Montreal's focus for the 2020's

[SupremeMTL]

Hello everyone, 

I have posted a poll just to get the general sense on what fellow Montrealers think is the greatest issue plaguing the city that should be addressed in the coming decade. 

I would like to know your opinions, and i think that this would be a fun hypothetical discussion as there are no guarantees the city will do anything to address any of the issues mentioned in the poll. 

If i have missed any issues you felt were important or needed to be in the poll please feel free to talk about them below. 

Enjoy!

[go_habs_go]

I voted for "finding solutions for unused projects" but the problem is that for several of the ones you mentioned they are either totally out of the scope of the city (e.g. Mirabel) or at least partially out of scope (Olympic Stadium - provincial, Silos - Federal/Port). The greatest issue facing MTL is that they are limited in what they can do when it comes to these areas. They are often at the mercy of the Provincial or Federal governments. Coderre tried to get MTL recognized as "la metropole" but not sure if that has given us any tangible benefits so far...

[caribb]

I picked adding green spaces even though many of the issues you listed could be a primary focus.. With climate change the city is only going to get hotter as time passes and we will need to find ways to cool off.. trees and parks are one of the best ways to do it plus they bring all the benefits of nature and comfort and make the city more liveable..

[SupremeMTL]

8 minutes ago, go_habs_go said:

I voted for "finding solutions for unused projects" but the problem is that for several of the ones you mentioned they are either totally out of the scope of the city (e.g. Mirabel) or at least partially out of scope (Olympic Stadium - provincial, Silos - Federal/Port). The greatest issue facing MTL is that they are limited in what they can do when it comes to these areas. They are often at the mercy of the Provincial or Federal governments. Coderre tried to get MTL recognized as "la metropole" but not sure if that has given us any tangible benefits so far...

Yes i agree with you that the city is often handcuffed with their options, if you look just recently Heritage Canada is fighting tooth and nail to keep Silo #5 even though it keeps getting broken into and vandalized and is an eyesore to look at from the waterfront. However, what the city of Montreal can do is propose solutions to the Federal and Provincial governments in hopes that something will be done instead of just sitting there and doing nothing as the Olympic Stadium keeps costing tax payers millions of dollars to run every year with no tenant.

[SupremeMTL]

17 minutes ago, caribb said:

I picked adding green spaces even though many of the issues you listed could be a primary focus.. With climate change the city is only going to get hotter as time passes and we will need to find ways to cool off.. trees and parks are one of the best ways to do it plus they bring all the benefits of nature and comfort and make the city more liveable..

Yes good point, the reason i have it as an option is because the only "parks" downtown that we have are Square Victoria and Dorchester Square and the only parks opening in the near future that i know of are in Griffintown. With the real estate boom in full force, and old parking lots being converted to tall glass towers, there will be less and less opportunities to make parks. 

[WestAust]

Most of these issues are regional issues, not only city of Montreal issues.

Better traffic management is what we need, change streetlights configurations when side streets are closed for events or road works would do wonder in reducing traffic in certain parts of the city, make infrastructure work more intensive, at some point we should ask ourselves, should we close completely that stretch of street and do all the work in less time or keep going as it is of doing it part by part and changing configurations weekly?

Highway construction, yes we need to keep our infrastructure up to date, since public transit are using those highways, make them safer and reduce bottleneck due to outdated configurations, expansion, maybe in certain areas that experienced growth, but also use those expansions as springboards for better public transit. 

Do we need more public transit, yes, but maybe to rethink how it works in the region and improve on what we have, when you look at it, how do you want to reduce the use of cars, especially in more suburban areas, when you cannot go easily and frequently from Longueuil to Candiac, or  Laval to Boisbriand which are right across from each other! As long as people cannot travel easily other than to/from downtown, people won't stop buying cars!

Park? In newer residential/mixed used area like griffintown yes, downtown, no new parks needed, make streets greener by using better varieties of trees and plants, more of them where possible, but we do have plenty of parks in central areas (much more than only the 2 you mentioned)

All of what I wrote are just examples of issues/thinking points in those subjects and definitely not an exhaustive list!

[rufus96]

I would suggest ensuring that Montreal remains relatively affordable, as I think that's one of our best objective competitive advantages in terms of attracting and retaining talent. 

A lot of cities offer good opportunities combined with a good quality of life. It's somewhat subjective in that regard. But many other cities are ridiculously expensive to live in to the point where the amenities they offer just aren't good enough to justify the cost of living. Let's make sure Montreal doesn't go down that path. 

[Né entre les rapides]

Il y a 9 heures, WestAust a dit :

Most of these issues are regional issues, not only city of Montreal issues.

Precisely, but then these are arguably the most critical.  Unless (they are) properly addressed, much of what the City of Montreal can do within her boundaries would be just slightly better than futile (or, if I want to be a little more generous: limited in scope).  The rest of the metropolitan area is too important to be ignored.  Thankfully, through the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC), more commonly known under the French name Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM), the City is able to exert significant influence in planning and development over the whole area, although the boundaries of the latter fail to incorporate some outlying towns which are functionally parts of the metro area as defined by StatCan.

There are still other important issues which fall under the responsabilities of either the provincial or the federal government.  On many of these, the City can have a say (through lobbying), and on a few selected ones, it can even negotiate arrangements enabling it to act as a delivery agent (with some discretionary powers) .

On the other hand, purely local issues can be dealt with advantageously by the Boroughs (Arrondissements).  The City administration proper is responsible for issues concerning the whole City or at least more than a single Arrondissement.

In further discussions, it would be fine if proper distinctions were made as to which administrative level/jurisdiction is concerned.  Alternatively, priorities could be spelled out in general terms --i.e. regardless of who is in charge, as long as the "goods are delivered", but in this case, one needs to assume that the "level" in charge has the means required for implementation.

[andre md]

Montreal devrait songer a désenclaver St-Michel par exemple passer une rue qui traverserait la carrière Miron pour rejoindre Papineau.

 

 

[MontréalMartin]

Finding a solution for unused projects/ buildings 

Est-ce que ça inclus aussi les églises ?

Si c'est le cas alors je donne la deuxième priorité à ce point.

Ma priorité numéro un restant le transport public.