12:46 on 2012/10/25 Reply  

• Taylor C. Noakes 14:26 on 2012/10/25 Permalink

  Remember, I’m still in the running.

  So far I still know no one in the construction industry, owe no favours to the mob and have zero experience in the established methods of doing business.

  And I’m proposing to cut my pay in half (to approx. $80,000) and eliminate the personal valet and car allowance.

  Since running the city is a 24-hour per day occupation, and given the necessity to be as close to work as possible, I’ll gladly move into City Hall for the duration of my time in office.

  Lastly, to combat corruption, I will have the city’s finances audited by one of the big four accounting firms, every single year.

  And then I’ll have our infrastructure ‘audited’ by forensic engineers. Each and every single year.

  To ensure the construction industry has enough work to keep them busy, I’ll find local sources to finance the expansion of the Métro. Five stations per year, for twenty years, until the entire island, a good portion of Laval and the South Shore, is connected.

  Then I’ll go about bringing back everything we’ve lost. Street vendors, professional baseball, an Aquarium, a petting zoo in Parc Lafontaine, trams, multi-use performance venues, a universal exposition etc.

  When it comes time to choosing a mayor, ask yourself if you want a politician, or someone who’s gone to the trouble of actually learning everything there is to know about this city.

• Carrie 14:58 on 2012/10/25 Permalink

  Seriously? Because I would totally vote for you, but I’d make the case for providing you with a modest one bdrm apartment within walking distance to your office. Seriously. You’ll need a place to lay your head.

• Ian 19:24 on 2012/10/25 Permalink

  Slow down on the metro and focus on the “everything we lost” part and I’ll design your campaign posters for free!

• Matt 01:13 on 2012/10/26 Permalink

  Seriously, Taylor, I’d vote for you! By the way, anyone know how one goes about running for mayor officially? I’m curious.

• montrealfilmguy 08:54 on 2012/10/26 Permalink

  Please Taylor,say the words professional baseball one more time and i AM voting for you.
  People really miss it.Not a day goes by where you cant see someone wearing an Expos shirt,cap or jersey.And i keep wondering if we are one of the very few cities to not have a team.

• Taylor C. Noakes 08:55 on 2012/10/26 Permalink

  Awesome, supporters!

  I’ll have more info soon. Each day I get a little more enthusiastic.

  We need to do the near-total opposite of what we’ve been doing so far. I might be the total opposite of a politician, and I’d love to start dramatically changing this city.

• Kevin 09:15 on 2012/10/26 Permalink

  Say no to tramways. They’re lethal to 2-wheelers.
  As for the construction industry, they’ll do fine with private investment as long as the PQ is not in power — and that’s a direct quote from multiple small businessmen.

  And I could care less about baseball.

• Kate 09:41 on 2012/10/26 Permalink

  Kevin, I think modern tram tracks can be laid in a way that’s less of a hazard to cyclists. I’ve known several people come to grief with their bicycles on streetcar tracks in Toronto – as confirmed in a recent study – but on the other hand cities in the Netherlands have trams and lots of bikes coexisting, so it might be worth looking at how they go about it.

• Taylor C. Noakes 10:16 on 2012/10/26 Permalink

  @Kevin – segregated bike lanes are part of my plan, given that they cut down the likelihood of an accident by a considerable margin.

  As to tram lines, I’m keen to resurrect this mode of public transit. However, the only way it would be practical is if the trams operated in reserved lanes. A small, soft rubber ‘lip’ could be mounted on either side of the rail – this would help prevent cyclists from getting stuck on tram lines.

  I would introduce the system gradually so as to eliminate the use of buses in the urban core, ideally re-purposing them for suburban and off-island use. I think the most logical first route would be designed so as to encircle the urban core, connecting diverse attractions as the Olympic Park, parc Jean-Drapeau, parc Lafontaine, Mount Royal Park and the downtown, CBD etc.) A tourism line, if you will, that could also serve as a micro sized ‘route peripherique’.

  But my priority is eliminating corruption by ruthlessly auditing city finances and various departments. No cuts to services, just cuts to luxuries and waste.

  The construction industry needs to be kept busy and the public administration has a role to play here. I’ll be looking to eliminate that which we provide to said industry to keep them busy – i.e. perennial roadwork – with projects that will have defined end dates, goals etc. Métro and Réso development would be a good place to start. And why not do most of the work overnight? That way we could stimulate a more 24-hour small-business economic cycle in this city (something I think we can all agree is badly needed).

  As for baseball – it’s got nothing to do with whether you or I like it, it’s about American, Japanese, Korean, Central American and Caribbean investment and business opportunities. Baseball’s good for business in the Americas, and Drapeau, to his credit, understood this very well. Jeff Loria, did not.

• Taylor C. Noakes 11:30 on 2012/10/26 Permalink

  @Carrie – I’m nearly certain there’s the equivalent of a single room somewhere in City Hall, even if it is a utility closet. I’ll gladly do it if for no other reason than to highlight the fact that there aren’t nearly enough services in the Old Port for its residents, and that I think we’re all fed-up with mayors living in multi-million dollar Outremont mansions (also, FYI, the mayor gives out amazing Halloween candy which may or may not have been paid for by the taxpayers). I don’t need a mansion, I need a couch and a shower. That’s all.

  @Ian – I think slowing down Métro expansion was a bad decision when it was made by Bourassa’s Liberals in the mid-1980s. If we want to keep costs down we need to standardize, streamline, make bulk purchases of construction materials and basically build the way we were in the mid-1960s (26 stations in four years, delivered on time and on budget). Companies bidding to do the work will be asked to take a modest profit in exchnage for long-term contracts. Also, there’s no reason why we can’t expand the system on a 24-hour, three-shift schedule. Doing the bulk of the ‘dirty work’ overnight is one way to avoid interruptions to the traffic flow patterns.

  Imagine how much money we’d all save if we didn’t need to replace our cars every 10-15 years? If we didn’t have all the associated costs with owning and operating a car at our current average rate of use? We’re talking about thousands of dollars per year per person.

  But yes of course, I’ll definitely focus on getting back what we lost. That could keep a mayor occupied for a decade, and it would be a great boost to morale.

  The Montréal Malaise must end.

  @Matt – I called and emailed the city many, many times. I often got a gateway not found error message when using the city’s “contact us” function on their website. Someone called me last month saying they would get me more info, but basically said contact the DGE.

  @Montreal film guy – I will get us a baseball team. I will resurrect the Expos. If enough local investors can be found, I’ll get a new downtown stadium built too. It’s a must and I’m confident, with the right marketing and a game-day transit scheme, we’ll bring baseball back with a vengeance. I have every intention of going about getting NBA and NFL exhibition games too – why not?

  We’re a city of sport in an increasingly obese continent, ergo my administration will make sport a top priority. In order to establish the foundations of local fanbases, the city will invest heavily in developing new sporting grounds and stimulating minor, amateur sports clubs. At the very least, there should be far more cooperation between school boards, minor sports leagues and the city government.

  And all of this would in turn be part of a larger project to develop the Olympic Park into the city’s primary sports and fitness centre. I figure if we do this, we’ll be in an excellent position to bid for another Olympics.

  Of course this time, we’ll do what LA84′s organizing committee did – the complete opposite of what Montreal did in 1976.

• Kate 22:55 on 2012/10/26 Permalink

  Also, there’s no reason why we can’t expand the [metro] system on a 24-hour, three-shift schedule.

  The Montreal metro doesn’t shut down for 4 hours because nobody’s willing to work. It shuts down so they can run these giant vacuum machines through the tunnels to suck up all the newspapers and other junk that blows in and blocks up vents and drains, and also so they can safely send out work crews to do all the maintenance and repairs needed in the system. These work vehicles don’t run off the electrical system that powers the trains. They’re diesel-powered and they need the track power turned off to operate safely.

  Cities that run their subways around the clock tend to have individual tunnels for each direction, but most of the Montreal system runs in both directions on two tracks in a single tunnel. What they do in some other cities at night is carefully alternate trains through one tunnel while powering down the third rail in the other to make it safe to work in, but we don’t have that option here because of our big double tunnels.

• Taylor C. Noakes 17:53 on 2012/10/27 Permalink

  @Kate –

  There has to be a way around this. New technology or new tunnels, or modifying the old tunnels. But something because I think a 24-hour system (though not necessarily at the same rate of service) is a pretty big deal. I think it’s an element of fundamental accessibility that a citizen be able to get around the city at all times of the day on the cheap, which is what a subway system is supposed to do.

  All that said, I agree with you our system would benefit from being upgraded and improved prior to being expanded. Perhaps the best case for creating a tram system is that it may permit us to shut down entire sections of the Métro at a time while tunnels and stations are systematically improved. At the end of the process, a tram system has been laid-down, the Métro is ready for expansion and potential twenty-four operation.

  I think we can all agree Guy-Concordia is the worst-looking, grossest and funkiest station in the network, and those calcium stalactites and the cockroaches have got to go. But it also astounds me that they placed those TV monitors low enough for idiots to smack them, and that they didn’t but a plexiglass covers over them to prevent vandalism. They’re brand new and already busted up. The AMT installed similar monitors at the suburban train stations with the same poor planning. And why doesn’t this city invest in a little graffiti proofing? Dorchester Square was just remodelled and the benches are already defaced.

  I know I sound like a cranky old man, but jesus, would it kill us to stop actively destroying our city? Obviously, it’s not any of the fine readers of this blog, but then the question is – where are all these asshole teenagers coming from, and why are they so opposed to having nice things?

• Kate 10:16 on 2012/10/28 Permalink

  Do you think it’s necessarily a bad thing if people do not want TV panels showing them advertising on the metro platform?

• Taylor C. Noakes 08:32 on 2012/10/29 Permalink

  @Kate –

  Is that why they were damaged?

  Because people don’t like ads?

  Ads can’t just be ignored?

  Either way, I’d just prefer that new conveniences aren’t destroyed seconds after they’re installed.

• Kevin 13:06 on 2012/10/29 Permalink

  Montreal planners have never thought about the future. Can you just imagine the hell under earth it would be if hundreds of thousands of people had never left Montreal in the ’80s and ’90s?
  Those tunnels (and everything else we build in this city) should be planned for demographic estimates 50 years down the road.

• Kate 10:29 on 2012/11/04 Permalink

  Taylor C. Noakes: I only just noticed your question now, so will probably email you this response as well as posting it.

  Ads just can’t be ignored?

  Ads can’t be ignored. It’s a deep part of how the human nervous system works – when things move, we watch them. It’s a reason why I kind of hate socializing in bars that have TVs. No matter how much you try, your gaze will be repeatedly drawn to the TV even if you have no interest in what it’s showing. The same thing happens on metro platforms if there’s a screen showing TV commercials within your view.

  I can’t say I understand most damage caused by vandals – scratchiti, for one, really gets on my nerves because it’s so ugly and defaces glass panels that were offending nobody – but I can see why someone might want to shut down TV ads in the metro.

  Kevin: are we planning now for the wave of elderly people who will soon be taking up even more of our medical system as the baby boom begins to retire? I went to a high school built just after the boom, too late, and which was half empty again soon after I left. No government wants to take the responsibility of spending money on problems that don’t exist yet. So, given the lag it takes to make decisions, draw up contracts, construct buildings, hire people and so forth, our collective responses are always late.

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