On Monday, Valérie Plante, our mayor, was to make a revolutionary announcement: the pedestrianization of three sectors of Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest. Yes, nothing less. Atwater, Concordia and McGill would become paradises for addicted strollers and urban campers. At the very last minute, the press conference was postponed.
Car War
Imagine: merchants, restaurateurs and citizens were going to discover this decision during a City press conference, without ever having been consulted. Exasperated restaurateurs wrote to me to denounce what they describe as the final blow to an already exhausted city center. But what does it matter! At Projet Montréal, the opinions of merchants are like cars: to be eliminated.
This pedestrianization, after all, would be just another chapter in the illustrious saga of the holy war against the car. The elected representatives of Projet Montréal, armed with their dogmas and their ideology, decided that pedestrianizing = revitalizing. Consumers just have to convert to cycling or public transport.
An example… not to be followed
Let’s take Plaza St-Hubert, this example of… reversed success. Pedestrianized last summer, the artery saw its traders flee the idea like the plague. Result? A massive vote against pedestrianization for next year. But what does it matter! At Projet Montréal, we persist and sign: what does not work must be repeated, and bigger.
And now, it’s Sainte-Catherine Street that is in their sights. The most emblematic shopping street in Montreal. In the east, we have already had a taste: pedestrian zones which are transformed into areas whose only dynamism is provided by drug sellers, itinerants and drug addicts, all in a postapocalyptic atmosphere. Walking there in broad daylight is an adventure. But for our elected officials, it is an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
So, dear citizens, take a deep breath. Projet Montréal knows what is good for you. What if it doesn’t work? You probably didn’t understand their vision.
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