Fiddling around pre-Fiddler on the Roof

18 – THE FREE PRESS – June 11, 2013
CôTE ST. LUC NEWS
Pre-play party attracts attendees from adjacent towns and communities
Fiddling around pre-Fiddler on the Roof
veronica redgrave
social studies
It was a dark and stormy night, a dramatically darkening sky and great gusts
of rain, when the city of Côte St. Luc and
the Côte St. Luc Dramatic Society hosted
a VIP reception, premiering the worldrenowned play Fiddler on the Roof.
The cocktail was held at the Côte St.
Luc Aquatic and Community Centre and
then guests braved the wet to cross over
to the Giovanni Palatucci facility, where
the play was performed.
Côte St. Luc mayor Anthony
Housefather and Mitchell Brownstein,
city councillor responsible for parks and
recreation, greeted arrivals. Also appearing on stage later in the evening were
CSL councillor Sam Goldbloom and
Hampstead councillors Michael Goldwax
and Bonnie Feigenbaum.
Guests perused the sushi buffet table
and admired the platters of sweets,
including delicious chocolate brownies.
Noted in the packed room were Mike
Cohen, with his wife Ilana Spector in red,
McDonald’s continued from p. 1
“I kind of get the feeling that the Côte
St. Luc council sort of writes this part of
Côte St. Luc off,” said the Elgin Ave. resident. “When you walk along that sidewalk in front of the shopping centre,
there are four exits and it’s really quite
dangerous.”
Gélinas said the city doesn’t have a lot
of restaurants and if there is going to be
a new one, it would be nice if it had a
healthy selection of food, but in the end,
her primary concern is the drive-through
aspect.
There are a lot of senior drivers and
walkers and she worries this drivethrough is a recipe for disaster.
She also questions how security in the
area will be enforced since fast-food
restaurants often attract loitering.
Servello questioned the type of customers who may frequent such a place
between midnight and 5 am.
He said as it is, his wife can just run
over to the IGA late in the evening without any worries, but having a
McDonald’s blocking the way may end
Seated: Ilana Spector, Alex Cohen and CSL councillor Michael Cohen. Standing: CSL councillor
Mitchell Brownstein, Michael Polak and former CSL councillor Richard Schwartz, who now lives in
Photo: Veronica Redgrave
Toronto and came in for the show.
Hampstead residents Barbara and Donald Seal.
and daughter Alexandra Cohen; Elaine
Brownstein, smart in black; Donald and
Barbara Seal, lovely in a spring-bright
fuchsia blazer; Abe Gonshor, Annie
Young, in black edged with lace; Free Press
and Westmount Independent publisher
David Price; Marcy and Sam Stein, (who
played the lead role of Tvye); Michael
Ludwick and Jacquie Kaufman-Ludwick;
Lauri Betito, from CJAD; Diane DupuisKallos, production manager for the play;
David Taveroff, Côte St. Luc director of
parks and recreation; and honorary consul general of the Netherlands in
Montreal, Michael Polak, and his wife
Penelope, whose stylish Hermès hotorange outfit matched her husband’s
checkerboard tie.
those trips.
Côte St. Luc’s mayor, Anthony
Housefather, said he welcomes the new
restaurant and noted a public consultation was held before the necessary zoning changes were made in August 2012
to allow for a drive-through.
No one came forward with any serious
concerns or took the opportunity to submit a referendum. Since the project’s
May 13 approval and subsequent press
coverage, the mayor said he has heard
from a Côte St. Luc couple and an NDG
resident.
Jason Patuano, a McDonald’s
spokesperson, said his company has
answered questions from a concerned
residents’ association of an NDG-based
condominium located just south of Côte
St. Luc Rd. near the Coronation Ave.
intersection.
He said McDonald’s is working closely
with Côte St. Luc to ensure compliance
with local laws. There will be modern,
state-of-the art features such as a smellreducing ventilation system and indoor,
refrigerated trash collection to mitigate
odours.
Yu Kang, who, with his wife owns the
Pik-Nik eatery in the shopping centre,
said he took over the 40-year-old business some four years ago and in the
short time he has been there, he has felt
the economic effects of new restaurants
opening in the mall.
Looking ahead, he’s sure that the new
McDonald’s will take customers from his
business.
He questioned why the mall’s owner
would want to pull clients away from the
mall where rent-paying merchants are
trying to manage business in an already
competitive climate.
Kang said he and his clients are worried about the safety of the parking lot as
there seems to be at least one accident a
week.
The city does not choose which businesses the shopping centre rents to, said
Housefather.
“We have had a McDonald’s at
Cavendish Mall for many years and
McDonald’s and the city have a long history of cooperation with our winter carnival, generating monies for Ronald
McDonald House.”
When asked how this restaurant integrates into the recent health policies, he
said, “While the city is proactively
encouraging healthy eating through our
urban agriculture program, we also are
not going to ban other foods. Our goal is
to provide people with enough information to make healthy choices, not to ban
other foods or to pass judgment on different restaurants.”
He said the city does not monitor or
control the parking lot, but he has found
it to be as safe as “we can make it” and “I
do not understand how anyone can pass
judgment on something that has not
opened and unless you have gone to the
city’s engineering department to see the
plans, you do not know the configuration
and nor does whoever you have spoken
to.”
Patuano said the drive-through and
parking have been carefully designed
and will be safe. Security is handled on a
case-by-case basis, he said, and if there is
an issue, a security guard could be hired.
A voicemail message left with Gregory
Menzies of mall-owner First Capital
Realty was not returned.
For more information about Bouguet’s
petition, contact him by email:
[email protected].
Photo: Veronica Redgrave
THE FREE PRESS – June 11, 2013 – 21
CôTE ST. LUC NEWS
Social media enhances our
roles as municipal politicians
Councillor
Mike cohen
CSL corner
In the seven plus years since I was first
elected as the city councillor for District 2
in Côte St. Luc, the growth of computer
technology and social media has represented the biggest change in municipal
politics.
I oversee the Communications portfolio on council. We work very hard to make
our website (www.cotesaintluc.org) user
friendly and a “go to” place for residents
and visitors to find the answer to most of
their questions. Statistics show that more
people are logging on.
My own personal website (www.mikecohen.ca) provides constituents with an
ongoing update on developments in my
district and within the city at large.
Besides breaking news and previews and
reviews of city events, I also upload videos
and photos. While city councillors can
certainly be reached by telephone via city
hall, we each make our email addresses
very visible. Mine ([email protected]) keeps me very busy. This is
an excellent mode of communication as
constituents can provide me with very
useful details about their concerns. Some
even include photos. We can maintain a
continuous dialogue and the time of day
or night is not an issue. We provide
courses at the Eleanor London Côte St.
Luc Public Library for any resident who
wants to learn how to surf the internet.
I also Tweet a lot of information, sometimes while public council meetings are
in session. I urge everyone reading this
column to please follow me @mikecohencsl. If you are not registered, go to
www.twitter.com and sign on. You will
find this mode of social media full of
interesting comments and information.
The Côte St. Luc Cats Committee,
which I oversee, has been doing some
excellent work since its humble beginnings less than three years ago. The
group has a Facebook page and a section
on the Côte St. Luc website (www.cotesaintluc.org/cats), which includes the
link to an interesting blog. If you are a cat
lover, give the site a look and send me an
e-mail. The group needs more volunteers
as it continues to rescue homeless cats
and promote their first ever cat licensing
by-law. Very recently, a resident sent me
an e-mail. A homeless cat landed at her
door. She placed it in her garage and
asked us to pick the cat up. While our
committee looked for a solution, this lady
introduced the cat to her dog. They got
along. After determining that there was
no cat license or chip to allow us to track
down a possible owner, we were able to
convince this lady to adopt the cat. The
entire process was carried out by e-mail.
Golden-aged art
It seems you can teach old dogs new tricks, according to the Côte St. Luc Men's Club’s art teacher, Phil
Goldberg. The 84-year-old artist has been hosting art classes through the senior men’s club, attracting
37 students, including some in their 90s, doing art for the first time. During the club’s breakfast on May
30, over 200 members turned out to see the art on display. In the photo from left: Ed Surkes, 83, Phil
Goldberg and Martin Causley, 89, stand in front of art created by Surkes and Causley. Photo: Isaac Olson
Royal West garden continued from p. 20
Though built by students for students,
the EC is also hoping the garden will be
used by Royal West faculty as a teaching
tool and have already set up seven U-Pick
planters outside the lot for locals to enjoy.
“It’s a constantly evolving project. We
are always changing things, we always
have new ideas, so I don’t think it’s ever
going to stick to one final design,” said
Musacchio.
Learning.
Tickets: $3 in advance, $5 day of event.
Community Calendar
It’s ON!
The Bloomsday Irish Cabaret
At the Eleanor London Côte St.Luc
Public Library, 5851 Cavendish Blvd.,
Thursday, June 13 at 7 pm. An evening of Irish literature, storytelling and song. Sponsored by
the McGill Community for Lifelong
Annual Cancer Survivorship Day
Hope & Cope’s Presents Guy
Corneau: Revivre!
Monday, June 17 at 7 p.m., at the
Jewish General Hospital, 3755 Côte-SteCatherine Rd., Block Amphitheatre,
Room B-106
Presented in French with simultaneous translation into English. Free, but
reservations are a must: 514.340.8255
or 514.340.3616.
www.cotesaintluc.org
www.cotesaintluc.org
A
VIS PUBLIC
AVIS
RÈGLEMENT NO 2403
PUBLIC NOTICE
BY- LAW
LAW NO. 2403
BY-
A
VIS PUBLIC est donné par le soussigné,
AVIS
gref
fier, que le conseil municipal de
greffier,
Côte Saint-Luc, à sa séance du 13 mai 2013,
a adopté le règlement 2403 suivant :
PUBLIC NOTICE is given by the Undersigned,
City Clerk, that the following by-law 2403 was
adopted by the Côte Saint-Luc City Council at
its Council Meeting held on May 13, 2013:
« Règlement 2403 pour rendre obligatoire le
port du casque protecteur »
‘‘By-Law 2403 Rendering Obligatory the
Wearing of a Helmet’’
Wearing
L’objet du règlement est de mettre à jour les
définitions du précédent règlement 2103 et de
ses amendements relatifs au port obligatoire du
casque protecteur
protecteur,, qui ne visaient que des
activités comme le cyclisme et le patin à roues
alignées. La définition de Vélocipède a mainte
mainte-nant été ajoutée et est assortie de l’obligation
utilisade porter un casque protecteur pour les utilisateurs de dispositifs à propulsion humaine
comme les planches à roulettes. De plus, toute
bicyclette électrique ou assistée, tout cyclomocyclomoteur, scooter ou véhicule semblable qui n’est
teur,
pas assujetti aux dispositions du Code de la
sécurité routière du Québec sera considéré
comme un Vélocipède.
The object of the by-law is to update the
definitions of the previous by-law 2103 and its
amendments rendering the wearing of a helmet
compulsory which had relegated the obligation
to wear helmets to activities such as: cycling or
Velocipedes
in-line skating. The definition of Velocipedes
has now been added which includes the obliga
obliga-tion to wear a helmet while propelling additional
human-powered devices such as skateboards.
Moreover, any electric or power assisted
Moreover,
bicycle, moped, scooter or similar device not
o the Quebec Highway Safety
already subject to
b considered a velocipede.
Code, shall also be
Ce règlement entre en vigueur le jour de sa
publication.
This by-law comes into force on the date of its
publication.
Ce règlement est disponible pour consultation
Ville situé au 5801 boulevard
à l’Hôtel de Ville
Cavendish durant les heures normales de
bureau, soit du lundi au vendredi de 8 h 30 à
16 h 30.
This by-law may be consulted at the City Hall
located at 5801 Cavendish Boulevard during
office hours, said hours being Monday
regular office
through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and
4:30 p.m.
11 juin 2013
DONNÉ à Côte Saint-Luc, ce 11
11th day of
GIVEN at Côte Saint-Luc, on this 11
June 2013
Maître Jonathan Shecter LL.B.
greffier
greffier
Maître Jonathan Shecter LL.B.
City Clerk
Pour plus d’information, veuillez me
contacter au 514-485-6800 ou à
[email protected]
For more information, please contact me at
514-485-6800 or at [email protected]