Marcel Parent, mayor of Montreal North borough, has decided not to run again for the position in November, citing his health – he's 77.

Meanwhile the mayor has lined up another candidate for the Plateau. Robert Pilon hopes to be elected in Mile End. posted at 12:55

 
The art group Paysages Éphémères is bringing a series of installations on the theme of summer vacations to Mont-Royal Avenue from the metro eastwards. posted at 12:50

 
Montreal could be paying twice what it should for the new water meters, according to an estimate drawn up by Gaz Métropolitain in 2003 and comparing it to the deal struck with the Génieau consortium this year. The city is defending its choice, saying the specs changed in the meantime and the two estimates can't be compared. The contract is currently on hold. posted at 12:13

 
Four women from Montreal have been found dead in a car sunk in a lock near Kingston. There are a lot of unanswered questions so far. posted at 12:03

 
The Bixi has been so popular that the city's going to expand it to new boroughs with 2000 new bikes and 100 new stations this summer. posted at 11:59

 
Dilallo's is an 80-year-old institution in this town, and A.J. Kinik goes to review the burgers at the Ville-Émard location.

(According to canada411, there are five Dilallo locations now – three below the tracks in Montreal, and two on the South Shore. There's also a mysterious Chez Di Lalla snack bar on Villeray and there's Da Lillo's on Jarry, which I assume are not related, but both of which gave me double-takes when I noticed them.) posted at 17:50

 
A possible competitor in the city's contentious water meter deal, excluded from the bidding process, has submitted a legal question about the process. posted at 08:39

 
More than 378,000 Quebec households moved yesterday and 71 are still without a new address in Montreal as larger families are finding it difficult to get affordable housing with enough rooms. Maybe more affordable housing units are helping in Montreal but other Quebec towns are feeling the shortage of larger apartments too. In any case, there are still vacancies in Montreal North, where it seems nobody wants to go live since last summer's riot. posted at 08:27

 
There are various questions around the trial and sentencing of Louise Desnoyers, particularly her state of mind when she killed her son, but she crossed into a more unforgiving country before she did it. posted at 08:10

 
The New York Times looks at Montreal chefs serving seal meat, with the misgivings of the journalist too. posted at 08:03

 
Louise Desnoyers, who drowned her son in Lake Champlain in 2006, received a 15-year sentence today in a Vermont courtroom despite the vigorous support of her colleagues and friends. She'll have to serve it out in the U.S. posted at 21:58

 
Notre-Dame East has finally reopened to traffic today after a truck ran into the railway viaduct on Monday: the authorities are clearly taking no chances with overpasses these days. posted at 21:52

 
Bob Gainey has signed on $83 million worth of new guys in the last two days. The team will be unrecognizable in September. Red Fisher calls the upsides and downsides as he sees 'em. posted at 21:49

 
Emphasis is placed on current difficulties getting to and from the airport while work is done on Côte de Liesse and Dorval Circle. posted at 14:22

 

I was reminded of this scene recently while wandering around the Olympic Stadium area. I took the above photo in 2002 during the public squabble over whether this fountain, Riopelle's La Joute – the only major sculptural piece done by an artist better known for his paintings, and one of the few major pieces of public art in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve – would be taken away from this, its original setting, and moved downtown.

At the time it was still working as a fountain and visible to anyone who passed through the east-side Pie-IX metro entrance, as well as from the concrete walkway above. Claims that it was hidden away and neglected were spun as leverage to move it to its current location by the Palais des congrès. Various promises were made to replace it with another fountain or piece of sculpture after the removal. But this is how the space looks now:

I don't live in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve but I tend to think they wuz robbed.

At the moment, that entrance to Pie-IX metro station is under heavy renovation, so I suppose it's possible this is just a temporary measure. But it's been five years since the sculpture was taken away, so I wonder if any thought or budget has been given to the promise to find a replacement. posted at 13:35

 
Another piece on the moving company that hauls with bicycle trailers, who will probably be just as busy as every other mover in town today; a number of households are in the street after not finding new digs. Overview of moving day in La Presse quotes "Christopher Dewolve" in Spacing, plus a look at moving family Clan Panneton. posted at 12:05

 
Verdun and Montreal North will get new hockey rinks from the Canadiens' foundation to help kids. They've already built one in Saint-Michel. posted at 11:59

 
The Communauto car-sharing service continues to grow as more people see the advantage of having the use of a car without the hassle of owning, parking and repairing it. posted at 11:52

 
The public consultation office has looked at the project proposed for the Seville Theatre block and says it would be better to get permanent residents rather than the transient student population that's been envisaged. It also wants to see the tower lowered a bit. posted at 08:54

 
This story's been percolating through local news for ages: the route chosen for the new Train de l'Est commuter train is unpopular because it passes too close by a factory that makes explosives for the Canadian forces. posted at 08:51

 
The city's going to build a facility to keep sewage from being washed into the Lachine Canal during downpours, as can happen now. posted at 08:49

 
A look at a small business which does house moves via bicycle. posted at 08:40

 
Part of Notre-Dame East is still closed after a truck barrelled into the railway overpass between Viau and Dickson yesterday: the condition of the overpass has to be checked out. posted at 08:39

 
Various festivities are planned at the Old Port tomorrow for those who aren't moving house or helping their friends do so. posted at 08:36

 
The jazz festival prepares to open its 30th season as Stevie Wonder performs tonight on the new Place des festivals. posted at 08:33

 
The city is asking people not to abandon domestic junk but bring it to eco-centres instead. I'm sure they're right, but sometimes that extra task is too much for already frantic people on Moving Day. Looking for eco-centre addresses I just noticed the city's reorganized its website again. posted at 22:56

 
Flickr then-and-now photographer Guillaume Saint-Jean is very pleased about the new Le Devoir "avant-après" feature he's doing. The first one is on the Institut Nazareth, the main building that was demolished in 1958 to make room for the construction of Place des Arts. posted at 18:37

 
Josh Freed tries to defend his apostrophe joke but seems only to dig himself in deeper. posted at 08:49

 
The city has unveiled a plan for universal curbside composting within five years. posted at 08:47

 
Zinedine Zidane's team beat a local police team 10-0 at Molson Stadium yesterday, part of his UNICEF tour, although he did not get to bring soccer legend Lakdhar Belloumi with him, because Belloumi was denied a visa by the Canadian government for reasons that have not been made clear. posted at 08:22

 
A study has shown that the shootings at Dawson in 2006 left a trail of emotional aftershocks including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. And while students and teachers were offered therapy afterwards, the cleaners and cafeteria workers were not, and some of them were as deeply affected as any. posted at 08:19

 
This summer's photo exhibit along McGill College is a series of stereographic historical photos. (For those of us with borked stereo vision it'll all be a big blur – but no, no, go enjoy.) posted at 11:56

 
The Canadiens have drafted a second player from Quebec, another centre, Gabriel Dumont. Réjean Tremblay has some thoughts on Harvard-bound Louis Leblanc. posted at 11:51

 
Workers have begun spiffing up Dorchester Square, a job that will take till 2011. posted at 10:44

 
Zinedine Zidane, himself brought up in a tough neighbourhood of Marseille, spoke to kids in Montreal North yesterday about working hard to realize a dream. Zidane is of the Algerian minority in France, but also of the Kabyle minority in Algeria, so his words on the difficulties of life carry weight despite his stellar career in football. posted at 10:42

 
A look at the electoral battle looming in Sainte-Marie where Benoit Labonté, Sammy Forcillo and Pierre Mainville will all likely be squaring off this November. Sainte-Marie is a new electoral district spun off to accommodate the relatively new fact that the mayor of the city is also ex officio mayor of Ville-Marie.

Helen Fotopulos says she wasn't pushed out of the Plateau and will run for a seat in Côte-des-Neiges this time around.

(I hope somebody's pondering the need to simply get the vote out. Last municipal election saw the introduction of buggy voting machines and a pathetic turnout of 35%. The whole business of campaigning for office starts to look kind of sad if the majority of the electorate is so bored that they stay home.) posted at 10:23

 
Mohamed Kotail, facing being beheaded with a sword in Saudi Arabia, has written directly to Stephen Harper to help him. Kotail thinks the Saudi system has not given him a fair trial. Expecting justice in Saudi Arabia may be on a par with expecting Stephen Harper to have a heart, but Stockwell Day is saying he will do what he can. That said, Canada may simply not have enough leverage against the Saudis to get them to exercise mercy in this case.

But then, sometimes people do eventually extricate themselves from horrible jams like this, although it took Abousfian Abdelrazik six years and a Federal Court ruling to get back to Montreal where he wants to live. posted at 10:18

 
The city has announced it's freezing the transfer payments to its boroughs so they'll get the same amount next year as they got this year. posted at 10:06

 
More than a million kilometres have been pedalled by Bixi riders since the system was launched this spring. posted at 09:56

 
For the first time since 1998, the Canadiens' first-round pick in the NHL draft is a guy from Quebec: Louis Leblanc, a centre from Kirkland. I guess if he can't score goals he'll at least be able to conjugate être. posted at 09:53

 
Short piece heralding the impending announcement of the first new tram route in the city since the 1950s. Initially they planned a loop around de la Commune, Berri and Peel, but this is pretty much the route of Fagstein's favourite bus route, the 515, which has been underused since it was launched. Duplicating it with a tram would not be smart, although that would depend whether they were thinking of the tram as a serious commuter option or a tourist toy.

If the former, a tram would be useful on several north-south axes – Park Avenue has been mentioned, but Pie-IX and Saint-Michel would have a claim on it too, being farther away from a metro line and with perennially crowded buses demonstrating a ridership already exists. Something tells me that the city administration won't want to put its shiny new toy so far away from downtown where visitors would seldom see it, although the breadth of Pie-IX and the presence of an already existing (although disused) bus corridor would make it a good choice, and it would at least go past the Botanical Gardens and Olympic stadium as a showpiece.

Another obvious busy route would be from Vendôme metro to Montreal West, but there's little chance that part of town will be first to be blessed by the tram fairy. Côte-des-Neiges has been mentioned too, but I'm betting they won't want to build the first tram up the hill. It has to be somewhere useful but showy and it can't reasonably duplicate a metro line.

If they dig up the Main again there'll be an uprising. posted at 09:33