ON NICE NEW YEAR’S DAY, CITY LET CITIZENS DOWN
Icy stairs and closed attractions hampered holiday fun
Last Sunday was New Year’s, as sunny and perfect a winter day to head for Mount Royal as you could imagine.
Unless you work for the city of Montreal.
The mountain was inundated with people, partly because there was nothing else open Jan 1. So skiers, snowboarders, hikers, skateboarders and snowshoers like me made our way up in a huge pilgrimage.
The lookout chalet was mobbed with people, many peering into windows and pulling at doors, eager for a hot chocolate from the vending machines. Many of us just trekked off into the woods to take a pee — because, incredibly, the Chalet was closed.
How could Montreal’s most famed landmark be shut when so many needed it? How much does it cost for a security guard to open the doors?
What uncivil servants decided to close it? They probably live in Laval or Longueuil.
Ditto for Beaver Lake, where others complained the pavilion was closed, along with the skate rental. Things were even worse at the traditional “necking lookout” on Camillien Houde Rd., where the walking trail down from the cross ends.
Hundreds of 20-somethings were sliding and bouncing down the long, ice-covered stairway, while older folks clung to the banister for dear life. I saw several fall — there was no other way down.
How much does it cost to have a worker de-ice the stairs — even at octuple overtime?
Montreal is spending big money on its 375th birthday bash — hosting outdoor concerts, building foot paths, lighting bridges and other projects. It’s also wasting $3.45 million building granite tree stumps on our tree-filled mountain.
So why can’t we afford to look after Mount Royal on perhaps the busiest day of winter? Maybe we should place a sign at its base saying: “Mountain Closed for New Year’s — Proceed at Own Risk!”
Our city does some things very
well: Old Montreal and other areas now have wonderful lighting, our snow removal is second to none (thank God!), our bike paths lead the continent, as do our summer festivals.
But there are things we do badly and the mountain last Sunday was a recent reminder — though not my only one.
Just days before, on a horribly icy dark night, I had been driving on Pine Ave., just east of Peel St., when I was alarmed to see headlights coming right at me, on what’s traditionally a one-way street.
I circled back to see if I’d missed a warning sign, but there was just one small two-way arrow hidden in the dark by the sidewalk. No workers waving a flag, like in the U.S., not even an illuminated sign.
We’ve had an army of police playing crossing guard downtown for the last year, making $12 million in overtime, although any school safety monitor would do. So when we change the traditional direction of streets, why are there no police, workers or big lit-up signs around?
We’ll be living through a construction nightmare the next two years to rebuild our crumbling roads. Why not make it easier on everyone, by providing better road signs?
Our work crews often show up like unannounced house guests with no advance warning. Most cities have “pop-up shops” that open unexpectedly for a few days. We have construction pop-ups — orange cones, barriers and concrete road dividers that popup, then vanish, only to pop up somewhere else.
Victoria Ave. has opened and closed several times in recent
months, but you never know until it’s too late to change routes. Fairmount and St. Viateur, east of The Main, were closed at Park Ave. for months — but you only found out when you got to the Rue Barrée sign and saw it was, well ... barrée.
How about a sign saying “RUE BARRÉE SIGN AHEAD!” In an era of information overload, we get information underload.
It’s similar when long-closed streets finally reopen. Many of us have learned to avoid certain streets we once used religiously — like Sherbrooke St. near McGill — a never-ending traffic jam I’ve written off for months.
You’d think when work finally ended, there’d be signs around announcing “Sherbrooke open. PARTY ON!” But the city can’t even bother to announce good news.
It’s the same for Atwater, closed for so long I thought it had become a ski hill. But yesterday I heard from friends that it’s been open for a week, or two, or ... who knows?
What’s my solution? The city has a recent innovation I like: Info-neige, which sends me a personal email several hours before they clear my street and tow away my car. Maybe we need more emails.
“Dear Josh: Congratulations — Sherbrooke St. near your home is open again!
Pine Ave. is now two-way, east of Peel!
BEWARE: Mountain closed — Visit with caution!
“One more thing: your street will be closed for construction March 2017 through March 2021. Now might be a good time to move!”