Valérie Plante has just announced the opening this summer of a new pedestrian street: Plaza St-Hubert.
She claims that everyone was consulted. It’s wrong. Only merchants were consulted, but not residents, and not residents or merchants located in the vicinity of the new pedestrian street.
To support her decision, Mayor Plante states that out of 400 merchants consulted, 33 are in favor of pedestrianization, 24 against and 3 abstained. Hence, she continues, an approval rate of 55% for her project.
- Listen to international politics expert Loïc Tassé on Benoit Dutrizac’s show via QUB :
But when only 15% of marketers vote on an issue, the actual percentages of approval that can be inferred are much lower. In fact, reduced to the 400 traders consulted, this means that 8% are in favor, 6% are against, 1% abstained, while the others did not see fit to respond.
The least we can say is that his pedestrianization project arouses no enthusiasm in the neighborhood.
Are the businesses on Saint-Hubert Street in difficulty? Not in the least, if Mayor Plante is to be believed. The rate of vacant businesses is only 6%.
Why then this frenzied desire to pedestrianize Plaza St-Hubert? Why spend $12 million (that’s the cost of this whim) to repair something that works well?
Contradictions
The mayor claims to attract people from outside the neighborhood. A desire in complete contradiction with its official policy of supporting neighborhood life. Attracting tourists en masse to a neighborhood through pedestrianization is, in the long term, an excellent way of driving residents away in favor of tourist lodges and a whole range of unfriendly businesses.
You should know that 80% of customers at Plaza St-Hubert are local residents. Pedestrianizing the street will increase rents for businesses, which will lead to the closure of a multitude of small stores that make the street so charming. Conversely, large banners and tourist stores will be favored.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
Perverse effects
Those who doubt the perverse effects of this pedestrianization will easily find several examples throughout the world of the harmful long-term consequences of pedestrianization. Closer to us, the gay district and the Latin Quarter have reached a stage of urban death, among other things because of their pedestrianization.
But whatever. Valérie Plante is against cars. The pedestrianized Plaza St-Hubert will leave them with one less artery to circulate on. Obviously, automobile pollution will increase in the surrounding streets, due to traffic jams, but these misdeeds are not counted by the Plante administration.
Mayor Plante is obsessed with chasing cars and clearly, she doesn’t know how to count, in addition to squandering Montrealers’ money.