A plan to reinvigorate the Quartier latin
The city’s pondering a plan to reinvigorate the Quartier latin including adding more residential spaces to the small but lively part of town and extending the part of Ste-Catherine closed to traffic in 2014.
(What happened with the plan announced in 2010 to turn the old Bibliothèque Saint-Sulpice into a performance space for modern “serious” music?)
The city also has to deal with the mess it’s made on the lower Main. I can barely bring myself to think about that, it makes me so sad.
Later note: More on the Quartier Latin plan in Le Devoir.
David Tighe 08:38 on 2012/09/25 Permalink
I distrust the authorization of street food (permits and “complementarity” with restos around). What will be decided to be complementary to junk? I suspect they will succeed in smothering the initiative.
Robert J 14:17 on 2012/09/25 Permalink
How ’bout people should be free to run food carts of any kind as long as they pass health inspection and pay certain fees related to using public space (like restaurants pay for terasses on sidewalks). This whole business of limiting them to a specific area and controlling what kind of food they make is medieval.
david m 16:05 on 2012/09/25 Permalink
there’s one sure-fire way to re-invigorate the latin quarter: rebuild the habitations jeanne-mance as mid-rise with street-level retail walls on all sides. you extend yon latin quarter to the main, you breathe life into all areas surrounding (saint cath, saint jacques, village, qds, lower main). it’s so obvious.
MB 03:19 on 2012/09/26 Permalink
David, when I used to live down there I would fantasize how much more pleasant the place would be like if the habitations jeanne-mance was rebuilt in a way that fit in with the surrounding areas. Emery street from St-Denis to St-Laurent would be a winner!
Robert J 11:31 on 2012/09/26 Permalink
They are planning on creating a pedestrian corridor in habitations Jeanne-Mance. What surprised me is that there is no plan to increase the density of the habitations. As it stands, their floor area ratio is surprisingly high- those tall towers have a lot of apartments despite the useless empty space around them. I would say the first step is building through streets that cross the project in a number of directions, linking it to the surrounding neighborhood, then densification is necessary.