Civic Alert: Looking over the hill and being ready for the next hurdle

But I am wondering if Westmounters as a group really do so. When Peter Trent became mayor in 1991, he began warning of the never-ceasing threat of annexation. Few listened until the dreaded Bouchard-Harel forced mergers were pushed on to the province’s law books in 2000.

True, the Westmount Municipal Association under the presidency of Tom Thompson had opened its eyes and began to follow the regional affairs that absorbed a big chunk of residents’ taxes.

Subsequent WMA leaders were less successful in involving the membership. But citizens’ final responses, both to the anti-merger and demerger fights were, of course, magnificent.

However, busy lives not withstanding, I am concerned that there is insufficient alertfulness to what is about to have a substantial effect on our lives. Look at the current agenda.

Federal Minister Michael Fortier’s revelation that the CP route was the likely one for the airport shuttle surprised almost everyone, although it was probably prompted by West Island mayors.

I suspect that even the Montreal Transit Corporation thought the CN line through St. Henri and Turcot Yards was the settled shuttle path until they read the choice was open in the honey-worded draft press release signed by chiefs from the airport, the AMT, the big city, the province and the feds — but not the transit board.

Yet the transit board is charged with providing adequate public transit on the island!

Getting a say

The shuttle team now promises public consultation, but will that just mean the West Islanders who want a faster ride to and from downtown in rush hours?

Or will it include the workers at the airport, the motorists stranded scores of times daily at the level crossings around Montreal West Station? Or the harassed people who have chosen to live near the tracks in Montreal West, NDG and southern Westmount?

We’ve heard little of any preparation by the residents to attack the new situation — at the very least by staking a claim to be heard.

One peeved neighbour of CP spoke out dramatically at Tuesday evening’s WMA meeting. He was especially annoyed by the suggestion that the shuttle would run till 1 a.m. and threatened to use a Toronto literary connection to air his views.

Mayor Marks reminded him of the changes that Dorval citizens had made to the airport’s operating hours.

On the other hand several people contacted me at the weekend to support the CP shuttle idea. For instance, Allan Aitken sent me one of the comprehensive evaluations for which he is renowned.

“If the service is convenient, people will use it,” he says. “Present methods are expensive or slow. Although a favored Westmount way of getting to the airport — being driven by someone else — might be a way round those problems,” he quips.

“It should be easy for a train to compete on price,” he reasons.

More direct

The CP line is the more direct, has the easier Metro interchange via Vendôme and the tracks have the least complicated access to the airport terminal, he points out.

Aitken lives on St. Catherine Street, not far from the tracks. He thinks that Westmounters’ problems are primarily the diesel locomotives “which are not silent — but nor is urban traffic.”

The offensive decibels come from the track switches “which make every wheel sound as if it were square.” He feels it is a budgetary issue rather an insoluble problem. “Changing them would remove the pounding that for those living nearby feels like a minor earthquake.”

Another surprising observation comes from Dr. Henry Olders, the WMA president, who works in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, and travels daily by train against the rush hour flow.

He noted that track improvements west of Lachine made the ride far smoother and quieter.

Olders, an engineer as well as a physician, also recalled a telling moment when, skiing off Gouin Boulevard, one of the Deux Montagnes line’s electric trains came through.

They regularly exceed 100 kph and are heavy, unlike the light rail units that are being mentioned for the airport shuttle and West Island.

“The train came by with a ‘swoosh’ rather than a noise. The surrounding ground was snow-covered, of course, but almost nothing was disturbed.

“So if, as is likely, the airport shuttle from downtown needs the track to be re-built and electrified traction is used, then those living nearby would benefit enormously.”

Mayor calls for readiness

Karin Marks was the guest speaker at the WMA’s monthly meeting on Tuesday and gave what Melville Ave resident Sheila Mason described as a beautifully structured account of the Mayor’s passion to develop a sustainable Westmount.

Indeed, Marks delivered a comprehensive review of the values the city possesses and the progress towards her goal — small steps so far. Then she threw the challenge to citizens, too: “We all have a role to play and we must get on with it!”

We must deal with change, she warned. Although we did not choose to have the megahospital on our doorstep, council did everything possible to mitigate the harm. She mentioned traffic and protecting Victoria Village.

Likewise, a similar strategy must be adopted over the reopening of the CP option for the airport shuttle, she continued. “We cannot be the deciding factor over some things, but we must make sure we are heard and influence the outcome.”

Changing our bike path



More imminent is the need to accept the new role of the bike path — perhaps even be ready to change the route.

The new downtown section on de Maisonneuve has been welcomed by Westmount cyclists. It has put many places within 15 minutes or so of home, with minor or no parking problem and, overall, often quicker than by taxi. That is the good news!

Next spring the path will extend to NDG, and go through Montreal West to Lachine by summer. Downtown heavies, not the borough staff, have been given the task of finding a safe way for cyclists to cope with the five-way traffic intersection at Decarie Blvd.

The potential traffic on de Maisonneuve, seven days a week, is enormous. Perhaps our stretches will cope, but will the Park?

Already there is concern over the movement across the bike path through the Park from the schools in the south to the playground and Library near Sherbrooke Street. The once leisurely, recreational path has become a commuter highway.

The stately bikes of Europe that one can see at , are not the norm here. Neither is the tolerance between cyclists, pedestrians and motorists.

Behind the big expansion of the downtown path and the link to Lachine is Vélo-Québec, perhaps the strongest not-for-profit user group in the province.

The president, Suzanne Lareau, says that it is up to politicians to act. “The Westmount path is about 20 years old and things have changed,” she told me this week. “People want to go to work by bicycle. .

Round the park

“In Westmount, they may have to go round the park. If, and how, is a problem for the city.”

Her technical chief is Marc Jolicoeur, an engineer. For two decades he has been designing bike paths of different kinds, and thinks some traffic calming could be attempted in the park.

“A path with more curves,” he suggested. It should be redesigned. “Speeding is not confined to Montreal. You should see the Ottawa parkways in the morning rush hour —they are more like city streets!”

For more than a decade, the Westmount section has been used much more for transportation than for leisure, he feels. There are more cyclists than there used to be and they don’t pollute. The main problem is safety if lots of pedestrians are crossing it, but that can be managed.”

“By fences?” I wondered. “Not necessarily. Hedges and low bushes might be an alternative,” Vélo’s expert suggested.

Their powerful lobby and technical skills have resulted in Montreal to finally embrace cycling downtown and to attempt year-round bike lanes.

Big Mayor Gérald Tremblay accepted their wish at the 2002 Summit. It has taken them five more years of lobbying and pressure, but they have changed the face of downtown. They are now ready to change Westmount.



• Community activist Don Wedge can be reached at calert@web.net. His columns are archived at www.westmountexaminer.com, go to Opinion.