Exposteve

Honnêtement si tu as raison ca serait complètement ridicule de la part du gouvernement. Dans le cas d'un futur aéroport international prévu comme plaque tournante principal du Canada je peux (peut-être) comprendre l'hésitation. Mais de ne pas servir la population d'un secteur important du grand Montréal car on a peur qu'éventuellement quelques personnes pourraient choisir d'habiter à Chutes à Blondeau ou Vankleek Hill au lieu de St-Polycarpe ou Rigaud... mais je crois que ca démontre bien plus de problèmes que d'autre chose. Surtout qu'on parle d'une voie d'autobus réservé ici (idéalement le REM mais bon, mettons juste la voie réservé comme minimum pour un pont construit en 2028). Ca fait environ 20 ans que Vaudreuil connait de la croissance et ca reste encore relativement petit, il en faudrait pas mal plus qu'une voie réservé sur un pont (et la promotion du TEC) pour changer les enjeux économiques du Québec. Mais bon ca démeure une région ou le Pont Iles-aux-Tourtes et en reconstruction constante depuis plus de 20 ans, l'autoroute 20 a encore des feux (et des allures de 1965 malgré la croissance tout autour), et un pont qui doit parfois fermer complètement pendant 2 semaines par année en raison des innondations, mettant encore plus de pression sur le Pont Iles-aux-Tourtes déjà en ruines. En tout cas on parle d'un gouvernement qui étudiait d'étendre le REM jusqu'à Chambly et St-Jean-sur-Richelieu... pendant que la 20 entre Montréal et Toronto a encore des feux de circulation.

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2021/11/16/the-rays-flirtation-with-montreal-could-become-a-true-romance-this-week/ The Rays’ flirtation with Montreal could become a true romance this week John Romano | The team seems prepared to seek permission to take the next step in the sister city plan. By John Romano Published Earlier today ADVERTISEMENT TAMPA — For the better part of two years, Rays executives have spread their message across Tampa Bay. Civic groups, church groups, political groups. Skeptical crowds, angry crowds, apathetic crowds. If you were willing to listen, they were willing to talk. The Rays wanted you to know their proposed sister city plan with Montreal was neither a ploy to sneak out of town, nor a way to create leverage for a better stadium deal. It was, they insisted, the only way to save baseball in Tampa Bay. Now that message is about to take on greater urgency. And the next audience on the agenda could have the authority to help make it happen. The Rays are likely to seek the blessing of baseball’s executive council this week to transition from the current exploratory plan to a more definitive pursuit of the shared city idea. Going this route would accomplish several things at once for the Rays. It would reconfirm the franchise’s commitment to Montreal politicians and developers who are getting antsy about their up-in-the-air stadium plans near the city’s waterfront. It would also be a shot across the bow for Tampa Bay politicos who remain leery of the team’s sincerity about the split-season plan. And, if the executive council agrees, it would be a tangible sign that Major League Baseball’s owners are seemingly losing faith — if it hasn’t already evaporated — in Tampa Bay’s ability to be a permanent, full-time home for the Rays. Now maybe, as some people continue to believe, this is all part of a bluff. A three-card monte deal to distract everyone’s attention from the team’s true, unspecified intentions. But, if so, it’s getting terribly elaborate and runs the risk of alienating more potential allies. Particularly when the Rays could simply bide their time for another six years while simultaneously cutting a deal in some other city to leave Tampa Bay as soon as the use agreement at Tropicana Field expires in 2027. So how would the Rays go about getting permission from MLB’s executive council at this week’s owners meetings in Chicago? The same way they’ve been converting fans over lunches of dried-out chicken and broccolini at Tampa Bay speaking engagements the past two years. The pitch is simple and has been honed to near-perfection as team president Brian Auld demonstrated at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club last week in Ybor City: 1. Tampa Bay and Montreal are both flawed markets but combined could generate enough revenue to allow the Rays to be a mid-tier team in terms of revenue/payroll. 2. Building smaller, boutique-style stadiums without roofs in each market would be less expensive and, thus, minimize the risk for municipalities that would be asked to contribute roughly half the cost. 3. The alternative is no Major League Baseball. This last point is never framed as a threat, but simply a point of fact. Which, considering the historically poor level of attendance in Tampa Bay, the possibility is not that difficult to envision. And while there are legitimate market-driven reasons for Tampa Bay’s poor attendance, it does not change the reality. The Rays won 100 games in 2021 and finished second-to-last in the American League in attendance. That has never happened in more than a century of Major League Baseball. Not in Oakland, not in Cleveland, not in Seattle, not in Minnesota. What’s worse is the Rays were coming off a World Series appearance in 2020, so enthusiasm should have been as high as any market in the AL. And, no, the pandemic is not to blame. COVID existed in every city and the Rays still drew fewer fans than virtually every MLB market. Tampa Bay’s geography, population and demographics will always make attendance a challenge, but drawing as poorly as the Rays have while making seven postseason appearances in the last 14 years is not simply a red flag. It’s more like a white flag. So does this mean politicians should be rushing to City Hall looking for loose tax dollars for a Rays stadium? Heck no. The economic and societal return on building a stadium still needs to be weighed against other community investments in either Hillsborough or Pinellas counties. But the direction this is heading does suggest the shared city plan is not some street-corner hustle. As skeptical as I was about the plan two years ago, I’ve come to believe in ownership’s sincerity. The Rays have done enough on the field and in the community in recent seasons to deserve the benefit of the doubt when they say their focus is on the sister city plan. You may not like it and you may not think it is feasible. But it’s time to at least take it seriously. John Romano can be reached at jromano@tampabay.com Follow @romano_tbtimes.

Brian Auld, Co-president of the Tampa Bay Rays, spoke to a community club earlier today and discussed the Sister City concept at length. Here is a broadcast of the speech and Q&A. Starts around the 7-min mark. https://tigerbay.tbae.net

Mise à jour / update

Il y a une peinture murale en progrès sur le mur est (coin nord) en face de la gare Windsor. J’ai remarqué le rendu (rendering) dans un bac ou travaillais les artistes. Ça me semble très bien et ajoutera une touche d’art à ce secteur. Voir photos.

Savons-nous ce qu'il se passe avec les installations P&H Milling qui sont sur le terrain du bassin peel? Selon le site web de la compagnie ils sont encore actifs. J'imagine que l'expopriation devient un peu plus compliqué pour un moulin / des silos comparé à une batisse Loto-Québec ou un stationnement. C'est probablement un détail relativement mineur dans le contexte du projet global.

Wow they really couldn't have made it much smaller...

I would expect 30,000 or less for this ballpark. Business model will be more fixated on filling those seats consistently and having an intimate experience, and keeping ballpark construction cost low. Upper decks are expensive to build and result in the lowest revenue due to lower ticket prices and often partially empty except on weekends and big games.

Don’t put any stock into that JdM image of a ballpark.

MLB a aussi intérêt (et forte préférence) à ne pas avoir de distraction et vue des séries qui commencent bientôt et termineront à la fin octobre. Alors entre les élections à Montréal et les séries MLB c’est normal qu’on n’aura pas vraiment de nouvelles avant novembre.

Ça doit être en lien avec le retour en classe au CEGEP et universités, non?

Almost makes you wonder if the REM de l’est COMBINED with the blue line extension will actually be worth it. What started as a reasonable solution to replace the thousands of buses that cross the Champlain Bridge/link the airport appropriately (finally) / provide SOME form of rapid transit to the west has now become something everyone wants across all areas but without any of the downsides (visual / noise / etc). I’m happy to see public transit being built or proposed all over but I certainly fear that what was initially intended to be a practical solution for areas in clear need of transit is snowballing into something it wasn’t necessarily supposed to. The fact that the government even requested engineers STUDY a REM extension to Chambly and St-Jean sur Richelieu (ultimately not deemed feasible, duh) is indicative of what this is becoming.

I have to assume they're replacing the Marriott sign. Marriott has had a newer logo for years now. It's not a dramatically different logo but it's enough that the old one sure looks dated on the Chateau Champlain.

Ce n’est pas une question de blâmer un administration ou plusieurs spécifiquement. Le service publique ne recommence pas à zéro à chaque changement de ministère... clairement il y a une manque en quelque part dans plusieurs départements.

Hospitals (state of most buildings), schools (state of most buildings) and road infrastructure are three of the most used state-funded services. The quality of those services here is generally not very high (with some exceptions).

J’ai grandi à Vaudreuil et je réside pas loin maintenant. Le pont îles-Aux-tourtes est en mode réparation à chaque année depuis au moins 20 ans. Et on ne parle pas de l’asphaltage, on parle de travaux sous le pont et des fermetures de voies très régulières qui durent des saisons au complet. Je comprends peut-être que c’est un erreur humain cette fois mais un erreur pendant qu’ils faisaient des travaux de renfoncement par dessus les travaux de renforcement datant de 2012... alors... Ce n’est simplement pas acceptable. Même si tu ignores l’impact ÉNORME sur les résidants et employeurs des deux côtés, c’est le chemin principal de commerce entre Montréal et l’Ontario (et alors une grande partie des États Unis) avec environ 9,000 camions par jour. Comment est-ce qu’on ne peut pas agir avec plus d’urgence pour une infrastructure comme ça? Parce que le plan B c’est de passer par Dorion/Pincourt ou, en 2021, il y’a encore des feux de circulation sur la 20 et un maximum de 50 km/h! C’est tellement décevant.

Should note that Hyatt has plans for a Hyatt Place downtown, a Hyatt Place by the airport and a Hyatt Centric downtown.

I don’t understand this choice of materials for so many new stretches of sidewalk or road in Montreal. The Avenue des Canadiens is still only half completed and the half that is completed looks pretty rough with cigarette butts in all the cracks and portions dipping due to freeze/thaw. It’s a product that will never look good after a few cycles and with salt/snow removal trucks.

See my response in the “Expos coming back” thread. The union will accept this, I’m sure. Money talks and this is better for the league-wide revenues and thus league-wide player salaries. This is not like negotiating working conditions with the union for a public service. The new park in Tampa Bay will be designed to also host the 6-7 week spring training period. This means the players (who spend off season all over USA or abroad) will move to Tampa Bay in February and then live there all the way until mid June. Then move to Montreal. Unlike any other team where players move to spring training site for almost two months. Then the MLB host city. So it’s the same number of moves. Plus these days players are younger than ever and rarely play past 33-35 years old. Which means there are few players with school aged children than there back in the day. Also, players move from team to team much more frequently than in the past. The union will rightfully fight for compensation to Rays players for the mid season move but overall the union wants more revenue and this split city concept w Montreal vastly increases revenue for a franchise that is at the bottom of the ladder right now. The union is the least of our concerns here IMO as long as player needs are addressed.

The union will accept this with a bit more money thrown at the players to offset some inconveniences. You have to understand that in baseball spring training is over 6 weeks long. So for example a player who lives in Colorado... will travel to Florida for 6-7 weeks for spring training at a residence. Then they’ll move to a Tampa Bay for their season. So that’s two moves already. Under the proposal the new ballpark in Tampa Bay will also accommodate the Rays spring training. So that player from Colorado (or Dominican or Mexico or wherever they live) will move to Tampa Bay in February for spring training and get to stay there until mid June. Then they’ll move to Montreal from mid-June to September for the season. It’s actually not a big deal. And it’s important to remember that unlike the 70s and 80s players now are a lot younger overall. They rarely have school aged children and if they do there are ways to manage it with some compensation. Also, outside your franchise players most players move around a lot more than they did in years past. You might stay w a team for a season or two, so the players on the Rays today will likely be largely turned over come 2025-26 anyway. The players and owners share in the revenue growth via higher salaries. The union wants revenues to grow and it’s in their best interest. It’s not like negotiating with a public service union. So this move will drastically increase revenue for that franchise which has otherwise been a lagger. They’re posturing for compensation but I think they recognize this is good for the league-wide players.

I believe some are confusing Claridge Homes (Ottawa based housing development company) and Claridge, the investment company run by Stephen Bronfman. They are not the same.

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2020/12/08/rays-owner-stuart-sternberg-focused-on-2021-season-montreal-plan/

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2020/12/08/rays-owner-stuart-sternberg-focused-on-2021-season-montreal-plan/

La STM veut un stationnement incitatif de 1,200 places à Anjou (en surface en plus). Voyons. Ça va simplement attirer les gens en banlieue, le secteur est déjà bien desservis par plusieurs lignes d’autobus qui seront probablement améliorés en fonction des nouvelles stations de métro. Et on critique les municipalités dans l’Ouest de l’île d’en vouloir plus que zéro stationnement aux stations de REM (ou l’offre d’autobus est très faible).

Malheureusement pas comparable. 2-6 semaines de fermeture isolé dans une région relativement petit (Québec dans l'ensemble de la planète). Ici on parle d'une crise internationale du plus longue durée.