11:38 on 2010/10/02 Reply  

• ant6n 12:22 on 2010/10/02 Permalink

  “The Ville Marie borough requires developers of large residential buildings to build between 0.5 spots and 1.5 spots per unit, as a way of discouraging car use. But in Sternthal’s experience, a benchmark of 1.8 spots per unit is often required to meet demand on some projects.”

  It seems strange that most people would require 2 cars per apartment living in the middle of downtown Montreal. Most people get along just fine with 0.

• Kate 12:30 on 2010/10/02 Permalink

  Some of these are elite developments and the people who can afford them often have more than one vehicle.

• qatzelok 01:10 on 2010/10/03 Permalink

  Yes Kate, but if there’s a market for “elite, no car” apartments, it seems like the center should be it. There’s lots of car-friendly streets in other parts of the city that are pricey. The downtown can’t really handle cars no matter how high-end they are.

• Kate 15:26 on 2010/10/03 Permalink

  I tend to agree with you, but there’s a gap between what should happen, and what does happen because people are willing to pay for it. Arguably human civilization is going to fall into that gap because of greed, but in this society it’s difficult to pass laws that intrude so closely into free enterprise.

  Another point: if the city simply drew a perimeter and said “No new parking space, indoor or outdoor, can be constructed here” it would mean more flight to the suburbs.

• qatzelok 09:52 on 2010/10/04 Permalink

  Yes, but this flight could be accompanied by a “flight to the car-free zone.” If there’s a market for sane living downtown, it hasn’t been exploited yet. How can we know that it won’t work if we don’t try it? This is something (like bike rentals) that can only be judged based on experience, and Montreal doesn’t have any car-free zones to judge yet.

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