Broken ticket machine leads to standoff
Police intervene in the recent standoff between Yaelburton Steinberg and Alexis Nihon parking lot staff.
Published on June 11, 2011
Published on June 11, 2011
Elisabeth Faure
Police called in to settle Alexis Nihon parking dispute
For Yaelburton Steinberg and his girlfriend, a recent night out turned into a nightmare at the Alexis Nihon parking lot. Steinberg claims his car was held hostage for three hours — all because of a broken ticket machine.
Topics :
Alexis Nihon , Canadian Tire , Ford Escape
“My girlfriend and I left work around 5:30,” says Steinberg. Both work across the street. They had dinner reservations and decided to park in the Alexis Nihon lot to save time. “That was our first mistake,” says Steinberg.
The following is Steinberg’s version of events.
He says the ticket machine at the parking lot entrance was broken. Unable to get a ticket, Steinberg tried pressing the “call” button, and got no response. There was no attendant in the parking lot booth, and a “back in five minutes” sign was in the window. The bar to enter the parking lot was raised, so Steinberg and his girlfriend drove up into the lot and parked.
Alexis Nihon policy is shoppers spending $30 or more get two hours of free parking. Steinberg made a $39.99 purchase at Canadian Tire. He returned to his car with his girlfriend and drove towards the parking lot exit.
The attendant had returned to the booth. Steinberg explained why he didn’t have a ticket, and showed his receipt to the attendant. The attendant said Steinberg was required to pay a $20 “lost ticket” fee. “I didn’t feel he was acting professionally,” Steinberg says.
The attendant refused to raise the exit bar, and a standoff ensued.
Mall security arrived, and told Steinberg to pay the $20. He refused, and the police were called. “We knew it would take a long time for the police to arrive, as they have real emergencies to deal with,” says Steinberg.
The pair waited in the parking lot for three hours until police arrived. During that time, Steinberg says he received dirty looks from other cars coming in and out of the lot. “It was embarrassing, as I have never been arrested or been thought of as the criminal type,” says Steinberg, noting he was wearing dress pants and Prada shoes. “I thought to myself, ‘Do I look that dishonest sitting in a new Ford Escape?’” he says.
While waiting for the police, Steinberg claims he observed the attendant refusing to act when a mall-goer told him there was a fire in the building, and allowing a woman to leave the lot without paying because she had changed her mind about making a purchase.
Mall administration offers to refund $5.25
When the cops showed up, the attendant asked them to arrest Steinberg. The police instead told the attendant to let Steinberg exit the lot. But the attendant insisted Steinberg pay the nightly rate of $5.25 (by now it was after 9 p.m.). Steinberg reluctantly agreed, and drove away.
Gaétan Prudhomme, the Alexis Nihon’s General Manager of Operations, spoke to Steinberg by phone on June 7 and offered his apologies. Steinberg says Prudhomme offered him a refund on the $5.25 parking fee, and said he would put a note in the parking lot attendant’s file.
That’s not enough, says Steinberg. “I told him it was not worth it for me to go collect $5.25,” he says, adding if one of his clients had a similar complaint, he would have offered them a gift card. Overall, Steinberg says the “humiliation and unprofessionalism” behind the whole situation continues to bother him. He says he will still shop at Alexis Nihon — but only because he works across the street.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
City can’t stop Oratory development
Published on June 11, 2011
Published on June 11, 2011
Elisabeth Faure
Residents post video showing recently cleared wooded lot
A group of Westmount residents is upset that St. Joseph’s Oratory is cutting down trees behind the church to make room for property development, and wants the City of Westmount to do something about it.
Topics :
Westmount
“Everywhere we turn, we get the same answers,” stated the group Citoyens Westmount in an email to the Examiner. “(We get told) ‘There is nothing we can do .... The Oratory sold the land and the City gave the permits.’”
The group argues that the area, long a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife, is a valuable green space. In a video titled “Greed or Power” posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmX4iGpANMw), the group shows before-and-after scenes of a once-lush forested area, now barren land.
The group says Westmount can and should intervene in the matter, arguing that in the past the City intervened to protect land adjacent to this plot following pressure from local residents.
Not so, counters city councillor Patrick Martin, who represents District 1, where the lot in question is located. Martin says he is distraught by the tree-cutting, but says there is nothing the City can do in this case.
“The Oratory has owned a large number of building lots in Westmount for decades,” says Martin, adding that the church has always paid taxes on the land in anticipation of one day selling the lots for housing to support the Oratory's maintenance.
“They have every right to build houses on (the lots),” he says.
Martin also points out that all of this information is a matter of public record, and it was reported in local papers when the Oratory decided to put the lots up for sale roughly three years ago.
Furthermore, Martin contends the City of Westmount has never intervened in the sale or purchase of the Oratory’s building lots, or with construction plans.
“In one case that I know of on Lexington, neighbouring residents then bought an adjacent lot in order to integrate it with their own,” says Martin. The residents opted to keep the lot mostly forested.
Martin says to his knowledge no other groups of residents have come forward with similar purchase offers, with the result that some land was purchased by a developer. He says the Oratory has agreed to leave 14 of its lots undeveloped to create a buffer zone between the church and residents. The City supports this via a 25-year deal, swapping land protection for tax concessions.
Nevertheless, Martin maintains the loss of green space is “lamentable.” Quoting Joni Mitchell, he sums up the situation by saying, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
Published on June 11, 2011
Published on June 11, 2011
Elisabeth Faure
Residents post video showing recently cleared wooded lot
A group of Westmount residents is upset that St. Joseph’s Oratory is cutting down trees behind the church to make room for property development, and wants the City of Westmount to do something about it.
Topics :
Westmount
“Everywhere we turn, we get the same answers,” stated the group Citoyens Westmount in an email to the Examiner. “(We get told) ‘There is nothing we can do .... The Oratory sold the land and the City gave the permits.’”
The group argues that the area, long a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife, is a valuable green space. In a video titled “Greed or Power” posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmX4iGpANMw), the group shows before-and-after scenes of a once-lush forested area, now barren land.
The group says Westmount can and should intervene in the matter, arguing that in the past the City intervened to protect land adjacent to this plot following pressure from local residents.
Not so, counters city councillor Patrick Martin, who represents District 1, where the lot in question is located. Martin says he is distraught by the tree-cutting, but says there is nothing the City can do in this case.
“The Oratory has owned a large number of building lots in Westmount for decades,” says Martin, adding that the church has always paid taxes on the land in anticipation of one day selling the lots for housing to support the Oratory's maintenance.
“They have every right to build houses on (the lots),” he says.
Martin also points out that all of this information is a matter of public record, and it was reported in local papers when the Oratory decided to put the lots up for sale roughly three years ago.
Furthermore, Martin contends the City of Westmount has never intervened in the sale or purchase of the Oratory’s building lots, or with construction plans.
“In one case that I know of on Lexington, neighbouring residents then bought an adjacent lot in order to integrate it with their own,” says Martin. The residents opted to keep the lot mostly forested.
Martin says to his knowledge no other groups of residents have come forward with similar purchase offers, with the result that some land was purchased by a developer. He says the Oratory has agreed to leave 14 of its lots undeveloped to create a buffer zone between the church and residents. The City supports this via a 25-year deal, swapping land protection for tax concessions.
Nevertheless, Martin maintains the loss of green space is “lamentable.” Quoting Joni Mitchell, he sums up the situation by saying, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
Tag the dog
Published on June 15, 2011
Published on June 15, 2011
Elisabeth Faure
Westmount’s canine ID card policy angers owners
Westmount’s new policy of making owners carry plasticized identity cards for their dogs is meeting resistance from Westmounters and non-residents alike.
Topics :
Westmount house , Concordia University , Westmount , Verdun , NDG
Sent by mail to Westmount license holders three weeks ago, the cards come with the purchase of a $20 dog license, and are available to non-residents for $40 each.
Architect David Ludmer dotes on his Dalmatian, Bailey (he calls her Bea or Lady Bea), and refers to her as “the love of my life.” For him, the new law doesn’t make sense.
“I think it’s a level of complexity a person doesn’t need when you are trying to maintain your best friend,” says Ludmer. He thinks between making sure your animal is healthy, happy, and well-fed - plus, “making sure you have enough poop bags in your pocket,” dog owners have more pressing concerns.
Most of the time, Ludmer carries his card in his pocket, but admits that some mornings he forgets it and worries he’ll get fined by Public Security officers.
Sylvie Prud’homme lives in Verdun with her two Burmese Mountain dogs. “We go everywhere together,” she says. On weekends, the trio visit friends in NDG, Île Perrot, and Île Bizard — but Westmount is no longer on the list.
Since the new law, Prud’homme won’t go into Westmount with her dogs. She says her friends will have to come visit her in Verdun instead.
Prud’homme acknowledges the $40 cost for a non-resident card “isn’t the end of the world,” but says a principle is at stake. “What if every neighborhood decides to do this?” she asks.
Prud’homme’s decision to boycott Westmount carries a professional impact — she teaches dog obedience classes and often brings her dogs along for demonstrations. She won’t be making any more Westmount house calls.
Journalist and Concordia University instructor Elias Makos lives next to Westmount’s border. He often takes Otis, his Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, to the Westmount Park dog run. “This whole new Westmount rule ... it’s not rational,” says Makos. “There is no common good being served by this.”
For Makos, getting a special tag to walk Otis a few blocks from home represents an overly bureaucratic approach. He questions the need for such a rule. “It’s as though someone is trying to come up with a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” he says.
“Who decided this?”
City of Westmount officials insist that the ID tags make perfect sense.
“This is only enforcing a policy in place since 1946,” says City Councillor Cynthia Lulham, who is also Commissioner of Parks and Urban Planning. “In Westmount, you always had to have a Westmount dog license.”
Lulham says the City is cracking down in response to dog owners who claim non-residents are overcrowding dog runs. “If everyone has a dog license, then we know who is using our facilities,” says Lulham. She adds it’s easier for City inspectors to read the identity cards, since some dogs don’t like getting approached by strangers.
Lulham, who owns two rescue dogs (Bobo the Chihuahua and Kiki the Bichon), is aware some don’t like the new rule, but maintains she wants to give it a try, and promises the City will apply the law in a reasonable manner. “We won’t be patrolling the borders of NDG,” she says with a laugh.
Still, the public outcry against the ID cards remains loud and clear. One dog owner took the protest to Twitter this week, urging owners to congregate in Westmount Park this weekend and encourage their canines to bespoil its grounds. The suggested title of the event rhymes with “Sit-In.”
Published on June 15, 2011
Published on June 15, 2011
Elisabeth Faure
Westmount’s canine ID card policy angers owners
Westmount’s new policy of making owners carry plasticized identity cards for their dogs is meeting resistance from Westmounters and non-residents alike.
Topics :
Westmount house , Concordia University , Westmount , Verdun , NDG
Sent by mail to Westmount license holders three weeks ago, the cards come with the purchase of a $20 dog license, and are available to non-residents for $40 each.
Architect David Ludmer dotes on his Dalmatian, Bailey (he calls her Bea or Lady Bea), and refers to her as “the love of my life.” For him, the new law doesn’t make sense.
“I think it’s a level of complexity a person doesn’t need when you are trying to maintain your best friend,” says Ludmer. He thinks between making sure your animal is healthy, happy, and well-fed - plus, “making sure you have enough poop bags in your pocket,” dog owners have more pressing concerns.
Most of the time, Ludmer carries his card in his pocket, but admits that some mornings he forgets it and worries he’ll get fined by Public Security officers.
Sylvie Prud’homme lives in Verdun with her two Burmese Mountain dogs. “We go everywhere together,” she says. On weekends, the trio visit friends in NDG, Île Perrot, and Île Bizard — but Westmount is no longer on the list.
Since the new law, Prud’homme won’t go into Westmount with her dogs. She says her friends will have to come visit her in Verdun instead.
Prud’homme acknowledges the $40 cost for a non-resident card “isn’t the end of the world,” but says a principle is at stake. “What if every neighborhood decides to do this?” she asks.
Prud’homme’s decision to boycott Westmount carries a professional impact — she teaches dog obedience classes and often brings her dogs along for demonstrations. She won’t be making any more Westmount house calls.
Journalist and Concordia University instructor Elias Makos lives next to Westmount’s border. He often takes Otis, his Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, to the Westmount Park dog run. “This whole new Westmount rule ... it’s not rational,” says Makos. “There is no common good being served by this.”
For Makos, getting a special tag to walk Otis a few blocks from home represents an overly bureaucratic approach. He questions the need for such a rule. “It’s as though someone is trying to come up with a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” he says.
“Who decided this?”
City of Westmount officials insist that the ID tags make perfect sense.
“This is only enforcing a policy in place since 1946,” says City Councillor Cynthia Lulham, who is also Commissioner of Parks and Urban Planning. “In Westmount, you always had to have a Westmount dog license.”
Lulham says the City is cracking down in response to dog owners who claim non-residents are overcrowding dog runs. “If everyone has a dog license, then we know who is using our facilities,” says Lulham. She adds it’s easier for City inspectors to read the identity cards, since some dogs don’t like getting approached by strangers.
Lulham, who owns two rescue dogs (Bobo the Chihuahua and Kiki the Bichon), is aware some don’t like the new rule, but maintains she wants to give it a try, and promises the City will apply the law in a reasonable manner. “We won’t be patrolling the borders of NDG,” she says with a laugh.
Still, the public outcry against the ID cards remains loud and clear. One dog owner took the protest to Twitter this week, urging owners to congregate in Westmount Park this weekend and encourage their canines to bespoil its grounds. The suggested title of the event rhymes with “Sit-In.”
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