Quote of the week:

"The issue for financing mass transit is major for 2005." - Mayor Gérald Tremblay, hinting at another hike in fares next year thanks to the city's looming budget deficit, at city hall last Monday. The last rate hikes were Jan. 1.

Latin Quarter munchies

David McKenzie wants to draw hungry stoners to the Latin Quarter. The owner of the Duchess of Amsterdam head shop on St-Marc will be opening a new smoking lounge/compassion club on St-Denis south of Ontario this Friday, and believes that the destination - tentatively called The Coffee Pot (Le Pot de café) - will attract potheads who want to get out of their living rooms and mingle with fellow tokers.

"It's gonna be the nicest smoking lounge in the country," he says. "It's gonna be really classy. It used to be a high-end bistro, so I have to take down some of the tapestries and put up some posters."

He says that a city Montreal's size needs more than one distributor of medical marijuana - the city's first Compassion Club is at 68 Rachel E. - and that smokers need a place to hang. "Lots of people like to go out and smoke and have a burger," he says. While he originally had an alcohol licence, he says he got rid of it because booze and pot don't mix. "It'll be the quietest place on the block."

McKenzie did consult briefly with the Compassion Club but isn't the most political of Montreal's pot scenesters. However, he dislikes the current legal status and, he warns, if his lounge is closed by the cops, he'll fight it in court. "And I'll win," he says. "They'll do what they have to do, and if we go to court we go to court."

He plans an opening party this Friday, Oct. 29, starting "around 7." » Patrick Lejtenyi

Prison needles needed

According to the Montreal-based HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the rates of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C among Canada's prison population are soaring and, if the spread is to be halted, prison authorities must implement a needle-exchange program as soon as possible.

The idea isn't new. As Ralf Jürgens, the Legal Network's executive director, points out in a new comparative report he co-authored on prison needle-exchanges, Canada is actually lagging behind Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Moldova, Belorussia and Kyrgyzstan in this regard.

Kyrgyzstan?

"The experience shows that countries in both the West and the East have woken up to a new reality and are taking a pragmatic approach to the problem," says Jürgens. He says that while the report was being written, Iran also implemented the measure.

Jürgens also says that prison staff in the six countries surveyed approve of the idea, saying that it doesn't lead to increased drug use, doesn't result in needles being used as weapons and demonstrably decreases the spread of infection. He has met with corrections and health officials here, and is hoping that they will heed his urge to start up a pilot project within 18 months.

The need, according to Jürgens, is pressing: he says that one in 50 federal prisoners is HIV-positive, with similar or higher rates in provincial jails; and his studies have shown that 20 to 80 per cent of prisoners are infected with hep C. "This is an imperative issue," he says. "We can't afford not to move on this." » Patrick Lejtenyi

Slum fund shunned

Over the years a handful of lords and ladies of slumdom have proven immune to polite and not-so-polite prodding to carry out much-needed home repairs, leading tenants' groups to demand that the city do the repairs and bill negligent landlords. But the city long dithered rather than exercise that right, and finally sent that power to the boroughs. The problem is that they forgot to send money and staff along with it.

"Here in Parc-Extension/St-Michel/Villeray, we have 145,000 residents but we've only received $25,000 and four inspectors, while other smaller areas have eight or 12 inspectors," says Parc-Ex city councillor Mary Deros. The once-Greek area has since become a landing pad for new immigrants who often don't know their rental rights - a fact exploited by crafty landlords.

"Twenty-five thousand dollars is not enough," says Deros. "We've already spent close to $200,000 on three projects. We invest and improve the situations and then go after the owner to pay the bills, but this can be drawn out for long periods of time."

Deros, elected under the opposition Bourque banner, notes that Parc-Ex needs more cash to deal with poverty but actually gets less than other places. "We get the second lowest budget, $360 per citizen, and we have 2.5 civil servants per 1,000 citizens, compared to other [boroughs] that have three or four or even up to 12 in places like Westmount," she says. Deros is demanding more inspectors and the emergency repair fund hiked to $100,000 a year. » Kristian Gravenor

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

17 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Oct. 30–Nov. 12, 1987

On the cover: Riff Raff, from the Foolhouse Theatre's Rocky Horror Live Show, opening at the Metropolis on Halloween. "Now the story is even more relevant because of safe sex," says Allan Patrick, Foolhouse's artistic director. "The show is still a spoof, and we have updated it to 1987, but we must also consider how hedonistic we can allow ourselves to be when it results in endangering other people."

• Marian MacNair investigates the state of Montreal paganism, Wicca and magick. "Montreal is not yet ready to accept the public presence of Wicca," says "Archer," a local pagan. "People still mistake barbaric satanism for Wicca."

• William Reid, of the Jesus and Mary Chain, is becoming a recluse, says brother and bandmate Jim. "He just sits in the house and does nothing or phones you up and has totally depressing conversations about how he is going to kill himself."

• "Stop the internal violence and the Angels will rule the world," warns Yves Lavigne, author of Hells Angels: Taking Care of Business.

Angel >> Broadcasting legend John Peel The BBC Radio One DJ died suddenly on Monday while on holiday in Peru, bringing to a sad end his celebrated career of breaking hundreds of new bands and introducing new sounds to the airwaves. Credited with bringing the disparate sounds of punk, new wave, techno, hip hop and reggae, among others, to Britain's music-mad masses while staying ahead of the curve with the discovery of bands like the Pixies and the White Stripes, Peel was the only remaining DJ from Radio One's 1967 debut. From his early days broadcasting pirate radio to the present, Peel was always interested in music outside the mainstream charts - and the music world was richer for it.
Insect >> Private prisons in Quebec It's not exactly clear what role private enterprise will play in the construction and administration of a new prison to be built south of Montreal, but critics worry that any is too much. Pointing to private prisons across the continent, prison guard unions and prisoners' rights groups claim that private jails rely too much on surveillance and not enough on trained, well-paid and professional staff. They also say that rehabilitation programs would be the first victims of cost-cutting measures, and that the jails have an economic interest in keeping prisoners behind bars. The 500-prisoner-capacity, minimum security jail would be the second-biggest in the province.