The cranky sound of this Journal op-ed is mirrored in hundreds of cranky comments and posts about orange cones and road repairs around town. TVA also has a piece about the prevalence of construction in Griffintown which – have they forgotten already? – is still being refashioned after the deliberate neglect of decades.
The irony is always this: these are the same people who would complain if roads were left to decay. When is the right time to repair the roads? When a lot of people are staying home from work would seem to be the best moment to get the work done.
I do not envy Mayor Plante and her party these days. They are being heaped with blame from all sides now, largely for things out of their control. There are severe limits on what the city can choose to do in the middle of a pandemic, and nothing is ever going to be the right answer when every last cranky person has a platform for their grievances.
Kevin 11:04 on 2020-08-16 Permalink
I am happy to see road repair.
I get frustrated when they happen with no notice.
I get angry when the city sets up a bike path on a street that is so poorly paved it would be better if it was gravel.
Douglas 11:18 on 2020-08-16 Permalink
Same thing with Coderre.
Being blamed for everything by Plante even if it wasn’t his fault.
People were losing their minds over him destroying a post office box.
Ian 11:31 on 2020-08-16 Permalink
I voted for PM because Coderre seemed corrupt and autocratic.
I now see the flaw in my thinking.
Kate 12:07 on 2020-08-16 Permalink
I don’t recall “blame” being Projet’s style. They said they could take the city in a somewhat different direction from Coderre, and they sold it. Meantime, Coderre had relied a little too hard on special events like Formula E and all that ridiculous stuff from the 375th anniversary, too many circuses, not enough bread.
j2 13:16 on 2020-08-16 Permalink
What I see is that they rarely think about how to ease the residents’ pain.
E.g., Saint Jacques and Saint Rémi and Décarie has been torn up for a year plus now but they could have increased throughput by changing the proto-state where left turners and straight driving people share the same lane. The lights at decarie are in a flash cycle which makes it dangerous for bikes and pedestrians to cross. The cycling lane on Saint Jacques is another travesty of waste.
Is it worse if you wouldn’t know the state of the intersection when you go there? I don’t think with Google maps this is true anymore, that essentially any temporary improvement can be taken advantage of because the algorithm will drive people to take advantage of it. That said cyclists and pedestrians would need to introduce more forethought in the way drivers tend to because travelling by car is so frustrating.
Douglas 13:23 on 2020-08-16 Permalink
Go back to articles in the newspaper asking Plante for a comment on what Coderre was doing and she has the Lionel Perez playbook: say nothing positive, criticize no matter what.
Jack 18:02 on 2020-08-16 Permalink
Genvieve Peterson was born and raised in Wendake near Quebec City, so was my Grandfather. They share one thing in common, despite a huge age gap they grew up in a town with hardly any sidewalks. Even in 2020 their is no expectation that people will walk or cycle in that community…living here must be rough.
Roman 19:17 on 2020-08-16 Permalink
In some European countries, notably Holland, road work must be done at night and be complete and reopen for public by the morning rush.
The problem is that construction companies in Montreal are ran by corrupt mafia and every project seems to take 10x as long as I’ve seen it done in other countries.
Ephraim 20:01 on 2020-08-16 Permalink
Roman, I think you are thinking of the model where every lane and has a price per it’s usage and hour. Part of the bidding process includes having to pay any time you close the road, day or night. But it’s cheaper to close at night. Or to close just ONE land and keep another open. The problem here is, we have laws on noise, so they can’t work until 7AM. The thing is, the city contracts should have a time bid as well. If you can do it in 30 days, it might be worth paying you more than if you will take 90 days. But that’s part of having a price for every lane and every parking spot that I have been suggesting for years. It makes everyone think twice about what they do with the public property if they have to budget for it. For example, today, if the police want an extra parking spot, they can simply request the city to mark it out for police use. But if we assume that the city makes $2 per hour for a parking spot for 8 hours a day for 6 days (I know, I’m underpricing, but it’s just an example). That’s $96 a week. There are 4.25 weeks in a month, so that’s $408 a month. So, if the police had to pay $400 a month for each parking spot that they use, would they use as many parking spots?
And you should see the fines a construction site gets for starting before 7AM. I’ve seen construction sites put up HUGE reminders because the neighbours are really quick to complain, even if it’s 6:55AM…