Latest news with #ChristinaSmith
Montreal Gazette
08-07-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Latest Westmount redevelopment plan adds density and taller buildings
Westmount is anticipating a large turnout for a public consultation Wednesday on the new iteration of a controversial redevelopment plan for the city's southeast sector bordering downtown Montreal. The consultation on the new version of the mini urban plan, which still calls for several highrises to be built on Ste-Catherine St. W. and Dorchester Blvd., will be held at Victoria Hall because it has a larger capacity than Westmount City Hall, Mayor Christina Smith said this week. 'There's nothing more divisive that brings out a community like development,' she said. The initial redevelopment proposal for the sector, produced for Westmount by architecture firm Lemay and presented in November 2024, was criticized by several architects and two former mayors of the municipality as 'a wholesale renunciation of Westmount's traditional low-rise, dense urban environment.' Lemay presented the new version of its plan in May following public comments on the initial design, and Smith says the changes reflect the feedback. For example, the new version of the Lemay plan reduces the height of a proposed tower at the southwest corner of Atwater and Ste-Catherine, adjacent to Atwater Library, from 25 storeys in the initial plan to 20 storeys. Three other proposed towers lining the south side of Ste-Catherine are now set at 20 storeys, up from 15 storeys in the first version. The new version also introduces podiums ('basilaires' in French) for several of the towers. The low-rise podiums will allow the towers emerging from them, including along Ste-Catherine, to be set back from the street, Smith said. 'That's a recommendation of many urban planners and architects that will enhance the streetscape and give a setback and more the human scale feel that people talk about,' she said. The new plan also introduces incentive zoning on two lots in the sector, meaning the possibility of granting bonus floors on those lots to developers if they incorporate features with community benefits in their projects. One of the lots marked for incentive zoning is a proposed new tower above Alexis-Nihon Plaza, on the north side of Ste-Catherine. The initial version of the Lemay plan set the height at 20 storeys, while the new version calls for 24 storeys and the possibility of building to 29 storeys through incentive zoning. However, version 2.0 of the Lemay proposal doesn't seem to appease the critics. 'I think it's one of the most consequential decisions to be made in Westmount in a long time because it's changing the character of that area a great deal,' Karin Marks, a former mayor of Westmount, said. She says she agrees that Ste-Catherine needs to be revitalized, but she disagrees with the approach in the Lemay plan. The new version doesn't call for social or affordable housing and it doesn't specify what conditions must be met for the incentive zoning and bonus floors, she said. She also notes the minimum floor space for residential units in the sector would be reduced to 550 square feet. That size of unit won't attract families, Marks said. 'And nowhere do I see very clear and measurable goals,' she said. 'Development and densification is not a goal. Is the goal to have more families? Is it to make more money?' Lynn Verge, the executive director of Atwater Library, contends the new version of the Lemay plan calls for 'even greater densification' than the initial version. 'The revised plan ignores the deluge of comments submitted to the Westmount council on an online form raising objections to the first Lemay report and calling for human-scale densification,' she said. The plan doesn't require a setback on Atwater for the 20-storey tower proposed at the corner of Ste-Catherine and Atwater and 'would overshadow and diminish the Atwater Library,' Verge said. Smith countered: 'If anything, the Atwater Library will survive if this neighbourhood gets revitalized.' Marks and Verge also criticized the municipality for having no studies indicating what additional infrastructure the city will have to build to service about 800 new housing units, such as a new Hydro Westmount substation. Smith, who has already announced she won't seek re-election in the November municipal election, said the special planning program is expected to go to a vote of city council on Sept. 8. Marks said she's calling on council to postpone the vote because it's too close to the election. However, Smith said it has already been a 'very thorough, long consultation process' and the debate over how to revitalize Ste-Catherine has gone on for years. 'I refuse to saddle the next council and the next generation with this same problem.' This story was originally published June 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Second shooting at Dallas high school in a year injures four students
A suspect is being sought after opening fire in a Dallas high school Tuesday, officials said, that injured four students in the second shooting incident at the school in just over a year. The shooting at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in south Dallas occurred just past 1 p.m. Tuesday, and Dallas Independent School District officials provided limited details about the incident. The four students were taken to two nearby hospitals, officials said, but did not disclose the extent of their injuries. Christina Smith, Dallas ISD's assistant police chief, said at a 5 p.m. news conference that the shooter had not been apprehended yet, but that officials know the suspect's identity. The gun used in the shooting was brought into the school outside of 'normal intake hours,' officials said, but they did not specify what type of gun was used. Wilmer-Hutchins is equipped with metal detectors, and students are required to have clear backpacks. Almost exactly a year before Tuesday's shooting, another Wilmer-Hutchins student was shot in the leg in a classroom. The shooter was a 17-year-old student, and the district was criticized in the weeks following for allowing the gun to enter the school despite the security measures in place. 'Quite frankly, this is becoming way too familiar, and it should not be familiar,' Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said during the news conference. Smith described the investigation as 'fluid' and said more details would be released later. Wilmer-Hutchins will be closed for the rest of the week, and Elizalde said the school would provide mental health resources to students. Nearby Wilmer-Hutchins Elementary School also was locked down, but there was no danger to the school and it will be open Wednesday. Elizalde said she spoke with Gov. Greg Abbott in the hours after the shooting, and Abbott released a statement Tuesday evening stating his office would provide the resources necessary to 'arrest the criminals involved and bring them to justice.' Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
CBS News
05-02-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Eagles' DeVonta Smith nearly quit football. Now, he could win the Super Bowl in his home state.
Long before DeVonta Smith was a star wide receiver in the NFL, he was a five-star recruit as a high school football player in Louisiana. Smith grew up in Amite City, about 73 miles from New Orleans, where the Eagles wideout and the rest of the Birds will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. "A humble young man, yes sir, no sir," Zephaniah Powell, the Amite High School head football coach, said. "Family-oriented, team-oriented, community-oriented. So Philadelphia definitely has a gem." Amite High Magnet School is where Smith became a football star in his hometown. The city has a population of 4,000. Christina Smith, DeVonta's mother, helped him become who he is today. She still lives outside Amite and works as a social worker, something that helped shape her son. "It was hard for him knowing that I was going into unfamiliar territory and taking children from their parents," Christina Smith said. Now, DeVonta Smith is a parent himself, and another child is on the way. But before the world knew Devonta Smith as the "Slim Reaper" or "Tay Tay" as he's known at home, he nearly said no thanks. "Actually, ninth grade, when he was at practice one day, he got hit very hard," Christina Smith said. "He thought about quitting. And at that time, my cousin was his coach, and he said he wasn't letting him quit. He went back out there, and we're glad he did." From there, DeVonta Smith rose to stardom in the football world. At the University of Alabama, he won two National Championships, became the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy in nearly 30 years, and became a top 10 pick in the NFL draft when the Eagles selected him in 2021. Now, he's one win away from an incredible milestone. Christina Smith is feeling stressed, but she said she knows her son has been under the bright lights in big games plenty of times before. "This is not your first championship game," she said. "Although it is the biggest game, the Super Bowl. But you know what it takes, do what you always do, play hard. Let's get that win. Go Birds!"
