: Joel Goldenberg

Hampstead’s ‘Pigeon dans la parc’ enters second year

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / September 10, 2025 / : Joel Goldenberg, Hampstead Park, Zera Café

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

‘Pigeon dans la parc’ powered by Zera Café held a summer kick-off party at its Adessky Community Centre at Hampstead Park locale recently to mark its first complete year of operation and to look forward to its second year.

The event included free sweets and lemonade, music from an excellent Spotify playlist of 1960s and 1970s hits, balloons and face painting. Zera is the Hebrew word for “seed,” and reflects the social enterprise’s’s goal, “that people can grow and flourish when they are nurtured and included.”

The coffee shop, which has been housed rent free at the community centre, is a not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to providing employment opportunities for neurodivergent adults, including those on the autism spectrum and those with severe ADHD. The establishment operates in partnership with Pigeon Café and the Town of Hampstead.

Alissa Anzerut, director of operations at Zera Café, told The Suburban that the café is “expanding into year 2, teaching our staff more skills and having more opportunities for meaningful employment.”

Eve Rochman, founder and director of the Zéra Café, says “it was quite the year.

“We’re proud of the fact that, this year, our employees are making sandwiches and salads right here, so we’re expanding the skill set that we’re teaching them. We upgraded our Zera Café headquarters [at 5151 Côte Ste. Catherine] during the year, there’s been a lot of changes there, too.

Rochman added that “one of the most exciting things that came out of our project last year is that Pigeon Café is now selling our products that we had exclusively at this branch, it’s a big deal and we’re trying to figure out how to do it successfully. Not only did people in the community appreciate having a local café to come to during the summer, but we now have offshoots that we’re really proud of.

“We’re finding ways to create even more employment opportunities.”

Rochman says the goal for the second year is to do even more, “create new projects.

“We’re really out of space and we’re looking at ways to find space and be able to do more. It’s more than growth, it’s about a new job approach this year and making sure that we are maximizing what we do with our employees in terms of their development and growth. We’re supporting them in the best way possible. Hopefully, they’ll be able to carry their new skills to other areas of their lives.”

Sabrina Taran, executive director of Zera Café, said that in the first year, the café was only able to operate with a grant, “and this year we’re doing it fully on our own.

“We have more neurodiverse staff working here because we’re able to bring some of our regular kitchen staff to get more hours and different experience working in a public facing role here.”

Some of the other Zera Café highlights in the past year have included growth from eight employees in 2022 to 20 in 2024 and a projected 24 this year; sales dollars increased from $90,000 in 2021 to a projected $400,000 this year; having 15 community partners, donated 200 meals to families in need and now having 50 dedicated volunteers.

Jonathan Dresner, owner of Pigeon Café, was on hand as well to join in the celebration at Hampstead Park.

“I just feel joy, I’m super happy for them and I hope they continue with such a nice team,” he told The Suburban.

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Quartier Cavendish taking action after complaint about locked door

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / September 4, 2025 / : Joel Goldenberg, Mandevco, Quartier Cavendish

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The Suburban has been told by Mandevco, owner of Quartier Cavendish, that it will make changes to its exit door near the IGA supermarket following a complaint that it was locked at night.

A text message was sent to CSL Mayor Mitchell Brownstein, by a visitor who had seen a movie at the CineStarz theatre. Brownstein says he and the city never received such a message, and that he was first hearing of this issue from The Suburban.

The texter not only says that the doors near IGA were locked, but did not have an “emergency exit push bar.” “Had there been a fire, we would have all perished,” the text says. “Very not cool.”

Despite there being some emergency exits on that side of the mall, They were not well identified and could be impossible to reach depending on the situation.

When The Suburban received a copy of the text, it contacted Mandevco.

Mandevco has now told The Suburban that it agreed to look into the issue after it was brought to its attention and has ordered parts to create a safety bar for the exit near the IGA, so that it could become an emergency exit. n

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Rotrand’s United Against Hate calls for Montreal ‘bubble law’

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / August 6, 2025 / : Joel Goldenberg, Mayor Christina Smith, Neil Oberman

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The United Against Hate organization is calling on Montreal mayoral candidates and demerged island municipalities to commit to passing “bubble legislation,” to create a safe zone around local institutions.

For many months, lawyer Neil Oberman has been successfully obtaining injunctions to protect Jewish institutions, by keeping anti-Israel protesters a far distance away from the buildings involved.

Inspired by and built on Oberman’s injunctions, Côte St. Luc and Hampstead councils passed bylaws in April 2024 designating where protests can take place — Hampstead’s says 100 metres from institutions, CSL’s says 50 metres.

In Westmount, as reported by The Suburban, Mayor Christina Smith late last year asked Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel to intervene to quash anti-Israel protests that have occurred weekly “blocking residential streets, causing noise, letting off smoke bombs and not allowing entry nor exit for residents in their own homes.”

United Against Hate Director General Marvin Rotrand told The Suburban that his organization’s call for a bubble law “was one of our 18 recommendations to the Quebec regional meeting of the National Forum to Combat Antisemitism.”

The United Against Hate recommendations related to bubble legislation were that “mayoralty candidates be asked to commit to the adoption by the City of Montreal of such a bylaw to protect vulnerable institutions and faith-based schools.

“We also urge [demerged] municipalities within the agglomeration to adopt similar bylaws for their territory.”

Rotrand added that last week, “our board approved a national campaign to urge municipalities to adopt such bylaws. We will be providing information on the Vaughan and Brampton bylaw as as well as the Toronto motion which should lead to a motion by May.”

A letter from Rotrand to Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek points out that “protesters chanting hateful slogans have on numerous occasions [across Canada] blocked access and egress to such institutions with the aim of disrupting worship, social activities and teaching.

“Most frequently targeted have been synagogues and Jewish private schools, but there have also been many cases of protesters at Sikh gurdwaras and Hindu temples. There have been some arrests, but police response has been tentative, despite many cases of overt hate that likely contravened the Criminal Code. The rules governing protests are, for many police departments, simply not clear enough.” n

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