tout le temps avant mais j'ai arrêté depuis un bout et là tantôt j'ai été... wow. Quelle transformation. J'ai pris quelques photos; je vais les poster bientôt. L'éclairage, le bar, les tables, les bancs, des TVs au bouts des bancs, des écrans partout, des tables de pool, de la bonne musique, et bien sur les serveuses obligatoirement en mini-jupe The place was run down before, a little decrepit, but now.. it's amazing. Give it a try. Even if you don't play pool, just go for the bar/restaurant. Renovation incroyable!

Le commissaire extraordinaire d'Alitalia Augusto Fantozzi va lancer lundi un appel d'offres en vue d'une vente de la compagnie aérienne italienne au bord de la faillite après l'échec du plan de reprise d'un pool d'investisseurs italiens, a rapporté dimanche l'agence Ansa. Pour en lire plus...

Montreal hotels offer escape from tourists Graeme Hamilton, National Post MONTREAL - At street level, there is an old-world charm to parts of this city, where horse-drawn caleches roll over cobblestone streets, passing buildings dating from the French regime. But then again, the smell of horse urine can get a little pungent on a steaming-hot day, the cobblestones can do a number on your ankle if you're not careful, and for every building of historic interest there's another housing a tacky souvenir shop. Montreal's year-round inhabitants have discovered a new escape route from the tourist-clogged streets, which oddly enough begins in a hotel lobby. A number of city hotels have sprouted rooftop terrasses where the (admittedly steep) price of a beer is also said to buy you a smashing view, a chance to mix with the in crowd and in one case, a dip in the pool if the spirit moves you. The trend has been fuelled by a proliferation of boutique hotels in Old Montreal, which have helped revive a neighbourhood that had been sliding. The best of a bunch sampled recently was atop the Hotel Nelligan, just up from the waterfront on St. Paul Street West. In one direction, the view was of the St. Lawrence River, Ile Notre-Dame and Moshe Safdie's Habitat '67 apartment complex, gleaming as it caught the early-evening sun; in the other, Notre-Dame basilica loomed. Dormer windows on adjacent buildings looked very Parisian, although the music -- an eclectic mix of oldies ranging from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Smokey Robinson -- screamed 1970s rec room. The terrasse, called Sky, does not exactly qualify as a best-kept secret. The rooftop was packed, and the area reserved for dining had an hour-long wait for a table. An even larger crowd awaited atop the Hotel Place d'Armes on the Aix terrasse. After wandering past hotel rooms to find the door leading to the roof, we were greeted by a bouncer recording each arrival and departure with a handheld counter. Asked how many people there were, he replied that the information was "confidential." A waiter said we had arrived on the patio's busiest night of the week, a Thursday. It was largely an after-work crowd looking to start the weekend early; a hotel guest looking for a relaxing cocktail in the sun would have been surprised to find a scene fit for Crescent Street, the city's famous nightclub strip. "It's happy hour," the waiter advised us, which seemed hard to believe after having just paid $7.50 for a bottle of beer. He clarified that the prices are unchanged during this particular bar's happy hour. It's just that people are happy. The view was not the best, hurt by the fact Montreal planners over the years have allowed an architectural jewel such as the basilica to be dwarfed by modern monstrosities such as the National Bank tower on Place d'Armes and the courthouse a block to the east. For a view, the hands-down winner was Hotel de la Montagne, in the city's downtown -- and not just because its rooftop pool is surrounded by bikini-clad sunbathers. On a recent evening, looking southeast we could see clear to the Eastern Townships. In the foreground was Montreal's skyline and behind us Mount Royal. The hotel has no pretense of "boutique" trendiness, from the ebony elephants and crocodile statues in the lobby to the party atmosphere on the rooftop. "People say that it is dated, so what, so is your girlfriend," a young Ohio man who recently stayed at the hotel wrote on tripadvisor.com last month. "The pool on the roof is as cool as it gets. We arrived on Friday afternoon, and the roof looked like a scene from spring break in Cancun." Our waitress advised us that the small pool is open to all customers whether they are staying at the hotel or not, "as long as you have alcohol." Not too much, she hastened to add, relating the story of a drunken man who had a contest with friends to see who could stay underwater the longest. He never came up, she said.