Well, here we go again. The Société de développement Angus (SDA) just announced a $160 million, 12 floor development project for the corner of St-Laurent and St-Catherine, the heart of Montreal’s historic Red Light District and current Quartier de Spéctacles.

Ever see the slacker classic Joe’s Apartment? That’s the one with Jerry O’Connell starring alongside some well trained cockroaches as a mid west boy in his first foray into quasi-manhood in NYC, conveniently landing a rent controlled apartment, subsequently discovering his landlord is trying to kill him off so they can tear down the building and put up a maximum security penitentiary.

It looks like the independent burlesque, fetish and drag artists who call the second floor of Café Cleopatre on St-Laurent their artistic home will be able to continue doing so, at least for a while.

For supporters of Café Cleopatre and the heritage of Montreal’s historic Red Light District, Christmas may come early this year and I’m not talking about the Glam Gam holiday show that wrapped up last weekend, either.

A stone’s throw from all the action at the Jazz fest taking place in the city’s brand-new Place des festivals, Café Cleopatre sits surrounded by art-covered boarded-up buildings waiting to know if it will still be there next year.

The artists of Café Cleopatre have some new neighbours. No, the businesses evicted by the Angus Development Corporation and the city haven’t returned, but at least now, the boarded-up look is gone and has been replaced by graffiti.

“It’s a strip club with video poker machines!” With that statement in an email sent to supporters last June, developer Christian Yaccarini ruled out the possibility that there was anything more to Café Cleopatre and dismissed the importance of the independent fetish, burlesque and drag artists who are performing to packed houses on the Cleo’s second floor every week.

Apparently, the new design of the 2-22 Ste-Catherine building is good enough for Gerald Tremblay that it won’t undergo a public consultation process and construction can start May 2nd.

After admitting that his twelve-storey office tower planned for the Quartier de Spectacles had to be scaled back to just five floors as well as his company’s fundraising difficulties, Christian Yaccarini, the head of the Angus Development Corporation, lashed out at the city’s public consultation process and the artists trying to save Café Cleopatre from demolition.

Parody is the sincerest form of flattery. Well, yes it can be, but it can also be a powerful weapon that can be used to call bullshit on those who spew it all around. For a current example, one only has to look to the artists of the Save The Main Coalition.

Café Cleopatra is going to court. True, the artists of Café Cleo already won the case against their eviction in the court of public opinion, the OCPM ruling confirmed their victory and the recent attention paid to the Dead Dolls appeal to Prince Charles reinforced it, but now they’re taking the case to a court of law.

When the public supports you, but the Mayor’s against you and the federal government isn’t doing anything to help protect their own historic site, where do you turn? Well, for members of the Dead Doll Dancers, the answer is simple: Prince Charles.

In the 1980s, Christian Yaccarini was on the administration council of the Association générale des étudiants de l’UQAM when he was found guilty of stealing the contents of a caisse étudiant (student-run bank).

I went to City Hall Monday night wondering if Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay would be successful in ramming through the Angus Development Corporation’s controversial Quadrilaterre project or if citizen opposition either at the meeting’s question period itself or at the recent OCPM meetings would sway a councilor to take a stand or maybe force the mayor himself to rethink his decision.

Ramming a controversial project through and making executive decisions that go against the ruling of a public consultation body aren’t new in politics.

The Angus Development Corporation stated Tuesday that it would be rethinking its plan to erect an office tower on the west side of St-Laurent Boulevard between Ste-Catherine and Rene-Levesque.

After hearing from from over 300 people at meetings last June and reading 32 briefs, the Office de Consultation Publique de Montreal released its report on the proposed Quadrilaterre project slated to begin construction on the Lower Main next January.

At a recent press conference, Christian Yaccarini, the president of the Société de développement Angus, defended his plans to replace venues on the lower Main with an office tower by promising that he would try and relocate the artists currently performing at Café Cleopatre.

This morning at 10:00 Societe de Development ANGUS (SDA) held a press conference at the Angus Yards. The press conference comes after 9 public consultation meetings, the tones of which were identifiably in contrast with the development plans for the area.

If you had “a vision of development based on the enhancement of cultural activities” as the Quartier des Spectacles project does, would you want to evict artists by replacing their popular performance space with an office tower that nobody asked for?