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By Laureen Sweeney
City council appeared to be taken by sur-prise January 16 by news the congregationof St. Stephen’s Anglican Church had re-cently merged with St. James the Apostle,now called St. Jax.
“That’s breaking news,” declared MayorPeter Trent when raised by Dorchester res-ident Cary Leclaire. “Thanks for letting usknow.”
The departure of the congregation leavesthe future of the heritage landmark at At-water and Dorchester up in the air, as well
as that of The Open Door, which has op-erated there for almost 30 years as a drop-in centre for homeless people in the area.
The merger and departure of the con-gregation took effect January 1, ending theregular Sunday services, according to BillGray, the executive archdeacon of the An-glican Diocese of Montreal.
“We’re in the process of deciding the fu-ture of St. Stephen’s,” he told the Indepen-dent. “We’ll be considering any and all op-tions.” He declined to say whether thismeant selling or repurposing the site.
Groups such as The Open Door and AAthat use St. Stephen’s will carry on there“for the time being,” Grayexplained, though he
WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENTWe are WestmountWeekly. Vol. 11 No. 1c January 24, 2017
Departure of congregation takes council by surprise
Future of St. Stephen’s site,Open Door uncertain
continued on p. 6
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Letters p. 8
Social Notes by V. Redgrave p. 9
By Laureen Sweeney
This being an election year, who will orwill not be looking to return to the West-mount council table? Three of the eightcouncillors declared their intentions lastweek when asked by the Independent:Christina Smith and Cynthia Lulham en-thusiastically said they would seek anotherterm in their respective districts.
Only Nicole Forbes, on the other hand,stated she would not be running for whatwould be a fourth term. “This means my
District 6 is free,” she explained. “I hopethat a community-oriented, totally bilin-gual younger person than me will repre-sent this terrific ward.”
While Rosalind Davis said she was “cer-tainly tempted” to run, others includingMayor Peter Trent said they were eitherundecided or it was too soon to declareand commit.
“I think announcing this early,” he said,“turns a good part of one’s last year of afour-year mandate intoelection mode, and away
November 5, 2017 municipal election
Smith, Lulham in – Forbes out
continued on p. 7
Among those at the birthday celebration January 14 for centenarian Irene Marks, seated, were, fromleft: Babs Shapiro Comte, Nesya Shapiro Blue, Judy Shapiro Knight, Karin Marks, Isobel Marks,Anne MacCormack Roxburgh, Bryan MacCormack and Ross MacCormack. See p. 11.
Celebrating Irene Marks at 100
Photo courtesy of Karin
2 – WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017
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By Laureen Sweeney
What challenges and changes can resi-dents expect in the year ahead? Here’s howthe city’s eight councillors see the yearshaping up in their respective districts andbeyond.
District 1: Councillor Patrick MartinWork around the summit will continue
with the refurbishment of Summit Woods,the permanent road closure of SummitCircle at the north side and the conver-sion to a gravel walking path of SummitCresc. (Devon to the Oratory). The watermain will be replaced on Sunnyside (Up-per Roslyn to Lexington), and planningwill start for the reconstruction challengeof the steep portion of Belvedere Rd. downto Côte des Neiges. In his Public Workscommissionership, Martin says the city’saccelerated updating of infrastructurework will move forward to include citybuildings.District 2: Councillor Philip Cutler
The reconstruction of Westmount Ave.from Victoria to the east side of Claremontwill be the main highlight. As Public Se-curity commissioner, he foresees im-provement in traffic light synchronizationwith the introduction of adaptive trafficcontrols.District 3: Councillor Victor Drury
There are still small issues in this dis-trict to work on, Drury says. Among them:the speeding of cars on Montrose andparking problems emanating mainly fromthe proximity of Dawson College. As Fi-nance commissioner, Drury says the city isheading into 2017 in sound shape leadingto a second consecutive year for owners ofsingle-family dwellings to receive tax billswhose average represents zero increase.
District 4: Councillor Rosalind Davis“I’m really excited that we’re finally get-
ting the new bus shelter installed atGrosvenor and Sherbrooke, and that we’llbe opening the splash pad in Prince AlbertPark,” Davis says. There is still work for thecontractor to follow up on after the recon-struction of Prince Albert Ave. “The resi-dents put up with a lot of disruption withdifficulty accessing their homes and cars,and damage to their property.” If the pro-posed redevelopment of 500 Claremontgoes ahead, it will be challenging for theneighbourhood, she says. As a member ofthe Community Events Advisory Commit-tee, she says the city will be celebratingboth the 100th anniversary of the battle ofVimy Ridge and Canada’s 150th anniver-sary. Residents can also look forward to anew “state-of-the art” large screen for Vic-toria Hall for the showing of films.District 5: Councillor Christina Smith
Identifying ways in which her ward maybe affected, Smith includes an expectedsubmission of a new plan to redevelop thesite at 4898 de Maisonneuve, corner PrinceAlbert, as well as a potential go-ahead bythe city of Montreal for the building of theProvigo/seniors’ complex just west ofClaremont on de Maisonneuve. A long-awaited trucking route should be goinginto effect to protect small Victoria villagestreets from being used as shortcuts, anda number of residents can look forward toa reduction in noise from emissions fromthe super-hospital. A solution must befound, she says, to overcrowding at ÉcoleSt. Léon in District 6, which is forcingsome children living west of Victoria intoan NDG school district.District 6: Nicole Forbes
“I have been working on
Councillors speak out onwhat’s up for 2017
continued on p. 7
4 – WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017
Council asked to clarify snow removal info after car towedBy Laureen Sweeney
Stayner Ave. resident Jack Locke askedcity council January 16 to review its by-laws and website information so as to pro-vide “advance notice” of snow removal op-erations before cars are ticketted and, in arecent case, towed.
He said he had parked a car on Staynerthe previous week at 1 pm without seeingany snow removal signage but at 8 am thenext morning the car had “vanished in lessthan 24 hours.” He said he had consulted
the city’s website, which advised people tocheck for signage daily but “unfortunately,that was not adequate.”
It turns out, the Independent discovered,that inconsistent messages under different“Resident Zone” menus carried differentinformation. One, apparently the webpageconsulted by Locke, had simply advisedmotorists to check for snow removal signs“daily.”
The other, which more accurately re-flected reality, according to Public Securityofficials, advised drivers to look out for the
orange signs “before 7 am.”The discrepancy was corrected the day
after the council meeting so that both nowread:
“Westmount personnel will install thesigns at least 12 hours before snow re-moval begins, giving drivers ample time tomove their parked vehicles before snowremoval operations get under way. Pleasecheck your street daily before 7 am follow-ing any heavy snowfall, as vehicles block-ing snow removal operations will betowed.”
Public Security officials also told the In-dependent that time was of the essencewhen clearing after a snowfall, and peopleneeded to be able to park. If the orangesigns were to be installed as far ahead as 24hours, drivers would assume they couldnot park there the whole day before be-cause the signs prohibit parking between7 am and 7 pm.
Because only holders of 24-hour parkingstickers are allowed to park on city streetsovernight, officials said they call the hold-ers of these permits early the next morning“as a courtesy” to alert them to the signs inthe event they may have parked before thesigns were installed.
The city’s traffic By-law 726 (sections 5
and 6) authorizes traffic officers “to re-move or cause to be removed” any vehiclesparked in a prohibited area.
The typical ticket for towing from asnow removal zone costs $108: a fine of$45, an administration fee of $13 and a$50 cost for towing.
Jack Locke asks council January 16 for moreadvance notice of snow removal operations andwas told the city would “get back” to him.
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WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017 – 5
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The following article relates to offers to pur-chase Westmount residential dwellings thatwere reported by local real estate agents ashaving been accepted in December 2016. Be-cause they are not final registered sales, the ad-dresses cannot be made public but give a goodidea of current trends in local real estate ac-tivity. The graph offers a picture of these trendsover time.
A strong November followed by a re-laxed December rounded out the year 2016
in Westmount real estate, with 22 salesrepresenting the biggest volume for No-vember since 2001 but only seven moresales posted in December.
The November list includes one sale at$5 million, two more in the $3-millionrange and two more between $2 and $3million. Only three of the 22 were for lessthan $1 million, and only four sold for lessthan their 2014 municipal evaluation. Theaverage mark-up over valuation was 8.3percent, higher than October but lowerthan September, and in fact one of thelowest-priced sales of the month was astrong 47 percent more than its city taxvalue.
December, on the other hand, includedtwo sales under $1 million and only onemore than $2 million, three mark-downs
and a 5.5-percent average mark-up. Per-haps the most significant fact for Decem-ber is that the lowest price was $955,000,an indication that there is not much nowselling in Westmount below $1 million.
The high volume in November helpedboost total volume for the year to 193 one-and two-family dwellings, the highest an-nual volume since 1999, when the averageprice was just $556,656 compared to$1,592,491 in 2016.
In fact, market interest appears to haveshifted to adjacent-Westmount areas,which tallied eight sales in December fol-lowing nine in November, mainly in theCôte des Neiges-NDG borough and withmost prices between $800,000 and$1,300,000, but with one very small houseon Circle Rd. at $485,000 and another onCedar Crescent at $2,430,000.
Meanwhile, the number of availablehouses in Westmount has dropped to 67from 113 as recently as last October, an in-dication buyers, having bought up most ofthe Westmount market, will soak up whatthey can in adjacent-Westmount areas be-fore shifting to a higherprice range in Westmount
Mood of the Market
Nov., Dec. sales: High volume to close out 2016
Real Estate
Andy Dodge, CRA
Average adjusted price for ‘typical’ Westmount house, bymonth, Jan. 2011 – Dec. 2016, based on accepted offer dates
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6 – WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017
would not commit to any timeframe.Leclaire had told the council that “the wordon the street” was that the groups had beengiven six months.
Another denomination that had beenholding services there had moved else-where a while ago, Gray said. This was theCalvary Chapel Montreal Regeneration.
Looking for a new home
Jason Baxendale, chair of The Open
Door’s board and a Westmount resident,said the drop-in centre was actively lookingfor other premises in the area.
“We would like to stay where we are,but the only way would be if anotherchurch moved, in which is highly un-likely,” he said. “It would be logical,” headded, for the Anglican Church, whichhas taken over the building, to put it up forsale.
On the other hand, he said, “We’re look-ing at this as an opportunity for better-ment. If we abandon our clientele, they
St. Stephen’s congregrants merge
cont’d. from p. 1
RÔLE DE PERCEPTION 2017
AVIS PUBLIC est par les présentes donné par la soussignée, trésorière de la Ville deWestmount :
QUE le rôle général de perception des taxes pour l’exercice financier 2017 a étédéposé à mon bureau situé au 4333, rue Sherbrooke Ouest à Westmount le23 janvier 2017; et
QUE l’envoi des comptes de taxes a été effectué dans le délai imparti.
DONNÉ à Westmount, le 24 janvier 2017.
2017 COLLECTION ROLL
PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given by the undersigned, Treasurer of the City ofWestmount:
THAT the general collection roll of taxes for fiscal year 2017 was deposited at myoffice located at 4333 Sherbrooke Street West in Westmount on January 23, 2017;and
THAT the tax accounts have been sent within the allotted time.
GIVEN at Westmount on January 24, 2017.
Julie MandevilleTrésorière / Treasurer
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will be on the street.” The Open Door canserve up to 150 homeless a day, providingcounselling, food, clothing and shelterfrom 7:30 am to 3:30 pm.
Logical to sell
When the building’s future was raisedduring the question period by Leclaire,District 8 councillor Theodora Samiotisacknowledged she had learned about themerger over the weekend from the formerminister Nick Brotherwood, whom shehad seen “at the [Westmount] library” buthad not yet told the council. Brotherwoodis now assisting at St. Mary’s Church inKirkland.
The decision by St. Stephen’s to mergewith St. Jax, was described in an “internal”email newsletter “as being in the best in-terests of the St. Stephen’s community.” Ayear ago, it explained, the parish had “ini-tiated a process of research, reflection and
much consultation regarding the sustain-ability and future of our parish.”
Trent told the council meeting the trendtoward the repurposing of religious build-ings was the reason the city had launcheda study of its 13 houses of worship (seestory September 8, 2015, p. 10). It remainsin development though an analysis of theirheritage value and their services to thecommunity had been completed.
The Open Door was started in 1988 by amember of St. Stephen’s and now listsmany partners on its website includingthe city of Westmount. Built in 1903 at4006 Dorchester, St. Stephen’s is a Cate-gory I heritage-rated building whichmeans it is considered “important,” ac-cording to Urban Planning director JoannePoirier.
A large parish hall at the rear was previ-ously demolished due to deteriorating con-ditions.
St. Stephen’s looking southwest, January 20. Inset: A noteby Calvary Chapel Montreal Regeneration was left on thedoor of the rectory of St. Stephen’s on Weredale Park.Photos: Westmount Independent
WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017 – 7
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Realization ofgoals leaves
‘communication’to come: Trent
With the entire city as his “district,”Mayor Peter Trent lists improvement ofthe city’s communication with residentsas a main goal of this council that is yetto be completed. Increasing the auton-omy of Hydro Westmount is another.“We also need a city policy to deal withthe condo craze,” he says.
Other goals have been or are beingimplemented by the council’s variouscommissioners.
On communication, he says: “To en-gage more of the public, we need toreach out. What is on the mind of mostWestmounters? Are those whom wehear from representative of the largerpublic? More polls are needed to mea-sure the pulse of Westmounters.”
Implementation of Charbonneau rec-ommendations are also needed. Can thecity reclaim any overcharging that maybe found to have stemmed from collu-sion? This is another question to be an-swered, he says.
As president of the Association of Sub-urban Municipalities, “I would like tochange the agglo’s governance and fund-ing,” he explains. “I negotiated the wa-ter/centre ville deal with Mayor [Denis]Coderre, now we should look at the ag-glomeration council and the way it func-tions.”
a cultural policy for the past months andhope that it will be adopted before the endof this term,” says Forbes, the commis-sioner of Culture and Community Events.“We hope to start re-energizing the mer-chants on Greene Ave. by hiring an eco-nomic development consultant; also that asolution to the overcrowding of École St.Léon can be found.”District 7: Cynthia Lulham
Traffic changes will include the syn-chronization of traffic lights on St. Cather-ine and the moving of lights from Abbottto Melville. Abbott is to be made one-waysouth and Hillside one-way east to Met-calfe – all to reduce speeding on bothstreets, Lulham says. Planning will alsocontinue to enable the building of a “liv-ing” or vegetative wall along the railwaytracks to reduce the noise of wheel/rail in-terface. An economic development advisorfor the city’s commercial districts is to behired to improve business for merchants,including St. Catherine St. As commis-sioner of Sustainability and Parks, Lulhamlists the refurbishing of Summit Woodsand Westmount Park and the start ofgreenhouse restoration.District 8: Theodora Samiotis
Turcot disruptions will continue to im-pact the district along with the possibleredevelopment of the former site of theMontreal Children’s Hospital at West-mount’s eastern border. Residents can alsoexpect to receive more details on creatinga vision for the southeast sector. There isalso hope for advancing the sound barrierproject. A new dimension includes the as-yet unknown effect of the move of the con-gregation from St. Stephen’s Church, thepossible relocation of The Open Door andof the continuing phase-out of the Moduledu Nord from the Y residence on Tupperto Dorval.
What’s up for 2017cont’d. from p. 3
proper. Needless to say, there is a greatdeal of interest to buy downtown property,which should bode well for the upcomingspring season.
Volume also increased in Westmount’scondominium sales market and mark-upsincreased from an average 5.6 percent inthe third quarter of 2016 to 6.2 percent inthe fourth quarter, but the average for theentire year is only 3.3 percent in 40 sales,down from 6.3 percent in 27 sales in 2015.Of the 13 condo sales in the fourth quarterlast year, only one was negotiated in De-cember compared to eight in Novemberand four in October.
Mark-ups and mark-downs, it should benoted, are based on municipal evaluationsfor the old valuation roll published in 2014.The newest roll – on which this year’s taxeswill be based – came into effect as of Jan-uary 1 of this year and will be used for fu-ture comparisons.
While the seven December sales showedan average mark-up of 5.5 percent for theold roll, for example, the average comparedto the 2017 roll is virtual parity.
Real estate cont’d. from p. 5
from management mode. In my view, wewere not elected to spend 10 months poli-ticking or preening for the public.” Itwould be his sixth mayoral term if he ranand won.
In the case of Lulham, already a six-termveteran, her decision is based on wanting“to see through” two important three-yearprojects as commissioner of Sustainabilityand Parks: restoration of the greenhousesand refurbishment of Westmount Park.Smith, has “thoroughly enjoyed” her firstterm, she said. “Yes, I would like to servethe city,” for a second one.
Election cont’d. from p. 1
Electronic Independents availableEnjoy the Indie at supper time onTuesdays! Sign up by writing us:
8 – WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017
Letters to the EditorHooray for Dawsoncrosswalk
[Last] week, I was pleased to see addi-tional safety features added to the newcrosswalk between Dawson College andAlexis Nihon Plaza.
It also occurred to me that I never pub-licly thanked the city of Westmount for in-stalling this long-awaited pedestrian pas-sage!
A little background: I have been workingat the college for over a decade. After al-most getting hit by a car (again) last springwhile making my way over to the mall, Idecided to put up a petition requesting theinstallation of a crosswalk.
Within 24 hours of getting the word out,almost 800 people had signed it. Hearingabout the campaign, Amanda Jelowickifrom Global News got in touch with citycouncillor Cynthia Lulham and…thewheels were set in motion. There would bea crosswalk by September. And there was!
On behalf of Dawson College, I wouldlike to thank everyone involved in gettingthis project “on” the ground, especially thedirector of Public Works, Patrick Raggo,who coordinated it all and kept us up todate on the progression of the crosswalk.
Thank you!We are a community of 10,000 students
and staff working and learning on thisbeautiful, awesome campus. There are somany reasons to love Dawson College.Having the city of Westmount step up andmake us all a little safer is one more causefor warm fuzzies.
Kinga Breining, support staff,Dawson College
Daycare drop-off zoneslong time coming
This letter is in response to CouncillorChristina Smith’s, published January 17(“Daycare parking discussed,” p. 6), on theissue of reserved drop-off parking zones infront of daycares.
I applaud her and the council’s interestthat “the littlest students in the city are assafe as possible.” However, these senti-ments are rather disingenuous when oneconsiders that some of the existing day-cares have operated in Westmount for atleast 30 years and only now, in 2017, havefinally obtained these parking zones.
Requests over the years were ignored.When I had difficulty dropping off grand-children at their daycare, I raised the issue
about a year and half ago through theproper channel, asking that all daycaresreceive such zones. When a length of timepassed and I had not had a response, Iasked Councillor Patrick Martin to bringthis urgent matter before the council.
I wish to thank those councillors andthe staff who expedited this importantsafety measure. I commend CouncillorSmith for reminding the readers to exer-cise caution when dropping off and pick-ing up their children.
Toby Morantz, Clandeboye Ave.
Keep efforts going to getsound barrier
Concerning the letter submitted to theIndependent (“Article ‘glosses over’ soundbarrier situation,” November 29, p. 6), frommy neighbour on Bruce, I was disap-pointed how the principal message wasovershadowed by the side discussion in-cluded in the letter between the Indepen-dent and author. By doing this, I felt the keymessage was lost on an issue that has beengoing on for over 30 years.
For years, we have been looking to havea sound barrier for the residents south ofDorchester to block the sound from thehighway. The frustration from my neigh-bour, and myself is coming from the factthat the new Turcot has no plan to build abarrier on the highway despite knowingthis issue was ongoing. Plus, the residentshad voiced already that this would be theirpreferred solution.
To add insult to injury, they will be build-ing sound barriers on other portions ofthe new highway except on our area. Whois to blame? Many levels of governmentand citizens for not getting involved in thescoping of the Turcot project.
We have to move forward and not dwellon the past, as there is still time to find asolution to integrate a sound barrier as thenew Turcot is only to be completed by2020. If we don’t find a solution now, Ican assure you that the sound-barrier issuewill continue to come up where time andeffort, as well as taxpayers’ money, will beused to mull over different solutions withdead-ends.
As part of the Comité de bon voisinageNDG-Westmount, I invite all public to thenext Meeting on Monday, January 30 at 7pm at Westmount city hall to have an up-date of the construction of the Turcot pro-ject and bring forward any issues.
Michael Mossop, Columbia Ave.
We are Westmount.
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AccountingBeth Hudson: 514.223.6138
We also publish the Free Pressnewspaper in Hampstead,
Côte St. Luc and NDG.
Statue as seen on Sherbrooke, near Greene,January 21. Photo courtesy of Hanako Brierley
Pussyhat project inWestmount
It was great to see this long-time West-mounter supporting the Women’s Marchon Washington January 21.
My daughter and I were on our wayhome from the rally at Place des Arts, andhe kindly agreed to pose for a photo. Heseemed very disturbed by the news of theworld. When I asked him for his thoughts,he simply muttered, “Might must notmake right.”
Tim Brierley, Chesterfield Ave.
Car hits man crossingGreene on the green
A Montreal man was taken to hospitalJanuary 13 after being hit by a car atGreene and de Maisonneuve at 11:58 am,Public Security officials said. He wasfound lying on the ground in pain withwhat appeared to be a fracture of the leg.The man had been crossing on the greenlight when the driver was reported by awitness to have cut in front of a truck asshe turned off de Maisonneuve.
Electronic Independents availableEnjoy the Indie at supper time onTuesdays! Sign up by writing us:
WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017 – 9
On November 4, the elegant extrava-gance of La Scala, the famed Milaneseopera house, was the theme of the St.Mary’s Hospital (SMH) ball. The 79th an-nual fundraiser for the SMH Foundationwas held at Windsor Station, transformedby Bridget Fetterly. Westmounters Elaineand Calin Rovinescu, president/CEO AirCanada, were co-chairs of the sold-out eve.
Emcee was local res Mitch Garber, whointroduced speakers including his wifeAnne-Marie Boucher, foundation boardchair; board of governors chair Terry Didusand foundation president/CEO CyndaHeward.
The Italianate opulence of the themewas carried out with brocade tablecloths,gold-rimmed wine glasses and the orna-mental power of tassels, long-loved by Ro-man emperors as a symbol of power andprestige, which was appropriate for such a
night supported by titans of industry, suchas Westmount res Angie and Tony Lof-freda, VP, RBC Royal Bank; McCarthyTetrault partner and SMH Foundationboard member Patrick Shea attendingwith Laurie Birbilas; recently retired BellCanada CFO Siim Vanaselja and his wifeMary; Peter Kruyt, VP, Power Corporation;Véronique Pourcelet and Martin Szpiro;Fednav CFO/senior VP Paul Setlakwe and
his wife Dominique Lanctôt;and Meryl and Sheldon El-man, chief Medisys HealthGroup.
Also noted in the crowdwere provinical legislatorsKathleen Weil (with her hus-band Michael Novak) andHélène David; Lynne and PaulStinis, senior VP, Bell Canada;long-time SMH supportersCarolyn and Rick Renaud andson Paul Renaud (with hiswife Jennifer Kaminski) anddaughter Rachel Renaud,Roasters Foundation direc-tor/SMH board member; andDiane and Norman Hébert,president/CEO of GroupePark Avenue.
Committee members werefundraising chair JoséeNoiseux (with husbandBertrand Cesvet), ArthurWechsler and his wife Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Curtis Millen (attending withhis wife Holly Simpson), Mario Rigante,Dorine Perron (with husband Martin Cau-chon), Doug Buchanan (with wife Marion
Lefebvre), Guy Laframboise (withVanessa), Sylvie Chagnon (with husbandJean Chagnon), Stephen Kelly (with wifeLindsay Matthews), Bambina Marcello(with husband AnthonyPagano), Geneviève
St. Mary’s hospital holds La Scala Soirée
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From left: Anne-Marie Boucher, Calin and Elaine Rovinescu, andMitch Garber.
Geneviève Charette, left, and Cynda Heward.continued on p. 10
10 – WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017
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Charette, Mario Rigante and Peter Thomp-son (with wife Laurie).
Paired with SAQ-sponsored wines, ris-torante Beatrice served a delicioso Italianmenu. Owner Pino Forgione attended withhis wife Debra Margles. Guests loved thecannoli served by Café Gentile, one wagcommenting that it was “far more deli-cious than the famed dolce served in TheGodfather – and less dangerous!”
Gorgeous black tulle skirts fluttered onballet dancers from Manina Productions,
who performed as did the “living statues”à la una piazza italiana – complete with apigeon on one statue’s head!
SMH communications head Cindy Aik-man announced the eve raised $1,158,125for renovations of the cancer patient andpalliative care fifth floor. Bravissimo!
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Bertrand Cesvet and Josée Noiseux.From left: Rick and Carolyn Renaud, Jennifer Kaminski, and Paul Renaud.
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WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017 – 11
By Laureen Sweeney
A 100th birthday celebration for long-time Westmount resident Irene Marks notonly reunited some 35 to 40 members ofher family and friends from afar but alsobrought together three families that hadgrown up adjacent to each other onGrosvenor and Victoria south of TheBoulevard.
Among them were her two daughters, agranddaughter and her only great-grand-daughter. They also included members ofthe Shapiro and MacCormack families,neighbours who had become best friends.
“We realized we hadn’t seen each otheras a group for about 60 years,” said formerWestmount mayor Karin Marks, whoalong with her sister Isobel, hosted thecelebration for their mother January 14.
At the celebrant’s request, there was notraditional cake but she stayed through-out the event from 2 pm to 11 pm, whichtook place at the Lansdowne home ofKarin and Brian Puddington.
Sue Anne Puddington, one of her twogranddaughters, presented a toast whileher only great grandchild, Kiley Savage,helped her celebrate.
Marks, who has recovered from a falllast year in which she broke her wrist,pelvis and hip, has since returned to herown apartment in Westmount, continu-ing to live independently and pursuingmost of her regular activities.
Marks told the Independent she had toldher daughters she didn’t want a party be-cause she didn’t want people who mightnot know each other “to be bored.” As itturned out, however, they had known each
other and herself and “I could feel the realwarmth,” she said, adding, “You know, a lotof flattering things can be said in a lifetimethat are politesse.”
Defied Nazis
Born in Dresden, Germany, Marks sur-vived the fires and round-ups of Jews onKristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass(November 9, 1938), but she was forced toquit school. It was while working at a rest-cure centre that she contemplated poison-ing Hitler when he visited it. But as theonly Jewish person there, she said, shefeared relatiation against everyone wouldensue. Marks and her parents fled toCanada at the outbreak of World War II inSeptember 1939 when she was 22.
Well-known for her strong will and per-severance, she immersed herself in com-munity leadership and contribution (seeprofile, November 18, 2008, p. 18). While inher late 80s, she was still driving voters tothe polls and volunteering at Meals onWheels.
“There was a certain pleasure in doingthings for other people,” she explained lastweek. “I have no respect for leading use-less lives.”
Marks and her late husband, Lawrence,raised their daughters on Grosvenor in ahouse attached to that of the Shapiros, andthey became best friends. The Marks’backyard abutted the MacCormacks onVictoria so all the children went back andforth.
“This made the celebration very special,”Marks said.
See p. 1 for photo.
Irene Marks turns 100
Celebration reunites neighbourswho grew up together
Davis, 100, gives award in her name
A special award named after a resident of Manoir Westmount was given out December 13 at theresidence by Marianne Davis, its namesake, in honour of her 100th birthday. Davis, (holding yellowcard) celebrated her centennial in September 2016. A retired elementary school educational consultantfrom the former Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal (now the English Montreal SchoolBoard), Davis was a founding member of Delta Kappa Gamma Quebec (DKG Quebec), established60 years ago to promote the professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence ineducation. To commemorate its 60th anniversary, DKG Quebec renamed its Early Educator Award inDavis’ honour. She presented the 2016 Marianne Davis Early Educator Award, to Carissa Valente (farleft) of Bancroft Elementary School. Last year’s award winner, music teacher Caroline Derome (secondfrom left) played her flute, and a choir from Westmount Park elementary school, whose students(standing), gave a short performance. Photo: Ralph Thompson
By Laureen Sweeney
A petition signed by 245 was presentedto city council January 16 in requests to thecity by a group of residents in the Dorch-ester neighbourhood to not narrow thestreet or remove the median or the curvenear Clarke. It also asks for any new build-ings to be built on the north side to belimited to a maximum of three storeys.
The petition arose from the city’s pre-liminary plan for Dorchester as part of a vi-sion for the southeast sector of the cityand at least two neighbourhood consulta-
tion meetings last year.“We do not agree with the vision for the
southeast project,” said Dorchester resi-dent Tony Kez in presenting the petition.The preamble also asks for an eventual bi-cycle path, and that in any development ofthe north side of Dorchester 35 percent ofthe surface area be allocated to green spaceand that buildings be “in keeping with thearchitectural integrity of the south side.”
George Vesnaver also presented an anal-ysis he had prepared of a city survey on“The Narrowing of Dorchester” in 2014based on the opinions of 115 residents of
Petition of 245 presented to council on Dorchesterwhom “23 were located on Dorchester,”he explained.
The survey, obtained through access toinformation, he said, indicated that re-ducing the width of Dorchester was con-sidered less important than other ques-tions such as traffic calming, a sense ofsecurity and developing green space.
Kathleen Kez told Samiotis she had beenreported as saying the need to narrowDorchester had come from the survey. Kezhad asked for a copy of the survey (seestory December 14, p. 5).
Narrowing slows speed
Samiotis later told the Independent it hadindeed been one of the categories on theonline survey and had been ranked fourthafter traffic calming and speeding but oneof the traditional ways of slowing trafficwas to reduce width.
Patricia Dumais of Greene said she did-n’t understand what the “urgency” was tocome up with a vision and plan for Dorch-ester when the area was currently undersiege by Turcot and facing development ofthe former Montreal Children’s site.
“All the more reason why we have tocome up with a vision – conceptualize,”Mayor Peter Trent said. As well, Samiotis
pointed out that both St. Catherine andDorchester were in bad shape and had tobe redone. “I agree we have to have anidea,” Dumais said.
Cary Leclaire, a resident of Dorchester,said he had lived on the street 18 years and“it is urgent that the street is cleaned up.”
Samiotis said she hoped the next publicconsultation meeting would take place “inthe next few weeks” and thanked every-one for their interest.
Tony Kez reads council the preamble to thepetition he then presented January 16.
12 – WESTMOUNT INDEPENDENT – January 24, 2017
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