At the Westmount Municipal Association's annual general meeting, guest speaker Dr. Arthur Porter, the MUHC's executive-director, revealed that the mega-hospital has taken over part of the building that has housed Air Canada's reservations division.
"It's true that this is just across the border from Westmount, but it will be bringing a lot of traffic to the Westmount streets," said de Maisonneuve resident Stanley Baker, raising the issue at a recent city council meeting. "Was there any discussion about plans for the MUHC, which Westmount got involved in, as far as this particular danger is concerned?" he asked Mayor Karin Marks.
Marks recalled rumours that circulated nearly a decade ago, claiming a developer was set on turning the Air Canada building into a hotel next to the MUHC campus.
"All we can do is express our concern," she said. "And if, in fact, traffic increases, we can look at traffic patterns to try and protect our streets. But it's not in our community and it is a building that is zoned for the use for which it will be used. It comes under the responsibility of the Côte des Neiges-NDG borough, and there's really not an awful lot that we can do about it other than to look at the traffic implications."
There was encouraging news last month from Councillor John de Castell, concerning the City's kitchen compost collection. Westmount launched the first stage of a door-to-door residential collection for kitchen and garden waste last March, with the introduction of a wheeled green bin that is part of the City's growing program of waste diversion practices.
The first collection was held in May in a central part of Westmount designated for phase one of the program. Out of 525 homes in the area that were asked to participate, 460 accepted bins, and 80 per cent of those were put out on the collection's first day. According to de Castell, 1.7 tonnes were diverted from the garbage stream as a result. "I think that's something we can all be pretty proud of," he said, adding that the figure was likely to increase.
A second kitchen compost collection held a little later in the month took in 1.86 metric tonnes. "Just in the space of two collections we're already seeing fairly significant increases … Hopefully by phase three, we'll be flying along and diverting many tonnes away from landfill."
However, there have been some minor glitches.
Noting that there have been sightings of raccoons hungrily eying the kitchen compost bins, de Castell said it is important to wash the bins, if not after every use, then at least following several uses. "That, of course, will keep the odour down for you in or near the home, but also it will go a long way to stop attracting the animals, because that's, of course, what they're coming for."
Major excavations are underway on Greene Avenue to replace water pipes beneath the street that are an astounding 120 years old.
According to Councillor Patrick Martin, whose background as a civil engineer often sees him answering questions of a technical nature, the City wanted to do the work with the least inconvenience possible for residents and businesses in the area.
"We don't want a St. Laurent Boulevard situation in Westmount," he said, referring to controversial work delays on Montreal's Main, which raised the ire of merchants there. Some of the work, which started in May, involved the installation of valves that will allow the water to be shut off half a block at a time between Sherbrooke and Ste. Catherine streets. In the future, if repairs become necessary to pipes under the street, the valves will allow the water to be shut one section at a time, without affecting everyone.
