the1510west.ca

With no firm timeline for when the City of Pointe Claire will unveil its long-awaited urban plan and despite a building freeze still in place across large swaths of its territory, elected officials last week signalled they are willing to see two major development projects go ahead — a 249-unit residential building at the former Bar B Barn site at Sources and Brunswick boulevards and a hotel project at the northwest corner of St. Jean and Brunswick boulevards, in the parking lot near Moe’s and Scarolie’s restaurants.

With trains travelling along the REM line in the West Island becoming more frequent as the final phase of testing on the network’s Anse-à-l’Orme branch continues in preparation of the official spring launch, Pointe Claire residents are asking elected officials more questions, but there are still few answers. What is clear, however, is a rising level of frustration with the lack of information.

Many West Islander motorists have likely noticed an increased presence of potholes on the roads this year, and they’re not alone. Local mechanics and municipal officials alike have taken notice of the upped number of sizable cracks in the roads.

With the ceremonial puck drop on Monday, the Pointe Claire Oldtimers Hockey Club kicked off its 57th edition of its annual week-long tournament, one of the largest oldtimers events in the country.

The City of Pointe Claire’s proposed building maintenance bylaw goes too far, according to one city councillor who is raising a red flag, urging changes should be made to the proposed regulation before it is given final approval next month.

A petition calling on the federal government to honour an election commitment to take over responsibility for the veterans’ cemetery in Pointe Claire, the largest resting place for military service personnel in Canada, was presented in the House of Commons late last month. This is the second federal petition urging the transfer of control of the National Field of Honour in the last two years.

Some of Canada’s most decorated military members were laid to rest in this cemetery. Among the most familiar names is Léo Major, whom Sullivan lists as “right at the top” among most accomplished of soldiers in Canadian history.

Police say a 51-year-old Pierrefonds man will face charges in the wake of a violent knife attack that sent a woman to hospital with serious injuries during a domestic quarrel inside a residence on Athena Street in Pierrefonds last Thursday.

The population of the West Island’s demerged suburbs has increased by 5.5 per cent in the last five years, with Pointe Claire seeing the biggest gains and pushing the region’s population above the quarter-of-a-million mark for the first time, according to the latest numbers released by the provincial government.

When will Pointe Claire unveil its long-awaited new urban plan?

When times are tough, when rising prices add to the financial pressures people struggle with, neighbours help neighbours. That is why The 1510 West is hosting a food drive.

The lot where an aging strip mall was recently torn down along St. Charles Boulevard in Kirkland will be the site of a new multi-storey rental condo building.

West Islanders and Macdonald High School students and their families are rallying around the mother of Grade 9 student Eva de Wit-Blades who was killed in a traffic accident last Friday in Vaudreuil-Dorion, launching three fundraising campaigns that have so far raised more than $80,000.

A municipal initiative aimed at fostering neighbourly bonds in Beaconsfield has been nominated for a provincial award.

The start of spring is a time when most animals begin giving birth to their litters, but what should you do if one of these critters has chosen to create a nest or burrow on your property to care for its newborns?

One of the West Island’s top music festivals is returning for its 13th edition next week and will feature an eclectic mix of artists, groups and genres.

Describing the move as petty and ill-timed, the president of the English-speaking community advocacy group TALQ is critical of the Office québécois de la langue française’s plan to launch another survey on how retail workers greet customers, especially in predominantly English-speaking areas of Montreal.

West Islanders will be seeing an increase in the number of trains travelling along the REM line in the coming weeks, according to the consortium building the light-rail service, as testing of the line to the west end of the island enters its final phase before its official launch.

In a brief outdoor ceremony last Friday that harkened back to a period in Pointe Claire history that evoked a simpler and more carefree time, a horrible tragedy that claimed the life of a 6-year-old boy was commemorated, providing a community an opportunity to come together and giving a family a sense of closure.

After parting ways with its top civil servant two months ago, the City of Pointe Claire is this week launching the formal process of hiring a new director-general, said Mayor John Belvedere.

With the weather warming up, authorities are advising West Islanders not to walk on Lac St. Louis after a woman fell through the ice in Lachine on Monday afternoon and drowned.

The success and headlines generated by Canada’s curling teams during last month’s Winter Olympics is a step toward further growing curling culture in Quebec, say those involved in the sport. And the curling clubs in Baie d’Urfé and Pointe Claire Curling Club, the largest of its kind in the West Island, are noticing the increase in interest, especially among younger players.

The municipal election in Dorval last fall was the first time in 20 years since two registered municipal parties had gone head-to-head with a full slate of candidates. And when the votes were all counted, Dorval emerged as the only demerged West Island municipality with a city council made up of officials from two different parties. Would opposition parties be able to work together in a relatively small city?

Pointe Claire native reflects on experience playing hockey for host Italian team

A pilot project involving the testing of an innovative mixture that includes starfish bones to de-ice sidewalks in Dorval and Kirkland is yielding positive results, municipal officials say.