If you were the mayor of Montreal, what changes would you bring to the city?

[Skym]

Alright, let's say in a hypothetical scenario, you're elected the new Mayor of Montreal starting today, what changes would you bring to this city?

Would you cut down on bike paths?
Fight the corruption in the construction industry?
Make free parking downtown?
Be a more business friendly mayor?
Focus more on social issues?
Focus more on the economy?
Be more of a conservative minded Mayor? Or more Liberal left leaning?

What would you do to improve the lives of everyday Montrealers?

What would you do on your first term as the Mayor of Montreal?



Discuss!

 

[Leovinci]

With all these mysterious fires in old and heritage buildings (that somehow never get properly investigated and are obviously caused by developers who get away with it), I would enact extreme measures: every time there's a fire in a heritage building and suspects can't be identified, the site would be taken over by the government and not allowed to be sold.

Then to pay for the rebuilding of the building (in its original form), every big developer company would each be fined $10 million for each fire that happens - If the cause of a fire can't be identified, and it's suspected arson for 'development' purposes, every developer company would be considered guilty by default.

Things would change...

 

[CLOUD 500]

If I were mayor I would scrap all those pedestrian only streets. I would scrap all bike paths, sidewalks would all be narrowed to the standard width seen for decades, all streets would become two direction streets no more one direction streets. Speed limits raised on major streets even residential streets I would bring back the 50km/hr speed limit. Scrap a lot of the parking meters, the city would aim to facilitate the use of cars in the city.

 

[Smitty Jaeger-Manjenson]

My first policy in counteracting the rental price bubble is to restrict all France expats to the Plateau and Outremont.

Liberation: "Le Cinquieme Reich a Montreal"

 

[Obvio-0bvio]

Great debate and discussion. If I could change just one thing, it would be to take gambling completely out of the equation. The social costs are enormous: less depression, less anxiety, fewer bankruptcies, fewer divorces, fewer suicides, less homelessness, and less crime. Imagine the positive impact that could have on families, communities, and even the economy. It's hard to understand why the government continues to promote and profit from something that causes so much harm.

Now, let's throw reality out the window for a second. If we're making completely unrealistic wishes, I'd legalize prostitution and have Amsterdam style storefronts where people can do a little window shopping. At least then husbands would finally have a believable excuse: "Honey, I swear... I was justbrowsing!"

 

[Smitty Jaeger-Manjenson]

Great debate and discussion. If I could change just one thing, it would be to take gambling completely out of the equation. The social costs are enormous: less depression, less anxiety, fewer bankruptcies, fewer divorces, fewer suicides, less homelessness, and less crime. Imagine the positive impact that could have on families, communities, and even the economy. It's hard to understand why the government continues to promote and profit from something that causes so much harm.

That does spark the whole debate of "do that and watch the Chinese-sty;e underground gambling dens spring up like mushrooms after the rain". With the further argument that at least legalized gambling provides tax money for the state apparatus. But that prompts the retort of can the government claim the moral high ground when it profits off the compulsions of addicts who quite literally gamble their lives away. Issues like the vice tax on gambling and whether it's blood money hardly ever have clear-cut, black and white answers and it's usually shades of gray, similar to the hypothetical situation of legalizing all hard drugs and taxing them to oblivion. "They'll be piling the addicts into mass graves, but consider it eugenics." / "The state would make money off people literally killing themselves and then disgustingly claim to be the arbiter of morality.".

 

[TheJames101]

I would scrap all bike paths

Scrap all bike paths lmao. At first I thought you might be making a satirical post, but then I later suspected you weren't, lol.

 

[2fast2slow]

Scrap all bike paths lmao. At first I thought you might be making a satirical post, but then I later suspected you weren't, lol.

i wouldn't scrap all bike paths, but i would certainly rollback at least 30% of them, then a moritorium on ever building more. I would also shorten pedestrian light time by 30%.

I would ban "rue barrée'' and would make it law that at least 1 lane is kept open on all street construction. And every hour a road construction site idle is fineable to a trillion/zillion dollars

 

[joemann]

A city planner who actually understand the sequence of construction and the whole construction materials , procedures ect …..
Montreal is full of pot holes . While if you drive to Ottawa the minute you enter Ontario just past Rigeau
Or Ontario just past Coteau du Lac . There are no potholes
Don’t give me the excuse of weather . The weather there is exactly the same

 

[hob12]

The cyclists vs cars war is the most stupid debate there is.

I'm a cyclist. I also have a car.

Every person using a bike or public transit is one less car on the road creating traffic jams.

Bikes are not the problem.

 

[Mandouke]

I would resign immediately!!!

 

[curiouslr1]

Alright, let's say in a hypothetical scenario, you're elected the new Mayor of Montreal starting today, what changes would you bring to this city?

Would you cut down on bike paths?
Fight the corruption in the construction industry?
Make free parking downtown?
Be a more business friendly mayor?
Focus more on social issues?
Focus more on the economy?
Be more of a conservative minded Mayor? Or more Liberal left leaning?

What would you do to improve the lives of everyday Montrealers?

What would you do on your first term as the Mayor of Montreal?



Discuss!

Bike paths are great, we need as many alternatives to cars as possible to reduce traffic.

Corruption is definitely a problem, I'd definitely want to fight that.

I image parking is a big part of the budget, it'd be hard to cut without reducing services, so no.

I think we do need more taxes on empty storefronts, which would lead to owners renting to businesses at a lower price instead of keeping the places empty.

Homelessness is a huge problem, I'd 100% try to fix that. I'd focus on helping those who aren't drug addicts / violent criminals. You know, the 18 years old kicked out by his parent, the single mother, etc. I think they don't need that much help to get back on track.

 

[curiouslr1]

The cyclists vs cars war is the most stupid debate there is.

I'm a cyclist. I also have a car.

Every person using a bike or public transit is one less car on the road creating traffic jams.

Bikes are not the problem.

I'm not even a cyclist and understand bike paths are a big plus for the city. More people on bike paths means less cars in my way hahaha

 

[ceny77]

Great debate and discussion. If I could change just one thing, it would be to take gambling completely out of the equation. The social costs are enormous: less depression, less anxiety, fewer bankruptcies, fewer divorces, fewer suicides, less homelessness, and less crime. Imagine the positive impact that could have on families, communities, and even the economy. It's hard to understand why the government continues to promote and profit from something that causes so much harm.

Now, let's throw reality out the window for a second. If we're making completely unrealistic wishes, I'd legalize prostitution and have Amsterdam style storefronts where people can do a little window shopping. At least then husbands would finally have a believable excuse: "Honey, I swear... I was justbrowsing!"

Decriminalized prostitution , but don’t legalize it. It should be on the edge of town where it is kept private and out of sight out by of mind.

 

[IamNY]

More roadwork. Last time I was in town there just didn’t seem to be enough closures.

 

[CLOUD 500]

The cyclists vs cars war is the most stupid debate there is.

I'm a cyclist. I also have a car.

Every person using a bike or public transit is one less car on the road creating traffic jams.

Bikes are not the problem.

Yea in a country where it is too cold 8 months out of 12 months. And the way they did it is so wrong. Plante just did not want any cars.

 

[CLOUD 500]

I'm not even a cyclist and understand bike paths are a big plus for the city. More people on bike paths means less cars in my way hahaha

The way they did it was so wrong. They did it to discourage cars but come on this country is too cold most of the year. Cars are a necessity.

 

[CLOUD 500]

This is an example of what I am talking about. What idiot those that? And this. Intentionally done to cause more traffic to push ppl out of their cars but that will not happen ppl will just avoid Montreal. Also notice how parking on one side was all removed. Ppl living there got much fewer places to park.

 

[PSEfreak]

1- Immediate halt to any bike path construction
2- revert all underused bike paths back to Auto usage after full comprehensive study (Bike Paths on Henri Bourassa in the industrial section is absolute insanity)
3- Open an investigation of Corruption by Valerie Plante and her administration (spending almost 1 Billion dollars on Bike paths is criminal)
4- Implement Bike Path License with annual fee and Bike Helmut Mandatory (wanna ride your bike everywhere? pay a registration like I do to use my car. I must wear seat Belt, you must wear Helmut )
5- Increase the fee's for "Vignette's" or decrease the amount issued
6- DOGE all city contracts
7- Reduce the number of city councilors
8- Parking restriction are completely out of control. Way too many make no common sense
9- A assassin task force should be created to shoot and kill, on site, any individual caught tagging/spraying any building within city limits

 

[PSEfreak]

I think we do need more taxes on empty storefronts, which would lead to owners renting to businesses at a lower price instead of keeping the places empty.

That statement makes no sense at all.

I promise you there is not a single property owner who intentionally leave their rentable spaces empty.
Brick and Mortar businesses are struggling.
Building owners are offering free initial rent to any prospective tenants. I know 1 gentlemen offering the first 6 months free rent to anyone willing to open a business and his building.