Bike paths remain a hot potato
If I were advising Mayor Plante on getting re-elected, I would tell her to pull out all the bike paths, because so many people hate them, specifically in this case merchants along St‑Denis, who’ve written a letter complaining about the “active transport” lane going in between St-Joseph and Bélanger – not, I would’ve thought, the most commercial stretch of the street.
As things are going, the next city administration is going to be floridly pro-car. By 2023, I am willing to bet, green spaces will have been paved over to make more parking lots. I am not kidding. I’ll direct you back to this post here in three years’ time.
It’s amazing to me how much people hate Plante. Things like traffic disruptions for the REM are being blamed on her and any street repairs with cones, drivers always seeming to forget the repairs are being done for them. I decided just now to open Facebook and see if I could find any examples of Plante-hatred, and the first thing I see is a graphic showing cones and the words ARRETÉ LA QUELQUN… PLANTE STUNE FOLLE [sic]. (Not from a friend, it’s on one of the groups I follow specifically to scout stories for the blog.)
I never saw anything close to the vicious hatred for Tremblay or Coderre that is coming out for Valérie Plante. If she wants to be re-elected, she has to pay attention and try to soothe these people and give them what they want – as much as she can, because, as I say, much of what people are complaining about is coming from the transport ministry or REM construction, and a lot of the rest is because WE’RE IN A PANDEMIC, and if people are not shopping, eating or drinking downtown it’s because they’re currently not working downtown, not because Valérie Plante isn’t personally offering valet parking services.
JoeNotCharles 21:32 on 2020-08-25 Permalink
If she wants to be re-elected, she needs to be born a man.
Blork 21:36 on 2020-08-25 Permalink
People love to go after anyone who is “different,” especially if they can combine it with something that seems like a legitimate reason to complain. I think a lot of what passes for overt racism or sexism or homophobia can ultimately be traced back to primarily neophobia. For example, I’m thinking of kids picking on the only black kid in class; random run-of-the-mill black kid might not suffer that problem, but if he’s got something else going on, like he has thick glasses or is a bit of a nerd, then he’s a target. It isn’t explicitly racism (or at least not exclusively racism, because they wouldn’t have gone after the non-dorky black kid). Would they have gone after the same dorky kid if he were white? Some would, but being black (or gay, or short, or fat) is that extra “different” thing that pushes them over the edge and then they attack.
In Plante’s case, the difference is obvious, and it’s gender. But if she had been politically neutral and had not brought in any changes, then people probably wouldn’t have gone after her. It’s that mix of “different” (gender) and perceived “legitimate” political issues that tip things. If she instead were a black male, you’d see the same thing. If she were a white male, you’d see all the griping about cones and things but you wouldn’t get the same level of hate. It would be just another standard mayor (male) doing unpopular things.
Chris 23:54 on 2020-08-25 Permalink
>It’s amazing to me how much people hate Plante … I decided just now to open Facebook
Hmmm, social media is not a representative sample of people. Are you sure you’re not just seeing your bubble?
david102 02:31 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
Blork – I think your evaluation on neophobia is correct, but the gender thing is just demonstrably false. Exhibit 1. Luc Ferrandez. Exhibit 2. Counterfactual where it’s Bergeron presiding over the city. No difference in outrage.
It would be nice if we could link the backlash against PM to the current American auto-da-fé moment that has, of course, been embraced here. And sure, people might be a very little bit more likely to think that a woman would do green stuff, or culture stuff, or be a little less business focused, whatever.
But the problem is just like you say – Plante is very slowly and conservatively applying a long overdue program of very gradual change to make driving less convenient. And these moves – and anything that resemble them, her doing or not – just irritate many many people.
Plus, rent is skyrocketing (artificial land shortage), there’s a big pandemic thing that’s making people more agitated, the economy is dog shit, and everyone in power is spending money like crazy – all of which compound the anti-Plante feeling, as she’s just who happens to be there right now.
walkerp 08:17 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
Why are you assuming she is so unpopular? Do we have any current polls?
I think we are seeing an amplified minority and that there are a lot of quiet people who are mostly okay with the Plante administration.
Also, as we skew anglophone here, we see much more of the angryphone voice, which venns up nicely with the anti-car assholes (and the big lobbyists and advertisers behind them).
This is the same thing you see with Trudeau and yet he keeps winning, despite major actual fuck ups.
Mr.Chinaski 08:33 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
Kate stop saying she’s unpopular, this is pure media-bias. Commerce-owners? Probably. Citizens? Nope. Let’s remember this result from not even a year ago:
Plateau Mont-Royal 2019 by-election –> Projet Montreal : 67%
SIXTY SEVEN PERCENT!
Jonathan 09:59 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
I agree with Walkerp and Chinaski. It’s more media bias than anything. I don’t think a few merchants who have the audacity (caucasity?) to write a letter represent public sentiment. They are just misinformed idiots, in my *humble* opinion. Nevermind the research that comes out time and time again (last week on London) that bicycle infrastructure improves the overall economics of a street.
I would like to see a poll.
DeWolf 10:09 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
Luc Ferrandez was constantly excoriated in the news and on social media and yet he was consistently reelected with large majorities – and Ferrandez is an unapologetic asshole, whereas Plante goes out of her way to be upbeat and friendly. When you see the same names over and over in these stories (hi Francesco Miele!) it’s usually an indication of a concerted media campaign rather than a grassroots uprising.
I don’t know if Plante will be re-elected. But it’s way too early to tell. She still has 25% of her term left to finish and a year in politics is an eternity. By the time the election is held, the REV will have been in place for a year, it will likely be a success (given the experience of just about every other city that has built something similar) and the economy will be improving, so the situation could well be very different.
Tim S. 11:17 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
One thing to consider is that Plante/Project at least have a constituency behind them. I was up on Mont Royal a few weeks ago and came across one of those expensive 375th anniversary granite rocks, and it reminded me how much effort Coderre put into things that no one wanted.
MarcG 12:02 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
@walkerp: Do you mean anti-bike or pro-car instead of anti-car assholes?
DeWolf 12:04 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
That’s a good point, Tim. If PM scrapped the REV at this point there would be a huge backlash from people who voted for exactly this sort of thing.
Another thought: almost every major piece of bike infrastructure in North America has been greeted by the same kind of hysterical overreaction we are seeing here. When Vancouver took away two lanes of traffic on the Burrard Bridge to make a protected bike path, people predicted traffic chaos. That didn’t happen. The introduction of Citibike (ie Bixi) to New York was greeted by all sorts of catastrophizing. It’s now a huge success. And remember when the de Maisonneuve bike path was built in 2007? How many column inches did the Gazette devote to slamming it? Now it’s too popular for its own good and de Maisonneuve is a much livelier street than before.
In other words, ride out the opposition because these types of infrastructural investments are known to bear fruit.
walkerp 12:52 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
Whoops meant pro-car asshole. I`m one of those anti-car assholes! 🙂
mare 16:54 on 2020-08-26 Permalink
Another data point: Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, took much more extreme anti-car measures before Covid and changed the center of Paris in a bicycle friendly area.
Despite getting *a lot* of flack in the media for that, she was recently re-elected with a rather large difference.
https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2020/06/how-anne-hidalgos-anti-car-policies-won-her-re-election-paris
Sarah 13:26 on 2020-09-22 Permalink
What are all these bike paths achieving in the grand scheme of things? Have there been any studies revealing how this is beneficial for the greater good?
Interesting article here: https://financialpost.com/opinion/lawrence-solomon-ban-the-bike-how-cities-made-a-huge-mistake-in-promoting-cycling
We live in a city were it’s snowy and frigid most of the year. All the money used to create the lanes and maintain them including snow clearing for few cyclists who use them year round.
The traffic bottlenecks by removing lanes is ridiculous (let’s not even talk about all the parking she’s removed and the simultaneous construction projects EVERYWHERE).
While it makes sense to have bike lanes near universities, downtown, etc., I’ve seen boulevards transformed to accomodate a handful of cyclists throughout the day. It’s utterly nonsensical.
I have never witnessed so much road rage in this city before.
All those cars idling and causing even more pollution.
And motorists are supposed to keep paying while cyclists aren’t even required to have a license?
This doesn’t make any sense and people are sick of it! This lady needs to go and she will in the next election. And I, along with many will be glad to see the back of her.