Time to salute the local tourism bureaucrats. Tourism has ground to an absolute halt since the big Grand Prix Weekend. But then tourism has been a dog for the entire country. Our expensive Canadian loony has been the problem. Since Europeans and Americans aren't coming here, the plan is supposedly to attract Chinese and Indians, which is pretty funny.
I would imagine that if we allowed tourists to work here it would attract a lot more people. I met a few Irish tourists who got jobs here during their stay, undoubtedly under the table. One worked the cash in little stores on St. Catherine while vacationing here, so perhaps we should make that an official thing. I'm not sure if we participate in that Australia youth working vacation reciprocal program but if we don't, we should.
Now the Lonely Planet has named Montreal the second happiest place on earth. Whatever that means. The announcement has created a fairly big buzz and a lot of Toronto put downs. Obviously happiness is very difficult to measure.
For example parents of children are reportedly unhappy in life. This proves that the happiness metric cannot compute the value of profound love involved that enriches the lives of parents. Or someone watching their favourite team play an important sports contest might unhappy during the game but at the end of the contest they are often ecstatic at victory, so measuring people at specific times can be an unreliable indicator of their mood. I don't know how the Lonely Planet calculated their scale of happiness, but their local stringer must've had met some very jolly Montrealers. Or else the publication had a good rapport with the tourism officials here.
Our city has a history of paying for good press. For example we paid Richard Florida six figures to analyze our city to see if we're a hotbed of the creative class. Not surprisingly he came out raving about Montreal.
Personally what makes me happy about Montreal is the luscious lay of the land, the compact downtown with a lot of old architecture, the vibe of knowing that people aren't all entirely career obsessed, the laid back indifference of allowing people to do what they want.
I don't go to the farmers market every day nor Little Italy, nor Mount Royal but knowing I can get over there anytime is a nice concept.
It's a great place to raise a family as well, it's safe and relatively child friendly.
Transportation is good, I live near an entrance to the highway that will get me downtown in about three minutes and that makes me feel part of the urban pulse of the city.
What makes me unhappy is the occasional sense of oppression, the recent increase in police cracking down on motorists irks me a lot. Petty bureaucrats saying that I'm not allowed to use a certain tennis court or something is another thing that detracts from my happiness. Governments that value strange concepts over pragmatism. I become unhappy by cars that zoom by me aggressively as I ride my bicycle. People with dogs off leashes. I have a love hate relationship with our artsy hipsters that proliferate the Plateau area, I far prefer the dynamism of downtown but it's hard to argue against the virtues of the Plateau nonetheless.
I would imagine that if we allowed tourists to work here it would attract a lot more people. I met a few Irish tourists who got jobs here during their stay, undoubtedly under the table. One worked the cash in little stores on St. Catherine while vacationing here, so perhaps we should make that an official thing. I'm not sure if we participate in that Australia youth working vacation reciprocal program but if we don't, we should.
Now the Lonely Planet has named Montreal the second happiest place on earth. Whatever that means. The announcement has created a fairly big buzz and a lot of Toronto put downs. Obviously happiness is very difficult to measure.
For example parents of children are reportedly unhappy in life. This proves that the happiness metric cannot compute the value of profound love involved that enriches the lives of parents. Or someone watching their favourite team play an important sports contest might unhappy during the game but at the end of the contest they are often ecstatic at victory, so measuring people at specific times can be an unreliable indicator of their mood. I don't know how the Lonely Planet calculated their scale of happiness, but their local stringer must've had met some very jolly Montrealers. Or else the publication had a good rapport with the tourism officials here.
Our city has a history of paying for good press. For example we paid Richard Florida six figures to analyze our city to see if we're a hotbed of the creative class. Not surprisingly he came out raving about Montreal.
Personally what makes me happy about Montreal is the luscious lay of the land, the compact downtown with a lot of old architecture, the vibe of knowing that people aren't all entirely career obsessed, the laid back indifference of allowing people to do what they want.
I don't go to the farmers market every day nor Little Italy, nor Mount Royal but knowing I can get over there anytime is a nice concept.
It's a great place to raise a family as well, it's safe and relatively child friendly.
Transportation is good, I live near an entrance to the highway that will get me downtown in about three minutes and that makes me feel part of the urban pulse of the city.
What makes me unhappy is the occasional sense of oppression, the recent increase in police cracking down on motorists irks me a lot. Petty bureaucrats saying that I'm not allowed to use a certain tennis court or something is another thing that detracts from my happiness. Governments that value strange concepts over pragmatism. I become unhappy by cars that zoom by me aggressively as I ride my bicycle. People with dogs off leashes. I have a love hate relationship with our artsy hipsters that proliferate the Plateau area, I far prefer the dynamism of downtown but it's hard to argue against the virtues of the Plateau nonetheless.
When I visited in 2007 the highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.
ReplyDeleteGreat points about a pretty great city (even though I like to call it the "Shitty of Montreal" when I get mad at it). I find it interesting, however, that you're agin the poh-lice cracking down on drivers, yet you don't like the drivers whipping by you as you ride yer bike. Sure, cops are a pain, especially when they catch you in flagrante drive-oh. But have you noticed that (most) drivers have slowed down on the highways, people actually stop at stop signs and crosswalks are actually (sometimes) respected, except by STM drivers? I know that since I received a $104 ticket for blowing a stop sign, I tend to be more careful when approaching a big Arret. So, make up yer mind, oh great Wizzard of Coolopolis! Sure, cops will continue to be douchebags, but they're kinda necessary, doncha think?
ReplyDeletePaddy G
Good points. The problem is that police often give tickets for dumb reasons while real bad infractions go unpunished. But I too think I've seen a decrease in people running red lights and other crazy stuff that was rampant not long ago. I'm pretty conservative when I drive. I'll burn that shtoopid stop sign to nowhere on Landsdown on general principle but otherwise I drive granny style.
ReplyDeleteSome bad areas remain, such as the stretch of Sherbrooke in front of Westmount Park, for some reason I've seen incredibly bad driving there at least 5 times and there was even a kid killed by a snow truck.
Fewer tourists = happier residents.
ReplyDeleteI travel a lot for work and with the possible exception of San Francisco, I can't think of anywhere in North America I would prefer to live than Montreal.
I particularly appreciate the fact that me and my wife get along just fine without owning a car.
I also live in the center of downtown in a high rise with a door man, an indoor pool and a fantastic view. The rent I pay here wouldn't pay for a roach infested, basement studio apartment in Manhattan.
Finally, the fact that Chicago can have more murders during a hot summer weekend than Montreal has all year is an attractive plus as well.
You shouldn't feel too bad about the Police crackdown on drivers. My wife and I have both received jay-walking tickets in the last few months. I think the police are just raising money for the city.
I would love to live right in the Golden Square Mile, as close to Peel & St. Cat as possible with a lot of rooms and two parking spaces.
ReplyDeleteKinda nice visiting this site from time to time, and this stop was no exception.
ReplyDeletePolice, police: Reminds me that off and on I've been trying to track down a bit of info on Albert Lysiak(sp?), a retired QPP cop who used to hang out at my store in the early 1990s. The only thing I've come across was a mention of him in an article about Richard Blass. Albert was the cop that killed Blass, and was always quite smug about the killing. Anyways, he and his exploits were somewhat legendary around these parts in the late 1960's-1970's, and if someone could show me a link it would be greatly appreciated.