The MUHC has received the biggest grant ever from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (who are not so innovative themselves, with a website that demands IE 4.0). posted at 06:35

 
Police chief Yvan Delorme says there's nothing to fear in Montreal North. Martineau has his doubts. posted at 06:32

 
Montreal scored an elite spot on the board of the new international Monopoly edition. You may remember the campaign to drum up popular support last year. posted at 06:09

 
American tourism here is down, even in the stag party and sex trade business. posted at 20:34

 
The big new Bell campus on Nuns' Island is going to be even bigger than initially announced, Phase I now running to 605,000 sq.ft. of offices and 805,000 sq.ft. of parking (!).

(Square feet? Funny how Imperial measures still hang on for some things.) posted at 20:29

 
An animal hoarder was busted in NDG this week, with 20 live cats found on the premises and dead cats and other animals in freezers. posted at 20:25

 
In the landmarks series, what will happen to the old Dow Planetarium when a new planetarium is opened is handled with extreme disingenuousness here. It's futile to talk about recycling the old planetarium building when it's clear that condo developers have been slavering over that lot for years. Within six months after it closes, it'll be torn down and another condo development will be under construction on the spot.

(I wonder why the new planetarium's not being developed in the logical place, down by the Science Centre, but by the Olympic Stadium.) posted at 06:44

 
The AMT is ordering 20 hybrid locomotives from Bombardier to be used on its commuter lines. They'll only come into service in 2012.

The AMT's also doing something else a bit unusual: it's created two privately-run bus routes which will start in September. One will serve the new Bell Canada campus on Nuns' Island and the other goes to Vaudreuil. Concerns about "two-tier transit" are being aired. posted at 06:38

 
Police are on high alert in Montreal North with more officers patrolling the volatile area: the police chief even mentions the fine line between prevention and repression. posted at 06:33

 
Far from being abandoned, the Rêveport plans for Mirabel are even bigger and more high-tech than before. posted at 06:31

 
Two men ended up in hospital after getting stabbed in a parking lot rumble on Mount Royal on Sunday night. "Police said a sharp object or objects were used in the fight"? Funny how that's usually true when somebody gets stabbed. posted at 06:29

 
Alan Hustak looks at the state of the Redpath Mansion today; here's a photo from Guillaume Saint-Jean. posted at 06:33

 
Already we have ten picks for the World Film Fest, opening this Thursday; Brendan Kelly asks for content for the under-40 crowd in the fest, but after all, it's a film festival, not a video games festival. posted at 06:30

 
The federal government has decided to completely replace the Champlain Bridge in 10 or 15 years' time, meanwhile shoring up its crumbling structure to make it safe. Details about dedicated public transit links aren't yet set, but it they do know they want to build a cable-stayed bridge like many being built now around the world.

My prediction: in ten years' time gasoline prices will be so high that people wll be begging for a light rail link across that bridge. posted at 06:26

 
The police have arrested 15 of the looters based on photos taken during the riots in Montreal North last weekend. posted at 06:20

 
A 12-year-old boy drowned in a hotel swimming pool this weekend, and the father is blaming the lifeguard. But oughtn't kids be taught to swim before they're 12 years old? posted at 06:18

 
Rima Elkouri scopes out the Village on the eve of the gay pride parade. posted at 11:21

 
Descriptions of two upcoming federal byelections: Westmount-Ville-Marie, where an astronaut and a well-known radio personality are going head to head, with the NDP hoping for a repeat of its success in Outremont, and Saint-Lambert, previously held by Maka Kotto for the Bloc. They vote September 8. posted at 11:01

 
Another in their series of landmarks in limbo has the Gazette looking at the Wilder Block that sits behind the Blumenthal building on Bleury. (The headline's deceptive: the building is not "on the block" in the sense of being up for sale, but why worry about meaning when you want something snappy?) posted at 10:54

 
A look at the success of Freecycle in Montreal. The article doesn't mention that the local group operates via Yahoo groups, should you want to have a look at it. (You probably need a Yahoo login to participate.) posted at 10:45

 
A glimpse of a cholera epidemic that raged in Montreal in 1832. posted at 09:55

 
This story's not directly part of the Villanueva story, but it seems to be connected by implication: Canada's considering the deportation of five Haitian gang members in Montreal North who have pleaded or been found guilty of charges connected with gangsterism and drugs. These would be people who don't have Canadian citizenship and are thus regarded as Somebody Else's Problem. posted at 09:33

 
A professional PR group has been sent to put a spin on Montreal North's community groups; a new group named Montréal Nord Républik has been created, its first act being to demand the resignation of borough mayor Marcel Parent; Montreal North seems to have returned to normal a week after the killing of Fredy Villanueva. posted at 09:29

 
The wave of hotel strikes seem to be coming to a resolution as deals are made in major hotels downtown. posted at 09:18

 
Céline Dion – OK, I said I would never blog about her, but her return to the Bell Centre is making splash headlines in all the local media. posted at 14:11

 
Something of an analysis of police problems in Montreal North examines conflcts in Montreal police philosophy generally. (Not bad, although I do wish the writer or editor hadn't broken each sentence into a separate paragraph – if this is meant to make the article more readable it fails, because it reads as disjointed and jumpy. Also, enough of the "two solitudes" cliché – it's all but meaningless in this context anyway.) There's also a look at Montreal North as a "ghetto" where landlords are having difficulty renting out apartments because nobody wants to move there any more.

Richard Martineau has been collecting views from individual police, some with more and some with less application to the current crisis, and promises more.

Community groups want to promote solidarity, the Villanueva family wants help with funeral expenses and an independent investigation of the shooting, the mayor wants the confidence of young people in the north end although I suspect he isn't on their radar at all, for good or bad.

And the police are collecting information on the notable looters during last weekend's riot: you can go here and let them know if any of the images ring any bells. posted at 14:03

 
It's the weekend of the Fête des enfants over at Jean-Drapeau park, also of gay pride events and tomorrow's parade, also today's the Matsuri Japan fest at the Old Port. posted at 13:35

 
Mayor Tremblay does not want the Olympic Stadium to become solely Montreal's responsibility, as was originally intended after the Olympic debt was paid. It doesn't make nearly enough revenue to cover its ongoing expenses. posted at 13:03

 
A rather rambling piece on Kahnawake ironworkers and the refurbishment of the Mercier bridge. posted at 12:44

 
Alan Hustak starts a series about deteriorating landmarks with Eaton's 9th floor dining room, a space that also inspired Catherine Martin's Les Dames du 9e. Hustak's also got a four-minute video worth looking at. posted at 12:32

 
NYTimes review of the new Aloft hotel at Trudeau; a look at local artists and craftspeople selling their goods via etsy.com; where to find the best Chinese food in the Montreal area; finds at the new H&M shop on Ste-Catherine. posted at 12:19

 

Two of these things zipped past me yesterday on Saint-Viateur. They may be slightly less damaging to the environment than the ones using pickup trucks, but they're just as ugly. And they're recruiting, so expect to see more. posted at 13:04

 
Fredy Villanueva was buried yesterday in an atmosphere of sorrow, anger, fear and recrimination.

It's bound to reflect badly on the police shooter that Villanueva died from three shots to the abdomen. But one anonymous police veteran is quoted as saying that the shooter's partner was being brutally beaten and is still in hospital. Other members of the force have also spoken up to defend the shooter.

At the same time, increased police presence in Montreal North is being seen as a provocation by residents, and not as a reasonable response to volatile conditions in the area.

In this atmosphere it's not surprising that further stories of an anti-police tendency are coming out, one about a young man heavily ticketed for making a remark heard by police, and another about a 72-year-old professor suing police after he got trampled during last April's hockey riot. The police killing of Mohamed-Anas Bennis in 2005 is also again in the news, and a judge has blocked police attempts to perquisition media footage and images of the hockey riot in April.

It's interesting news that some of the people photographed rioting, vandalizing and looting last weekend are the same folks that showed up during the April hockey riot and started the heavy rioting then. It's also kind of interesting in a different way that security minister Jacques Dupuis thinks his main job at a time like this is to stay calm; let's hope he feels the distinction between the need to keep a cool head and the desire to bury that head in the sand till things blow over. posted at 11:32

 
Calèche drivers are being asked to use a tricky sleep slope beside Marché Bonsecours, but most of them say it's too hazardous for their horses. What with this and the reduction in the number of calèche permits, it's hard not to think that the city's basically trying to put an end to the traditional carriage rides through Old Montreal before the new tramline is constructed. posted at 10:46

 
The downtown terminus of the south shore bus service is pushing a number of its bus routes outside onto nearby streets because the terminus itself, located mostly underground near Bonaventure metro station, is too overcrowded. posted at 10:30

 
One analysis of the upcoming federal byelection in St. Lambert, although I'm not so sure about the credibility of his views on Westmount-Ville-Marie. posted at 09:36

 
Some interesting background on how a Montreal ad agency reinvented itself for the big leagues. posted at 09:15

 
A study has shown that children who were in the womb during the 1998 ice storm are not quite as bright as their peers, probably because of maternal stress. posted at 09:07

 
City's looking for submissions on a revived tramline, but even the proposed route is not completely fixed. But doesn't René-Lévesque make more sense if only because of the street's width? posted at 20:33

 
A funeral was held this morning for Fredy Villanueva, with the family asking for calm in the neighbourhood after the weekend's ruckus.

Public security minister Jacques Dupuis largely steps aside saying the affair of the shooting is a police matter, various statements are made by people living around the area, all expressive of the unsettled mood, there's crazy talk about youth curfew, comparison of the gang situation here to more famous gangs in the U.S., a comparison of police-on-police investigation here to methods in Ontario: the Montreal policeman involved in the shooting has yet to be officially questioned by the Sûreté du Québec. posted at 12:56

 
A woman from Outremont working for an aid organization was killed in a Taliban attack yesterday on the road to Kabul. posted at 11:52

 
The only Expos fan in Bulgaria. posted at 10:56