{"id":22590,"date":"2013-03-23T11:10:48","date_gmt":"2013-03-23T15:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/?p=22590"},"modified":"2013-03-23T14:31:17","modified_gmt":"2013-03-23T18:31:17","slug":"vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calling all Montrealers: get out and vote! Scratch that: stay in and vote!<\/p>\n

Alas, the municipal elections have not come early, but for the first time in my memory (and quite possibly the first time in history), the Mayor is inviting Montrealers to express themselves on a tough decision facing the executive committee: Potholes or corruption<\/a>?<\/p>\n

The City of Montreal’s poll<\/a>explains it as such:<\/p>\n

\n

Montr\u00e9al’s elected officials are facing a dilemma.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Every year the city faces a reoccurring problem: potholes. This year will not be different than the others. In January the city launched a call for tenders to purchase asphalt in order to repair potholes. The $5 million contract has been won by seven different companies based on their bid and their geographic location. Some of the companies that won have been the subject of many allegations and news reports.<\/em><\/p>\n

Elected officials of the city Montr\u00e9al must vote on the contract. Under the circumstances the choices available are not to be taken lightly.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The contract can be granted all the while knowing that we are dealing with companies that might not have a very enviable reputation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Or<\/em><\/p>\n

We can refuse to grant the contract knowing that there will not be any asphalt to fill in potholes after April 15, 2013<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m inviting you to answer:<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
NO, you do not want the city to grant the contract knowing that we will not be able to repair potholes<\/em><\/div>\n
YES, you would like us to grant the contract that will allow us to fix potholes<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

It may seem laughable (Montreal politics do seem to reach hilarious new lows on a weekly basis), but this is important! It’s a shame about the systemic corruption, they are telling us, but are you really willing to be inconvenienced by a change in the status quo?\u00a0The issues is being framed so as to make us believe that what’s in the best interests of 7 construction companies and their cronies at city hall is in the best interests of citizens. But there’s got to be another way.<\/p>\n

I am not an expert in construction, but I’m willing to bet there are more than 7 companies in Montreal – nay the country – that can produce asphalt.<\/p>\n

I am not an expert in asphalt, but I’ve heard that there are substance that can fill a pothole for more than one measly year; that there are ways of building roads that are a little more environmentally sustainable and lead to lower maintenance costs in the long-run.<\/p>\n

And I’m not an expert in public relations, but\u00a0Montrealers\u00a0are going to look really pathetic if we explicitly vote in favour of organized crime over potholes.<\/p>\n

So let those cracks and gaping holes in the pavement be a reminder that our system of government is broken.<\/p>\n

Now click here<\/a>, and vote.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calling all Montrealers: get out and vote! Scratch that: stay in and vote! Alas, the municipal elections have not come early, but for the first time in my memory (and quite possibly the first time in history), the Mayor is inviting Montrealers to express themselves on a tough decision facing the executive committee: Potholes orContinue reading “Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5022,"featured_media":22597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7829,7830,11,213,7840,29,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civic-engagement","category-communication","category-events","category-infrastructure","category-politics","category-streetscape","category-traffic"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate! - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate! - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Calling all Montrealers: get out and vote! Scratch that: stay in and vote! Alas, the municipal elections have not come early, but for the first time in my memory (and quite possibly the first time in history), the Mayor is inviting Montrealers to express themselves on a tough decision facing the executive committee: Potholes orContinue reading "Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate!"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-23T15:10:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-03-23T18:31:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2013\/03\/pothole-ballot1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"456\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alanah Heffez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alanah Heffez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/\",\"name\":\"Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate! - Spacing Montreal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2013\/03\/pothole-ballot1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-23T15:10:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-03-23T18:31:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/d9708edcbf411e2f340ef5149d0c8e29\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2013\/03\/pothole-ballot1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2013\/03\/pothole-ballot1.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":456},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Montreal\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Montreal Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/d9708edcbf411e2f340ef5149d0c8e29\",\"name\":\"Alanah Heffez\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2665e638603d91eaccfcb354cbb609da?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2665e638603d91eaccfcb354cbb609da?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alanah Heffez\"},\"description\":\"Alanah is interested in place-making, education and stories, She was born and raised in Montreal, and mixes a passion for the city with the occasional jaunt into Northern Quebec.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/author\/alanah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate! - Spacing Montreal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate! - Spacing Montreal","og_description":"Calling all Montrealers: get out and vote! Scratch that: stay in and vote! Alas, the municipal elections have not come early, but for the first time in my memory (and quite possibly the first time in history), the Mayor is inviting Montrealers to express themselves on a tough decision facing the executive committee: Potholes orContinue reading \"Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate!\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Montreal","article_published_time":"2013-03-23T15:10:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-03-23T18:31:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":456,"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2013\/03\/pothole-ballot1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alanah Heffez","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alanah Heffez","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/","name":"Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate! - Spacing Montreal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2013\/03\/pothole-ballot1.jpg","datePublished":"2013-03-23T15:10:48+00:00","dateModified":"2013-03-23T18:31:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/d9708edcbf411e2f340ef5149d0c8e29"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2013\/03\/pothole-ballot1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2013\/03\/pothole-ballot1.jpg","width":600,"height":456},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2013\/03\/23\/vote-in-the-potholes-vs-corruption-debate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vote in the Potholes vs Corruption Debate!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/","name":"Spacing Montreal","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Montreal Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/d9708edcbf411e2f340ef5149d0c8e29","name":"Alanah Heffez","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2665e638603d91eaccfcb354cbb609da?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2665e638603d91eaccfcb354cbb609da?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alanah Heffez"},"description":"Alanah is interested in place-making, education and stories, She was born and raised in Montreal, and mixes a passion for the city with the occasional jaunt into Northern Quebec.","sameAs":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/author\/alanah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22590"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22593,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22590\/revisions\/22593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}