Côte St. Luc council

CSL looking to honour Oct. 7 victims

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Côte St. Luc council is looking into ways to honour members of the Bibas family who were brutally murdered by the terrorist group Hamas following their Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and potentially other victims as well, CSL councillors told The Suburban.

The city has already honoured Alexandre Look, a former CSL resident, who was killed by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival as he defended others. A greenspace, located between Beth Chabad Synagogue and Bialik High School (now JPPS Bialik) at the eastern tip of Kildare Road, was dedicated at a very well attended and emotional ceremony last September.

The Suburban made the inquiry about honouring other victims after seeing a posting on the Côte Saint-Luc Families Facebook page in which a resident referenced a previous suggestion that a Côte St. Luc park or street be named after members of the Bibas family. Shiri Bibas, and her children Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 10 months old, were found by Israeli authorities to have been murdered by Hamas. The bodies of the children were paraded through Gaza before being returned to Israel.

The Facebook poster suggested that the wading pool at Yitzhak Rabin Park in District 5 be named in honour of the Bibas family. Rabin was the Prime Minister of Israel who was assassinated in late 1995. Some respondents suggested emailing area councillor Mitch Kujavsky for his thoughts.

The Suburban emailed members of council about the wading pool idea. Mike Cohen, who has the toponymy (city landmark naming) portfolio on CSL council, said, “we have not discussed this, but the intention of the city regarding victims of Oct. 7 is to do so at Alexendre Look Place.”

Kujavsky told The Suburban that he was emailed about the wading pool by a constituent and said the idea was definitely worth discussing in council. “We originally thought it would be nice to have memorials related to Oct. 7 in one central location, which would be Alexandre Look Place near Chabad, but we’ll be discussing all possibilities in the near future.” n

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Public urged to sign Cavendish-Hippodrome petition

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By: Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Members of Côte St. Luc council and traffic expert Rick Leckner urged the public to sign — in the thousands — a National Assembly petition asking that “before there is any further government funding to develop the Hippodrome site, that the City of Montreal respect the schedule they set out in 2022 for the Cavendish [extension] project and put it back in their Capital works budget.”

The petition, sponsored by D’Arcy McGee MNA Elisabeth Prass, is on the National Assembly website this week, accessible via the link www.assnat.qc.ca/en/exprimez-votre-opinion/petition/Petition-10931/index.html. The deadline to sign the petition is October 12.

Prass recently told The Suburban that “we’re concerned the City of Montreal is not upholding the 2017 agreement it signed when the government of Quebec handed over Blue Bonnets to Montreal— the agreement stipulates the extension has to be done to develop Blue Bonnets, and we see Montreal is bypassing that.”

A message to residents of Montreal, obtained by The Suburban, says the government of Quebec should “take its responsibilities seriously and ensure that Montreal put Cavendish back on track.

“That agreement [with Quebec] is clear. The Quebec government gave the City of Montreal a property worth more than $50 million on condition that the City of Montreal proceed with the Cavendish extension project.”

“It’s time we did something,” Leckner told the August 12 CSL council meeting. “What’s been going on with the City of Montreal is shameful….It’s time for the public to get involved. We need thousands and thousands of signatures to demand no further government funding be allocated to the Hippodrome project until the City of Montreal puts Cavendish back on the Capital Works program. This affects all of us every day.”

Councillor Dida Berku also urged thousands to sign the petition. “Council will share that petition,” she added. “I think 60 days will be enough time to get support from the citizens.” n

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CSL says St. Laurent waste site has major problems

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Côte St. Luc council passed a resolution asking that its organic waste be sent to a treatment facility in St. Hubert, off the island, until issues at the much closer site in St. Laurent are resolved “to our satisfaction.”

Councillor Steven Erdelyi pointed out that CSL was the first municipality to implement curbside organic waste collection for all homes and duplexes in 2008, and that the city and other municipalities are responsible for the collection and transport of residual waste.

“The agglomeration of Montreal is responsible for the treatment and disposal of residual waste for the island,” the councillor explained. “The agglomeration of Montreal has asked CSL and approximately 12 other demerged cities and boroughs to send their organic waste to the treatment centre (CTMO) in St. Laurent.”

Erdelyi said that in a visit to the CTMO site by a CSL Public Works team, “they identified multiple deficiencies at the site related to efficiency, safety and logistics of collection, including but not limited to the [fact that] the facility’s private road has only two lanes — one to enter, one to exit; only one scale to weigh vehicles; and only two doors to enter the drop-off site, which will not be sufficient during peak hours and seasons.

“Drivers must exit their vehicles to wash their tires before leaving the site rather than installing an automatic system; the site has only one mechanism to handle the compost and if any of the machinery on the treatment line breaks, such as the grinder, the whole system comes to a halt; and the site will not accept non-soiled cardboard and certified compostable bags.” CSL is calling for cardboard and certified compostable bags to be accepted as part of the process.

The resolution says it would be expedient for the City of Montreal’s environment division to review the CSL Public Works department’s concerns “and meet with them.”

The Suburban has contacted the City of Montreal for comment, and is awaiting a reply. n

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