Downtown needs “love”
Editorial from La Presse restates the story from last week about hybrid work models cutting down on pre‑pandemic levels of downtown traffic.
I’m getting thoroughly annoyed by this line – by the idea it’s our duty to slog back downtown and get to buying. Bad enough that we have to give our lives over to incessant labour, do we really need to then turn around and fritter money on unnecessary purchases to keep the wheel of commerce turning? Did the pandemic teach us nothing about how there are other ways to structure our efforts and time, and avoid wastefulness?
The cycle of endless buying and spending is a fundamental motor of worsening global warming and climate change. Container ship after container ship, burning bunker fuel, bring an endless stream of stuff to our shores, and we waste our lives striving to acquire items many of which are unnecessary and futile. And now we’re ordered to get back to consuming. It would be laughable if the consequences were not so deadly.
DeWolf 12:27 on 2022-02-28 Permalink
Is shopping the only thing to do downtown?
Given that it’s the symbolic heart of our city, the one place with a critical mass of museums, concert halls, universities, festivals, lively plazas and lots of interesting historic architecture, I’m always mystified by the anti-downtown attitudes I often encounter from people who live in triplexland. I know a lot of people for whom it is almost a point of pride to never go downtown and I really don’t get it. And these aren’t suburbanites – they’re granola bike-riding types. They just don’t like downtown. And yet downtown is where Montreal comes together as a place, and it’s the easiest place in the metropolitan area to reach without a car.
Before the pandemic, a little under 2/3 of all downtown commuters got there by public transit. If there’s one place in the city where work-from-office is not destroying the planet, it’s downtown. In terms of the environmental impact of commuting, it’s the suburban office parks that are the real problem.
Just before Omicron, traffic volume had reached 2019 levels even though the vast majority of office workers were still at home. Many people who previously commuted by transit bought cars during the pandemic, and now they’re driving around every day instead of taking the metro. That’s not good, and the hollowing out of the downtown office population is partly to blame.
Kate 12:53 on 2022-02-28 Permalink
By shopping I mean spending money generally – not just acquiring goods, but eating in restaurants, buying coffees to go, entertainment costs and so on.
DeWolf, you yourself said last year: “Montreal has never had a one-dimensional downtown. Unless you think the universities and colleges will shut down, 150,000 people will abandon their downtown apartments, all festivals will be cancelled forever, and nobody is ever going to take public transit again, downtown will be just fine.” You were right. People do not have to be shooed back down to their office jobs to keep downtown alive.
I don’t know what will happen with transit. Obviously some people have been scared away from the human proximity of buses and metros forever.
Ian 13:06 on 2022-02-28 Permalink
I usually just walk downtown, but I took the 55 bus from Laurier to downtown for the first time in over a year on Saturday and I was frankly appalled at how many people on that short ride had their masks pulled down. I walked home.
If I had to take the bus to work I would definitely still be staying home as much as possible.
Kevin 13:39 on 2022-02-28 Permalink
it’s been a running joke about how many times the Chamber of commerce and the Mayor have announced plans to relaunch downtown over the past few years and get people to come back and go shopping.
On one hand I sympathize with the store owners and restaurateurs who were depending on the commuting office workers for their custom. The pandemic accelerated trends that were already in existence, and pointed out flaws in business models.
On the other hand, the latest UN report into climate change says the world needs to accelerate actions to limit the rise of greenhouse gases, and pushing people into commuting when it’s not necessary to get work done is short-term thinking.
Spend the big bucks to make neighbourhoods even better, and to convert vacant office space into housing where people want to live and raise families and grow old.
But bringing in 200,000 people a day to support the core? That’s an idea that should be banished.
Patrick 16:09 on 2022-02-28 Permalink
Went for a walk downtown Saturday. I took the subway to go and see the free exposition on Henning Wagenbreth at the Centre de deisgn. Walked around the new Esplanade Tranquille to see the skating rink and building. Ended up buying a gift for someone in a local store instead of ordering it on Amazon. #DidMyPart
Ephraim 16:17 on 2022-02-28 Permalink
I wouldn’t trust the Montreal Chamber of Commerce with a wooden nickel, never mind trust anything that they say. They have ripped the city of Montreal off so many times and in some many ways, that they should just rename themselves ConMontreal…. of course they already renamed themselves from the BoToMM already. Remember, these are the people that ripped off the city with BIXI, took over the parking meters and paid the city 30c on the dollar, tax tourist accommodations 3.5% as a “tax” and run Tourisme Montreal but won’t give them any say, unless they pay more.. and handed out a golden parachute of close to 3/4 of a million dollars when the CEO of Tourisme Montreal stepped down. It’s probably my biggest bugaboos
Kate 19:22 on 2022-02-28 Permalink
It’s not just the Chamber of Commerce, Ephraim. CBC radio had a guy from the Conseil du Patronat saying exactly the same thing.
Ephraim 19:36 on 2022-02-28 Permalink
@Kate – Understood. Still don’t trust ANYTHING the Chamber of Commerce says or does. They are always on the lookout for a way to grift the public purse.
Meezly 10:33 on 2022-03-01 Permalink
My family took the 55 to downtown to check out the new ice rink last Saturday afternoon. With Nuit Blanche and Lumiere going on, it was hopping in that area. For us being holed up in our homes for most of the winter, it was nice to get out and rub shoulders with people (and I’m saying this as an unrepentent introverted homebody).
In terms of injecting life in the city, the new ice rink is awesome. Of course, it’s nothing compared to LaFontaine in terms of space but it sure is nice to have an even outdoor skating surface. There were families, groups of friends, couples, all having a great time. We were remarking what a perfect place it’d be for a romantic date.
The facilities were nice too with skate rentals, locker storage and benches for changing footwear. But if you bring your own skates and locks like we did, it’s all free!
Consuming is unavoidable. I mean, in a capitalist society, pretty much anything we do has a monetary cost to it. It’s a matter of how conscientiously you spend your money that matters.
Tee Owe 15:00 on 2022-03-01 Permalink
@ Meezly – thanks for this positive comment – so nice to read – I look forward to visiting there soon
Kate 15:42 on 2022-03-01 Permalink
Sorry, have I been grumpy?
I may have been grumpy. My apologies.
MarcG 16:32 on 2022-03-01 Permalink
It seemed like fair criticism to me.
Kate 17:00 on 2022-03-01 Permalink
Again, I apologize. Maybe the pandemic and the long winter and the neo‑nazis and global warming and the war have been getting me down.
I am sorry. I will try to post more feel-good stuff.
Meezly 17:06 on 2022-03-01 Permalink
No apologies needed, Kate, was just trying to provide a counterpoint.
I even lost my Opus Card in the changing area and was bummed because I had just charged it with 10 rides. Not long after someone left a message on my phone saying they found my card and left it with the skate rental folks. So nice!
I had written my number on the card with a sharpie pen. This is the 2nd time my opus card has been found.
MarcG 18:19 on 2022-03-01 Permalink
@Kate: In case it wasn’t clear I meant that I agree with the observations in your original post.
Kate 00:03 on 2022-03-02 Permalink
Understood, MarcG