Break keeps crews busy in knee deep water

Crews work to shut of valve to the water pipe on Kildare Road

A watermain break this afternoon on Kildare Road near Shalom Ave has kept crews from Fire, Police, Public Security, Public Works and Engineering departments along with water management firm Dessau busy on site.

The Fire Department quickly setup pumps to minimize any flooding at neighbouring homes.

Crews also must deal with cutting through the frozen ground to access the water shut off valves.  No easy task in such cold weather.

Some temporary water shutdowns in the neighbourhood may be necessary and traffic has been reduced to one lane westbound on Kildare.

Emergency crews respond to assist at watermain break

In the Netherlands, ‘garbage bag’ encourages reuse of contents

The Goedzak is a transparent bag for unwanted goods that allows passersby to see inside and decide if they could make use of them

The Swap-o-Matic vending machine has already provided one way to pass on unused items to others, rather than sending them to landfill. Another solution from the Netherlands comes in the form of the Goedzak – a transparent ‘garbage bag’ for unwanted goods that allows passersby to see inside and decide if they could make use of them.

Created by Waarmakers, the thinking behind the bags – which are see-through aside from the Goedzak logo — is that they are placed on the sidewalk along with other black bags containing trash. The contents are visible to those passing by, yet stay dry and clean. The Goedzak logo indicates to walkers that the goods inside are available to pick up. If no-one takes advantage of the freebies, the sack is collected by garbage trucks along with the rest of the trash.

The Goedzaks help homeowners act more sustainably when throwing out perfectly usable property with minimum effort. Could this kind of scheme work in Cote Saint-Luc?

Website: www.degoedzak.nl

 

The best snow removal

Free Press Jan. 16, 2013. Click to enlarge.

Letter: Côte Saint-Luc does a good job of snow removal

Letters to the editor, Montreal Gazette, Jan. 7, 2013

I notice that most letters/complaints regarding the subject matter come from different parts of the city, but none from Côte Saint-Luc.

I have lived in CSL for 34 years now. We really do have, perhaps, the best services in town. Maybe the other boroughs should try and learn from us. There may be a reason why things work at this end of the city.

Selma Menezes

Côte Saint-Luc

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Letter+C%c3%b4te+Saint+does+good+snow+removal/7783946/story.html#ixzz2HJqs5ot8

 

All that for a tree? Photo(s) of the week.

A very unusual operation took place on Einstein Avenue last week.  Hydro Quebec had one single, gigantic tree to remove behind a home on Einstein, just north of Kildare.

In order to remove the tree some major equipment had to be brought in.   This lead to an entire street closure for nearly two days.

Resident Lewis Cohen snapped these shots towards the end of the operation. See how many pieces of equipment were needed, how many HQ subcontractor employees, and how much wood was cut?  Keep in mind that this was for removal of a single tree.

Update on Hydro Quebec work on Fleet Rd.

 

City Communique:

 

Last week, the Hydro Quebec project on Fleet Rd. was put on hold when their sub-contractor discovered a ruptured high voltage cable in the excavation. The Quebec workplace health and safety board (CSST) ordered the work to stop until the situation has been fixed.

 

 

 

Work resumed on Wednesday, October 17, 2012. We have asked Hydro Quebec to make up lost time and they have agreed to add additional manpower in order to have all the work complete by November 30, 2012.

 

 

 

Also, we expect to be able to re-open an additional eastbound lane (towards Décarie Blvd.) by Monday, October 29, 2012.

Update on Hydro Quebec work on Fleet Rd..

Urgent work by Hydro Quebec on Fleet Road

28 Sep 2012

We know that many residents and motorists are curious about the work on Fleet Rd. that started on Thursday, September 27. In short, Hydro Quebec is doing urgent work to replace an underground electrical chamber in the intersection of Fleet Rd. and Pinedale Ave., near the border between Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead.

According to Hydro Quebec, the underground electrical chamber was suffering from serious deterioration and needed to be urgently replaced. The electrical chamber concerned helps deliver power to many parts of Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead. Were it to collapse, it is our understanding that many residents in the area would lose power and significant harm would also be done to the road and adjacent infrastructure.. Although, we recognize the serious inconvenience to residents and visitors to the area and apologize profusely for the complete lack of advance notice , Côte Saint-Luc felt that it had no choice but to permit Hydro Quebec to undertake this urgent work. Here are answers to questions you may have about the work.

How long will the work last?

The work is expected to last approximately six weeks, but could take a few weeks longer if rain causes work to be delayed. Côte Saint-Luc is asking Hydro Quebec to take all steps possible to complete the work more quickly, if possible.

What is the effect on lane closures?

Unfortunately, the Hydro Quebec electrical chamber is below the south side of Fleet Rd., so at least one and probably both eastbound lanes will have to be closed. Therefore, we have reconfigured the road to allow one eastbound lane and one westbound lane on the other side of the median. Hydro Quebec has advised us that CSST rules related to the space between the work and cars traveling do not allow us to keep more than two lanes opened. Côte Saint-Luc is trying to find a way for Hydro Quebec to open an additional lane so that morning rush hour traffic eastbound and afternoon rush hour westbound traffic will have two lanes available, but we have no idea if we will be successful in finding a solution to allow this at this point.

What steps is Côte Saint-Luc taking to improve the flow of traffic?

Côte Saint-Luc will be stationing a Public Security agent on Fleet Rd. near the narrowing of the road during the morning and afternoon rush hours to help move traffic more efficiently. We are also posting detour signs to inform motorists about alternate routes, such as using Côte Saint-Luc Rd. to access Décarie Blvd. We are working closely with the Town of Hampstead and Station 9 police to coordinate a traffic plan and will be communicating any and all updates on our website at www.cotesaintluc.org. Please keep a close watch on this site. In the meantime we highly recommend that all motorists seek alternative routes to Fleet Rd. at rush hour.

We wanted to let you know what is happening so that you can be aware the situation and plan accordingly. If you have any questions please contact the Department of Public Affairs and Communications at 514-485-6800 ext. 1802 or dlevine@cotesaintluc.org.

Urgent work by Hydro Quebec on Fleet Road.

CSL approves inspection of underpasses

The Suburban, Joel Goldenberg, August 29, 2012

Côte St. Luc awarded a contract for the inspection and, if needed, eventual repair of the city’s three underpasses, to make sure they are safe. The underpasses are on Cavendish Blvd, Westminster Avenue and Côte St. Luc Road.

Councillor Steven Erdelyi, in charge of the public works portfolio, said the process will take several steps. “The first step is going to be to inspect the three underpasses, as per the Quebec Ministry of Transport’s specifications,” he explained. “The second part is to prepare all the drawings and the specifications, and then preparing a tender for a contractor who will perform the actual repair work – in the meantime, right now, it’s for Cavendish only. The work should be done next year. Obviously, we have to wait to see how the report comes in. “From previous reports, the evaluations were good, but obviously we always want to err on the side of caution. We hope the underpasses are in good condition.”

Councillor Dida Berku said the contract for the work is significant. “As you know, there’s been a lot of issues with infrastructure on the island of Montreal, and so we just want to be sure and give the public the assurance that we’re inspecting all our underpasses and roads, and everything is conforming,” she added.

Canadian cities’ president in Cote Saint-Luc

Welcoming FCM President Karen Leibovici to Cote Saint-Luc City Hall

Last June, several members of Council were on hand at the annual general meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Saskatoon where Edmonton Councillor Karen Leibovici was elected FCM president for a two-year term.  At that conference I invited the newly elected president to visit Cote Saint-Luc.  With a regional meeting of the FCM this past week, in Laval, the president did indeed take me up on my offer.

Last evening I welcomed Leibovici to City Hall.  She is no stranger to our city having grown up in the Cote des Neiges neighbourhood of Montreal and with close family still residing in Cote Saint-Luc.

Our informal meeting included Mayor Anthony Housefather and Councillor Ruth Kovac along with Hampstead Mayor Bill Steinberg and Councillor Bonnie Feigenbaum.

We discussed the important subject of the renewal of billions of dollars in federal funding for municipalities when the latest 10 year agreement expires in 2014. Leibovici indicated that funding for municipalities across the country needs to be “predictable, flexible, long term and sustainable.”

Current funding sources from Ottawa include the community infrastructure fund and gas tax.  Such funds were instrumental in the financing of the new Aquatic and Community Centre on Parkhaven Avenue.  With an aging infrastructure in Cote Saint-Luc, such as water pipes, underpasses, municipal buildings and parks, it is crucial that we find sources of revenue from the provincial and federal governments to prevent these assets from slipping from good or fair to poor condition and to ensure that we constantly upgrade to good or excellent condition as has been our tradition.  All this, without having to rely solely on property taxes.

Close to 2,000 communities across Canada have come together to speak with one voice as the FCM. FCM has been the national voice of municipal government since 1901. Members include Canada’s largest cities, small urban and rural communities, and 21 provincial and territorial municipal associations. Municipal leaders from all parts of Canada assemble annually to establish FCM policy on key issues. Today, FCM carries on the tradition of actively advocating to have the needs of municipalities – and their citizens – reflected in federal policies and programs. Year after year, FCM’s work has benefitted each and every municipal government and taxpayer in Canada.

Photo of the Week #11: Not so fast on Fleet

The construction zone in Hampstead actually begins in Cote Saint-Luc even though none of the actual work is taking place in Cote Saint-Luc. This Photo of the Week shows the backup at Fleet Road and Pinedale Ave in CSL a few meters to the west of Hampstead.  CSL Public Security was on scene with Agent Anthony Labattaglia (in lime green vest) dutifully waving motorists through the intersection to clear the bottleneck. Some mornings the traffic backs up all the way to Cavendish Blvd.

Fortunately, CSLers have been a patient lot, putting up with the frustration of slow-moving traffic tie ups.  The work is more than half over now and one can only hope that smoother sailing, and roads, lie ahead.

While tempers flared for the BMW driver (see post just below) in Hampstead who mouthed off at a truck driver who happened to catch her childlike tantrum on his dashboard video recorder, garnering hundreds of thousands of hits in two days on YouTube, no such outbursts (thankfully) have been reported in CSL.

Photo of the Week #6: Laying down the line

 

While Cote Saint-Lucers are asleep in their homes municipal contractors and other city employees are hard at work.  On a recent night I spotted this painting crew spraying lines and arrows at the intersection of Cavendish and Mackle.

Their work is pretty precise, following plans drawn up by City Traffic Engineer, Dr. Mohammed Ali.  Every line, marking and symbol is sketched in detail and these plans are submitted to the contractors each year.  Crews work throughout the night spraying thousands of litres of white and yellow paint.  Glass “dust” is then sprinkled over the paint to maximize the reflection of lights and to increase visibility of the markings.

Urban Development Director Charles Senekal and Junior Project Coordinator Joanna Luciano report that nearly 50 kilometres of white, yellow, dashed and double lines will be painted on many of Cote Saint;Luc’s 147 streets this month.  As well, there are curb markings (yellow no parking zones and potentially dangerous curves), bike lanes, traffic calming markings, arrows, no parking symbols in addition to crosswalk markings and parking lot painting.

How much does all this cost?  About $70,000.

White paint is sprayed into the symbol form (the left turn arrow) and glass granules are sprinkled on the wet paint

Photo of the week #3: Cherry picking down Kildare

Photo of the week #3 was sent to me by three different residents.  Last Wednesday a parade of orange “cherry pickers” lined Kildare Road from Parkhaven down to Westminster as Hydro Quebec contractors transferred over electrical wires from old poles to new ones.  This work has been anticipated for many months and while Hydro advised residents in writing and by automated phone calls that the work was proceeding that day many were still unaware and phoned the city thinking there was an unplanned power outage. (Of course, the city shouldn’t be called for power outages, Hydro Quebec must be called).

Don’t worry.  They didn’t forget the old poles.  Different contractors will be assigned by Hydro to transfer over the street lighting and remove the old poles eventually.

Cherry Pickers down Kildare Road. Photo credit: Lewis M. Cohen.

CSL encouraging residents to exchange broken brown bins

Free Press, May 23, 2012, Click to enlarge

Côte Saint-Luc to distribute free compost on May 31, 2012

Côte Saint-Luc to distribute free compost on May 31, 2012

Residents of the City of Côte Saint-Luc can collect free compost at the Great Compost Giveaway on Thursday, May 31, 2012 from 2 pm to 8 pm at the Public Works Department Building.

“Côte Saint-Luc residents were pioneers in organic waste collection on the island of Montreal,” said Councillor Steven Erdelyi, the council member responsible for Public Works issues. “Our residents deserve a lot of praise for their efforts, which has helped reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill by 38 percent since 2008. This annual compost giveaway is one of the ways we can say thanks. This nutrient-rich compost is great for lawns.”

Côte Saint-Luc is distributing 20 tons of compost in all. Every household is entitled to 120 litres. Residents can bring their own empty 40 litre buckets to help cart away the compost. Bags will be available for residents without buckets. Residents should bring a utility bill or some other official document showing they live in Côte Saint-Luc.
 
The compost comes from the St. Michel Environmental Complex, which distributes it to communities. The compost comes from green waste derived from leaves.

If there is compost left towards the end of the day, residents may return to take away more. 

For more information, contact the Côte Saint-Luc Public Works Department at 514-485-6868 or bnewman@cotesaintluc.org. The Public Works Department Building is located at 7001 Mackle Rd.

City to acquire energy efficient vehicles

 

The Free Press, May 8, 2012. Click to enlarge.