Coderre wants to get rid of the REV
Although evidence shows the REV is a success, Denis Coderre will get rid of it if elected. Oh right, he’ll have a public consultation. Then he’ll get rid of it.
If Coderre’s elected we’ll see the clock go back, on the REV, on the big park in the West Island (where he wanted to see rows and rows of condos), on livability in general while he strives to make Montreal “world class”.
Has it occurred to Coderre that the people who want to live in an alpha city like New York or Paris (or, god help us, Toronto) have always left Montreal for the megalopolis? People stay here not because it’s “world class” but because it has the potential to be a satisfying city on a human scale. But being the mayor of a human scale city won’t make Denis the kind of bigwig he wants to be.
Spi 16:59 on 2021-06-18 Permalink
If PM had done proper consultations he wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Working and consulting stakeholders is far from being a PM strong point. Just as Coderre has pushed through pet projects Plante has done the same with hers.
DeWolf 18:56 on 2021-06-18 Permalink
London, New York and Paris have also been playing from the same handbook as Montreal. Coderre is apparently friends with Anne Hidalgo, and yet he doesn’t seem to be aware that she is transforming her city in a way that makes Projet Montréal look arch-conservative…
DeWolf 18:57 on 2021-06-18 Permalink
Spi, the REV went through a multi-year consultation that included in-person workshops and online surveys open to the general public. The plans weren’t drawn up until after the consultations were completed and they were based on the feedback received. What would you have done differently?
Ant6n 19:27 on 2021-06-18 Permalink
What makes nyc, Berlin, London interesting to go to isn’t condos in the suburbs, demolishing a newly created bike path network or attracting events like the formula 1/e/?
If he was running for nyc he‘d probably propose making Broadway/times square for cars again, introducing a subway night break to save money and converting theaters on, off and off-off broadway into condos.
Spi 19:53 on 2021-06-18 Permalink
@Dewolf, open online “consultation” (which are frankly at times more like Pinterest boards) is great for the appearance of transparency and input but let’s be honest we all know exactly what type of person that draws in and it’s far from being representative of all stake holders. If you randomly asked local residents if they that they’re being “consulted” through realisonmtl.ca for dozens of project across the city I’m fairly confident that percentage wouldn’t exceeded 10%
The city knows exactly who this will impact, a propre consultation would have involved actually reaching out to all of them from the beginning instead of laying out a formed project on the populace and then taking criticism. We’re far from day one consultations. They did the same thing with Camilien-Houde and the rushed pedestrian streets last summer.
DavidH 21:40 on 2021-06-18 Permalink
@Spi, for the REV St-Denis, the city literally went door to door and reached out to business owners months ahead of the planning to get their input. Then, they wrote to them asking to submit more input if they had more to say. The people impacted had multiple occasions to voice their concerns without lifting a single finger. This is a rare case where the consultions actually were thorough and sincere.
The people opposed are a very small minority, always the same 60 people (out of a few hundred storefronts). The REV is what people wanted and the people were right. The old car-centric St-Denis was a failure. You can’t window-shop from the center lane of a 4 lane boulevard doing 70 km/h. Successful commercial streets rely on good, relaxed ambiance, not noisy and speedy traffic. See here: https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/586318/le-reseau-express-velo-de-la-bisbille
Coderre is using it because it exists as a cause in the social media world, not the real world. The people impacted are voting PM. Coderre can’t win Plateau and isn’t trying either. This is for the peanut gallery.
David690 21:56 on 2021-06-18 Permalink
It’s nothing to do with consultations, social media, or any of that. It’s all about the motorist/suburban/JdeM axis that forms Coderre’s base against PM, and drawing the contrast there to get them on the team and/or out to the polls.
(That said, I doubt he’s get rid of it if elected, it’ll be too popular by then.)
mare 23:39 on 2021-06-18 Permalink
Almost all people I met the last couple of years who don’t live in Montreal, brought up the fact that Montreal removed parking to make bike paths. And that the city hates cars. If your source of info is the Journal de Montréal (or Quebec) and TVA that’s what you know. A lot of people *in* Montreal have the same sources of info, and driving is seen as a fundamental human right. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made mayor again.
I wonder if, when that happens, he’s going to redo the bike path next to Parc Laurier again?
walkerp 10:39 on 2021-06-19 Permalink
He’s desperate.
qatzelok 12:15 on 2021-06-19 Permalink
The consultations for the REV happened, and interested parties participated in them. Our roads were transformed into car-sewers over the last 80 years without any general public consultation.
I think that when Spi uses the word “stakeholders,” he means *the 1%* (and not the general public). Those kinds of “stakeholders” gave us our current highway-connected sprawlscape.