Montreal “poster child” for pedestrianization?
The New York Times says Montreal is the “poster child” for pedestrianizing streets in Canada. Of course, after some praising, the writer manages to find a restaurant manager in the Quartier Latin who deplores the change because of the lack of parking.
Was there ever a lot of parking along St‑Denis in the Quartier Latin? Has that ever been an area where people go by car to eat or hang out? The NYT writer doesn’t mention that it’s where two major metro lines converge and, conventionally, where a lot of students would normally find themselves, not just from UQAM but also a major CEGEP.
DeWolf 19:03 on 2024-08-10 Permalink
The irony is that restaurant has two locations, one on St-Denis in the Latin Quarter and another on Mont-Royal. So clearly being located on summertime pedestrian streets isn’t the worst thing in the world for them.
My guess is the manager was talking out of his ass and the reporter added the comments for “balance.” It really doesn’t make sense that St-Denis isn’t permanently pedestrianized in that neighbourhood. There are literally thousands of off-street parking spaces within a 2-3 minute walk of there, in the public garages at UQAM, the Grande Bibliothèque, the Cineplex, Place Dupuis, the coach station, etc. The Latin Quarter has a lot of problems but availability of parking isn’t one of them.
DeWolf 19:08 on 2024-08-10 Permalink
Also weird that the article devoted so much time to talking about CaféTO which from what I gather is a bit of a disaster of a program. Turning a parking spot into a terrace is even more expensive and complicated in Toronto than it was in Montreal before the pandemic, and since the pandemic, Montreal has cut costs and reduced bureaucracy even more in that regard.
Toronto still doesn’t have a single pedestrian street, seasonal or otherwise, which is kind of mind-boggling for a city bigger than Montreal with similar (or higher) density in the central areas.
Vancouver is having a rough go of things under Ken Sim who is a classic car-centric, pro-police conservative mayor. The city seemed to be loosening up more and more each year, but apparently he has ordered the police to do sweeps of the beaches at 10pm to make sure nobody is loitering after dark, and of course he is opposed to new bike infrastructure. It’s great that the Water Street pedestrianization pilot still went ahead but it’s very modest in scope, and there’s a big chance it will be scrapped.
Joey 21:40 on 2024-08-10 Permalink
I suspect that the fact that many many Montrealers are more than willing to hold our progressive politicians’ feet to the fire helps explain why we are so advanced on certain urbanism issues than the rest of North America. Compare the design/roadway allocation for, say, the de Maisonneuve bike path with the REV on St-Denis. Doubtful that the gains in favour of pedestrians and cyclists happens without sustained pressure even after major advances are made.
Nicholas 23:27 on 2024-08-10 Permalink
DeWolf, don’t worry, police were driving through Laurier Park last Saturday at 23h35 yelling out of their megaphones “Le parc est présentement fermé” even though the park closes at midnight. After driving around on the small paths a half dozen bike cops started getting people out. It’s a great use of resources, lying to residents and kicking them out of an open park.
Ian 06:55 on 2024-08-11 Permalink
They do the same thing in Mile End parks if there are noise complaints after dark, mostly to shut down parties.