À la défense de Valérie Plante

10 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2020-09-15 12:04

lagatta4

In defence of Valérie Plante, a comment by a young progressive writer in of all places the usually reactionary and anti-environmental Journal de Montréal:

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/09/04/a-la-defense-de-valerie-plante Basically because she has done what the party has always promised to do, improve conditions for cyclists and pedestrians, promote public transport and take action for a greener city. They have now bought a building in Parc-Extension to create public and social housing and as a fulcrum for building more (they were a bit slow on that plank of their platform)

There is a great danger of reactionary forces (similar to the Rob Ford crowd) undoing some of our proudest achievements as MontréalaisEs.

Tue, 2020-09-15 12:54

pietro_bcc

Overall Valérie Plante has been a way better mayor than Denis Coderre and if the next election ends up being a Plante vs Coderre rematch (which a lot of people are predicting) I'll vote Plante again. My personal hope is that a 3rd party candidate makes the election more interesting the way that Mélanie Joly did in 2013 because honestly I don't want either of them to be the next mayor.

Also I just want to point out that a lot of the people who voted for Plante weren't voting because they wanted more bike paths (even though that's what she promised) many people I know voted for her because they were against the pitbull ban, against the various ego projects Denis Coderre spent taxpayer money on (the formula e race, most of the money spent on the 375th anniversary, etc) and generally against Coderre's arrogant attitude.

This is the problem when you vote against something rather than for something, you end up perpetually disappointed in your elected officials.

Tue, 2020-09-15 14:24

Pondering

I voted based on her promises of increased investment in public transit and making it free for seniors and youth. Cutting parking spots is not promoting public transit. More carrots, fewer sticks.

P.S. Obviously still voting Plante.

Tue, 2020-09-15 20:09

alan smithee alan smithee's picture

I'm more upset about Plante's broken promise about social housing. I walk all over this city and EVERYTHING under construction are condo projects. Not businesses, not affordable (rent controlled) housing, no city housing.Nothing. Just condos and ' prostegous housing'

Oh but the building the city has bought in Parc Ex. That makes for a total of 40 units in 4 years.And who know how many years it will take to build these new units? And this doesn't included the HUNDREDS of vacant city house units. Why the wait? And why doesn't the city make offers on all old apartment buildings all over the city which have become over run by developers (hence the massive condo construction from one end of the city to the next.) We have had a housing problem since the middle 90's. I'm tired of empty promises.

The bike paths are a thorny issues because of the continued love affair with automobiles. Nobody wants to do without cars. Have you checked around town the ratio between bikes/pedestrians and automobiles? All summer I seen Porshes,a couple Lambourghinis and a Maserati driving up and down the streets. Do you really believe that they would want to give up on their car?

PLUS, again,from observation. Drivers in this city are maniacs who ignore crosswalks and bike lanes. Most bike paths had a buffer zone and now they took them down. I think they (Projet Montreal) have given up to the Almighty Buck.

Wed, 2020-09-16 05:49

lagatta4

Our lanes on St-Dominique do have a buffer zone. I'd love to do without those death machines: macho cars. They should be taxed out of existence. If there is more public transport, obviously fewer parking spots are needed except for dropping off and picking up people who need disabled transport or grocery delivery. No longer being a teenager, I don't vandalise the death machines, but certainly hope that younger people do. I've done without cars all my life: I hate them.

I agree that Projet hasn't done enough about the housing crisis, but am glad that they bought that Parc-Ex building as it was (and remains) an important tenants' struggle in that neighbourhood. Obviously a lot more has to be done.

Wed, 2020-09-16 06:05

lagatta4

This book, edited here in Montréal, looks interesting. https://againstthecurrent.org/atc208/free-transit/ I know it is hard to abolish private cars in cities, as unfortunately under capitalism property rights, even to death machines, are more important than the human right to walk, cycle etc in safety. Those bastards don't even get fined for killing people.

Wed, 2020-09-16 14:52

(Reply to #6) #7

Aristotleded24

alan smithee wrote:
I'm more upset about Plante's broken promise about social housing. I walk all over this city and EVERYTHING under construction are condo projects. Not businesses, not affordable (rent controlled) housing, no city housing.Nothing. Just condos and ' prostegous housing'

Oh but the building the city has bought in Parc Ex. That makes for a total of 40 units in 4 years.And who know how many years it will take to build these new units? And this doesn't included the HUNDREDS of vacant city house units. Why the wait? And why doesn't the city make offers on all old apartment buildings all over the city which have become over run by developers (hence the massive condo construction from one end of the city to the next.) We have had a housing problem since the middle 90's. I'm tired of empty promises.

The bike paths are a thorny issues because of the continued love affair with automobiles. Nobody wants to do without cars. Have you checked around town the ratio between bikes/pedestrians and automobiles? All summer I seen Porshes,a couple Lambourghinis and a Maserati driving up and down the streets. Do you really believe that they would want to give up on their car?

PLUS, again,from observation. Drivers in this city are maniacs who ignore crosswalks and bike lanes. Most bike paths had a buffer zone and now they took them down. I think they (Projet Montreal) have given up to the Almighty Buck.

I support more active transportation in principle, but I agree, there seems to be this idea that progressive urban planning begins and ends with having more bike paths. I've seen proposals for bike lanes that I don't support (at least not right now) in areas where safe cycling isn't really an issue. There has also been a backlash against bike lanes by downtown businesses who say it has hurt their businesses in a part of the city that is already struggling, and there was also a backlash in Saskatoon as well. Sometimes a particular project or idea is not good and it needs to be scrapped. I also agree with you about affordable housing. In Winnipeg, we are seeing far too many luxury apartments going up while tent cities are a thing here. Some of this is beyond the capability of the municipal government to deal with. For example in Winnipeg, developers can always build more sprawling communities outside the city boundary and the city doesn't have the means to address this, for example having out-of-town commuters pay road tolls on the way in. You're absolutely right that progressivism at the municipal level needs to have serious and frank discussions about taking on the wealthy interests who have made life unaffordable in many of our urban centres.

Wed, 2020-09-16 15:13

lagatta4

There aren't nearly enough cycle lanes here, given the growth in the cycling population, and the fact that the age range has greatly increased from children to elders.

Another horrible so-called "accident". Note the cops playing down the driver's responsibility.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/9-pedestrians-including-chil...

Thu, 2020-09-17 20:16

lagatta4

Pedestrian safety, and cycling safety (as well as modes adapted to disabled people) are vital issues throughout urban areas. We shouldn't have to constantly live in fear.

Fri, 2020-09-18 02:16

#10

Pondering

Technology now exists that warn drivers and even stop the vehicle if it is about to hit something front or back. It should be mandatory in all new vehicles and retrofitted on buses, trucks and snow-clearing equipment etc.

When taking a corner even with the light in their favor drivers are supposed to be going slowly enough that they will see people in time to stop. Even so every time someone gets hit on a corner even if they were crossing on green the accident is considered no-fault.