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Maisonneuve

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Tout ce qui a été posté par Maisonneuve

  1. Maisonneuve
    Cataclaw, your idea is sort of what I thought DIX30 would become - a suburban version of urban life. New Urbanism done Brossard-style. Instead, it's just a big mall set up to look like a city, which is what it is becoming. The main street of DIX30 (which leads to the taller buildings and the fountain) could have been more promising if residences of 4 storey were put on top of the stores. Then the quartier could develop organically with people living, working,shopping, partying. It could have been a much more robust version of downtown St.Lambert (yes, St.Lambert has a downtown for all you non-South Shore people lol!) Instead, DIX30 is like something found in Arizona or California - it feels artificial, contrived, and deserted after a certain hour. I think Brossard has the potential to be one of the major nodes within the metropolitan region like Laval and Longueuil, but there's a disconnect between DIX30 and the Panama/Taschereau/AUT10 area. I like your idea of mixed uses, because the goal of Dix30 should be to create an urban community bases on transit within a suburban setting. Now some politician will claim there is mixed use, because there's houses not too far away. But those houses are not in DIX30, their next to it. It's not the same thing. Those people have to get in their cars and drive 2 or 3 minutes and park, whereas with this idea, it's all about walking. More sense of community is built.
  2. Maisonneuve

    Canadiens de Montréal

    Maisonneuve a répondu à un sujet de mtlurb dans L'actualité

    Da Habs man, Da Habs man, Da Habs man!
  3. Maisonneuve
    That's true. It's only their downtown peninsula that has the density. The rest of the city is only dense around SkyTrain stations, but not in between.
  4. Maisonneuve
    Each of the 12 avenues running north/south in Manhattan are 100 feet wide. The streets, which run east/west are 60 feet wide and are spaced 200 feet apart, roughly the length of an official NHL rink. The only streets that are 100 feet wide are 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th, 72nd,79th, 86th, 96th, 106th, 116th, 125th, 135th, 145th and 155th. That's the Manhattan grid. It makes for some superblocks, you don't see often in Montreal. I think larger blocks invite the design of larger buildings, but they aren't necessary to fill the block. Smaller blocks are seen as more enjoyable for the pedestrians. Vancouver has a grid that is somewhat similar to Montreal's (small blocks and similar size streets) but they have enormous density on those blocks. You can have the density without changing the grid. The grid is part of the DNA of Montreal.
  5. Maisonneuve
    The Canadian cities should try to capitalize on the rest of the world's problems. Few places are safe to do business.
  6. Maisonneuve
    It should have been obvious for decades that Montreal's population growth was slowing down. That's why I've always been surprised by those estimates from the 1970's, some of which can be found in Montreal Think's Big. Montreal never had a well articulated urban system that would allow the metropolis to grow into a megacity of 8-10 million. There weren't alot of satellite towns around Montreal that those old school rich Anglos,who ran the city's business sector, like the Molsons, McGills,Mackay,Redpath etc.. could have created business linkages with. Plus, in their minds, they probably saw no economic gain in branching out into "peasant French towns". For these reasons, most of Montreal's wealth stayed in town. In contrast, around Toronto, there were plenty of smaller towns to branch out into for Eatons, TD Banks,etc...Over the decades it all began a conurbation we now call the Golden Horseshoe. You simply have to look at how urban Canada was settled and evolved economically since the American Revolution and it was obvious Montreal would not be the largest city forever. Most people don't know that. Most people think Montreal's population growth slowed in 1976 when all the political uncertainty really started, but that just exacerbated the slowdown it wasn't the cause. Montreal was always going to be a metropolis and not a conurbation for the reasons I mentioned above. In the future, if Montreal ever wanted to become a conurbation, the AMT would have to be extended to places like Granby, Ste. Hyacinthe, Drummunville, St.Jean-sur-Richelieu. Then people could live all along those lines. Since that would be costly and would promote urban sprawl, that won't happen. However, what would be better would be to increase the density on the island as much as possible. Question: How many people could the island of Montreal hold, if people lost their phobia of tall buildings and started building up?
  7. Maisonneuve
    Yes football would definitely work. The Alouettes or an NFL regular season game. Compared to most CFL stadiums, the Big O is great. Large than BC Place and the Rogers Centre - when filled to capacity it is unmatched by any sporting facility in Canada. Baseball would not work. In the 7 years since the Expos have left, the quality of MLB stadiums has improved so much. Playing baseball at the Big O would be shameful now compared to other clubs. Most of the teams that had 1960/1970's type stadiums are now all in brand new ballparks -Astros, Phillies, Reds, Pirates, Mets, Giants and Padres. These are baseball specific parks; multi use parks for baseball are a thing of the past. Football and soccer can coexist in the same stadium, but not baseball and something else. The Rogers Centre is a baseball stadium, it looks horrible for football. For an MLB team to come back to Montreal and play in the Big O would be a massive step down and would signal to MLB that not much in Montreal has changed to support MLB. At least with a new baseball stadium, you could then make the argument that "yes, we can support MLB again". It's hard to make that argument, even with a renovated Big O.
  8. Maisonneuve
    Let's see Diamond and Schmitt work their magic. I love it when Toronto architects or non-Quebec architects, like Patkau or KPMB, do projects in Montreal. It adds to the rich design template of the city.
  9. Maisonneuve
    The turcot is crucial. Not just the turcot, but the yards as well. That huge space between the interchange and the Boulevard Angrignon is enough to fill a dozen Bell Centres is not more. Then have to develop that.
  10. Maisonneuve
    Very interesting project. Hopefully all these urban upgrades will convince people that living downtown is worth it...Blainville and La Prairie have to get boring eventually.
  11. Maisonneuve
    Good for Longueuil! Keep doing that T.O.D.!!
  12. Maisonneuve
    I would have liked to see the Big O get renovated and turned into a world-class soccer stadium (this was before the Impact built Saputo Stadium). I believe the Big O can be transformed with new lighting and brighter paint in the concourses, instead of the dingy brown concrete that makes standing in line to buy a hotdog feel like standing in a cave. The yellow seats could all be painted blue to match the colour of the other seats. The concrete piers that hold up the roof could be rained white.The roof should be completely removed. The exterior concourses could also be upgraded. Having done all of that, Montreal could have a serious soccer stadium. The Impact could use it for big playoff games. European or South American teams could play games there during the summer. Even if the suggestions I gave aren't what is needed, there are ways to upgrade an old soccer stadium and make it look state-of-the-art. There was an old stadium in Germany during the last World Cup that completely renovated for the occasion. Too bad Quebec doesn't have the money Germany has, because with the right intervention, the Big O can be a wonderful asset in a city.
  13. Maisonneuve
    This is great news. It should have happened years ago, but that was probably a union/ lack of money thing, which is sometimes what it comes down to in Montreal. What is the status in the rail link between Trudeau and downtown? Last time I flew into Trudeau, I noticed there were many sets of stairs between the main terminal and the American terminal, leading below grade which looked like the train station.
  14. Maisonneuve
    I would have liked to see a whole upgrade of Chinatown. Part of it can stay "authentic", but the rest of it could be modeled after one of the large chic shopping districts in China, selling high-end Chinese products. That way Chinatown becomes more of a neighborhood nestled within downtown Montreal and not just an alley paved with residential bricks.
  15. Maisonneuve
    What can $300, 000 get you in Montreal? What square footage and does it depend on the storey.
  16. Maisonneuve
    Probably because their funding it hard to find private investors. Or, it might be a ploy to get a construction loan. They can then go to the bank or investors and say "THIS project is part of a massive urban planning scheme that will revolutionize Montreal over the next 15 years." It's always interesting see the developers who have access to capital and those who need to "promote" to in order to build. Most of the time they put up a poster on a lot in hopes of enticing investors. There's a street in Brossard called Boul. Saint-Laurent, which is a street with 10 to 12 storey condos on each side next to the river (There's still plenty of room to build more, it that's what Brossard wants). There use to be a poster for a 12 storey condo at the corner of Rome and Marie-Victorin that was there for at least 15 years.
  17. Maisonneuve
    This is why the mergers should have stayed intact, so there could be a centralized urban planning scheme for the whole island, instead of the piecemeal urbanism the demerged fiefdoms foster.
  18. Maisonneuve
    Good news!
  19. Maisonneuve
    Very good project. That land has been vacant for decades. At least CEGEP Andre-Laurendeau can't expand for ever.
  20. Maisonneuve

    La LNH à Québec?

    Maisonneuve a répondu à un sujet de mtlurb dans L'actualité

    PKP seems like one of those "hands on" owners. Steinbrenner-like.
  21. Maisonneuve
    A stadium suited for champions! lol
  22. Maisonneuve

    TVA Sports

    Maisonneuve a répondu à un sujet de ErickMontreal dans L'actualité

    Pierre Houde: <<Le tir et le buttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!>>
  23. Maisonneuve
    These are astonishing statistics. Montreal's percentage of visible minorities is interesting. At first, 31% seems small compared to Toronto's 63% and Vancouver's 59%, but right now the second most diverse city in the world is New York with 37%. New York has been hovering at around that percentage for decades, while Toronto has over taken them and it now 51% foreign-born (since visible minority after 50% is an oxymoron). Just think, in 20 years Montreal will be almost as diverse as New York now. If these numbers come true, all of Canada's 3 largest cities will be the top 10 most diverse cities in the world. Right now Toronto 1 and Vancouver is 7. Montreal is 21. Maybe Calgary will make the top 25...see that's why our country is filled with so much optimism. Thank the Lord, Sidney Crosby scored that goal!
  24. Maisonneuve
    MTLskyline, tell your friends to try to get a job with SNC Lavalin, Dessau Soprin or Groupe SM. I know some people who work for those companies. Their very good engineering firms, especially SNC, which sends employees on a wide range of projects all over the world. Getting a job with an engineering firm in Quebec is not a difficult as it may seem. Instead of trying for a position as an engineer, tell your friends to get a job working in their laboratory as a technician - and work their way up. Most large firms in Quebec have their own labs that do testing on aggregates, asphalt, concrete and other construction materials. Dessau Soprin has two labs, one in Longueuil and one in Laval (both called LVM Fondatec). SNC Lavalin's lab is Terratech in St.Laurent. Le Groupe SM's lab is in Longueuil and I think they have one in Varennes. MTQ is desperately looking for civil engineers and most Quebec Government departments are desperately seeking visible minorities (Since 2000, the MTQ has been hiring visible minorities, women and Natives before anyone else, so try them.) Then there's Sanexen in Varennes that specializes in environmental engineering and the geotechnical engineering firm Inspesol in St.Laurent (I know a black woman from NSBE who works for them as an engineer). I saw a story on Radio-Canada last week that said engineering firms have grown a lot in Quebec. The firms I mentioned above are the best.
  25. Maisonneuve
    More immigrants would mean more real estate construction. Furthermore, other businesses would benefit from more people coming to Quebec, such as builders, architects, engineers, trades people, furniture providers, appliance manufactures, more people taking the STM/AMT, more people shopping at Pharmaprix/Jean Coutu, more people shopping at retailers, more taxes for the government (to pay off debt), more money for Videotron/Bell, more flights coming to Trudeau Airport, more money for the media via advertising, more shows, more spectacles, more (diverse) ideas for improving our quality of life, more major league sports other than hockey, more students to pay university tuitions (that will increase), a larger demographic so we can demand more from Ottawa/Quebec City etc... Last week, the leader of the ADQ said <<Le Québec doit crée un plan de richesse>>, without even mentioning that immigration should be the foundation for such a plan. This week, l'Assemblée nationale has <<La défense de la langue française et l'affirmation de l'identité nationale>> as their main discussion points. As if immigrants are the problem and their coming to Quebec is ruining this "utopia" we've been creating since the Quiet Revolution. In Quebec, we seem to not understand this simple equation: More people = more things, which make more money for more people and that attracts more people. It's a self fulfilling prophesy. The problem in Quebec (as usual) is that we want to urinate and ejaculate at the same time. We want to preserve our linguistic and cultural character by looking for immigrants from French speaking nations, even though these Haitians, Arabs and North Americans have less money and are less productive than immigrants from East Asia and South Asian who tend to go to places toronto and west. We want to be open to immigrants, yet still we want to stipulate what language they can be educated in and comment on how they express themselves culturally. We want immigrants to integrate into our society, but we don't make them feel welcomed when they watch our popular TV shows on TVA and Radio-Canada and see giant billboards along autoroutes with no or just token representations of themselves, just because we want to express our Quebecois character. We'll have to make compromises somewhere if we want this great place called Quebec to continue. I don't want Quebec to become the Greece or the Turkey of North America, I want Quebec to be the envy of North America. In order for that to happen we'll have to slay or starve some of our sacred cows like excessive social programs, the educational portion of Bill 101 (since having signs in French is enough) and the insistence that our Quebecois culture should be as <<pure laine>> and <<de souche>> as we can get away with. For those who are separatist who've read the above, there won't be much of a Quebec left to turn into a country if we don't get more immigrants fast by making some compromises. I will write this in French, lest you say you can't (or chose not to) understand: Pour ceux qui sont séparatiste qui viens juste de lire a l'au-dessus, il n'y aura pas un Québec riche pour faire un pays si nous n'obtenons pas plus d'immigrants rapidement en faiant quelques compromis.
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