The Gazette reported this weekend that the Hasidic community in Outremont and Mile End is suffering from a housing shortage. In 2002, there were about 4,200 Hasidim in the neighbourhood; today there are more than 6,000. Rising property values mean that many new Hasidic families are finding themselves priced out of their own Montreal heartland. Apparently, the hunt is on to find a new neighbourhood with suitable and affordable housing. If the Hasidic community does move on, it certainly wouldn't be the first time a Jewish community has come and gone. The entire swath ...

Earlier this week, Montreal’s city council approved the development of two 32-storey Waldorf-Astoria hotel and condominium towers near the corner of Guy and Sherbrooke streets. The Gazette accompanied this announcement with a rendering of two massive, gaudy, post-modern towers; if they are vaguely reminiscent of the famous Waldorf-Astoria in New York, it’s only a coincidence, since the rendering has been recycled since at least the early 2000s, when the tower was first proposed but before the luxury hotel chain got involved. Though the new development was approved by the council without debate, I’m sure its mass will elicit ...

Un an après le centre d'artistes Dare-Dare a quitté le Mile-End pour s'établir au square Cabot, le fameux parc sans nom reste toujours abandonné. Jean-Pierre Caissie, ancien directeur artistique de Dare-Dare, y réfléchit : un parc sans nom existe toujours dans l’arrondissement Plateau-Mont-Royal. au coin du boulevard Saint-Laurent et de la rue Van Horne, se trouve un espace public clôturé et qui semble servir de dépôt(-oire) pour l’arrondissement montréalais. pourtant, le centre d’artistes autogéré DARE-DARE y a passé deux ans à organiser des expositions, à y faire rayonner des projets d’art public. après deux ...

In the midst of the blogosphere-led fury over the Ministère des transports du Québec's plan to rebuild the Turcot interchange (see Jacob Larsen's lively post excoriating the MTQ's attempt at "greenwashing" the project), Urbanphoto's Sam Imberman calls for a breather: So, let me get this out of the way first-thing: there is currently an interchange here, and for the time being, there isn’t a way around that fact. And furthermore: if the Turcot were annihilated tomorrow, we would not necessarily be better off. See, it’s not in question that in some ways, interchanges are Bad Things. They’re noisy, ...

WHAT? "Bellazza Contrari," an exhibition of photographs by Martin Bérubé WHEN? Vernissage on Friday, April 24th, from 6pm to 10pm. Show runs until April 28th WHERE? Galerie Ouest, 37 St. Thomas, Ste. Anne de Bellevue (5 minutes from Ste. Anne train station), map Ghost signs, old neon, peeling paint, all of it photographed in sumptuous black-and-white: Martin Bérubé knows how to make Montreal's rough edges look good. His photos draw life from the lost and forgotten corners of the city. "I like to show people what they see everyday without really looking at the beauty of ...