“I’m blown away,” Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough mayor Jim Beis said at the Montreal city council meeting on Monday night.
He was referring to the heated debate over a new boulevard that will connect Pierrefonds to an eventual REM station in Kirkland.
The province and the Plante administration announced the road would be for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit. Cars won’t be allowed — a decision that has caused outrage in Pierrefonds.
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“Projet Montréal is completely out of touch with West Island reality,” said Benoit Langevin, a Pierrefonds city councillor.
“Stay in your 1950s logic, we are moving ahead,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante responded to Langevin.
Beis has expressed outraged over how neither he nor his citizens were consulted on the look of the new road.
“We are relying on our vehicles to get from point A to point B,” Beis said in an interview on Wednesday.
“This is the reality of the West Island.”
Erin Alan Caldwall, responsible for the transport file in the Plante administration, told the council meeting the city will “no longer develop areas around cars.”
‘She doesn’t understand our issues’
Some Pierrefonds residents say they share Beis’ outrage.
“What’s the use of having a car or truck if I can’t bring it to the train station?” said Pierrefonds resident Vince Naccarato. “This plan doesn’t suit my needs whatsoever.”
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“She doesn’t live in the West Island,” said another Pierrefonds resident, Justin Argentino. “She doesn’t understand our issues.”
The Plante administration is standing firm.
“Highways are blocked up in the West Island,” Caldwell said at the council meeting.
“We need to change.”
The Plante administration refused an interview request on the subject Wednesday.
Beis told Global News he will continue to bring up the issue at council.