SameGuy

I don’t know what that means, but if you’re saying it will be a business decision instead of a political decision, yes, 100%. CDPQ is about the money not about the fleur-de-lis.

I suspect the 212 Metropolis from India cost less than half of what they would have had they been built here. CDPQi could very easily tell the government, “You want the trains built here? No problem, but you pay the difference.”

Agree to disagree. 😉

Pointe-Claire: A city without a vision, says disenchanted councillor "Where are we headed — an eventual population of 40,000, 50,000, 60,000?" asks councillor Brent Cowan after city approves high-rise project John Meagher • Montreal Gazette Sep 16, 2021 • September 17, 2021 Less than two months before the Nov. 7 municipal election, Pointe-Claire councillor Brent Cowan is speaking out against the city’s increasing densification after another massive residential project was approved. Cowan said the city is “without a vision” after council voted last week to approve the demolition of the existing buildings at Place Frontenac, at the corner of Brunswick Blvd. and Revcon Ave., and replace it with a high-rise apartment project. Cowan and two other councillors voted against project, which came about after the city rezoned the area across the street from the Brunswick Medical Centre from commercial to residential. “Over 700 apartments will be constructed on that spot adding to congestion and ensuring that commercial development of the type that the City Planning Program and City Centre Special Planning Program had envisioned there will not now be possible,” Cowan wrote in an email after the meeting. “What is the point of enshrining these well-thought-out plans into bylaw if we divert with the first sparkling jewel that comes along? Council should have greater discipline to stay the course.” Cowan also criticized the city’s direction to become the “downtown” of the West Island. “In our haste to make way for almost every high-density housing project that comes along, there has been no discussion as to at what point enough is enough. What should our target population growth be? “When this council was elected our population was just over 32,000. The Cadillac-Fairview development concept alone calls for an additional 5,000 apartment units… Where are we headed — an eventual population of 40,000, 50,000, 60,000? “There has been nothing said of this. So what is being planned for by the various departments in our city administration? I can only guess that that we will just have to wait and see and that the administration, in want of a guiding vision provided them by council, have adopted the same approach. That is not my idea of how to manage a city at any time, let alone in a period of great change.” Interestingly, two other councillors Tara Stainforth and Eric Stork, also voted against the project, while five others voted in favour. “I’m not the lone black sheep,” said Cowan, who added he’s received support from citizens who also disagree with the city’s direction under Mayor John Belvedere and city manager Robert Weemaes. “Seven months into (Belvedere’s) mandate, I asked a question of council: What’s our vision?” The response, he said, was “zip, nothing. No response.” Belvedere denied the city is being overdeveloped and said the Place Frontenac project was approved because it offers much-needed apartment rental units in Pointe-Claire. The site is also ideally located close to public transit, including the future Fairview REM station, he said. “It’s walking distance to everything. You can walk to Maxi plaza, to St-Jean Blvd. restaurants, you can walk across the street to get the bus. Location-wise, without having to use cars, it’s phenomenal. And it’s not backing onto any residential (properties) so nobody can complain you’re looking into my backyard kind of thing,” the mayor said. “At the end of the day, it’s in a location that people ask, ‘Why not use existing spaces and commercial spaces, instead of cutting down trees and using green space to build new developments? “It’s a much better project than what is there now,” Belvedere added. “There is zero green space there now and the new project will have 34 per cent green space.” He said the developer, Jadco Corp., has also committed to a car and bike-sharing service and an electric shuttle service to the future REM. Mayoralty candidate Tim Thomas said the city has blundered by approving another high-rise project in an already congested part of the West Island. “Can you imagine trying to drive up or down St-Jean Blvd. when all these projects are built in that area? It’s going to be a nightmare for the residents in the Hermitage neighbourhood.” Thomas was pleased to see Cowan and others break ranks with the rest of council, although he pointed out it happened as the election draws near. “I’ve been campaigning door-to-door and the public is very upset about where Pointe-Claire is heading,” he said. jmeagher@postmedia.com

Why is the guy holding the eviction number smiling?

Without needing a degree in economics, one can see that Ivanhoé-Cambridge would need to invest heavily in lands along the line, and such property speculation is as inherently risky as building the line itself on the presumption of future returns from said speculative property investments in the first place. “Build it, but they won’t necessarily come” is a bad strategy.

I can’t wait to see buses roaming the streets of Pierrefonds, Kirkland, and Beaconsfield picking up locals, and how they’ll get through the traffic on streets like Antoine-Faucon to converge on Kirkland station.

Crane.

Wow that’s cool

I agree that imperfect and built supersedes ideal but vapour.

C’est qui, ce “on”? https://rem.info/fr/montreal-ouest-aeroport “We’ll put it where WE want, and YOU figure out the rest. “On” s’en fout.”

You had a mini-meet?

Je ne pense pas que les gradins dans les champs seraient si hauts que ça, de toute façon. Je m’attends qu’ils annonceront une capacité aux alentours des 34 000 places.

Was Chef Helena in this evening? Or Dave?

A 360 view?

Wow thanks, I haven’t been to the south side of the Circle (ave. Dorval) since before the 20 was closed over it.

OTOH, interesting placement of the rapid transit, along the “urban promenade” on the harbour front.

Bravo! Cela m’a fait rire à pleine voix…

Now I remember where I saw such terrible mishmash design before: the Marriott at YUL, designed in 2005 and opened in 2009.

Good choice. J’approuve.

“Doing something for the first time” https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/étrenne

Just realized the illustration (map) in the header has never been updated.

Yeah it wasn’t even half-assed. More like a quarter-assed.

Hey, you know my opinion about saving “patrimonial” stuff. I’m not stating that any of those blighted areas should’ve been preserved intact, any more than I believe that crappy, old maisonettes should be incorporated into the façade of every new high rise in this city. I was just stating that the first phase of the Métro was very affordably financed by the City during the early 60s in large part because property acquisition wasn’t even considered an expense.

Certes, mais dans de nombreuses autres grandes régions métropolitaines d'Amérique du Nord, sinon la plupart, la prise de décision et la construction de transports en commun sont laissées aux villes et à leurs sociétés de transport, tandis que le financement provient de l'État. N'oublions pas que Montréal sous Drapeau dans les années 50 et 60 pouvait se permettre ses mégaprojets en partie parce que “expropriation” signifiait généralement “expulsion forcée” via un domaine éminent, avec peu ou même pas de compensation financière pour les expulsés. Au milieu du XXe siècle, le domaine éminent était fréquemment utilisé par les autorités pour s'emparer de zones considérées comme “délabrées” qui ont ensuite été remises à des tiers pour réaménagement sans que les propriétaires d'origine ne soient rendus indemnisés.