With the abundance of churches in Quebec, I'm always surprised to find religious groups occupying non-traditional sites, like this Catholic church in a ground-floor of an old-folks' residence on Christophe-Colomb (Petite-Patrie). The priest seems to have kept a website for some time, which provides insight into why the parish decided to sell their church to the residence's developers, and how the parish's identity has changed since the church was demolished and they began "celebrating mass around a table."

A quick look at the map of Griffintown (pdf) shows that every other block is newly developed, under-construction, or awaiting authorization for transformation. So it may seem odd that the Sud-Ouest borough is only now putting together an integrated urban plan for the sector. In light of this plan, which will eventually be included in Montreal's updated urban, Montreal's Office de Consultation Publique has been given the mandate to open a discussion on Griffintown's future, and develop a vision for the neighbourhood taking into account issues such as: cohabitation of new projects with current use; preservation and integration of the neighbourhood's historical and architectural heritage and scale; transportation demand management, public transit, and parking; the presence of public spaces and green spaces, and local services; how development in Griffintown will fit in with other local projects like the Bonaventure redevelopment, the ETS campus, and the Bassins du Nouveau Havre. Presently, there are a number of competing visions for the neighbourhood : prime real estate near downtown for young professionals, a student area around ETS, a cultural corridor, an opportunity to build more affordable housing for families... According to Anik Pouliot, the OCPM’s logistics and communications coordinator, that the important thing is to “ensure that there are intentions behind the development, and that it is not just the market that decides.” In short, it looks like the consultation that should have been held five years ago, when about 25 blocks of the industrial area were rezoned to make way for Devimco's  1.3 billion dollar raze-and-rebuild plan, which failed to materialize. A first online consultation forum While the OCPM has used online surveys in the past, Pouliot says that «Griffintown selon vous» is the first time that they’ve opened up a true web 2.0-style online discussion forum. The format they have chosen is "a consultation all in pictures": the public is invited to comment on a number of photos of the neighourhood, and may also submit their own photos to spark a discussion.

http://www.24hmontreal.canoe.ca/24hmontreal/actualites/archives/2011/12/20111201-164225.html Les macarons et les aimants du métro de Montréal sont finalement en vente sur le web! Vous pouvez les acheter individuellement ou bien commander toute la série. Durant le temps des fêtes, ils seront aussi disponibles dans le réseau Distroboto et à la boutique du musée McCord. Le design de chaque macaron et aimant est inspiré des motifs originaux des stations du métro montréalais. Jusqu’à présent, 25 stations sont représentées: celles de ...

Readying to replace the winding staircase in front of a triplex on de la Roche. Montreal’s heritage protection policy requires homeowners to restore staircases according to their original characteristics, even if it sometimes means twisting the building code a little. I wrote more about Montreal's iconic staircases here.

Montréal Ouvert, en collaboration avec la Ville de Montraéal,  Montréal Python, La Gazette de Montréal, OpenFile, et Hack/Hackers ont mis sur pied un Hackathon qui a le but d'explorer des outils et des stratégies qui permettront les citoyens à s'approprier les données publics de la ville. La Ville de Montréal a récemment adoptée une politique sur les données ouvertes et ont lancé un portail web qui a eu plusieurs milliers de visiteurs en moins de deux semaines. Ateliers: Atelier A (10 h à 10h30) :  Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir à ...