The city is rezoning 16 hectares of the Technoparc land although they’re not contiguous. This area is known for birds and for hosting endangered monarch butterflies in season.
Updates from December, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Quebec will be building a new women’s prison in Montreal, presumably in Ahuntsic after they’ve demolished the old Tanguay prison, which sits on the same big lot as Bordeaux jail.
But it won’t be open till 2030, so hold off on your crimes, les filles.
Ephraim
Can someone tell me why they need to build prisons in Montreal on expensive land we could use for other purposes, like social housing? Can’t we build them off island on cheaper land, next to train lines, an old quarry or Hydro substations… somewhere no one wants the land
Blork
I’m just speculating here, but I think it probably has to do with proximity of staff and services.
It’s not like a prison just sits there; it needs to have ready access to various services for both staff and prisoners, like health care, employment training, various rehabilitation services, etc. Given that some of the prisoners (sorry, but I’m not up on what the current politically correct term is) likely leave the facility to access those services (low risk, minimum security prisoners at least), you don’t want them to be stuck out in the boonies. And given that people and vehicles serving the prison probably need to get in and out on a schedule instead of being backed up in bridge traffic, then it makes sense from that perspective.
Spi
Although I agree with the sentiment that all the land occupied by the prison complex could be put to much better use, they aren’t building a new prison, they’re rebuilding on the site of a former one so a lot less social support needed (if any).
As for the Bordeaux prison site, I don’t think it could ever really be used for anything else since the prison building is deemed as of “exceptional heritage value” and protected. A prison building that can’t be demolished isn’t adapted to be anything else than a prison.
DavidH
It’s a provincial jail. Most people serve in the provincial system serve week-end sentences. Many of them get there by bus. Federal jails are built on isolated land. I can’t think of a single provincial one that is.
Mark Côté
There is also the need for people to be able to visit inmates, and sometimes families even settle nearby. They also need proper infrastructure: water, sewage, power, etc. My hometown in Ontario is probably getting a prison, and those requirements, plus what Blork mentioned, are something the government supposedly considers when picking a site for a new prison (many people in that town disagree that those conditions are met there, however).
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Kate
Even though the effectiveness of sidewalk bulb‑outs at corners for improving the visibility of pedestrians is well understood, the Ensemble members of CDN‑NDG borough voted against them this week, complaining that they would remove parking spaces. As Dr Patrick Morency, an expert on public health, points out, legal parking space ends five meters from the corner anyway, although this is commonly flouted around town.
DeWolf
Protecting illegal parking spots at the expense of human lives! Brave work, Sonny Moroz and Stephanie Valenzuela.
Luckily they’re they only two Ensemble members on council. CDN/NDG is so far behind the rest of the central boroughs on pedestrian safety and comfort.
Myles
Lovely. I thought the whole point of those was to force people to obey the corner parking restriction.
Kate
Myles: well exactly. The restriction is to make visibility better at the intersection, for both drivers and pedestrians. The bulb‑out not only enforces the distance from the corner, but can make space for shrubs and flowers in season so win‑win.
jeather
No one in this city is going to follow the no parking in a corner rule unless there is a bulb-out or, maybe, a sign. Though the pedestrian safety reason is more than sufficient — and I love them when I am walking — they actually ALSO improve turns for drivers.
Since we all discussed it heavily way back, the no parking lanes during rush hour are more honoured in the breach. I’m told they’re never ticketed, either.
MarcG
The crossing guard around the corner from me parks his car right on the corner, blocking the view. He probably does more harm than good.
jeather
Whoops, I left out: the no parking lanes on Queen Mary
Ian
This is the thing I don’t get – as a driver, cars but especially SUVs or vans parked too close to the corner force me to drive out into the street to see if there is oncoming traffic. This is categorically unsafe. Even without the bulbs or whatever most neighbourhoods allow parking practically up to the corner with just enough room for pedestrians. I really don’t understand why this isn’t more if a focus.
DeWolf
Ian, that’s exactly why the curb extensions are needed. It’s true that in many places around Montreal, cars are allowed to park right up to the stop line, but this is a weird legacy thing that is illegal under provincial law. The city is gradually rectifying the situation with signs and yellow paint, but it’s hard to break decades of bad habits, and the curb extensions are a pretty good way to prevent people from parking too close to the intersection.
(Of course even physical infrastructure sometimes isn’t enough. I’ve seen cars parked right up on the sidewalk on St-Viateur as their drivers run into Olimpico to get their coffee. But that’s not an everyday thing.)
Joey
@DeWolf that’s why god invented both saliva and car door handles…
Kevin
Montreal police have just about stopped enforcing any traffic laws.
It’s routine for cars to be parked in no-stopping zones and bus lanes and they never get a ticket. It’s routine for drivers to run red lights.
Lawmakers can make all the rules they want, but if they’re not enforced, they may as well not exist.
Joey
@Kevin yup, and it makes no sense, especially given how critical pedestrian and cyclist safety is to Projet. Let’s assume that a ticketing agent makes $50K per year. Add in benefits to get it up to $60K. Assuming four weeks’ vacation, that’s $250 per day. So every additional agent would have to generate about $250 in tickets every day to cover their salary+benefits. That’s, what, maximum five tickets? How do we not have hundreds more of these people. Or you could invest in surveillance cameras fixed on the most egregious spots (handicapped spaces, bus zones on busy streets, etc.).
DeWolf
I see plenty of workers from the newly expanded Agence de mobilité durable giving out tickets, but I never ever see the SPVM doing so, even when the Park Avenue bus lane is constantly blocked. The city doesn’t seem to have any control over the SPVM – they just do whatever they want.
CE
Don’t forget that drivers vote. If they feel like they’re getting a ticket every other day, they start to get angry and blame it on the administration. They need to strike a balance unfortunately.
Kate
A tweet has been going around citing Richard Bergeron saying that 85% of Quebec adults own a car, so that being a driver is the thing that most of us have in common, and politicians disturb that at their peril.
Tim S.
Sure, but drivers annoy/endanger other drivers too (that’s why there’s an SUV “safety” arms race). As a kid, I remember my father fantasizing about being an undercover traffic cop as we drove around town. I suspect it’s not an uncommon reaction.
PS: adding on to an earlier thread about school zones, there’s one in Brossard where the police are present regularly. Everyone slows down. Proper enforcement can change behaviour, even in Quebec.
dhomas
I drive a car because it’s a “necessary evil”. If I could take public transit everywhere, I would. I enjoy not having to be focused on not killing my kids, myself, and other people while behind the wheel of two tons of metal. I can do this while on the bus/metro, as well as: take a brief nap, read a book, immerse myself in music, etc. I am an unwilling participant in our car-centric society.
So I totally understand the “driver who hated other drivers” mentality that Tim S. mentioned.
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Kate
A man was killed as two cars crashed into the Galeries Lachine mall Monday afternoon after a collision in the parking lot.
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