Dida Berku

Public urged to sign Cavendish-Hippodrome petition

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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

Public urged to sign Cavendish-Hippodrome petition Read More »

Premier Legault tees off at Meadowbrook Golf Course

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By: Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Premier François Legault has golfed at the Meadowbrook Golf Course — which straddles Côte St. Luc and Lachine, on at least three occasions and as recently as Friday Aug. 2, CSL councillor Mike Cohen revealed last week.

Cohen found out the intriguing news after partaking in the  Côte Saint-Luc Golf Invitational,organized by the CSL council and the city’s Men’s Club.

“When I went to rent my electric cart, I learned that someone who is not known to show much fondness for the anglophone community has come to golf here on at least three occasions this summer, most recently the previous Friday — yes, I am talking about the Premier of Quebec, François Legault,” Cohen wrote on his blog Aug. 6.

The councillor mused as to whether Legault should “organize a golf foursome with Mayor Mitchell Brownstein, D’Arcy McGee Liberal MNA Elisabeth Prass and Mount Royal Liberal MP Anthony Housefather.

“I am shocked the Premier even knows where Côte St. Luc is, although his Repentigny MNA and Minister for Higher Education Pascale Déry lived in our community for many years before moving to Hampstead,” Cohen humorously added.

The councillor said he was told by Meadowbrook personnel that Legault was accompanied by his family and a security detail.

“At least one family member stated that the venue was chosen specifically because it was in an English area where they would not necessarily be recognized. Perhaps Meadowbrook should start asking for certificates of English eligibility to golf? All kidding aside, Mayor Brownstein was golfing with Councillor Dida Berku and former Mayor Robert Libman. They were all quite interested to hear the Premier came to CSL. Our Mayor will indeed formally invite him to come golf with him so they can discuss the Cavendish Boulevard extension and keeping Meadowbrook as green space for eternity.”

Contacted by The Suburban to confirm their willingness to golf with Legault, Brownstein replied, “for sure.”

Berku replied, “of course and we could take him to see Cavendish at the same time,” of course, relating to the long elusive extension that appears not to be a priority for Montreal.

Premier Legault tees off at Meadowbrook Golf Course Read More »

CSL consulting public on new master plan

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Côte St. Luc is holding meetings in July, August and September in connection with its master plan for the future of the city, including the potential redevelopment of Quartier Cavendish, the CSL Shopping Centre and Décarie Square.

The news was announced by Councillor Mike Cohen at his District 2 virtual meeting and guest speaker Councillor Dida Berku. The master plan process began in 2022 with public information meetings and other meetings with stakeholders. Cohen said there will be an opportunity for developers to build a “lot of high rises” for redevelopments.

“On Wednesday, July 10 [at 7 p.m], there will be an information session about our master plan at city hall, and on Monday Aug. 12 [at 8 p.m.], all the details will be available that night, and that’s when the consultation will begin,” he explained. “It will go on until we vote on Sept. 16 on the proposed zoning.”

Berku said that the meetings “will deal with the master plan and the special planning program for the Town Centre, including Cavendish Mall, the new zoning bylaws and all the new rules that will be adopted to make way for these new developments not only in the malls, but along the commercial corridors like Westminster and Caldwell.

“We will also introduce new rules regarding home-based businesses and other changes that will make it easier for homeowners to renew the housing stock,” she added. Berku said that “there’s no such things as status quo. We have to prepare for the future and it’s best when we plan and design our future the way we want it….We cannot leave the malls the way they are. There’s no two ways about it. CSL has the same challenges as all the other cities.”

A brief power point presented by Berku described the vision of the Town Centre, which includes Trudeau Park and Cavendish Blvd. between Kildare and Mackle Roads, as a “vibrant and dynamic mixed-use area with lively and inviting public spaces and thriving commerce, which fosters community, promotes well-being and resilience and provides residents with viable housing and mobility options.”

The councillor also said that density is essential, especially in light of the housing crisis, and “if we want to increase the housing stock of all types from rental apartments to condos, from affordable to high end luxury, we will need to think about a city where we can all live and play and even work. We all know what a lively town centre looks like — families living in good housing, viable places to shop and eat and entertain yourself and you need the parks and public spaces that will allow our residents to thrive and maintain a good quality of life at a reasonable price, a fair tax rate. For that, we need more revenue. That is the winning formula.” n

CSL consulting public on new master plan Read More »

Info meet planned on ‘Hippodrome without Cavendish’

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

An information meeting will be held in the next few weeks regarding the prospect of a Hippodrome development without the Cavendish extension, Côte St. Luc councillor Dida Berku told the May council meeting. Berku said she is hoping hundreds of people attend.

Berku told The Suburban that the date and location for the meeting still has to be worked out.”The three Mayors of Côte St. Luc, Town of Mount Royal and St. Laurent will host the information session,” she added. “Suddenly, the City of Montreal is on a fast track [regarding the Hippodrome], they’ve been dragging, dragging, dragging since they filed at the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement. They announce the development on April 19, they have an information session on May 15, you have to file briefs on June 21. Suddenly, we’re on a fast track without Cavendish.”

During the question period, CSL resident Sharon Freedman, who has questioned council often on the delayed Cavendish link, said the recent alliance between, CSL, TMR and St. Laurent and business leaders to demand the link be prioritized was a pretty good idea, “but nothing much will change.You are all being outplayed by Mayor Plante. How long will this council allow themselves to continue to be disrespected and blown off by her again? It’s really time to play hardball. They need to demand that the Quebec and federal governments take over this project. The feds need to withdraw any money going to Plante. We need to withhold our agglomeration taxes,” as proposed by Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi in terms of all demerged cities withholding their respective shares.

Mayor Mitchell Brownstein challenged Freedman to suggest what the city can do to play hardball, adding that withholding the agglomeration shares for police, fire and public transit services would lead to the municipalities being placed under trusteeship by the province.

“It’s time to sue them,” Freedman suggested.The Mayor replied that he agrees with legal action, but that according to legal opinions received by the city, municipalities “don’t necessarily have the right to sue.It would have to be you (residents) who would sue them,” he added. “The residents, in my opinion, have the right because they pay the taxes to the agglo, and you’re the ones who are not able to get in and out of the city. Maybe residents like you can all get together, or the business alliance.” n

Info meet planned on ‘Hippodrome without Cavendish’ Read More »

Zoubris:”Cavendish has to be a priority”

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By Joel Goldenberg and Beryl Wajsman,Editor
The Suburban

Jimmy Zoubris, Mayor Valérie Plante’s special counsel, responded Sunday on CJAD’s The Suburban Radio Hour to questions from The Suburban’s editor-in-chief Beryl Wajsman on the long-delayed plan to build a “city within a city” in the Hippodrome area and the plan’s lack of a Cavendish link from Côte St. Luc northward.

CSL Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and councillor Dida Berku told The Suburban last week that the extension is left out completely from the plan, even though a link was a condition of the sale of the land from Quebec to Montreal for $1.

Wajsman pointed out that without a west of Décarie access and egress, horrible traffic congestion will continue and intensify when the Hippodrome project is completed and, even sooner, when the Royalmount megamall is completed late this summer. There are also plans for a redevelopment of Décarie Square, which is in close proximity to the Hippodrome site; a 268-unit rental project is currently being built at Décarie and De La Savane, and a new commercial-residential building has been completed at the Westbury development. “There’s a feeling that what the west end is concerned about doesn’t necessarily get the attention of city hall — what about the Cavendish link?” Wajsman asked.

Zoubris replied that the city is moving quickly, calling the site of the former Blue Bonnets raceway “not only one of the last big untouched sites in the City of Montreal, but it’s also very important for the development of that area. “When the Mayor and my colleagues mentioned that we’re going through with this project, she did mention Cavendish, she did say for us, it’s necessary that Cavendish be done as well. But we can’t stop the whole progress of the area to complete Cavendish, which is a very difficult project.”

Zoubris said the first phase of the Hippodrome project could involve Cavendish going to Jean Talon because it does not require BAPE approval. “There are many factors involved in [the extension], including dealing with the rail company (CP), which has never been easy. People have been talking about Cavendish for as long as I can remember.” Wajsman insisted, especially in light of the Royalmount project, that the Cavendish link is needed to ease traffic, and that all the municipalities involved — CSL, TMR and St. Laurent — want the extension done. Zoubris said many options are being considered, and added that Montreal has worked with TMR to alleviate traffic around the Royalmount site, including the new pedestrian bridge over Décarie north of the Royalmount-De La Savane overpass.”For us, [Cavendish] is a priority, people are working on this, it hasn’t been left behind.”

Does the city understand the Cavendish link is important to ease traffic and would make the Hippodrome project a viable one? Zoubris replied that with the planned amount of houses and existing and future businesses on Décarie, Cavendish “has to be a priority, something we have to work on all together, which I think we are as much as possible with the [island-wide agglomeration] and different levels. There’s a lot of factors and it’s a very technical thing.”

Wajsman emphasized that it is important for a political leader to speak about doing the link.”Can we hope to hear the Mayor say more on the subject as time goes on?”Zoubris replied that much will be heard about the link. “I expect there’s going to be a lot of announcements in the next while concerning development in the area. It was the first time in a long time where everyone was at the table — federal, provincial, municipal — and even the committee we created with some of the major players from the city of Montreal.”

Wajsman said some of thse major players are frustrated they are not hearing more on Cavendish.”What I’m hoping to see in the coming weeks and months is that the Mayor will underscore this, because the words of the highest elected official in the city count.” n

Zoubris:”Cavendish has to be a priority” Read More »

City ignores Cavendish link in Hippodrome plan

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By Joel Goldenberg and Joel Ceausu


The Suburban

Côte St. Luc councillor Dida Berku is accusing the City of Montreal of intentionally leaving out any link between the Hippodrome development and Cavendish Blvd. in CSL as part of the Hippodrome plan, even as Plante said a connection between Cavendish in CSL and Jean Talon is a priority as part of the development.

“It’s what we’ve been saying for the past 20 years — it’s a missing link,” Berku told The Suburban as she was looking at the master plan map. “There’s 118 pages of maps, drawing and schematics and pictures of tramways, and nowhere does it connect to Cavendish. It says it will, eventually, but there’s no plan, no indication of what it will look like.”Berku says this is contrary to Montreal’s 2022 plan “which had a clear connection from Cavendish to the Jean Talon area, and it’s not in this plan. It stops in CDN-NDG.

“They have deliberately, intentionally omitted it. Why? This is the mystery of the decade! In our view, the only way to develop this whole area, including the Hippodrome, is to open Cavendish first. Not just to decongest, but to provide the necessary access and egress from a security perspective. How can you have a dead end?!”

Mayor Mitchell Brownstein said that he brought up the Cavendish extension at last week’s agglomeration meeting, and also asked why the Cavendish environmental study is not moving forward.”The City claimed the route of an eventual extension is complicated by Hydro-Québec servitudes, however that is false. CSL has a letter from Hydro-Québec stating that the proposed route has no impact on its servitudes. Montreal’s fact-free response has convinced me it is acting in bad faith and continues to ignore its obligation to build the Cavendish extension project which was a condition by the province when it ceded the Hippodrome land to the City of Montreal for $1. CSL and its partners must move forward to enforce the contractual agreement which may very well require legal action.”

The city’s Hippodrome plan excluding Cavendish has come about a decade late and eight months after it was last promised. Billed as a “city within a city,” the Plante administration’s Master Plan for the Namur-Hippodrome sector lays the foundation for a massive urban development project in the Snowdon district of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

The city’s plan envisions some 20,000 new homes to accommodate a potential population of up to 40,000 people, half of which will be on the site of the old racetrack, and the city says it will shelter about half of the units from speculation. The future eco-district will include housing intended for low- or moderate-income households, with some half of those racetrack-slated units for affordable housing.

The three-phase plan for a carbon-neutral sector that traverses a newly covered portion of Décarie, also includes plans for a tramway along a newly developed Jean Talon, some 14 hectares of new parks and public squares, and a central park and green belt with “massive planting of trees and plants.” The city is promising sports, community and cultural facilities, local services, schools and employment areas.

The plan requires more than $1 billion in infrastructure investment, and there are millions already slated for preliminary studies for different elements like the tramway. Jean Talon will be extended to Cavendish, but there is no specific mention of plans for the Cavendish extension.

Mayor Plante said that, “by being the owner and developer of this land, we are seizing this opportunity of the century to make this new district a showcase of Montreal’s ambitions, particularly in terms of innovation, inclusion and citizen participation.”The Master Plan will be subject to a final public consultation next month, with final adoption expected later this year. The city says the project will be completed in “accelerated mode,” targeting a 10-year infrastructure completion schedule, and will be ready to issue first construction permits next year.

Saint-Laurent Mayor and Official Opposition Critic for infrastructure Alan DeSousa says the potential development of the Hippodrome owes much to the dedication of community and philanthropic organizations, “particularly through the GALOPH (Hippodrome Project Acceleration Committee). However, uncertainties persist due to the absence of a clear strategy to attract developers and build 10,000 affordable housing units.”

He called the project’s realization “merely a conceptual goal for now,” noting cost estimates are lacking, “and the decision to prioritize the announcement of a tramway project while remaining silent on the Cavendish extension underscores a lack of decisive leadership by the Plante administration after seven years of inaction.” n

City ignores Cavendish link in Hippodrome plan Read More »

CSL residents demand action on potential renovictions

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The March Côte St. Luc council meeting was nearly filled to capacity, mostly with tenants from 5755, 5765 and 5775 Sir Walter Scott and 6565 and 6575 Kildare Road who are concerned about their mysterious new owners.

Councillor Mike Cohen wrote on his www.mikecohen.ca blog that the five residential buildings were recently sold by CLV Group for $40 million to new ownership, listed as Immeubles Galleons S.E.C., located in Laval.

“It is unclear who actually heads this enterprise,” the councillor added. “One name kept coming up; a developer I have worked with in my day job. When I reached him he insisted that he was originally a prospective buyer. ‘I flipped the offer to another investor prior to closing,’ he said.” Cohen confirmed to The Suburban that the developer he was referring to was Henry Zavriyev, a well-known owner of numerous properties in Montreal.

Cohen also said the tenants fear the new owners will proceed with renovictions — evicting tenants to renovate units. This prompted many of the tenants to attend the council meeting.

Kildare resident Alexander Errore told council that in the three weeks following the change of ownership, dramatic changes have taken place for the tenants, such as “confusing and inaccurate information via memos posted in hallways. Emails and calls regarding rent payment, emergency contacts and service to two private cell phone numbers provided have been sporadically answered or not answered at all.”

Errore said that two onsite building managers, identified as Mr. Avi and Mr. David, “have been knocking on doors, attempting to get tenants to vacate their apartments with offers and manipulation instead of concentrating on properly transitioning from the former owners.”

The resident alleged that the two men are employed by Zavriyev, “who the media has dubbed the ‘king of renovictions.’

“His battles with seniors residences and apartment buildings are well documented in the media over the last several years. We have already created an informal tenants association and have received legal consultation.” The Suburban has contacted Zavriyev and we await his reply.

Errore added that “we are not convinced that the City of Côte St. Luc wants the next well-publicized battle against renovictions to happen within their quarters.

“Other than the amendment to the construction permits regarding renovictions, is CSL planning any other safeguards against the practice of renovictions?”

Errore was referring to a bylaw amendment passed by CSL late last year, saying “prior to the issuance of a permit for major works that require evacuation, written documentation must be provided demonstrating the fact the tenants have agreed, in writing, to either temporally relocate or voluntarily vacate their dwellings during the work. Tenants who have agreed to temporarily relocate must have been presented with a clear expected timeline for their return. The contact information of each affected tenant must be provided.” The bylaw also says “the building permit shall become null and void if any documentation or information provided during the permit application process is found to be misleading, untruthful, or inaccurate.”

Deputy Mayor Dida Berku, who was a longtime tenants lawyer, said she has “lived through this experience with many other tenants associations” in other areas of the city.

“We’re very sensitive to this issue, we understand the dynamics. But there’s a role for the courts and the Rental Board, and there’s a role for the city. The city applies bylaws in a fair and regulated fashion. We are not going to intervene in relations between landlords and tenants. You as tenants have to protect and fight for your rights. I understand you have a tenants association and you hired a lawyer, and that’s what you need to do.”

Cohen said the residents did not come to the meeting “in vain. I am sure that, whoever the owners are, they’re going to be well aware of the fact that, unlike other buildings where people have woken up when it’s too late, you have woken up before anything has officially started….We’re going to do everything in our power to back you up, and if that means sending our building inspector over there on a weekly basis, because there’s a problem, we’ll do it.”

Other residents called on CSL to take some type of action, but Berku reiterated that they should mobilize. n

CSL residents demand action on potential renovictions Read More »

CSL’s Berku urges participation in Living Lab project

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Côte St. Luc councillor Dida Berku made an appeal for vulnerable and isolated older adults to take part in the The Living Lab of the City of Côte Saint-Luc,” a Smart Homes program done in collaboration with the CIUSS West-Central Montreal healthcare network.

“This project is to try to help seniors living alone to monitor their daily pattern and see if they’re okay, and to, with technology, let people know — family, friends, our organizations — if something seems amiss, the right people can come to help them, not only for medical purposes but to improve their quality of life on a daily basis,” CSL Mayor Mitchell Brownstein explained at the project’s 2022 launch. Berku pointed out that this is the last year of the subsidized project.

“I’m addressing this to everyone out there and any person who knows someone who can benefit from this,” she said. “If you live alone and have your routine, if you’re willing to try something new, the Living Lab project may be for you. Over the next six months, we’ll be installing smart sensors inside the homes and apartments of seniors. You can install it on your front door, on your stove or wherever you choose.”

The councillor said the motion sensors will detect when there is a break in the resident’s daily routine, and that they are not cameras.

“If you don’t open the fridge in 24 hours or leave your bedroom or apartment over a period of days, the sensors will send out an alert to the person of your choice — it could be a family member living near or far, a neighbour or even your doctor or pharmacist.”

Berku said people are being signed up now to participate.

“If you or your family are interested, please contact me at dberku@cotesaintluc.org or call city hall and leave a message for me. We’re looking for all types of candidates.”

CSL’s Berku urges participation in Living Lab project Read More »

Court of Appeal rejects CSL bid to dismiss Meadowbrook case

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By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Quebec Court of Appeal Judge Benoît Moore has upheld a December 2023 Quebec Superior Court decision to reject the City of Côte St. Luc’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit against them by the owners of the Meadowbrook Golf Course. CSL will, instead, have to argue the case on the merits.

Meadowbrook Groupe Pacifique and the site’s previous owner have wanted to develop the golf course, which is located in Côte St. Luc and the City of Montreal borough of Lachine, for housing for decades. Legal actions have been taken by Meadowbrook contesting Montreal’s refusal to enable the course to be developed. Legal action was also taken in 2002, against CSL’s rezoning in 2000 of its part of the land from residential to recreational, which Meadowbrook’s owner calls a “disguised expropriation.”

In 2022, as reported by The Suburban, Quebec Superior Court Judge Babak Barin rejected two June 2021 bids by Montreal and Côte St. Luc to dismiss then-new legal action against them by Meadowbrook Groupe Pacific. There were previous amendments to the original case by MGP.

Last November, Councillor Dida Berku introduced a resolution at council calling on the firm of Belanger Sauvé to file a motion to dismiss the case. She told The Suburban that “our attorney uncovered [a technical irregularity], that they declare one owner to be the owner of the Lachine side, and another owner to be the owner of the Côte St. Luc side.”

Berku provided an update at the Feb. 12 council meeting, saying the longstanding case is continuing.

“There’s no end to it,” she added. “It’s another motion in the saga of who is the real owner of the golf course. We will soon find out the result of that.”

Two days later, the Court of Appeal made its decision to uphold the Superior Court’s rejection of CSL’s motion to dismiss the golf course owner’s case.

Asked about the latest decision, Berku explained to The Suburban Feb. 22 that there is one plaintiff in the CSL case, and another in the case against Montreal.

The owner “says it’s the same company and our lawyer’s position was that you can’t have the owner on title suing in one case and then the owner who’s not on title, but who has a counter-letter, suing in the other case.

“Basically, the court said it’s a legal issue that can be debated at trial. So we will do that.” n

Court of Appeal rejects CSL bid to dismiss Meadowbrook case Read More »

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