Joel Ceausu

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

The borough of Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce put the paint cart before the backhoe horse last month, the administration acknowledged, after being called out by resident Steven Jass, who came back to council to follow up on his infamous “stupid yellow lines down Sherbrooke” issue.

As reported in The Suburban in September, the centre lines and hashmarks reduced two unofficial lanes on each side to one clear lane apiece. Until 4-5 years ago, one wide lane allowed cars to drive side-by-side, but in some places there was not enough space, creating a dangerous situation, said the borough.

As a result, says Jass, he has been sideswiped, had his mirrors knocked off and generally says the borough created a problem where there wasn’t one before. “I thought this year you would all come to your senses because those lines were not repainted in April, in May, in June, in July, or August, and that hopefully everything would return to the way it was before Covid. But you repeated that same folly.”

That’s what prompted Jass’s first inquiry, but a week after the borough began tearing up much of Sherbrooke. “What was the point of painting all that and to create two separate yellow lines and hundreds of diagonal dash marks if you were just going to tear it up two weeks later?”

Borough Mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa asked borough director Stéphane Plante, who stated it was a repaving operation, Katahwa confirming with him that it was the Rosemont borough workshop responsible for road marking. “So what happened, probably.” explained Katahwa, stifling a chuckle, “is that there’s a service that paints everything in Montreal, like on the ground.” That crew painted Sherbrooke last month “and then a couple of weeks later there was work that was done. I agree with you it’s not really optimal. But you know we need to make sure that we coordinate better those type of works.”

That elicited groans and head shakes from some audience members as Jass insisted the paint lines shove traffic against parked cars, asking NDG councillor Peter McQueen and Loyola’s Despina Sourias if they agreed with this “very dangerous situation for cyclists, pedestrians, drivers passengers, and all this unnecessary, artificial congestion and pollution.”

“I don’t think the situation is perfect and can lead to some ambiguity,” McQueen replied, reiterating that there was barely enough room for two cars to pass each other, and reminded council that the reserved bus lane installed about seven years ago took more space than a simple parking lane, pushing out towards the middle. He added that the lines and hash marks can serve as a pausing spot for pedestrians and cyclists when needed. “I’m not saying every pedestrian should pause, I’m just saying one can pause in the middle, and I think that helps a little bit.”

He said while he’d like to see a bike lane on Sherbrooke, it’s a tricky situation with a bus lane and a parking lane in use some hours of the day, and cyclists have other options with a bike lane one block south on De Maisonneuve and just north on Côte Saint-Antoine and NDG Avenue.

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

Côte-des-Neiges is on the reading list at the 46th Salon du livre de Montréal next month, as the third edition of the Quartier invité project at Montreal’s annual literary festival marks the 325th anniversary of the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood with a kiosk celebrating creators who have lived there or been inspired by it, with a space dedicated to the neighbourhood’s history.

“In its 325 years of existence, Côte-des-Neiges has been home to a diverse range of literary voices and talent that deserve to be recognized,” said Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Borough Mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa after the recent announcement.

“The Salon du livre de Montréal is pleased to shine a spotlight on the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood for its 2023 edition,” said director Olivier Gougeon. “This collaboration is another step in our commitment to connect with Montreal neighbourhoods and to share the diversity and richness of their artistic and literary voices.”

The SLM will take place in three components: the Salon at the Palais des congrès de Montréal will be held November 22-26; the Salon dans la ville and Salon en ligne will return on November 10.

For information visit https://www.salondulivredemont…

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

A motion by CDN-NDG borough’s opposition asking the Plante administration to study impacts on surrounding neighbourhoods and residents of its $90 million-plus plan to shut half of Mount Royal to car traffic, led to a vote to withdraw it – by its original proponent – amid a fiery exchange at last week’s council meeting.

Darlington’s Stephanie Valenzuela told council that after the 2018 pilot project closing vehicle access to Mount Royal, “we saw the surrounding streets have more traffic,” referring to small streets in Côte des Neiges. “There are so many things we need to take into consideration, and that’s why the main thing we were asking for was a study showing us exactly what these effects are so that we can prepare ourselves.”

Her motion was amended by the administration, replacing the study request with a pledge to “collaborate” with the city centre, a change so substantial, said Valenzuela, that she voted to withdraw it, albeit unsuccessfully. “The Projet Montréal administration used their majority to completely strip away the essence of what we proposed.”

CDN councillor Magda Popeanu was absent from the meeting, as well as the earlier session when the borough budget was adopted. Mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa’s tie-breaking vote kept alive the amended motion, which also dropped a demand that the city centre foot the bill for studies and improvements, instead asking the city to cover costs on arterial roads only, as well as removing language about the Office de consultation publique de Montréal recommendation to keep Camillien Houde-Remembrance open.

Katahwa said the city already knows where the problems are and its engineers have studied the issue. “We are no longer at the time of studies, we are really at the time of action… We did not wait for Ensemble Montréal to do it,” adding, the borough informed the centre city “of the need for geometric redevelopment, to add links between active transportation that would be necessary around the mountain.”

Like the amended motion, Katahwa, who also serves on the STM board of directors, said that local bus service will not only be maintained, but increased and improved.

Valenzuela demurred. “A request for ‘collaboration’ with the city centre doesn’t give us concrete studies that we can follow in terms of changes that will take place in our borough, and in Outremont,” noting more than 8,000 cars daily using the mountain as a transit route will use other roads that already have significant numbers of people walking, crossing streets, and riding bicycles. “As responsible elected officials we need to ensure everything is done to make sure we have the proper infrastructures in place.”

Snowdon councillor Sonny Moroz scoffed at collaboration “‘to carry out safety interventions at major intersections and to improve cycling infrastructure around the mountain.’ Just in case you’re not perfect and you haven’t thought about everything,” he lambasted Katahwa, “maybe also think about pedestrians, people with reduced mobility, because it’s not written in your amended motion.” He said residents of Ridgewood, Forest Hill and Rockhill neighbourhoods will be significantly impacted, including seniors, youth, students, and people with reduced mobility “who need access over the mountain, and not an alternative route on Côte Ste. Catherine or Pine… they have a life on the other side of the mountain that you cut without consultation.”

Still critiquing the mayor, Moroz corrected himself: “No, sorry! There was a consultation, the biggest consultation in the history of Montreal, whose first recommendation was to keep access open for everyone. But you’re keeping your head down, you’re looking at your notes for a solution. You don’t have any solution to this problem there, because you haven’t looked at the recommendations inside the OCPM report.” n

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

Côte-des-Neiges – Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is dropping the speed limit on arterial roads near schools.

Although most school zones located on the local network and some secondary arterial roads in the district already had a speed limit of 30 km/h, others, located on the major arterial network did not have a 30km/h limit. Following the announcement of Transports Quebec’s 2023-2028 Road Safety Action Plan,

The move standardizes all school zones by implementing a speed limit of 30 km/h to ensure the following locations are subject to a speed limit reduction from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, from September to June:

– Greaves Adventist School: de Maisonneuve Ouest between Benny Crescent and West Hill;

– École Saint-Luc: Côte-St-Luc between West Hill and Kensington;

– Marymount School: Côte-St-Luc between Décarie and Bonavista;

– Yaldei School: Van Horne between Mountain Sights and Westbury;

– College Notre-Dame and College Marie-de-France International: Queen-Mary between

Roslyn and 3739 Queen-Mary;

– Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf: Decelles between Côte-Sainte-Catherine and Édouard-Montpetit; Côte-Sainte-Catherine, between Decelles and 3175 Côte-Sainte-Catherine;

– Saint-Monica School: Cavendish between Terrebonne and Duncan.

Signs will be installed by the services of Rosemont/Petite-Patrie borough at a yet to be determined date.

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

The booms of cannons thundered through the blue skies above Notre Dame de Grâce Park Sunday afternoon, as Remembrance Day was commemorated at Place de Vimy in NDG before the national ceremony happens later this week.

The lush green park was filled with veterans of multiple wars, young cadets, and active service men and women, as kids and families took a break from the playground and playing field, passers-by and residents gathered around the Place de Vimy monument. The square was dedicated in 2017 as a tribute to Canadian soldiers fighting at Vimy Ridge during the First World War. That battle 100 years earlier took the lives of more than 3500 Canadian soldiers and left thousands of others wounded.

As a choir practiced in the midday sunshine and a troop of young cadets prepared for their very first public drill, men and women, young and old, stood proudly in sharp uniforms, sporting badges, medals, ribbons and countenances that serve as testimonies to lives of purpose and service.

As the waning notes of a bagpiper’s tune echoed in the park, Rev. Joel Coppieters of the Cote des Neiges Presbyterian Church welcomed the crowd to the “Monument of the Brave,” and spoke of the sacrifice of generations of Canadians who answered the call, and the ultimate need of giving for peace and justice’s sake, even if there is “no fairy tale ending.”

“Even today, Canadians enlist with our armed forces and sacrifice themselves to defend the country and the values that unite us” said CDN-NDG Borough Mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa. “Remembrance Day belongs to all our sisters and brothers who sacrificed their lives for a most noble cause, ensuring freedom and equality for all.” As we remember and honour our heroes said Katahwa, “it is also essential that we reflect on the state of the world today… The light and sacrifice of souls honored today remind us all that we should never lose sight of this noble goal.”

Pam McEntee wants to ensure that “we remind people of the culture of service.” The NDG Legion vp told The Suburban “It’s about the importance of the Forces, not just at wartime but when there are disasters, when communities need help, and when they are called to deploy at the front of any challenge. We all need to remember that when our veterans and current service members are encountered in the community and in the streets.”

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

Terrebonne is getting a makeover.

After a failed attempt in 2020, the borough of Côte des Neiges–Notre-Dame de Grâce is trying again, this time offering what is says is an “improved plan” following a year-long mobility study completed last month.

The main objective of the redesign project is to make travel safer for cyclists by creating a protected bike lane in both directions along the entire 2.4 km of road while calming traffic along the artery.

The scenario proposes making Terrebonne one-way east between Cavendish and Girouard, and one-way west between Cavendish and Belmore. A parking lane will be maintained but with a reduction of 64% of the current 478 parking spaces, and clearances and other measures will be added at intersections.

School drop-off areas will be protected using signage, street furniture, planters and bollards. The plan requires the installation of 200 signs, 350 bollards, eight large planters and thousands of linear metres of street markings and would be completed next year.

Les services EXP Inc. analyzed the area and offered three proposed designs, and the results of the comprehensive 350-page study will be explained in detail during an information session on Thursday, November 30.

The study is available, in French, at https://portail-m4s.s3.montrea… n

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

Following the terrorist attacks which occurred in Israel during the weekend of October 7, Quebec’s largest school board is extending condolences to the families who lost loved ones.

“What we saw happening in Israel was horrifying and shocking,” stated the English Montreal School Board Chair Joe Ortona. “On behalf of the EMSB Council of Commissioners, I pray for all the victims and we can only hope that any hostages are found soon and return home safely. Deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime and is never justified.”

The EMSB has lowered flags at all of its buildings to half-mast.

These attacks can trigger a range of emotions, anxiety and, especially for younger students, lots of questions and confusion, said Ortona, adding some students and staff may need extra support “in the days and weeks ahead as they witness terrible images of war and atrocities in the media… The Board’s Student Services Department has provided documentation to each school containing strategies and resources that can be used to discuss this tragedy in classrooms where appropriate and necessary.

“The EMSB has students and staff of all faiths and a zero tolerance for any acts of hatred and racism. We always ensure that our schools are inclusive spaces where everyone, whatever their race, whatever their religion, is welcome and feels safe.”

Just last week the EMSB adopted a resolution calling on the Quebec government to make Holocaust education a mandatory part of the curriculum. For a number of years, EMSB schools have been visiting the Montreal Holocaust Museum to learn more about genocide, activities that will continue next week when students from John F. Kennedy High School spend a morning there.

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

The borough of Villeray-St. Michel-Parc Extension voted in its 2024 budget and capital expenditures program Tuesday night, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone more than a few folks inside the council chamber – or out – who gave a whit. Instead, the 40 people gathered inside were hearing more than 200 people chanting and waving placards outside borough hall, to talk parking spaces and bike paths.

Before council, the streets around borough hall and Parc Métro station thundered with alternating chants of “On veut stationnement!” and a smaller group chanting “On veut pistes cyclabes!” under the watchful eye of some 30 Montreal police officers and borough security. One speaker shouted “Hey les gars, the Plateau is over there!” eliciting boos and laughter, including from many of the police officers on site.

Road sharing in Montreal always makes for lively debate, but a project to add bike paths and remove parking in Parc Extension has prompted protests, chaotic council meetings and now legal action.

The plan eliminates some 250 local spaces, notably on northbound Querbes between Ogilvy and Crémazie. “It’s unrealistic,” said Parc Ex councillor Mary Deros. “We have many families who don’t bike. We have six elementary schools, parents driving their kids, school buses and when winter and snow removal begins it will be more difficult. They need parking.”

Meanwhile, a group of residents and merchants is pursuing legal action against the city and Villeray-St. Michel-Parc Extension over not receiving “proper public consultation” and being denied access to impact assessment studies, according to the Coalition for Democracy Park Extension who will challenge the plan’s legality and seek to block it pending a ruling, claiming the administration violated Montreal’s Charter of Rights and Responsibilities.

It’s true the Querbes plan only had an information session, Borough Mayor Laurence Lavigne Lalonde told The Suburban, but its existing infrastructure needed improvements. She says formal and informal meetings with citizens analyzed particular cases, “such as needs for people with mobility limitations and merchants with delivery and logistical needs” and many of those adjustments have been made or are in the process of being implemented.

Indeed, while far outnumbered at council, several people supportive of the paths denounced what they say was inadequate, unsafe cycling infrastructure in the borough for years, slamming prior administrations for inaction and thanking the mayor for making it safer for them and their children to use the roadway.

Single mother Catherine Dion Richard had a different view, pleading with council for an alternative, sharing that the timely ability for her to transport her kids to school and daycare in another neighbourhood is hampered by the lack of parking, and may jeopardize her ability to care for her children and remain employed. Another spoke of coming home from shiftwork in the middle of the night and having to walk long distances from her car. Still others spoke about how their businesses will be impacted.

The debate has become increasingly inflamed, and often couched in terms of out-of-borough activists imposing a political agenda on a multicultural working-class community. Terms like white privilege and racism, and gentrification were tossed around outside where the optics were apparent: locals protesting the move comprised of a mix of old and young, a diverse palette of faces, cultures, traditional garb and languages; the able-bodied and those with walkers and wheelchairs; the Park Ex familiar to most. Their opponents on bicycles seemed a far more homogeneous crowd.

There are dozens of impacts, says opposition councillor Deros, but her biggest concern is “no study was made,” and maintains the plan was conceived and executed based on a Vélo Québec study. “When I was given a presentation, it was a done deal, all last-minute. No one thought of asking citizens.” Having lived here since 1970 and been a councillor for the last 20 years, “I know this district inside and out, and no one asked me?”

She says the removal of parking for people living here for so long was like “having an acquired right that is being taken away.” She said Lalonde lacked empathy when telling concerned residents it is not the city’s responsibility to find parking for each car, and suggested her Projet Montréal council colleagues read the city charter “from time to time.” Lalonde countered that there is not a single charter infraction, “none,” adding, “I’m not lacking empathy. I just believe in telling people the truth.” n

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

The province’s largest school board has adopted a resolution calling for the Quebec government to make Holocaust education compulsory in elementary and high schools.

The English Montreal School Board says the province of Ontario introduced mandatory Holocaust learning for the first time in elementary schools this fall, and repeated studies across jurisdictions demonstrate that when Holocaust education is provided, hate crimes and incidents against Jews decrease significantly, along with those targeting other racial and religious minorities.

The EMSB cites B’nai Brith Canada’s figures which documented 722 antisemitic incidents in Quebec last year. The board meanwhile has initiated its own Holocaust Education Program, including guest speakers and visits to the Montreal Holocaust Museum and says the current public high school History curriculum offers opportunities to discuss the Holocaust.

“As Holocaust survivors age and pass away,” reads the motion, “it is more important than ever that the education system play an increasingly important role.”

The motion, passed unanimously, asks Quebec’s education ministry “to make Holocaust education compulsory in elementary and high schools and that the Ministry consults the Ontario curriculum and mandate the Conseil Supérieur de l’Éducation and other stakeholders to determine how best to introduce this new curriculum and ensure teacher training.”

The motion refers to the pedagogical guide produced by the Montreal-based Foundation for Genocide Education, which could give Quebec teachers access to the educational tool to support them in a sometimes difficult and challenging task of studying genocides in the classroom.

As reported in The Suburban last week, Montreal city councillor Sonny Moroz is urging the borough of Cote des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grace to adopt a similar resolution and will press for Montreal city council to follow suit.

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

Snowdon resident Katie never liked seeing trash around the neighborhood but didn’t realize how bad it was until she got a dog almost two years ago. “When you walk your dog, you spend more time looking down,” she told The Suburban. “You have more time to notice.”

“It began to upset me more,” she recalls. “Rather than looking up at the nice sky, you’re looking down and seeing garbage.” She began stopping to pluck trash off the ground. “It’s easy to do, like pick up a bottle. I know I’m going to the garbage with the dog bag anyway so on my way I’ll pick up things that are easy to gather. Then I realized it’s too much and I’m not seeing the results.”

Toting gloves and bags, she collected more, particularly between Isabella and Côte St-Luc Road, to compare hauls and measure her contribution. A bread bag per walk, per day. For a year. That’s a lot of trash.

“I’d like to say Earnscliffe is Montreal’s cleanest street,” she laughs, “but it’s not true because it’s a never-ending job.”

She’s only seen litterbugs in action twice: a man emptying his car, another tossing garbage on the ground. Her trash bounty mostly includes leftovers from waste pick-up, candy wrappers, tissue, coffee cups, bottles and cigarette packaging. “There are less masks now,” she says, “and cigarette butts are a tragedy that I don’t pick up because it’s too much.”

She’s more disappointed than angry, and doesn’t feel taxpayer-funded services are insufficient. “There is the city’s brigade de propreté but it’s more that people are not careful.” Montreal’s brigade de propreté actually targets commercial areas of arterial streets like Sherbrooke, Côte des Neiges, Queen Mary and Décarie, from approximately mid-April to November.

Snowdon councillor Sonny Moroz wants more modest-sized bins at the same locations. Too large he says, and people dump personal garbage; too small and they fill up fast so people chuck garbage elsewhere. Multiple bins at one location can handle overflow. “The city can collect more garbage without making more visits.”

He tells residents to report issues to 311 and forward reference numbers to the city councillor to escalate when urgent or if issues persist.” The Montréal – Resident Services app can also help, auto-producing and emailing you a reference number. “Whenever anyone tells me about an issue I go on the app and make the request immediately. I ask them to do as well, multiple requests to the same issue escalates the importance.”

The increase in local trash could also be due to people thinking one little scrap doesn’t matter; but when 200 think the same way, you end up with a pigsty, Katie agrees. “You know Monkland is very nice, it’s very clean, but Queen Mary is extremely dirty. Why is that?”

Moroz says Monkland’s local business association ensures a certain level of cleanliness, adding the borough recently warned Queen Mary merchants “that they would be sending more inspectors and issuing more tickets, but I don’t think I’ve seen it any cleaner now than in previous years. At the same time, we reduced commercial garbage collection from two days to one, and now we are asking businesses to compost.”

On her walk, Katie says she’ll keep doing her part. “Maybe I’ll pick up more when I retire,” she laughs. “It would be nice for our community to realize a small effort on their part could make a real difference for the cleanliness of our neighbourhood.”