Cultural names protest Hydro substation plan
Some big names in Quebec culture have signed a new petition against the plan to build a Hydro substation on the same block as the Grande bibliothèque.
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Kate
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Nicholas 00:27 on 2025-02-19 Permalink
I won’t rehash all I’ve said about park space and so on, but this point just gets at me (my apologies, Kate):
The problem is not that this project operated outside of a real public discussion. We have been discussing it. For years. (Not as long as the bus station across the street, but a while.) We keep talking and talking. Big, important figures write op-eds, get stories in the media. Lack of discussion is not the issue.
The problem is also not that we didn’t have an environmental review or a public consultation. That happened.
The problem is many people don’t like the results of it. That’s inevitable, and ok. We won’t all agree. I didn’t like the REM: the process, the decision and the result we’re living with. I wish we had gone in a different direction. But I, and many others, lost.
But at least the REM opponents had an alternative plan (upgrade and expand the commuter rail lines). Various people, some even friends of the blog, worked very hard on developing plans that were viable, cost efficient, useful, realistic, etc. They got experts, and presented the results at the National Assembly.
What we have here is no plan. No alternative. What we have is a vague plea that the work be redone and somehow a completely new solution be found, from and by some unknown source.
Life is full of tradeoffs. Land downtown is valuable and scarce. But I, some guy online, can suggest lots of solutions: we tear down a bunch of the duplexes and triplexes on a residential street like Saint Christophe. We fill in Square Saint Louis. We blow up half of l’Institut des Sourdes-Muettes. We move the CEGEP du Vieux-Montréal into Dawson College’s building, shutting the latter (the Legault solution). The Quartier Latin movie theatre, Place Emilie-Gamelin, the old bus station, the new bus station, some dense apartment blocks, UQAM. Or we ban electric vehicle charging in the eastern half of downtown, as well as any new growth, forever. Or we spend many, many, many times more dollars on some underground structure somewhere to save a piece of grass on an unpleasant street, and don’t use that money for other priorities. I guarantee every single one of these ideas will get way more pushback, because they’re awful.
But none of these 600 people is brave enough to suggest an alternative, because they’re either awful or extraordinarily expensive, or just won’t work. If there was a viable potential alternative, some electrical and civil engineer could put together a one-pager extolling it, I guarantee these 600 people have many engineers in their rolodexes. The area is less than 1 square km, it’s not hard to look at literally every site. You want high speed rail, I could get you five different experts with five good ideas on paper by Friday. That they can’t get one, after years, speaks volumes.
Kate 00:36 on 2025-02-19 Permalink
You make a solid point, Nicholas. Don’t think because I’m posting about these petitions that I’m sold on that side. I see the need for the new substation and I think it’s possible to consider that while it’s not the most appealing spot for it, it’s a solution. As DeWolf said here recently, that part of the block has lain fallow for years.
I recall being told early in the days of the Grande bibliothèque (at a guided tour of the building) that they intended to gradually expand the art garden up to Ontario Street, but they haven’t added anything since the 2004 opening, and (also as DeWolf pointed out) the existing garden isn’t the most popular park space anyway, given the busy street that zips by.
I actually almost wish they would take down the CEGEP du Vieux‑Montréal building, one of the ugliest in the city. Almost anything would be an improvement to that thing.
Ian 18:56 on 2025-02-19 Permalink
It would be really cool if CEGEP de VM could move into the old Grand Séminaire by Dawson, there could be a whole CEGEP hub thing going on. It might even help revitalize the hood.