FORMULA E PICKS UP SPEED
Race will be great, Coderre tells critics
Don’t believe disgruntled residents, merchants and opposition councillors — the Formula E race is an “audacious” investment that will raise Montreal’s international profile, Mayor Denis Coderre says.
“It’s going to be a great event. Let’s have fun, let’s be proud again. Montreal is on the map, and it’s an investment for the long term,” Coderre told reporters at city hall Tuesday. “If we stopped events whenever there are critics, Expo 67 would never have been held.”
His defence of the July 29-30 event came as the opposition Projet Montréal party blamed the mayor for “management, planning and coordination mistakes” and called for the race to be moved out of downtown next year.
Formula E — an all-electric alternative to Formula One — will take place in an area of southeastern downtown bounded by René-Lévesque Blvd., Papineau Ave., and Notre-Dame and Berri Sts.
However, street closures, parking restrictions and detours will affect other nearby areas. Several city buses have been rerouted.
Some residents complain the race is making their lives difficult, including some who will only be able to reach their homes via pedestrian bridges. And some merchants, including four who were ordered to temporarily dismantle their terrasses, say the race will have a negative impact on their businesses.
But Coderre insisted the “vast majority” of residents and merchants in the area support the event.
Residents have been given race tickets, alternate parking has been arranged and some restaurant owners will be given up to $2,000 to defray the cost of temporarily dismantling terrasses, he noted. Montreal has said it will pay at least $24 million to bring Formula E to the city.
At a news conference on Ontario St. E. at one of the affected restaurants, Projet Montréal leader Valérie Plante said the city is spending too much on a race that will hem in residents, paralyze part of downtown and harm merchants.
Restaurant owners should be compensated for revenue losses, as some of them stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars, Plante added.
Plante said if her party wins the municipal election in November, she “intends to review the agreement badly negotiated by the mayor so that the event will take place at an appropriate location — the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve” on Île Notre-Dame, where the Canadian Grand Prix Formula One race is held.
“The Formula E race should take place on a race track, and not in the streets of the Ville-Marie borough,” she said.
That idea was shot down by Coderre.
He said it would cost millions more to adapt the Gilles-Villeneuve track for a Formula E race. In addition, the city wants to differentiate the Formula One race from the all-electric one, and it wants Formula E to be in an urban setting to show off the cityscape, he said.
Montreal has agreed to host the race for three years, with an option to renew the deal for another three years.
When asked how much the race will cost the city over three or six years, Coderre did not answer directly.
Instead, he noted that critics are taking the cost of some items out of context. Roads that were repaved for the race cars will benefit Montrealers for years to come, Coderre said.
And he noted that new concrete barriers that will line the route (price tag: $7.5 million) will be reused in future Formula E races and will also be deployed during other events, including Formula One.
Some news reports have suggested Montreal is the only city forking out cash for a Formula E race. Coderre said this is not true, adding that some cities have confidentiality agreements so details have not been revealed.
He said Montreal’s cash outlay is an investment because Formula E will help make the city a hub for transportation electrification at a time when the world is moving toward electric vehicles.
Companies may decide to set up shop and create jobs in Montreal in part because of the race, Coderre said.