I'm in Montreal right now visiting family. Yesterday, a friend visiting from Toronto and I embarked on a four-hour walk through downtown, Outremont, and the Plateau. My friend has a strong interest in architecture, design, and urban affairs though he doesn't participate on this site. I'm a native Montrealer who doesn't view my former city through rose-coloured glasses. We set out on our tour with a keen eye for things that drive us nuts about Toronto's public realm hoping, franky, to be reassured that Montreal's doing no better. Here's what we found, or didn't find:
1. Iron grates over mature sidewalk trees. No cracked, crumbling, Toronto-style concrete slabs.
2. Beautifully-designed and maintained iron and metal street lights. No Toronto-style concrete 'stalks' covered in poster-iti.
3. Street sweeping patrols wearing matching windbreakers labelled 'Destination: Centre-Ville. Propriétés.'
4. Immaculate parks and squares with freshly-cut, dandelion-free grass; beautiful flower beds; gorgeous fountains, monuments, and public art; no litter; and no homeless. We visited at least five parks and squares of various sizes in different neighbourhoods. The story was the same across the board.
5. Not one patch of asphalt in sidewalks on any major thoroughfare, and most minor ones too. Not one. No utility spray-painting or random cuts in the pavement either. We walked along St-Catherine, Sherbrooke, Peel, de Maisonneuve, McGill College, University, Bleury, Parc, Bernard, Wiseman, Laurier, St-Joseph, St-Laurent, Laval, St-Denis, etc. Virtually no patches anywhere.
6. Un-corralled patios.
7. Curbed bike lanes.
8. Bixi bike stands everywhere; in busy downtown, quiet Outremont, and Bohemian Plateau. Everywhere.
9. One panhandler.
The list goes on and on.
Montreal is a poorer city than Toronto with fewer resources at its disposal and this is what it's managed to accomplish. While Toronto's standards may not have fallen, Montreal's has zoomed ahead.
All said, there is no excuse whatsoever for the sorry state of Toronto's public realm (i.e. terminally-broken fountains on University), including half-assed beautification projects (i.e. $25 million granite sidewalks that stop within inches of building frontages on Bloor). No excuse. Sorry, I ain't buying it. When a city wants to get things done, it gets things done. Don't believe me? Take a trip down the 401 and see for yourself.