The concrete barricades shortly after they were moved off the road last year.
After a year of court battles, the concrete barriers the town of Montreal West erected on the border between the town and the neighbourhood of Ville St-Pierre in the borough of Lachine is in the news again [note, the links are to three different stories in the Gazette which all say pretty much the same thing]. The dispute started last year when Montreal West originally put up the barricades allegedly to calm traffic until Lachine took the town to court. Steve Faguy summed up the whole dispute pretty well on his blog in this post from last year:
“Here’s the story: Montreal West put up concrete barriers at Broughton Rd. and Easton Ave. to prevent traffic from crossing their border with Ville St. Pierre. According to the MtlWesters, it’s because people are using Devil’s Hill (Broughton/rue des Erables, depending on what city you’re in) as a shortcut to Highway 20. According to the VSPers, it’s nothing but class warfare, separating the less affluent Lachine residents from the rich homes that are literally at the top of the hill.”
Steve goes on to outline why Montreal West’s arguments don’t hold much water and comes up with a couple suggestions as to why so many cars would be using the street. Lachine plans to appeal the decision, therefore, the barricades can not be replaced until the appeal is heard which may take until the end of this year. Montreal West mayor Campbell Stuart says Lachine “doesn’t have a prayer of winning on appeal” and suggests that “this is merely a tactic to increase the pain on Montreal West.”Lachine borough mayor Claude Dauphin (who also sits on the city of Montreal’s executive committee as the member responsible for public safety) says he will appeal the decision on the grounds that “it establishes a dangerous precedent.” Currently, Quebec law gives individual municipalities the right to control traffic flow within its borders, even if it disrupts neighbours on the other side of the border. If Lachine wins its appeal, this right could be altered drastically.
One comment
Class warfare or not, the more cars that are blocked, hindered and obstructed from driving around, the happier I am. If those residents of Lachine really want to go to Montreal West, they can ride their bikes.