Côte St. Luc recently launched an Internet video channel that features highlight of special events in the city, such as can be seen at city hall itself when entering the city hall part of the Bernard Lang Civic
Centre.

The videos are produced by the city, and have been made since 2007. Some of the events highlighted include the recent swearing-in ceremony of the council as a result of the Nov. 1 municipal election, Victory in Europe ceremonies from May 2007, 2008 and 2009 and the unveilings of a plaque on the Human Rights Walkway at Trudeau Park. So far, there are six videos on the site, accessible by clicking on the CSL-TV icon on Côte St. Luc’s website, www.cotesaintluc.org.

The site that the city’s site links to, http://www.vimeo.com/channels/csltv, gathers all the videos in one place.

“Video is becoming a standard communications tool in business and government as the cost of producing quality videos decreases,” Mayor Anthony Housefather said. “There is an opportunity for municipal governments to show what we do in a visual way.” City officials pointed out that the White House and British prime minister “use video extensively to communicate directly with the public.”

“Communicating through video is something that would have been prohibitively expensive or even impossible for municipalities 10 years ago,” says councillor Mike Cohen, who is responsible for the communications portfolio. “But new tools have leveled the playing field and we can do more for less. Our Director of Public Affairs and Communications, Darryl Levine, has a background in recording and editing videos, so we’re able to do everything in-house.”

However, city officials also confirmed that city council meetings will not be featured on CSL-TV, despite their occasional entertainment value whether from audience members or the quick wit of some council members. So the minutes of meetings or Suburban reports will have to do for
those who do not attend the regular monthly meetings.

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CSL snow removal
The Suburban
December 16, 2009

Côte St. Luc informed motorists of rules “to ensure that snow removal is done in a safe, timely and effective way. Residents are called upon to do their part to help make their roads safe this winter” so that “once precipitation has stopped, the accumulated snow along the edge of these roadways is removed by our snow-blowing equipment.” Some elements:

”The city of Côte St. Luc puts temporary no parking signs on many streets before our snow clearing operation. The goal is to prevent delays in snow clearing caused by vehicles parked on city streets.”
”If you see a temporary no parking sign near your parked vehicle, please move your vehicle. If you don't, your vehicle may be towed to an adjacent street and you will be fined $97. If your vehicle is towed, you can call 514-485-6960 to find out where it was moved.”
”If you see temporary no parking signs on your street, you might want to consider parking your car overnight at a nearby city parking lot. Call Côte St. Luc public security at 514-485-6960 to find the parking lot closest to your home. (City parking lots may not be used overnight in normal times.)”

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Blue bins achieving results
The Suburban - Letter to the editor
December 16, 2009

In his letter of Dec. 9, Eric Gralnick complains that the contents of his blue bin weren’t collected on Dec. 1 because the bin wasn’t facing the right way.

When residents received their new covered blue bins in June, the City of Côte St. Luc sent a colour flyer explaining, among other things, how to place the bin at the curb. We also explained that the mechanical arm that lifts the blue bins into the truck can only do so if the front of the bin is facing the street. This is the same for the 13 demerged municipalities that were part of the same contract as Côte St. Luc. Later, we sent another flyer reminding residents of this exact point. During the summer, our student Green Patrollers left notices on uncollected blue bins explaining why the contents weren’t collected. In September, we telephoned these residents to explain the same. We’ve also posted notices at Côte St. Luc City Hall and on our website.

With any new change to our residents’ day-to-day lives, there will be an adjustment period, however, the huge increase in Côte St. Luc’s diversion rate has shown that our citizens have embraced our new environmental initiatives. In one year, we’ve nearly doubled (up 91 percent) the amount of waste that is diverted from landfills through our blue and brown bin programs.

We encourage residents to continue to divert as much waste as possible to their blue and brown bins, as not only is it better for the environment, but it saves the city money. We estimate that if citizens recycled everything that was acceptable, it would save Côte St. Luc alone about $500,000 per year, money that could be used to renovate parks or repave roads.

I am surprised when a resident writes that “inmates are running the asylum” in our city. Côte St. Luc is a role model for its recycling programs and I feel we have done an excellent job to inform and educate. Given the level of service Côte St. Luc provides to residents, such comments are without merit.
Councillor Steven Erdelyi
City of Côte St. Luc

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Nouvelles coupes dans les arrondissements
Publié le 16 décembre 2009 à 05h00 | Mis à jour à 05h00
Éric Clément
La Presse

La Ville de Montréal obligera les arrondissements à sabrer un total de 40 millions dans leurs investissements parce qu'elle veut réduire le service de sa dette et tenir compte de la suspension des appels d'offres pour les gros contrats, a appris La Presse. À neuf jours de Noël, c'est la consternation dans les arrondissements. Louise Harel juge la mesure «extrême».

Selon le trésorier de la Ville, Robert Lamontagne, la décision a été prise le 9 décembre par le comité exécutif. Lundi, M. Lamontagne a envoyé aux directeurs d'arrondissement une note dans laquelle il écrit que cette décision a été prise «à la lumière de la croissance anticipée des dépenses et des différentes stratégies de financement».

Il dit que l'effort demandé correspond à la volonté de l'administration de refléter «l'impact de la suspension des appels d'offres et des octrois de contrats». Plus loin, M. Lamontagne ajoute que le souci de la Ville est de «réduire le service de la dette».

Les arrondissements doivent donc «réduire» de 40% les dépenses qu'ils prévoyaient pour 2010, 2011 et 2012. Par exemple, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve prévoyait investir, selon le budget adopté en septembre, 8,3 millions en 2010, 7,5 millions en 2011 et 7,9 millions en 2012. Le total versé par la ville centre devait donc être de 23,7 millions en trois ans, ce qui donne une moyenne de 7,9 millions par an. La réduction de 40% ramène ce chiffre à 3 160 000 $. Pour les 19 arrondissements, on arrive à une somme d'environ 40,5 millions.

La chef de l'opposition officielle, Louise Harel, proteste contre ce «cadeau de Noël» dont elle se serait bien passée. «Cela se fait sans qu'on connaisse la situation financière de la Ville, a-t-elle dit à La Presse, hier. Ce n'est pas transparent. La situation financière est-elle si accablante qu'on prenne de telles mesures extrêmes? Nous, dans Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, s'il y a plus de tempêtes de neige que prévu, on est foutu. En plus, si les surplus sont réquisitionnés, les arrondissements ne seront plus tentés d'en conserver.»

La ville centre a en effet demandé aux arrondissements que l'effort ne soit pas retiré des investissements planifiés pour 2010, mais qu'ils réduisent la somme requise «des reports constatés au moment du dépôt de l'état financier», soit ce qu'il restera des sommes prévues pour les investissements de cette année et des années précédentes.

Anie Samson, mairesse de Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc Extension et leader de l'opposition officielle, est aussi mécontente. «Nous, avec 2,73 millions en moins, on ne pourra pas réparer notre piscine ni poursuivre le programme de création d'une maison de la culture, à moins d'imposer une taxe, dit-elle. Pour les arrondissements qui ont un retard important dans la réparation des immeubles municipaux, cette mesure va contribuer à agrandir l'écart avec la banlieue.»

Hier, des élus n'étaient même pas encore au courant de cette ponction surprise. «On va s'asseoir demain (aujourd'hui) avec les élus pour leur expliquer la situation, dit Serge Fortin, porte-parole de l'arrondissement de Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, où la ponction représente 3,2 millions. C'est alors que les choix vont se prendre. On devra éponger les 3,2 millions avec nos reports, mais on ne sait pas encore combien ils représentent. Ça risque d'influencer des investissements, mais à quel point, je ne sais pas.»

Dans le Sud-Ouest, on prend très mal la chose. «C'est un choc pour nous, surtout à la veille du dépôt du budget de la Ville de Montréal, dit Marie Otis, directrice de cabinet du maire Benoît Dorais. Surtout que notre budget est très minime. Notre programme de réfection de rues est déjà minuscule compte tenu de nos besoins, nos investissements pour les véhicules et les parcs aussi. Avec 5 millions par année, c'était déjà un tour de force, alors supprimer 2,16 millions, cela remet tout en question. On ne pourra pas améliorer grand-chose.»

La décision du comité exécutif est-elle une façon déguisée de mettre les arrondissements au régime afin d'éviter que la ville centre ait l'odieux d'imposer une trop forte augmentation de taxes en 2010? La Presse a posé la question au maire de l'arrondissement de Saint-Laurent, Alan DeSousa, responsable des finances au comité exécutif, hier. Il s'est borné à dire que la ville centre «va demander un effort à tout le monde». «Cela aura des bénéfices et permettra de réduire le fardeau des Montréalais et des Montréalaises», a-t-il ajouté.

Rappelons que le scénario le plus probable envisagé en octobre dernier était d'augmenter les taxes de 6% en 2010. Le fait de réduire les budgets des arrondissements pourrait les forcer à adopter une taxe locale. Actuellement, sept arrondissements ont prévu des taxes locales en 2010 : Anjou, Lachine, LaSalle, Montréal-Nord, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Saint-Léonard et Verdun.

Dans sa note, M. Lamontagne mentionne que le comité exécutif a aussi approuvé la semaine dernière la «création d'une réserve au budget 2010, à hauteur de 12 millions, destinée aux arrondissements». Cette réserve est censée être redistribuée au cours de l'an prochain, une fois que les «conclusions de l'étude des dotations d'arrondissement par la Commission du conseil municipal sur les finances, les services administratifs et le capital humain» auront été connues. Ces ajouts ne compenseront toutefois pas le nouvel effort réclamé par la ville centre.
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Laval refuse de verser sa part à la STM
Marie-Eve Shaffer
Métro Montréal
15 décembre 2009 12:01

Pour une deuxième année, la Ville de Laval n’entend pas payer sa quote-part à la Société de transport de Montréal (STM). Dans son budget de 2010 dévoilé hier, aucun montant dans la colonne des dépenses ne correspond au 1,8 M$ que Laval doit verser à la STM pour l’exploitation du métro, considéré comme un équipement métropolitain par les membres de la Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal. «J’ai informé le maire de Montréal que, tant qu’il ne réglera pas l’iniquité tarifaire entre les gens de la Rive-Sud et ceux de la Rive-Nord, nous n’allons pas payer», a fait savoir hier le maire de Laval, Gilles Vaillancourt.

Présentement, un résidant de la Rive-Sud paie 68,50 $ mensuellement pour prendre le métro, contre 109 $ pour un Lavallois. «Pour un travailleur de Laval qui accède au métro, ça coûte 480 $ de plus par année, a indiqué M. Vaillancourt. Ce n’est pas vrai qu’on va payer deux fois.» Malgré tout, Laval n’a pas dépensé le montant de cette quote-part. La Ville espère toujours s’entendre avec l’administration du maire Tremblay. Du côté de la Ville de Montréal, on soutient que les discussions portant sur le financement du transport en commun se poursuivent.

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We still need those water meters
The Gazette - Letters
December 17, 2009

The political firestorm surrounding the questionable tendering process for the massive water-meter contract for Montreal and suburbs left the Tremblay administration and the agglomeration council no alternative but to cancel it.

However, completely lost in the rush to bury the project is the essence of the contract's objective in the first place. Springing from recommendations of the Montreal Urban Community Environment Commission about 10 years ago was the need to meter industrial, institutional, and commercial buildings that consume enormous quantities of water. Not to mention that our underground water network is in terrible condition with breaks and leaks throughout the network. The installation of meters was to ultimately regulate, better control, and generate revenue to repair the network. The political dynamic that led to the contract's demise could cost Montrealers much more heavily than not cancelling it, if the city (agglomeration) doesn't act quickly to re-tender this contract.

Robert Libman
Montreal

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Interns back on the beat
120 Jobs saved; Cops, firefighters in binding arbitration
By LINDA GYULAI,
The Gazette
December 17, 2009

For several months in 2008 and '09, Montreal police officers wore camouflage pants as a pressure tactic during their contract dispute with the city. The parties are in arbitration.

For several months in 2008 and '09, Montreal police officers wore camouflage pants as a pressure tactic during their contract dispute with the city. The parties are in arbitration.
Photograph by: PHIL CARPENTER, GAZETTE FILE, The Gazette

The city and its police union reached a deal yesterday to salvage the jobs of 120 temporary officers who were cut for budgetary reasons.

The agreement is the first glimmer of good news on the labour front for Mayor Gérald Tremblay since he began his third term last month.

The city's blue-collar union, which has been without a contract since August 2007, staged two one-day strikes during the municipal election campaign. The city is also in binding arbitration with the police and firefighter unions, which have been without new contracts since January 2007.

And the union representing Montreal school crossing guards voted to accept the city's contract offer on Tuesday night, but only by a "very narrow" majority, Guy Gohier, the president of Local 930 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said yesterday. He said he was unable to provide the percentage.

Meanwhile, yesterday's deal on the police temps is "an acceptable compromise given the circumstances," Montreal Police Brotherhood president Yves Francoeur said in a written statement. He refused to give interviews, however, saying the people affected by the deal must be given the details first.

The police department began to cut the 120 temps in November as they completed 3,000 hours of internship.

The police collective agreement requires the department to hire temps on a permanent basis or let them go once they complete two internships of 1,500 hours each.

But since city hall imposed $13.85 million in budget cuts on the department earlier this year, police directors said they couldn't afford to hire the temps.

The nub of the deal that was approved by the city executive committee yesterday is a letter of understanding that will create a third internship. The agreement will be presented to the city council and island council for ratification by February, the city said.

Francoeur's statement suggested the third internship will pay better than the $15.53 hourly salary without benefits that's paid on the first two internships. The former temps will be brought back in three phases, with one group starting on Jan. 1, another on April 19 and the last on May 3.

Meanwhile, the city and the police union are no closer to a new collective agreement - and it's the same story for the firefighters. The sticking point in both disputes is salaries.

Firefighters feel they're not being recognized for the additional skills and work they've taken on as emergency first responders, Montreal Firefighters Association president Perry Bisson said.

A first-class firefighter earns $61,802 a year after 41/2 years of service.

The firefighters wrapped up arguments on salary increases for 2007 to 2009 on Dec. 5. The arbitrator should rule in January, Bisson said.

lgyulai@thegazette.canwest.com

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Montreal to unwrap budget Jan. 13
The Gazette
December 17, 2009

MONTREAL – Mayor Gérald Tremblay will unveil the 2010 municipal budget on Jan. 13, sources at city hall have confirmed to The Gazette.

The administration has called a special city council meeting that day to table the $4-billion budget, of which about half pays for city services and half for services that are shared by the city and the 15 demerged island suburbs, such as police and firefighters, public transit and water treatment.

An agglomeration council meeting has been scheduled for Jan. 14 to table the island-wide portion of the budget.

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Côte St. Luc chooses digital screens for community announcements
by Martin C. Barry
The Monitor
Article online since December 18th 2009, 11:30

The City of Côte St. Luc has chosen a high-tech way to publicly inform residents of important coming events.

Instead of the ubiquitous banners the city has draped for years on railway and roadway overpasses to get the word out, large LED screens will start appearing in some key spots around Côte St. Luc next year.

At city council’s meeting for December last week, an agreement was approved with Kazoo Digital Inc., a Montreal-based company that specializes in the production and distribution of LED screens for public displays and commercial advertising.

According to the three-year agreement, Côte St. Luc will be getting four digital display signs at no charge. The first will be set up for a year at Kildare Road and Cavendish Boulevard. Others will follow at Westminster Avenue and Côte St. Luc Road, in front of the Samuel Moskovitch Arena, and at one other location.

Côte St. Luc is jumping on the digital display bandwagon much later than a lot of other municipalities. From Dollard des Ormeaux on the West Island to St. Léonard in Montreal’s east end, the brightly lit displays have become a common sight. They are often set up where cars come to a stop for several minutes when the traffic lights are red at key intersections.

Although Côte St. Luc had been exploring various ways over the past four years to acquire digital displays and found most very costly, the deal with Kazoo is free because the company earns revenue through advertising. The city believes it will be getting a lot of visibility, while Kazoo will be selling time on the displays to private advertisers.

“They will give us a very substantial amount of free time to publicize any of our events, and then they will sell the rest of the time to whomever they want,” says Councillor Mike Cohen, who is responsible for sponsorship, communications and corporate identity on council. “We’ll obviously keep a close eye on who they go after (as advertisers) and make sure that it’s not inappropriate.”

The deal specifies that Côte St. Luc is entitled to 25 per cent of the space in a two-minute continuous “loop” of advertising. The city is further entitled to 40 per cent of the loop time for 12 days throughout the year to promote special events, such as the Canada Day festivities and winter carnival. Côte St. Luc will be getting 57-inch, high-quality, commercial grade LED screens.

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Gimme shelter: seniors face bans on Tempo carports
Martin C. Barry
The Senior Times
December 19, 2009

With snow and wind bearing down mercilessly on even the young and hardy, winter in Montreal has always been a challenge for senior citizens. But in some areas of the island, municipal officials don’t seem very interested in the needs of seniors, even preventing them from erecting temporary car ports or doorway shelters to break the wind.

In Côte St. Luc, Jay Rubinstein, a 76-year-old McAlear resident, appealed to city council recently on behalf of himself and a neighbour for special permission as seniors to be exempted from a Côte St. Luc bylaw that forbids Tempo car shelters in driveways if there already is a garage.

Rubinstein has lived in the same home in Côte St. Luc for 54 years. During a city council meeting, he said he had a “wretched basement garage and whether I hire a snow removal firm or clean the driveway myself it is difficult to go up the driveway because of slippery conditions after a snowfall.” In addition, he added, snow removal contractors will not remove the accumulation of snow on top of cars.

Rubinstein told Côte St. Luc mayor Anthony Housefather how he and the neighbour, who is recovering from cancer surgery, have two cars parked in their driveways without any shelter. “There is no solution for us, other than to erect a Tempo shelter,” he said. “We are an older population … there’s got to be a solution.

“We are just as deserving of the right to have one as someone who has no carport or garage. … If you don’t want them at all for aesthetic purposes it’s one thing. But why suddenly are the people without carports allowed them and why not me?”

While acknowledging that Côte St. Luc generally discourages Tempos for aesthetic and other reasons, Housefather said the city allows residents without garages to put them up. However, he insisted, “the way the bylaw is currently constructed, the city council has no discretion in the matter to grant you an exemption for hardship or any other reason. I don’t have the power to do it, the council doesn’t have the power to do it. We’d have to change the bylaw.” Housefather said he would take Rubinstein’s request for a change in the bylaw under advisement, “but I can’t grant you an exemption.”

In an e-mailed response to a question from The Senior Times, the mayor confirmed, “We have no power to exempt anyone from a bylaw. It (the Tempo bylaw) has been in force for over 20 years and we will review his request at a future date to see if we are interested in amending the bylaw.”

In Park Extension, until two years ago homeowners, many of them seniors, erected improvised doorway shelters, often fashioned from plastic sheeting and scrap pieces of wood. While they were regarded by some as “visual pollution” and there were safety concerns as well, seniors grew to appreciate the tunnel-like structures, which provided an added measure of protection from the elements on cold and blustery winter days.

In 2007, the borough of Villeray/St-Michel/Park Extension stepped in with a new bylaw cracking down on the use of polyethylene, particle board or other materials with an unfinished look in the construction of the improvised winter shelters. While pre-fabricated Tempo shelters are permitted by the borough over driveways, shelters over front walks have now virtually disappeared. While some of the rationales for the ban were fire safety and crime prevention, it came into force with at least some complaints from affected seniors.

“The main concern was to have visibility,” says Park Extension City Councillor Mary Deros, noting that the new bylaw also made it mandatory to have windows to prevent undesirables from lurking inside. While effectively placing a ban on covering balconies, the borough still allows shelters on front walks as long as they’re built on a metal frame and are anchored securely. “We have an aging population,” Deros says.

“A lot of them come out to wait for a taxi or adapted transportation. The last few winters we’ve had a lot of snowfall and they don’t have the means or strength to shovel the snow.”

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Major tax hikes loom in Montreal suburbs
Island municipalities fear city is trying to off-load costs on them
By David Johnston
The Gazette
December 19, 2009

MONTREAL – Property taxes are poised to increase significantly in Montreal Island suburbs next year thanks to higher levies from the city of Montreal for shared services.

The Tremblay administration sent out the levy notices to the 15 suburbs late Friday afternoon, that being the preferred time in politics to deliver bad news.

While the official figures are confidential for the time being, sources say the suburbs are looking at increases in their agglomeration bills, or shared-services bills, in the order the order of 10 to 12 per cent.

Since agglomeration expenses account for roughly half of a suburb’s overall budget – local expenses being the other half – this works out to five to six per cent. For suburbs which intend to limit their own local spending to inflation, now about two per cent, this means increases in overall property taxes of six to seven per cent in 2010.

This is more than three times the inflation rate.

“It’s outrageous,” said Baie d’Urfé Mayor Maria Tutino.

Whether or not property taxes in the city of Montreal rise by the same six to seven per cent remains to be seen.

Suburban mayors will be looking to see if the city of Montreal has played with the budget numbers to make suburbs shoulder an unfairly high share of the overall cost of shared services.

In the past, suburbs have complained to the provincial government about the way Montreal has done its budget planning for the agglomeration council. Quebec has upheld some of their complaints, and blocked certain practices. But suburbs say Montreal has found new ways to off-load costs on them.

Westmount Mayor Peter Trent said Friday night that he wants to wait until Monday before revealing what the levy notice he received Friday afternoon says.

“I expect, though, that the increase will work out to be around 12 per cent,” Trent said.

Underpinning the increases, Trent said, are continuing financial problems at the Société de transport de Montréal, the transit commission. Fare increases announced Friday of 2.2 per cent for 2010 will not, according to projections, raise enough money to balance the STM budget. As a result, municipalities are being asked to up their own subsidies to the STM out of property taxes.

Another problem, Tutino said, is that stock-market losses in 2009 resulted in pension-fund deficits for which cities will have to make special compensation payments in 2010. Pension plans for police officers and bus drivers and the like will require more taxpayer support.

Tutino also said she wants to wait until Monday to comment on the levy she received, but she hinted that Baie d’Urfé is looking at the same 12-per-cent hike as that facing Westmount.

Tutino said one other mayor she spoke with late Friday afternoon said he had received a notice telling him his town will be asked to pay 10 per cent more next year in agglomeration expenses.

Anthony Housefather, mayor of Côte St. Luc, said he didn’t want to say what kind of an increase he received.

“Suffice it to say that this type of increase would be unacceptable.”

Housefather used the conditional tense in talking about the increase because nothing is cast in stone yet. Budgets haven’t been tabled yet, let alone passed, and the mayors intend to fight back next week. But whether they will be successful in getting the increases in the levies scaled back is far from certain.

Unlike the former Montreal Urban Community government before forced mergers, the Montreal political agglomeration isn’t a separate legal entity from the city of Montreal. It is an operating division of the city of Montreal, and so Montreal controls it fully, from a planning and a voting point of view.

Darren Becker, a spokesperson for the city of Montreal’s executive committee, said the suburbs had been given a warning by the city two months ago that a big tax hike for agglomeration expenses was coming. He said they shouldn’t act as if the city is trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

Normally, municipal budgets are tabled and passed in December, but delays related to uncertainty over the agglomeration budget has resulted in Montreal and the suburbs postponing the tabling of their 2010 budgets until next month.

On the South Shore, Longueuil says its own property taxes might have to rise by an average 12 per cent next year to deal with its own problems.

It’s smooth sailing in Laval, however, where a budget was unveiled last Monday calling for average 1.7-per-cent increase – just under inflation.

djohnston@thegazette.canwest.com

CoteSaintLuc.org

Press clippings: week of December 14, 2009 / Coupures de journaux : semaine du 14 décembre 2009