Simon Lane's Blog
A miscellaneous hodgepodge of doggerel, travel, political blindsight, and other stuff
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Recently driving around Montréal, I have come to the realization that our city is looking shabby. There are so many boarded up buildings, run down areas, areas under some sort of eternal contstruction, that it looks like a hick town that has fallen on hard times. I like Montréal, and it is very sad to see this really rapid rate of decay set in. To a large part, I think our current (and the last, and the one before that, etc) administration is to blame for their bad ideas, short sighted cash grabs, and a total lack of any project management skills. The exhorbitant rates of the parking meters is one ite; it is killing merchants downtown. Why would anyone shop downtown (if they can even get there through the construction) when it is a nightmare to get there, parking is extremely limited, and, when you do find parking, you have to pay through the nose for it. You can go to any of the shopping malls like Fairview in Pointe-Claire, or Carrefour Laval, or any of the other major shopping malls in the suburbs and have ample FREE parking and, frankly, an altogether more enjoyable experience.
For a classic example of the weay Montréal screws itself, take Chabanal avenue in Montréal – close to Marché Centrale. This road was dug up for a period of almost two years, and then paved over – so badly, however, that it is a joke. Now, about 8 months after they finished the last digging, they are at it again, digging up the same damn palces they dug up before, but for a different reason. I mean, what type of idiots do we have running this place that they can do the same thing over and over again – refer back to boulevard St. Laurent and the disaster that was. I don’t understand why there is no accountability for this total mismanagement. It is a disgrace, and it happens again and again and again. Construction that should take a matter of weeks seems to be prolonged to years, and repeated like a bad version of Groundhog Day without the comedy. Why do we let these idiots get away with it all the time ? We pay huge txes and get pathetic service in return, although we do seem to get vast numbers of useless bureaucrats as consolation.
The fact is that if we don’t wake up and take control of our city, get some good people to run it, and generally clean up, Montréal is going to become a third rate city. It is already far behind most others and seems intent on falling further behind. Every major expenditure this city does is crooked; never mind the every day smaller things that go on. No wonder our taxes keep on going up – someone has to pay for the bribery and corruption in City Hall…..
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Summer is here again, and with it comes the usual silly season, not just in Montréal, but in Canada, it seems. Let’s start with the joke of a Prime Minister Mulroney. Here is what is probably the worst Prime Minister we have ever had (in fact, I think all the recent Conservative PMs have been bad including the present Harper – not to say the Liberals are anything to write home about, just the Conservatives seem to be so much worse), a PM who fully admits taking more than $300, ooo in cash from a known and not very reputable lobbyist and claims all is above board…Now his lawyer (that we continue to pay for, beyond all belief) is saying to take it easy on Mulroney because of his reputation and the fact he was a PM. I’m sorry, but in the first place, why are we paying for a lawyer for a man who accepts cash bribes as a Prime Minister ? And who cares about his reputation – he was a terrible PM, and deserves a lot more than he will ever get in terms of punishment.
Speaking of politicians, look at that Raitt; now everyone knows that politicians are not in it for the good of the people, just the good of themselves, and it is kind of refreshing hearing one of the less bright ones actually admit it. What else but some self serving egoist could say that a shortage of cancer diagnostic tools is ’sexy’. Unfortunately, I don’t think that she is worse than any of the rest of them – all looking for something they can get publicity from and make themselves look good; better yet if they can get the publicity by crying out and not actually having to do anything…
And what diatribe would be complete without our friends in Montréal. Did you know that the great financial system Montréal has allows the same person to approve a purchase order and recieve the item that was supposed to have been purchased ? Now Montréal says that this is no big deal as only 94 (count ‘em) people can do that for purchases of more than $3,000. I don’t know about anyone else, but this whole thing just goes agains all the most basic rules of governance. There are no cisrcumstance under which the same person shouldbe able to approve and receive a purchase – the criminal possibilities are just too great. Not that anyone in the Montréal orginization would ever even dream of taking advantage of such sloppy rules of course, the Olympic example notwithstanding. What a total joke and how can a government get away with flaunting the rules that are applied to even the smallest of public companies…No wonder nothing works in Montréal; even the most basic tenets of administration are screwed up.
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So let’s try to understand our main choices in this “election”. Should we jump for joy now that Louise Harel has entered the fray ? Let’s think about this; isn’t she the one that force through the megacity, totally ignoring all the facts that no megacity anywhere has ever worked. In fact they are all basically bankrupt or at least very heavily in debt. Then, of course, we have Tremblay, the totally charmless bureaucrat who cannot even create a smooth road in the whole of Montréal and whose answer to everything seems to be ‘raise taxes’ and also seems to run what is perhaps the most corrupt administration since Drapeau’s Olympic times. Lovely – one who believes that if you make the exact same mistakes over and over again then it isn’t a mistake, and a twit under whom Montréal seems to have dropped to its lowest levels ever. Our roads are a joke; the remaining infrastrucutre is rotten; the city projects are run with no form of project management at all; everything costs about 10 times more to do than in any other comparable city; downtown is turning into a desert due to short sited cash grabbing parking policies; snow clearing is worse and slower than ever; our public trasport system is becoming a joke (just ask those poor people who use the trains); and I could go on.
Montréal, I really love you, but only because because of the people here; the politics and corruption together with the state of the infrastructure are turning you into a joke of a third world city….without even the saving grace of good weather….
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It is a favourite thing of mine to complain about, but I really hate the Montréal metro system. If you are handicapped, then basically forget the Metro – there is no real way to use it. Even Paris, which has long been known as an unfriendly Metro due to its total lack of escalators or anything for the handicapped, is better than Montréal. Even more, their Metro has windows that open so there is even some ventilation. What a concept ! Montréal, forget about spending millions (and going way over budget in the process which we all know would happen) on air conditioning; the metro is underground (like much of the Paris Metro) and the air inside the tunnels is cool. Use it….
By the way, a tip for the Paris Metro; you can use the same ticket all day, as long as you get back on to a different line than you originally were on. For example, if you start on the orange line, and then get off, your ticket will not work if you try to get back on the orange line again. However, if you then get on the red line, your ticket is fine. This actually works out very well if you are a tourist as you normally take the Metro to on place and then walk through the streets to another – frequently a different Metro line. So there, save a couple of Euro a day and buy a glass of wine instead…..
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After wandering around Amsterdam and Paris for a while, I am sure all will be pleased to know that I’m back. As such, I willbe posting new stuff on a regular basis to try to keep you entertained (in which case you must be really hard up for things to do), and to continue to point out some of Montréal’s great follies…To whit, the easiest way to be sure you are back in Montréal is just to drive back home from th airport. Any doubt is immediately dispelled the moment your car starts moving. The roads convince you beyond doubt. There are unequivocally no worse roads anywhere in the world. Every time I return to Montréal, I am stunned by the pure incompetence of our city administration and their total inability to get a basic infrastructure right, and by their inability to perform the most basic of project management so that their attempted repairs (sic) are actually coordinated….
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The Economy
Unfortunately, no magic as to how to fix, it, just thoughts on wht must happen down the raod to stop this happening again. The basic cause, I think everyone must agree, has been plain and simple greed. More specifically, American greed. The basic causal issue is very simple, the corporate American view of long term planning does not ever seem to go beyond one quarter. There is no thought of anything beyond that point becasue everyone is focused on their bonuses for that quarter. When your entire corporate strategy is to make the quarterly results look good, at any price, so that you can sell your options and make a pile of money, well, let’s face it, at some point all the garbage that has been hidden for a while just has to come out. Understand of course, that the culpable parties are generally the senior management not the average workers. Senior management has become so greedy, they cannot be trusted to do anything for the good of the company, the economy, or, frankly anything else but themselves. Very sad, but very true. Look at the bonuses that have been, and continue to be, awarded to the enior management of corporations that lose money. How stupid, or criminal, is that ?
Another issue is the chasing of the stock price. Again, the root cause is the greed factor, and this results in short term actions that create long term pain. Look at all the outsourcing that goes on to reduce costs in order, not to become profitable, but to increase profits so the sahre prices go up. Long term result is and has to be, that at some point there will be a very much smaller market for products because no one will be able to afford them; their jobs have all been outsourced. This is not to say that protectionism should reign because it should not, but companies should hire local labour to produce their products wherever possible, and buy required material from wherever the best suppliers are. The consumers should also buy locally if at all possible; I mean, what is the sense in buying a clove of garlic that originates in China for heavens sak ? Buy locally; it helps the local economy, and helps the environment through reduced transportation, and frankly, tastes better !!
Montréal (again)
Doesn’t it just warm the cockles of your heart when you read that Montréal repaired less potholes last year than the year before, and this year they will repair even less ? And thet this is good news ??? What a bunch of twits ! The fact that they repair less does not mean that there are less to repair ! Get your glasses cleaned, M. Tremblay. The roads are in worse shape than I can ever remember them being in. And while we are on the subject, it is not just potholes that cause the problems. The roads can have no holes in them, but they are so bumpy that the potholes would actually come as a relief. Worse, even new roads aren’t even level to start. Let’s face it, if they use, as they seem to, a 12 inch ruler as their level, things are going to be bumpy. Why can they put down level pavement ? Repairs are worse; many times the repairs stand so proud of the original road that the repairs now create potholes in between them ! Montreal, if you don’t build roads correctly to start, and you don’t, then there will be problems afterwards. Maintenance is a huge issue, but you have to start with something that actuall was well built originally or you will lose the battle.
By admin
Yes, it has been a while since I added anything to my blog, so sorry about that (my reader may have missed me)…
Anyhow, in the meantime, life has been busy, and I have finally built myself a new desk from which I can lauch my vitriolic diatribes. I got some beautiful polplar from langevin & Forest here in Montreal. It was rough cut, but finished remarkably well with a final tally of three planks, each about 8 feet in length, almost exactly two inches thick, and from 14 to 18 inches in width.
The difficulty I had was in truing the edges as I do not have the equipment at home to really handle that size of timber, but eventually managed with a hand held circular saw and a guide. Ended up working out pretty well. I joined two of the planks together to go along the long wall using biscuits, and then with butterfly insets of araruba. The butterfly insets are actually more visual than functional, although they are a solid one inch thick and do provide significant lateral holding power. At the near end of the desk, about 18 inches from the wall, on the underside, I inset a one inch square metal support, as the weight of the desk is substantial. On the short wall, I cut the remaining plank in half and again biscuit jointed it. It also has two one inch sqaure metal inserts set in the underside that extend about 18 inches into the long part of the desk, again for support as there is significan load on the joint between the long part of the desk and the short. To join the two sections together, I again used biscuits, and lifted both parts of the desk up in a V, and then let them settle back together again. I then attached the sqaure metal tubes underneath in the insets already made and voila, a desk was born. The whole thing is supported by 1*8 inch pine that runs long the walls underneath. This also has a trough in it so that all the cables and other wires and power bars stay out of site and somewhat neat (yes, when I took the photo, I had not yet put the cables and stuff in their new home…) Anyhow, looks pretty good, I think, and works a treat…..
Final touches to be done remain to put a wood overlay on the metal inserts under the desk so that one sees wood rather than the metal. I have some offcuts from the original planks that are easily trimmed to the right size and they should work a treat….
By admin
Yes, it is time once again for more of the traditional whinging against those inglorious, egotistical twits who think they run the city. (Well, actually they do “run it”, just incredibly badly).Why does Montréal want to start banning wood burining stoves ? Do they think that that is the cure-all for all the pollution ? I don’t understand why they want to do that unless they have shares in the heating oil or gas companies. Let’s face it, our pollution would drop a by a huge amount if we had a public transportation system that actually covered more than a few square blocks with any efficiency, or that actually went out into the suburbs and provided some type of service.
My wife and I each own a car; yes, we are bad people. That being said, I would be happy to give up at least one of them if there was anything remotely approaching efficient transportation alternatives. Where I go in the West Island most often, there may be a train that would get me within a few miles (yes, miles) approximately twice a day. Then there is a bus that I could take that does in fact come close. All very good if I happen to need to go there at the actual times the train runs. Of, and, of course, let’s not forget the additional condition of if the train actually arrives anywhere near time, and if the doors open (more on this later). Now let’s also add into the mix that even if all these things are working and the train is on time, etc, it still takes me more that 2.5 hours to get where I want to go (and then I have to get back ). By car, about an hour in really bad traffic (ie., snowstorm). Normal traffic, 15-20 minutes. If I try to do the whole journey by bus, well, I might as well leave now for wome time tomorrow. Metro ? I’m sorry, our metro coverage is pathetic. So I contribute to pollution not out of wanton carelessness, but out of necessity. And I can almost gurantee that there are thousands (or even tens of thousands) more like me. Compared to even the most humble city of equivalent size in Europe, Montreal, we do not show up very well.
Then, given that many people take cars just because they are a damn sight more reliable than anything the city runs (provided they don’t lose a wheel in a pothole), let’s talk about traffic lights. We would cut down on pollution by an awful lot (never mind traffic congestion, frustration, etc) if our traffic lights were coordinated. On 90% of the streets, the lights seem to be timed so that you go from a green to a red. And when your light turns green, guess what, the next turns red. And it makes no difference if you go slower (well, perhaps under 0.5km an hour would work) or faster. The lights are not coordinated, so there is a constant start and stop plus useless idling (and yes, this affect buses too !).
And my final thing on this stove nonsense, why doesn’t the city actually make the buses run cleanly or regulate the pollution put out by some of the trucks around the city (and many of them are Montreal city trucks) ? That would help more than any stove ban. And it wouldn’t hurt the economy either. I used to run marathons and in training would often be blessed to be behind a bus when it got moving after stopping. Let me assure you, it was not clean air coming out of the back of those buses.All that and I am back to my favourite hobby horse – Montréal “roads” (sic), or what the city thinks are roads (I guess they don’t get about very much). I am sorry, but our roads absolutely and completely suck ! They are the worst roads, maintained in the worst manner than any other roads I ever have seen anywhere. They do not even qualify as third world roads. The best thing Montréal has done for our roads is put in additional speed bumps; they’re the only smooth thing on the things !
Mr. Mayor, why don’t you fix something in your city before you start banning things that actually work ?
By admin
I was reading this morning about a play, Tshepang, at the Centaur theatre about the rape of a child. It led me to start thinking about all those sick people in this world, and so….
Old man lusts at shallow youth
So cold and callow, cruel, uncouth.
What is it that he hopes to gain,
Some passing trophy, lasting pain.
Old man looking for virgin phallus
Old man cruel, cold and callous.
He thinks that youth will make him young.
He does not know that song has sung.
Old man wants his days of old
And thinks that if a virgin sold
To him will make him young once more
Ignoring all societal law.
Old man wants a little boy
To become his sexual toy.
And once he’s done his dirty deed
He’ll take him out and watch him bleed.
Put him in an open gaol,
and let old justice at last prevail.
Let this human sore be cleansed
And from humanity be flensed.
By admin
I don’t know exactly why most of the stuff I write is on the black side; weird, because I am in a good mood and enjoying myself. Must be something in the tea….
I look around and cannot see
Those people that are near to me.
I wonder now if this will be
The rest of my eternity.
I look around and do not hear
Those friends I used to hold so dear
I see shadows, darkness near
And am afraid of what I fear.
My fingers touch but cannot feel
The wind goes through me like a steel.
Around me all the stars now wheel
And in me does my blood congeal.
Now all around is going black
And life inside me fading slack.
The path of life’s short random track
Is behind and further back.
I now remember with regret
Those many hopes yet never met
And to those to whom I owe a debt
That debt will still be owing yet.
But if I think that all is dark
Yet to my inner feelings hark.
The hope of life has left its mark
And now I feel light as a lark.
Instead of fear and misery
It is new hope and light I see,
And visions of a future me
For now I am eternity.
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