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>> People : Last word on the runway

No logo: arteVISTA, a Montreal initiative that has erected a dozen murals across the city, is hoping to put up a huge reproduction of Normand Hudon’s 1980 painting “Le Joker” at the corner of Sherbrooke and Décarie, where this Buffalo Jeans ad now perches (some say in contravention to city bylaws). Two borough councillors, Jeremy Searle and Marvin Rotrand, oppose the mural, concerned that it will feature the logo of the sponsor, the SAQ. arteVISTA denies that the mural will have a sponsor’s logo; no logos are visible on any of their other murals.

Photo by Jason Felker >>

Support Santropol Roulant!

It takes a special kind of jerk to rob a charity-especially one you might’ve worked for. The St-Urbain-and-Duluth-based Santropol Roulant has been robbed twice this summer, most recently the night of August 25–26, by someone they believe has a key to the premises. The thief (or thieves) stole approximately $7,000 worth of new computer equipment, gas vouchers, cash and personal cheques. This means the funds from their upcoming annual Sunday Bazaar, planned for September 8, will be used to replace stolen equipment rather than pay for food for their meals-on-wheels program.

Santropol Roulant’s communications and events coordinator Tracy Smee says that despite the shock, they are feeling good. “As soon as word got out, people came out to drop off cash donations, computer equipment and good wishes,” says Smee. “Someone already donated a new scanner, and the toys and clothes for the bazaar have just been pouring in. Our goal is to raise twice what we made last year. It’s ambitious, but we really rely on fundraising and donations to keep the meals going. When you are serving 80 meals a day, a robbery like this has a big impact. We were going to use the proceeds for operation costs, but now we’re going to need to replace our equipment instead.”

The bazaar will take place on the sidewalks of Duluth, between L’Esplanade and St-Urbain, and will feature a large garage sale, clowns, tarot card readers, masseuses and musicians. If you want to make a donation of any kind, call the Roulant office at 284-9335. :
-Noemi Lopinto

Landlords balk at becoming narcs

Ville-Marie councillor Martin Lemay’s late August proposal to fine landlords unable or unwilling to chase out drug-dealing tenants has been greeted with a significant lack of enthusiasm. Landlords, not surprisingly, dislike the plan.

“You have to go through the rental board and prove that it’s a drug place before you can break a lease with a drug dealer. It’s not a fast process,” says Pierre Aubry, president of the Property Owners League. Aubry says that Lemay’s proposal, combined with the now-stalled Bill 26-provincial legislation that would limit questions a prospective landlord could ask a prospective tenant-would also make it difficult for landlords to prevent drug-dealing tenants from getting in. “If the landlord cannot ask any details of a prospective tenant, how can he even hope to prevent a shooting gallery from getting into his building?”

But Lemay’s press assistant says the idea of fining shooting gallery landlords is worth studying. “These are issues of health, welfare and public safety. We consider this a fairly novel way of trying to tackle the problem,” says borough media rep Daniel St-Louis.

Housing activist Jean Rouleau, who has earned a reputation for aggressively chasing dodgy landlords, isn’t sold on the plan either. “By definition a shooting gallery is a bit ephemeral. They’re not easy to identify. I think the city should go after the cause of the drug problem rather than the symptoms.” :
-Kristian Gravenor

Miles o’ books, cheap

It may be a bit out of the way, but this weekend’s 2nd annual International Literacy Day Book Sale at the Marché de l’Ouest, a bazaar covering an estimated 15,000 square feet, could be worth the trek in terms of savings. Opening today, September 5, and running through to September 29, the book sale will feature thousands of books (eight miles of ’em, organizers boast), from histories to self-help to children’s, for prices significantly lower than found at the downtown bookstore behemoths. And it’s all for a good cause: proceeds from the sale go to the Centre for Literacy of Quebec, which provides English books for people, institutions and communities unable to get them at low prices.

“This is just a way for us to give back a lot of information to the public, and to help it grow into a major function,” says the sale’s promotional director Jock Pichette. “We want to see it grow into something incredible. Maybe in two or three years we’ll be able to move it into a hotel and bring in outside organizations to take part.”
Also featured are seminars, book readings and children’s plays. The only drag is getting out there: the Marché is at 11600 de Salaberry, just off the Sources Boulevard exit from the 40. Those sans wheels can take the 214 bus from du Collège metro or the 215 from Côte-Vertu. :
-Patrick Lejtenyi :