Westmount Independent .pdf

By Laureen Sweeney

Word of a government grant for West-mount’s arena/pool project came just intime for Mayor Karin Marks to spill thelong-awaited news to more than 160 peo-ple attending the presentation of a new de-sign concept September 26 at VictoriaHall.

Expected to be in the vicinity of $17 mil-lion, she said, the amount of theCanada/Quebec infrastructure grant wasofficially announced at a press conferencethe next day at an unexpected $19.969 mil-lion.

The project must becompleted by March2011.

News of the pendinggrant became one ofthe highlights of thearena meeting, eventhough the full extent of the amount wasas yet unknown.

“I have to tell you it’s pretty hard tokeep down my enthusiasm and excite-ment,” Marks said.

The grant would help defray the costsof the new design, projected at $35.9 mil-lion, she pointed out.

It was later revealed during citizenquestioning, however, that many aspectshad not yet been studied. As well, the cost-ing did not include a number of relatedcosts such as street, sewer and water work,and relocation of the junior tennis courts.Management fees are also excluded.

Opening the meeting, Marks said thecouncil had “promised deliver a prelimi-nary plan, and it’s come down to the wire.”She said “some details” would have to beworked out by the newly elected council.

Some 40 citizens’questions and com-ments ranged fromhearty endorsementto a number of con-cerns that includedoverbuilding the

site, noise from the relocated pool, assess-ments of future needs and demographics,an indoor pool, optional sites and alterna-tives to chlorine use at thepool.

WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENTWeekly. Vol. 3 No. 9e September 29-30, 2009We are Westmount

Update

Nicolas Smith is another candi-

date for District 5, see profile, p. 6.

News flash

Mavis Young files in District 7,

Theodora Samiotis to run in

District 8. See p. 5.

continued on p. 3

RememberingStuart Robertson

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Candidates slow to file for council seats

Arena meeting reveals many unanswered questions

Surprise! Grant almost $20MLittle, but strong

By Laureen Sweeney

As the countdown for candidate filingapproaches the deadline on Friday, Octo-ber 2, only six council hopefuls for West-mount’s nine council positions hadsubmitted their nomination papers bypress time Monday.

“It’s becoming very intense,” said cityclerk Mario Gerbeau, the city’s returningofficer, in reporting the figures.

Since candidates have already an-nounced their intentions to the Independ-ent for all electoral wards plus themayoralty, the rush to submit their papersis expected to hit thick and fast this week.

Those officially registered were VictorDrury (District 3), Kathleen Duncan (Dis-trict 4), René Pelletier, Georges Hébert andNicholas Smith (District 5), and MavisYoung (District 7). In the event that no oneis nominated in a particular district, the

process would have to be re-started in thatward, Gerbeau said. “But I’ve never expe-rienced that.”

Meanwhile, the current electoral listcontaining 14,152 eligible voters is nowopen for consultation at the city clerk’s of-fice. Citizens wishing to have their namesadded can do so during the revision periodOctober 14 to 18. Notices to that effect willbe sent to all addresses in Westmountstarting October 5.

The late Stuart Robertson with his wife, Donna Banks. See p. 2.

Dr. Harvey Guyda (right), physician-in-chief ofthe Montreal Children's Hospital, congra -tulates Westmounter Dr. Harry Rosen on hissculpture “Little Hercules,” which was unveiledat the hospital’s Tupper St. entrance onSeptember 25. The plaque’s inscription is “I willbe strong.” Rosen was profiled by theIndependent in its April 21, 2009 issue (p. 22).

2 – WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – September 29-30, 2009

By Laureen Sweeney

The Westmount community has lostone of its most stalwart citizens with thedeath last Wednesday, September 23, ofStuart Robertson. He was 65.

Journalist, broadcaster, author, garden-ing expert and former city councillor, hewas known far and wide to his various au-diences. But it was perhaps his continuedcommitment to the Westmount commu-nity that will be one of his defining lega-cies.

Despite a stubborn 15-year fight againstlymphoma, Robertson was always quick topitch in where needed, working passion-ately in the background at Westmount’splant exchanges or registration desks atother events.

Those attending funeral services onSaturday, September 26, at WestmountPark United Church, came from manywalks of life. Robertson is survived by hiswife Donna Banks and son Jeremy.

Robertson was a former president ofthe Westmount Municipal Association(WMA), and the founder of most of the

city’s horticultural and conservation pro-grams including the first initiatives to pre-vent erosion on Summit Park.

Commitment continued

“Stuart’s commitment to the city neverended with his formal time on council,”Mayor Karin Marks said. “He felt he wasalways on call to look over a report, espe-cially concerning the parks, and add acomment. He was exceptionally generouswith his time, always available but neverintrusive.”

Typically, Robertson was advising in thecurrent municipal elections and preparinghis next gardening column for the West-mount Independent when he was struckwith a bout of pneumonia. He died of re-lated complications while hospitalized atSt. Mary’s.

“Stuart was an early and enthusiasticsupporter of our paper,” said Independentpublisher David Price.

“When he first pitched the idea of a col-umn for us, he contributed them for freein order to help out a new enterprise. Wewere proud to have him as part of our

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Robertson (right) with Tom Thompson inVictorian costume during city’s 125th anniversary.

Stuart Robertson had far-reaching impact on Westmount

Dedication to his community lives onteam, if only for a short time, and theIndie’s best wishes go out to his family.”

Recognized others

Quick to recognize the achievements ofothers, Robertson also enjoyed helpingfriends and fellow Westmounters withtheir gardening problems.

“His contribution is evident in West-mount in every municipal garden andflower bed you look at,” said CouncillorCynthia Lulham, who worked with him onmany projects.

He was instrumental in the hiring of acity horticulturist, the start of the firstcommunity garden, the walking tours andthe plant exchange. He founded the Hor-ticultural Advisory Committee and co-founded the Westmount HorticulturalSociety where he was quick to pinch hit asa guest speaker on sudden notice.

“Summit Park was one of his pas-sions,” recalled Peter Trent, who servedwith Robertson on the council of mayorMay Cutler. “He did a lot of work to markpaths and initiate steps to stop the degra-dation of the park.

“He told me only recently that had hebeen in better health, he would have lovedto be on council again.”

Memorable performance

During Westmount’s 125th anniversarycelebrations in 1999, Robertson played amemorable role as Councillor Joseph St.Germain, a founding city father, during afanciful re-enactment of the first councilmeeting in 1874.

Born in Bournemouth, England,Robertson came to Canada with his par-ents in time to attend UBC, where he ob-tained a BA degree. He subsequentlyserved in the navy in Halifax.

He worked in the fashion industry,

studied horticulture at the University ofGuelph and opened an indoor gardeningand lighting store.

Robertson served as president of thegrounds committee of the Douglas Hos-pital and as president of the Writers’ As-sociation of Canada.

He subsequently served as WMA pres-ident, attending almost all council meet-ings. He was also a member of the city’sbeautification committee and was helpingto set up a community garden when he de-cided to seek the District 5 seat being va-cated by John Shingler in 1987.

It was in that ward that he maintainedan office on Victoria as a writer-broad-caster while living in District 4. He latermoved into his ward on Burton Ave. –where he continued to live.

On council, Robertson served as com-missioner of Architecture & Planninguntil resigning near the end of the four-year term to avoid a conflict of interestwith a new job awaiting him at the CBC. Itwas a decision he wrestled with but onethat underlined his personal and profes-sional principles.

Robertson retired from the CBC in July.

“Many questions raised should bebrought up with the new council,” saidmoderator Duncan Campbell, the city’s di-rector general.

New design more spacious

The new design is a more spacious lay-out than originally proposed for the twolarge rinks and auxiliary services. It pro-vides for sloping metal roofs and slightlyangled buildings. It repositions the poolarea to the site of the current junior tenniscourts and adds a pool pavilion acrossfrom the apartments on Academy Rd.

It also shifts access to and from the un-derground parking for 90 cars to Lans-downe Ave. (see story and designWestmount Independent, September 22, p.1).

In many cases, he explained, studieshad not yet been done or solutions found.“This is just a preliminary design,” hesaid. In particular, “We don’t a have a so-lution for relocating the tennis courts.”This is a central feature of the new design.

Other areas yet to be studied were pos-sible construction phasing, impact of piledriving, traffic flows on Academy andLansdowne, park safety, surveillance costsin the underground garage, and a reviewby the fire department to verify access tothe campus-like area.

And, “no,” the Quebec government hadnot been specifically asked if the West-mount part of the Glen Yard could be usedas an optional site, Campbell said.

A similar reply was made to whetherstudies had been done on the beneficialimpact such a development might have onreal estate values.

“Is a second rink more beneficial to thewhole community than an indoor pool?”asked one resident. Campbell replied: “We

WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – September 29-30, 2009 – 3

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New design verydifferent frominitial one

continued from p.1

did not study that.”On the other hand, questioners were

told the site would be “completely” handi-cap accessible, that the bike path wouldnot be blocked, and that temporary standscould be installed at the 185-foor northrink if required. They are currently shownonly at the south rink, a full-sized 200-footNHL rink.

Other features, such as green roofs,might be considered but would add to thecosts. “Anything is feasible if funds areunlimited,” Campbell said.

In reply to several questions concern-ing inter-generational use of the rinks,Sports and Recreation director MichaelDeegan cited as one example how thehockey program in two decades had gonefrom two to eight teams in the executive(age 35-plus) league.

In describing the concept of integratingthe project into Westmount Park, architectRobert Hamilton of Lemay & Associés,

Sharing arena costs

At a press conference September 27 at city hall, Mayor Karin Marks and Westmount MNA JacquesChagnon presided during his announcement of a Canada/Quebec infrastructure grant of $19,969,400to Westmount “for construction of a sports complex.” The two higher levels of government will eachcontribute half the amount with Westmount paying another equal amount or more. It was themaximum the city could have received. Marks paid tribute to Chagnon’s “tireless” work on behalf ofthe city.

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said the rule that governed the new designwas “let the park govern.” The challengeinvolved trying “to find a balanced solu-tion” between this, and the services andconstraints requested by the council.


We are Westmount.

WESTMOUNTINDEPENDENT

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Audited by

WeeklyPresstime: Monday at 10:30 am

Editor: David PriceDeputy editor: Kristin McNeillChief reporter: Laureen Sweeney

Owned and published by:

Sherbrooke-Valois Inc., 310 Victoria Ave., #105, Westmount, QC H3Z 2M9Fax: 514.935.9241

Praise for civic

mindedness

Even though I do not live in District 5where Gary Ikeman has declared his can-didacy, I think that he is to be commendedfor considering a role in public service.

Weekly in the pages of your newspaperI have read of Mr. Ikeman’s position onthe arena project. He has stood, some-times alone, but always for moderation,transparency and full disclosure of thefacts. His arguments and submissionshave been reasoned, civil and sensible,and I have no doubt that if elected, he willmake an excellent councillor and a wel-come addition to the city council.

Westmount would be well served, and Iapplaud his continuing civic-mindedness.

Allen Rubin, Lexington Ave.

Kudos to Karin

The custom in Westmount is that anoutgoing mayor be honoured with an ap-propriate gift.

Mayor Karin Marks, ever her own per-son, has reversed the usual order by ob-taining for Westmount an astoundingparting gift of almost $20 million that willbe translated into fabulous new public in-frastructure for sports and recreation.

Bravo and kudos, Karin. What a won-derful legacy of your 18 years on councilserving the citizens of Westmount.

Patrick Martin, Cllr. (District 1)

What is council

thinking?

I have been a resident of Westmountfor more than 40 years. At no time duringthat period have I seen greater evidence ofthe city’s decline. Potholes and crumblingsidewalks have become part of the seem-ingly permanent landscape. A simple mat-ter such as proper supervision of thesenior tennis courts falls frustratinglyshort. The reader may add, as he sees fit,to this litany.

We all know that these problems stemfrom the perfidy of Jean Charest in failingto keep his promises during the last elec-tion campaign in which he offered un-equivocal assurance that the mergedmunicipalities would be restored to theirformer independent status.

In fact, the demerged suburbs have be-come vassal states under the hegemony ofthe city of Montreal. This has left the citychronically underfunded and, hence, fi-nancially incapable of maintaining thehigh standards for which Westmount wasonce justly famous.

It is amid this egregious fiscal condi-

tion that the mayor and council are pro-posing the grandiose arena project. Surelythis is a time when our city fathers shouldbe pulling in their fiscal horns and fo-cussing on such obvious matters as re-ducing the debt and maintaining theinfrastructure, not to mention managingthe current burden of municipal taxes.

Thus, I am at a complete loss to under-stand why they would contemplate socostly a project, which will serve the inter-ests of a small fraction of the citizenry.

In my view, what is contemplated sug-gests that the council has been mes-merised by this project to such an extentthat it has lost sight of a fundamentalmoral issue, namely that it has a fiduciaryduty to its citizens to husband their taxes.

May I end with a simple question towhich a reply from Mayor Marks would begreatly appreciated. What is the councilthinking?

Roger Angel, Mount Stephen Ave.

Academy concerns falls

on deaf ears

Once again, city council has come upwith another asinine solution to the arena“complex.” The new design (as it appearsin the Independent’s September 22 issue),which is similar to the old one, leaves outany consideration for the residents ofAcademy Rd. The addition of a changingpavillion to the pool area running alongAcademy shows the complete disregardfor any comments and concerns that wereexpressed in the past.

A few years ago, it was requested thatthe fence around the dog run be raised forsafety reasons. In many sections I was ableto sit on the fence without my feet leavingthe ground. I am only five foot two.

It was denied because it was stated thatit would block the view of the residents onLansdowne. Seeing as the view was theback of the arena, this made little sense.Now council seems to have no problemwith blocking the view from Academy.

Most apartments along there have abalcony where many people sit and take inthe view of the park during the summerand autumn.

At least six parking spots will disappear,even in winter, if the north arm of Acad-emy is permanently blocked off. Also, thenew position of the pool still does not ad-dress the parking problems along Acad-emy. It will actually add to them during thesummer months.

How much more of the taxpayers dol-lars are going to be wasted trying to fit anelephant into a Smart Car?

Belinda Bowes, Academy Rd.

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By David Price, Editor

Westmounters! Your last chance to seeretiring city council members in action isthis Thursday, October 1 at 8 pm. MayorKarin Marks and councillors Tom Thomp-son, Guy Charette and George Bowser arenot seeking reelection.

I extend my best wishes to all four re-tiring council members, but I would liketo take a longer moment to thank MayorMarks for her openness to this newspaperand to salute her 18 years on council, in-cluding four as mayor, four as boroughmayor/president and 10 as a councillor.

And a hearty congratulations on the$20-million arena grant!

I have only had a ringside seat of themunicipal forum for two years now, but Ican see what a tightrope walk being mayoris.

On one side, there are the people whowant more resources for their cause: thehockey lobby, city workers, environmen-talists, traffic enforcement advocates,garbage inspection lobbyists, snow re-moval enthusiasts. Even a seemingly un-controversial idea like open governmenthas a dollar cost, in addition to other ram-ifications that have to be thought out.

No free lunch

On the other side, there are the con-straints: Westmount does not controlmany things that may seem “municipal”

(e.g. moving violations, bike paths, the fireand police departments), the agglom ab-sorbs more than half of residents’ munic-ipal tax dollars, Westmount’s debtskyrocketed as a result of the merger/de-merger and taxpayers want to keep taxeswhere they are (or lower).

The mayor also has to work with coun-cil members to get things done, none ofwhom necessarily agree with the mayor.

While there have been many criticismsof Mayor Marks’ substantive views and ap-proach to process (as there is for any politi-cian), no one can deny that she has alwayshad Westmount’s best interests at heart.And the last four years are only a fractionof her contribution.

As a councillor and commissioner forUrban Planning, she worked on definingWestmount’s character areas and protect-ing streetscapes. In the late 1990s andearly 2000s, she took a lead role in themerger/demerger fight. She then repre-sented Westmount for four years as bor-ough president/mayor when it wasmerged with Montreal. (Can that havebeen fun?)

In addition, she has represented the is-land’s 15 demerged municipalities in theirvery complex dealings with the provinceand city of Montreal – two entities thatseem to hold all the cards and have all thebargaining power.

If you have anything to say about MayorMarks, we’d love to hear from you.

Marking the mayor’s tenure


By Don Wedge

The adoption of West-mount’s Sustainable Devel-opment Action Plan isexpected when the presentcouncil meets for the lasttime on October 1 (8 pm,city hall). It will not only bethe culmination of 18 years’

of civic work by the retiring mayor, KarinMarks, but is paralleled by most West-mounters’ own changing attitudes.

Becoming a sustainable city has notbeen a mere two-year concept: interest hasgrown over the last two decades. As citi-zens have become more aware of the is-sues, so council has supported many ofthem, culminating with an overall recordthat few, if any, Quebec municipalities canmatch.

Throughout, Councillor – and thenMayor – Marks has been at the forefront.Her long service as a legislator was in-creasingly accompanied by her own grow-ing environmental awareness – like manyfellow citizens.

In discussing the unfolding events ofnearly two decades recently, she recountedher earliest motive for becoming involvedin municipal affairs. It was what manywould like to do – facilitate building per-mits – after getting a run-around whileseeking to re-roof her heritage home.

Twice her plans were refused by the citywithout any guidance on what was accept-able. “It was like playing darts in the dark,”she said.

Frustrated, Marks contacted then Al-derman Peter Trent who arranged for theArchitecture and Planning to, unusually,explain its decision. This led her to a suc-cessful application and a wish to haveclearer guidelines for everyone. She ransuccessfully as Stuart Robertson’s succes-sor in District 5 in 1991. Trent, by then thenewly-elected mayor, immediately ap-pointed her planning commissioner.

With Mark London and others, Markswidened the planning perspective to in-clude the streetscape – previously it hadconcentrated on individual houses. Thiswas finally documented in the by-neigh-bourhood “character studies” that are thebasis for today’s decisions.

In doing so, the heritage approach wasdefined, so that now it is one of the fiveparts of the sustainable development vi-sion statement.

While concentrating on her planningrole, Marks was also supportive of a seriesof more direct environmental actions. An

underlying issue of the 1991 election wasthe previous council’s support of themega-incinerator plan, which she op-posed.

Marks also recalled the early controver-sial debates over controlling pesticides fol-lowing the pioneering work of citizenactivist Esther Goldenberg. The first by-law was twice upgraded during the ’90s toclarify it and make it more enforceable.

The local by-law to ban smoking frompublic areas and the workplace was a greatsuccess thanks to the efforts, largely edu-cational, of the Public Security Unit. Aftera few years, provincial laws supercededWestmount’s, but new habits were inplace.

Not so successful was the idling engineby-law of 1993, which was difficult to en-force but was eventually strengthened in1999. Both this new version and the pesti-cides law formed the basis of the Mon-treal-wide legislation introduced by themegacity after the forced merger.

As well as these laws, Marks was sup-portive of many other steps taken by coun-cil as both it and residents became moreand more environmentally aware. Recy-cling facilities in apartments were madecompulsory, and the service was offered toinstitutions. Backyard composters weresubsidized.

A post was created for an environmentcoordinator. Various experiments weremade with leaf collection and composting.An increasing number of indigenousplants were used in the parks.

The forced merger years and the sub-sequent needs to concentrate on financialmatters meant there was little opportunityfor progress.

In 2006, Marks became mayor of the re-constituted Westmount and with the officecame the opportunity to build a sustain-able city. “I had learned about NaturalStep, a Swedish concept for building sus-tainability,” she remembered, “and dis-covered that its Canadian director, KellyHawke Baxter, was a Westmounter. Whatis more, the system had been adopted byWhistler as part of the preparations to hostthe Winter Olympics.

“Whistler’s mayor is also a formerWestmounter – Ken Melamed, son of thelate activist Lanie Melamed,” she recol-lected.

When Westmount council met inTremblant for their annual retreat in 2007,Marks had arranged for a sustainable citypresentation. Her colleagues were wonover – some a little reluctantly. JoshuaWolfe was eventually recruited to produce

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the plan in conjunction with citizens, staffand elected officials.

Not everything has gone perfectly in thelast two years, she admitted. “It took a longtime to accept the need to recruit and thenfind Joshua. I am convinced it could nothave been done without a coordinator –managers are too busy with their regulartasks,” she explained.

“I wish we had been at the currentstage sooner. There are other things Iwould like to have done – more about thereduction of waste, a solar-heated citybuilding or a green roof, for instance – butthere wasn’t time for everything.”

There are many changes to be made toturn the action plan into reality – both incity procedures and the way we citizens be-have.

The initial reception of the latest plansfor the arena renewal – and the sensa-tional $20 million in government grants –are providing another exciting end toMarks’ term. This project itself with bemeasured for its sustainability, and coun-cil has mandated that the silver Leadershipin Energy and Environmental Design(LEED) standard be reached.

Young to challengeLulham, Samiotistaking on de Castell

With the filing of papers for District 2on September 25, Mavis Young enteredthe municipal election against incumbentcouncillor Cynthia Lulham.

Young, a resident of the ward, has a sci-ence background and works for HealthCanada in regulatory affairs. She is afounding member of Save the Park! A pro-file of Young will appear in next week’sissue.

As the Independent went to press, itfound out that Theodora Samiotis in-tended to run against incumbent council-lor John de Castell in District 8.

She finds her time in office “an ab-solutely wonderful experience. I cannotimagine what I could have done for thepast 18 years that would have been as ex-citing, fulfilling and more rewarding. I’mvery lucky to have had the opportunity.”

Citizen activist Don Wedge’s email addressis [email protected]

By Laureen Sweeney

He’s the fifth candidate to express a de-sire to enter the race for the District 5council seat. But Nicolas Smith believes hecan present a fresh approach to issuesbased on today’s reality.

“Obviously, as a young per-son who has worked at thearena, I’ve been around thecommunity and can providean insider’s point of view,” hetold the Independent.

At 23, the recent McGillgraduate in math and com-puter science is alreadyknown for speaking out atcouncil meetings on issuessuch as the bike path andplaying fields. He has been anews editor at the McGillDaily, president of the under-graduate math society, and an executivemember of the university’s bridge club.

During his student years, Smithworked for the city’s Sports and Recreationdepartment as a baseball umpire, soccerreferee, hockey scorekeeper and latterly asan auxiliary blue-collar worker driving theZamboni at the arena.

To avoid conflict of interest while hecampaigns, he says, he has taken a leaveof absence from his arena work, adding:“It’s not my career job.”

Raised on Burton Ave. where he con-tinues to live, Smith is no stranger to thepolitical arena either. He has worked infour federal and provincial elections incharge of different riding electoral listsand computer technology.

So why does he want to run in the No-vember 1 municipal election?

“We hear that young people should takea more active role in politics,” he replied.“Well, what better time for me than now?I have many years ahead of me to get intoa career, and I feel this is the right time forme to be part of the council.

“My background in math and com-puter science enables me to think criti-cally, provide an analytical approach andbe cognitive of important details. I do liketo think out of the box.”

While he expressed concerns overmany issues, the future of the arena is atthe top of his list – especially from a back-ground analysis perspective, he says.

“Really, the whole process seems to bea little unfocussed. The pool and buildingare very old by today’s standards. Either we

go all the way with two full-size NHL rinksor renovate at the current site. Or move toanother site. I don’t mind looking at op-tions. But we just need to get it finished.”

Smith also has other concerns relatedto city processes. In this day and age of in-

ternet registrations, he said,“it’s a waste of time forhundreds of people to lineup for a couple of hours toregister for sports andrecreation activities. Weneed to reduce frustration,increase efficiency and cutcosts. There are lots of waysto improve existingprocesses.”

He’s also concernedabout safety on the bikepath and its role in sustain-ability. It bothers him tofind “walls” set up in con-

necting the east-west bike path. “We can’tignore the realities of being part of abroader community.”

He also believes many by-laws need up-dating to ensure they continue to be rele-vant and that they are well-founded. “I’vebeen questioning the curfew in the parks.If you are going to limit their use to law-abiding citizens, it should be based on agood analysis rather than because it’s whatPublic Security wants.”

Smith, who attended Roslyn School,Royal West Academy and Dawson Collegebefore university, plans to serve as his ownofficial agent. “As an independent, you’reallowed to be your own agent. I’m not ex-pecting donations. I feel if you want to runas an independent, then you should trulybe independent.

“That’s who I am.”


District 5: Nicolas Smith – computer/math graduate, arena worker

‘Insider’ looks to new waysand updating city processes

Nicolas Smith

By Tom Thompson, City Councillor

(District 2)

One of the mandates of the outgoingcouncil was to recommend an upgradeand renewal plan for the arena (56 yearsold) and the pool (41 years young).

This challenge was accelerated by themid-term opportunity to apply for infra-structure grants from the provincial andfederal governments.

Who would develop this proposal wasdecided by public tender and the winningbidder was Lemay and Associates.

A government grant application wasswiftly processed based on an earlier de-sign and specifications from a previouscouncil study. This was done to be first inline for consideration as of December2007. The agreement stipulated when theproject had to be finished: March 2011.

What would the renewed design belike?

The council members embraced thechallenge and began extensive delibera-tions on policy, sports programs and con-struction issues in related sub-committees. They researched topics as di-verse as traffic, parking, safety and secu-rity, program needs, amenities in thebuildings, location, and so on.

Flurry of activity

This flurry of activity became the basisto invite feedback from citizens via anopen meeting in April 2008, focus groupsand through the city website. The result-ing 525 suggestions were distilled andmade fundamental to what the projectmight include.

Where it would be located was reaf-firmed to be the site used for over 50 years!

There was constant reporting, reviewand discussions, first by the original steer-ing committee (Mayor Karin Marks andcouncillors Cynthia Lulham, Patrick Mar-tin and Nicole Forbes), then by council asa whole. And council regularly producedsome insightful questions and thoughtfulconcerns.

The constant coordination of new wrin-kles in the plan through contact betweenLemay and Associates and council becamemore demanding as expectations in-creased on all sides.

A stroke of good fortune for the city wasto be able to engage Bruce St. Louis to bethe key project coordinator for the new di-rector general, Duncan Campbell. So, onthe largest construction project in the his-

tory of Westmount, the city had a knowl-edgeable and dedicated coordinator.

Former DG proved his worth

Bruce, the former director general, isan engineer and has had extensive experi-ence dealing with construction projects,was familiar with the by-laws, the city pro-cedures, citizen input, program needs,and was sensitive to the council process.He also had brought the Victoria Hall andlibrary projects in on time and on budget.He proved his worth, time and again, byassisting the steering committee and theirreporting to council as a whole. His com-petence came cheap at the rate he charged.This was especially obvious after thespring of 2009 presentation by Lemay andAssociates fell short of their encouragingoutline given in December 2008 at theopen council meeting.

An agreement at each stage of the deci-sion-making was not easy. The concernsof council and citizens demanded moreprecision in the anticipated costs and insuch areas as parking spaces (the daily de-mand in a six-block radius), the safe flowof traffic to and from the site, the typicalseasonal sun pattern on the pool area,which influences its location, the trees tobe affected, park impact, height of build-ings and more.

Perhaps the most important questionto confirm was the soil suitability and toverify the costs of the Lemay estimates.This was easy. A firm was contracted tomeasure the soil suitability. Another wasenlisted to verify the construction costs ofthe Lemay design options. Another firmidentified and verified every parking spacein surrounding streets and the daily de-mand at present.

These contracts provided answers towhy underground parking must be con-sidered, why there is a need to move thepool site, why the location was acceptableand why the costs of the constantly chang-ing design increased!

The independent analysis of the Lemayconstruction costs was essential. This wascritical information for council to plan onhow to pay for such a project.

Certainly a positive government grantresponse would be a source of great en-couragement. However, for the record,council said it could not accept an increaseof its indebtedness of more than $18 mil-lion for this project.

This is in light of thelegacy of demerger debt

Councillor’s Column

The arena/pool project:Answers to the five Ws

continued on p. 12

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Mr. and Mrs. Allan Mass of Westmountand Mr. and Mrs. Michael Sannella ofRosedale, Toronto are delighted to an -nounce the engagement of theirchildren; Miss Catherine Mass and Mr.Justin Sannella.

Catherine, granddaughter to the lateMr. and Mrs. Peter Blahey and Mr. andMrs. Joseph Mass,and Justin grandsonof Lora Jean Goodchild, the late Mr.Joseph Goodchild, and Mr. and MrsDominic Sannella were engaged May12th at the Chateau des Hauts de Loire,in France’s Loire valley. A June weddinghas been planned.

Westmount for the cure

The 14th Girls for the Cure event saw 2,800 high school students walk five kilometers up Mount Royalon September 24 in a gesture of solidarity and support in the fight against women-related cancers.Among the Westmounters participating from Villa Maria were (from left) Jessica Mancuso (NDG),Claire Smale, Kerkeslin Keillor (NDG), Nadia Johnston and Jessica Johnston. Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, who supported the walkers this year, is at top right. ECS, Queen of Angels, Sacred Heart, TheStudy and Trafalgar also participated in the event, which raised $125,000.




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By Veronica Redgrave

Marc Garneau, MP forWestmount-Ville Marie,chaired an elegant event atCentaur Theatre. The FlyMe to the Moon gala onSeptember 15 was hostedby Roy Surette, Centaur’sartistic and executive di-rector. The soirée offered a

cocktail dînatoire (complete with bluevodka martinis), silent and live auctionsand a performance. Media celeb, West-mounter Aaron Randof Q radio, emceedthe live auction withwitty panache.

Patrons attendingwere Marc Barbeau(there with his wifeVictoria Robinson),Janet Black (withHans Black), CarolynRenaud, Josie Scalia(with hubby Alexan-der Khalifa), PatrickShea (with his wifeSara Pedersen) andRobert Yalden (withhis wife Pearl Eliadis).Gracious donors wereJoan Ivory, Phyllisand John Rae, Jeannieand Nelson Saunders,Dorothy Reitman,and Hugh Alcorn.

Other guests included Alison Silcoff,Joan and Robert Bora, Norma Hayes, Bar-bara Mackenzie-Molson, Hubert Marleau,Sabina Radu and Ashok Narang, Beth

Noel and Hartland Paterson, Centaurboard member.

Among many tempting items, thesilent auction featured a week’s stay at theformer New Brunswick home of Lord andLady Beaverbrook, “Dayspring”, whichlater belonged to Sir James Dunn and hisfamily. Time at the nine-bedroom man-sion was donated by lawyer Vincent Pragerwho purchased the heritage property a fewyears ago. Other in-demand prizes werean evening with Marc Garneau (won byJanet and Hans Black and Carolyn Re-naud) and a five-course dinner for eight

prepared by Derek Dammann, chef atDNA Restaurant (won by Guy Cournoyer,attending with Nathalie Goodwin).

Committee members were Kika Ar-

Social Notes from Westmount and beyond

Westmount MP chairs Centaur Fundraiser

Westmounter Marc Garneau and Howard Goldberg. Photo: Phil Miresco

Westmounter Aaron Rand

Westmounters Sylvia and Lou Vogel. Westmounters Bernice and Morton Brownstein.

mata, Francine Blackburn, Mitchell Davey,Ariel Dayan-Medalsy, Howard Golberg,James Grant, Belle Grivakis, ChristopherKim Playle and Centaur director RoySurette.

Other patrons supporting the excep-tional evening were Fednav Ltd., Interin-vest Consulting Corporation, OgilvyRenault, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, Car-olyn Renaud and Stikeman Elliott. Spon-sors were Sean Flynn (Cruiseshipcenters,representing Oceania Cruises) and KellyKenselaar (Spadirect). Entertainers in-cluded Kim Zombik and her trio, and thecast of In Piazza San Domenico. Raveswere overheard about the food (Bon Ap-pétit), the décor (Mitchell Davey) and theflowers (Flore). The event raised $100,000which goes towards producing world-classtheatre for Montrealers.


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Four young Westmounters, students at Lower Canada College (LCC), arrive at their NDG-basedprivate school after an 8.7-km walk from the Church of St. John the Evangelist on President KennedyAve., where it was founded in September 1909. Despite the rainy weather, LCC made the walk as partof the school’s centennial birthday party on September 22. From left: Ingrid Hagen-Keith, 17, DanielWiseman, 15, Sasha Cukier, 15, and Julien Miller, 14. Photo: Isaac Olson

LCC, one hundred years later

Victoria Village resident Nancy Dunton, a Heritage Montreal guide, tells her tour participants the storyof Westmount’s first civic construction – the Glen bridge. Repairs to the rail bridge are causing shortdelays through the temporarily one-way Glen Rd. Photos: Don Wedge

Glen Rd. one way for now

No one cares?

Tenants of at least one Westmount apartmentbuilding apparently have little interest in thesephone books, which have been stacked on the frontsteps for nearly two weeks.


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Catharine McKenty releases latest book

Westmounter Catharine McKentylaunched her latest book, Polly of Bridge-water Farm: An Unknown Irish Story onSeptember 20 at the Unitas Centre in Lit-tle Burgundy.

The book is the story of McKenty’sgreat-aunt, who emigrated from northernIreland to Montreal and Toronto in themidst the Great Famine of the 19th cen-

tury. She and her husband, John Verner,eventually owned the Cabbagetown Store,which became a Toronto institution, andwas made famous through books andnewspaper articles.

Is the book a family history? “Yes,” saidMcKenty, “but embedded in the Irishstory.”

The book is available locally at West-

Former Westmounter Twinkle Rudberg (left) having her book signed by author Catharine McKenty.

mount Stationery, Folklore and NicholasHoare. Profits will go to Fields of Life andThe Spirit of Paul McGirr, two Irish char-ities active in Africa.

The occasion was also used to mark thebirthdays of McKenty (79th) and husbandNeil (85th). Neil, well known in Montrealfrom his days on radio, deflected the Inde-pendent’s attention and questions towardsCatharine. “She is the chief cook and bot-tle-washer of this event… Tell them I’mshy. Incommunicado.”

from the city of Montreal.Part of the equation of how to pay will

depend on a successful development of anarena/pool project that suits the site,blends into the park, and is of a qualitywhich Westmounters can be proud.

Extra community support for a deserv-ing and valued project has been part of thetradition of Westmount, from parks, to thebattalions in World War I, the armoury,the library, Victoria Hall and much morethrough the years.

Numerous citizens’ workshops voicedthe potential for named gift opportunitiesand tangible city-wide support for a valuedimprovement of our infrastructure.

In summary, the councillors who wereinstrumental in requesting extra con-tracted studies and additional expendi-tures during the planning, spokeeloquently of the need for such studies. Ascommissioner of Finance and Adminis-tration, I supported their demands for ver-ifiable information on all issues beforegoing to the public. You could ask why‘shoehorn’ the renewed infrastructureproject into the site at the edge of the park?

In fact, a sustainable plan for our city

includes the prudent use of both naturaland financial resources. If an acceptableand functional design can be effectivelydeveloped on the current site, I am confi-dent it will be the best use of our limitedcity space.

But this is all hypothetical now, as a for-mer Montreal mayor would say, since thenew council will carry the project forwardwith the community.

However, our extra spending will givethem the facts they will need in their de-liberations.


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Member of parliament Marc Garneaumet with Westmount constituents at West-mount Park Church on the evening ofSeptember 23 to take questions from resi-dents. Introduced by André Du Sault ofthe riding executive committee, Garneau’sfirst question was on his private member’sbill to establish a Children’s Commis-sioner at the federal level.

He also answered questions on currentLiberal policy regarding the environment,arctic sovereignty, the Afghan mission,

civil liberties and municipal infrastructureprojects. Recent trends such as internetregulations and the sale of Nortel werealso discussed.

The Westmount assembly was the firstof three gatherings billed as “town-hall”meetings to be held throughout the riding.

The next day at a similar event in NDG,Garneau was officially nominated to be theLiberal candidate in the next federal elec-tion. All sitting MPs have been re-nomi-nated by leader Michael Ignatieff.

Garneau asked and answeredWestmounters

Genevieve Lamarche asks Marc Garneau about the internet and safety issues. Photo: Heather Black

Thompson: Project to suit the sitecontinued from p.6




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Comin’ UpWednesday, September 30

• Temple Emanu-El- Beth Sholom pres-ents “Better understanding of wine” withNick Hamilton. This starts a five-sessionseries, from 7 pm to 9:30 pm. Followingsessions are Oct. 7, 14, 21 and 28. $125 feefor entire series. Reserve by Sept. 21 bycalling Anita at 514.937.3575, ext. 212 /[email protected].

Thursday, October 1

• Council meeting (the last of the currentcouncil), at city hall, 8 pm.• The local Sherlock Holmes Society, a.k.a.The Bimetallic Question, meets in theWestmount Room of the Westmount Li-brary, 6:30 pm. All sleuths and potentialsleuths are welcome. Info: 514.931.8690.

Friday, October 2

• Period for candidates’ registration endsat 4:30 pm for the Nov. 1 municipal elec-tions.• Atwater Library and Computer Centrefall fundraising book sale, 10 am – 5 pmand Oct. 3, 10 am – 2 pm. Quality usedbooks and magazines on sale. Info:514.935.7344.

Saturday, October 3

• Allstars Night at Victoria Hall, 6:30 pm.,featuring student and professional danceshows, buffet and general dancing. Cost:$30 for buffet dinner and show; $15 for

dessert and show. Reserve: 514.286.5483.• One-hour guided heritage tour of Daw-son College building, 2 and 3 pm for Eng-lish tour; 2:30 and 3:30 pm for French tour,at Dawson College (3040 Sherbrooke St.W.). Free. Info: Community Events,514.989.5226.

Monday, October 5

Montreal Camera Club invites photogra-pher Jeff Fuchs to talk about his book TheAncient Tea Horse Road. At WestmountPark United Church (4695 de Maison-neuve, corner Lansdowne, rear entrance),7:30 pm. Free for members; guests arewelcome with a donation.

Tuesday, October 6

ArtNow speakers: Artists David Farsi andJennifer Hornyak. Westmount Public Li-brary, 7 pm. Free admission.

Wednesday, October 7

“Suicide and the Book of Job” led by ShellyKagan, Clark Professor of Philosophy atYale, with Rabbi Leigh Lerner, 5:30 pm atTemple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom. Cost:Dinner, $10 per session; study no charge.

Thursday, October 8

Historian Aaron Krishtalka discusses theways current concepts of time have beentransformed by evolutionary biology, 12:30pm at the Atwater Library. Free; donationsinvited.

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Something for everyone at QWF’s fall writing workshops

The Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF)starts its fall writing workshops series onMonday, October 5. Eight differentevening workshops are each eight weekslong and take place at the QWF office atthe Atwater Library (1200 Atwater, #3), un-less otherwise indicated on the organiza-tion’s website (www.qwf.org).

Several new classes are offered this fallincluding Adam Gollner on “Narrativenon-fiction: Creating scenes”. A selectionof intensive classes are also offered in sub-jects ranging from making a living as awriter to fine tuning the story. Westmountresident and QWF executive director LoriSchubert said the QWF is offering a youngwriters’ course again this year, which will

take place at LCC but is open to all grade 7,8 and 9 students.

For more information on specificclasses, costs or to reserve, visitwww.qwf.org or call 514.933.0878. Someof the classes may be full, but Schubertsaid she is encouraging people to call incase space opens up.

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By Susana Beaudin, Grade 11, ECS

As kids, our parents alwaystell us to stay away fromdrugs and from the peoplewho do them. Unfortu-nately, dogs never get such

sage advice. McKenzie is one such exam-ple. This eight-month old rednose pit bullnever stood a chance against the crackheads she lived with, and neither did theseven other animals who also had to sur-vive through hell in that apartment.

After living with these horrible ownersfor too long a period of time, all eight ani-mals, including McKenzie, were aban-doned after the drug addicts were evicted.Six days later, the landlord discoveredMcKenzie and the other cats and dogs

starving to death. That was six days with-out food, water, fresh air or a chance to gooutside to take care of their natural func-tions.

Most people and animals would havedied at this point, but McKenzie was and isa fighter. Luckily enough, the landlordfound the animals and nurtured them asbest he could, providing them with food,water and a safe shelter.

A couple of days later, one of the drugaddicts came back to the apartment claim-ing that a homeless man had offered her$500 for Mckenzie who she now wantedto sell. Thankfully, the landlord refused tolet the previous owner near the dog soMcKenzie was already on her way to a bet-ter life.

It’s a miracle McKenzie even lived, let

Underdog

Crack baby – Mckenzie

Mckenzie Photo: ECS Underdog photographers

ECS volunteers use their skills at Underdog GalleryThe Underdog Club has just added 25

recruits from ECS. Each student is as-signed a different role in order to promoteand place dogs that need adopting. Thesedogs are called “underdogs” because theyare harder to place due to physical blem-ishes, age, handicaps or behaviour issues.

Students are involved in writing (in-cluding the occasional Underdog columnin the Independent), photography, web con-tent production, liaison with rescue shel-ters on information about new dogs andadoption status, and fundraising. Thegallery space (4922 Sherbrooke St.) has be-come the home base for the girls to meetafter school, as well as the rescue directors,potential dog adopters and the dogs them-selves during the day. The dogs are re-moved from the rescue shelters or theirfoster homes and spend the day at thegallery. Four or five different dogs are “ondisplay” at the gallery each day.

The gallery is expected to be open onweekends only after the original exhibitwas set to close on September 27, accord-ing to Fern Breslaw, director and founderof the Underdog Club.

Sophie Fournier, who runs Sophies Dog Adoption, describes to ECS volunteers the life story behind eachof the dogs for adoption at the Underdog Club Gallery, September 22. From left, Susana Beaudin,Leanne Ottoni, Ann Nguyen, Sabine Elian and Giuliana Masi. Photo: Kristin McNeill

alone came out of it as well as she did.Sure, she suffers from intense separationanxiety and cannot be left alone, even ifshe is in a cage, without becoming de-structive (even to herself), but she is get-ting better and can now be left alone forabout half an hour. She loves people, dogsand cats.

She needs constant confidence boost-ers and someone to be with her, but whatshe gives back is worth so much more.

This is a dog who has been through somuch and still manages to be the happiestand friendliest of companions. Show herthe love and attention she needs and she’llshower you with more gratitude then onecould ever ask for.

To find out more about McKenzie visither on www.underdogclub.org or call So-phie’s Dog Adoptions at 514.523.5052.


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Documents

Westmount Independent .pdf