Photo prise le 8 août, 2009 à l’intersection de la rue Ontario et de l’avenue Savoie
Photo du jour : La future sortie de la station Berri-UQAM ?
By Émile Thomas
Read more articles by Émile Thomas
Canadian Urbanism Uncovered
6 comments
Salut Émile,
En fait, j’ai lu sur la Presse (ou ailleurs…) qu’on allait convertir ce terrain en espace vert.
Ça fait quelques semaines que ce gazon mal entretenue est apparu…
J’espère que celle-ci n’est pas leur idée d’un “espace vert” …
Cheers !
Don’t be silly — this Rue Ontario and Avenue Savoie location is home to a secure access point for STM employees. It’s on the other side.
And yes, miguel, that is the Montréal definition of “espace vert” — or, bringing in the aesthetic values of the suburban places our decision-makers & their constituencies live. In order to “save” it, presumably.
Look at the Avenue du Parc–Avenue des Pins intersection for the model-type: where da city go?!?
I have a sneaking suspicion that Ville-Marie (who I assume is responible for managing this park?) has classified at such for the sole purpose of keeping people away from it at night.
There are numerous disgraceful terrain-vagues with park signs spotted all around this part of town, no doubt more enticing to certain types by night than to the majority by day. Comparatively speaking, the green space behind the National Library is far more attractive.
Non, c’est seulement le puits de ventilation de l’arrière-gare de la ligne 4, comme on peut le voir sur le plan des lignes du Métro:
http://emdx.org/rail/metro/construction.php#plan
It’s not remotely a question of “suburban” aesthetic values, but of a cheap and temporary option for the site. I would expect it to house some expansion of the BNQ over the longer term, but in the meantime there’s nothing objectionable about a patch of grass.
I’m at a loss to understand just what is so “suburban” about the Parc-Pins interchange, other than the fact that cars pass through it and there’s plants there.
In most cities, the removal of an elevated, eyesore interchange or an excessive number of downtown parks would be cause for rejoicing. Not here though. More parks, more reasons to bitch, Whine about the interchange, whine about the replacement. Brace for yet more whining when the replacement is altered in any way. Urban parks are not sufficiently suburban, unless they’re too suburban, then they’re not sufficiently urban. Leaving a vague will result in complaints of vague-leaving while any non award winning, temporary fix will result in even more complaints. But then an award winning design will surely result in massive complaining as to why the award was awarded, the awards process and no doubt, the design of the award itself!
I’m surrounded by parks in Rosemont. I pass three parks on my way to any given park. Some I love, others I like and others I don’t particularly care for, but I realise that my list of favourites may be the opposite of someone else’s and that I have so many parks to choose from that I needn’t go out of my way to find one that I enjoy.