{"id":3160,"date":"2009-06-28T22:05:45","date_gmt":"2009-06-29T02:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=3160"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:49:06","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:49:06","slug":"discontent-over-the-turcot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/06\/28\/discontent-over-the-turcot\/","title":{"rendered":"Discontent over the Turcot grows stronger (and more political)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Source: MTQ<\/em><\/p>\n

Sitting in the over-heated community centre in St. Henri, hearing one presenter after another condemn the Turcot project, it became clear that the opposition to the Turcot is growing stronger, and gaining new allies. Indeed, with all candidates in the upcoming municipal election as well as the Parti Qu\u00e9becois coming out against the project as proposed, it appears that the hard work of groups like Mobilization Turcot<\/a> and other feisty community voices has not fallen on deaf ears.<\/p>\n

Since many are predicting that this issue will remain on the municipal agenda leading up to the election this fall, I thought a review of the memoirs presented by the major parties might be in order. This is not to overlook the presentations by community groups, academics, governmental agencies and concerned individuals<\/a>, many of which were better researched (and more interesting) than the politicians.<\/p>\n

The view from City Hall: Mayor Tremblay, M. Lavall\u00e9 and the Union Montr\u00e9al<\/strong><\/p>\n

By far the most detailed plan of the candidates<\/a>, the City used the muscle of its planning staff to lay out its issues with the project in a methodical, quantitative language (in other words, they used the dollar sign). After devoting half of their memoir to identifying the lofty goals espoused in its Transportation Plan, the city cited a few of their major issues with the project.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

::: Lost revenue to the city due to the highway\u2019s increased footprint.\u00a0 According to an internal city report, the estimated cost of such large embankments to the City\u2019s tax revenue is around $40 million per year, for which the City requested compensation in the form of the deed to the Turcot Yards. Of course, this gift may not seem quite as large as it was assumed that the City would take control of redeveloping this space anyway. Perhaps more interestingly to fans of the Yards were the hints about the future use of the space as an \u201c\u00e9co-parc industriel\u201d in the form of \u201ctransit oriented development\u201d. Unless anyone can better translate this jargon, I guess we\u2019ll have to wait to see what they are actually proposing.<\/p>\n