For Shame...it's so Quétaine Tonight – June 1, 2018 – I wept while traversing my "Mont Royal" At a crawl to savour my "last" permitted through passage A lassitude, a heaviness descended upon my psyche The rule oF the bicycle has arrived, I cried, in frustration and despair The lies and the halF truths that are being propagated The emotions that are being manipulated, Truth is being down-rated, strangulated, mutilated The city I love is being divided by those whose vision is diFFerent than mine It's a crime, in my eyes at least, East and west pitted against one another, I feel depleted, cheated, deFeated, robbed oF a way across the soul oF my island home Their goal in part...the dominance oF the cyclist The demoralization oF the motorist. I groan in absolute Frustration, especially when I see, right there in Front oF me... An ugly barricade, blocking a beloved scene I had come to view...boo hoo to A towering set of ugly wooden bleachers, planks and nuts and bolts and rusty steel, A real and crude monstrosity, given you see The undoubtedly and unwittingly ironic nomenclature oF "Belvédère Soleil". Pray it's only temporary...because it's all so very visibly, risibly "quétaine" For shame, blocking a view oF beauty by such a shoddy, ticky-tacky viewing platForm, By what norm of architectural design can that be viewed as an improvement to Our wonderFul sky-high island park? No earthly spark, no vision oF Olmstead, So oFt referred to in the City's propaganda, Could have included a monstrosity such as this Tsk tsk! What is it supposed to tempt a pedestrian mountain population to do? Clamber high up it, iF you're able... Sit, and spew up...or Fall oFF it...or be clued into What exactly? Oh, enjoy the view? Across the city of the dead to a park called Tiohtià:ke Otsira’kéhne (Jojagay ochira'gaynay) In a way, they've aptly named it, though probably not the intended interpretation, As, For most of the day, the sun indeed will shine right into your eye Making you blink, perhaps cry, "Why, oh why, Mayor Plante?" Can't you see Madame P, you've made a mockery Of a leisurely scenic, beloved passage through the Former, then blasted, tramway tunnel pass? For 65 years the rock Funnel or gorge route, has, sans doute, Delighted en masse transiting islanders and their visitors Being met with roars of heartFelt enthusiasm For our lovely island home, Alone, among a Few others in this world, we have city on an island and a mountain, © Wanda Potrykus - WSP 2018 Mont Royal with its majestic bird's eye vistas viewable From its many angles Look at the many tangles oF paths and roads that cut through it, Check a map...you'll see...and maybe you'll agree in time that No matter how you view it, or which Form oF perambulation Your citizens and visitors chose to use to reach it The Camilen Houde-Remembrance Road motorized axis is truly not a blight Its habitual users not a slight on our mountain's loveliness Alas, you've breached our trust, made us Fussed and anxious Unwittingly, you see, you've lit a Fuse, Confused your citizens and their neighbours You have us primed and ready now to blow, "No, no, no...You have to Forgo your mountain road, it's overloaded" Such untruths; and so, it's now no go For some oF us, It seems under your rule, you have repealed the Right of the Montreal island motorist to travel over it. Indeed, we are those whose very existence you and your political party cohorts Exhort are an anachronistic "selF-entitled" cancer in the city. Pity Mayor P that you Forget, in your zeal to convert us to your view that You are now mayor and administrator of all the island of Montreal One and all, we pay our taxes For services and amenities and For the moment, at least, both on the west and on the east, We still possess the right to chose our mode oF transportation; Since the island amalgamation, 60-100% each year oF all our tax dollars The Montreal central city now siphons oFF...and then you have the gall To proselytize, Favorize and raise one or two segments oF the population To even higher elevations, worthy oF "only the best". Is it a cruel jest? "For the good oF the city you cry", while alienating all the rest oF us You're supposed to be mayor oF all oF Montreal, not just oF a Few oF us. The pedal pushers are the new gods and rulers oF the island oF Montreal Mind you all Fall into line and remember that The Mount Royal Heritage Area has become Fair game The peace and tranquility oF the City oF the Dead Is becoming overrun with gobs oF cyclists racing through What is a grieving mourner, walker, bird or animal watcher to do Sigh and sue who exactly, as they are Forced to step aside, or risk being toppled? "Long rule the age oF the bicycle...our two-wheeled god", you cry Sadly what you, and all those now pumped up cyclists, and runners Don't realize as yet...old age, illness and inFirmity Will, one day, rob so many oF you, oF your strength and physical powers SorrowFully, the Flower oF youth and oF middle age, disintegrates with time It's a crime...but also a reality...you may one day agree...though Even today, not all your citizens are, or will be, physically and mentally able To clamber on and oFF your designated numbered buses To straddle a bicycle, or even stroll the sharp inclines, © Wanda Potrykus - WSP 2018 Or climb your towering, hastily erected, ugly bleacher belvédères In the way you have, here and now decreed, we all need to do, Simply to traverse, the Former roadway we once all shared quite amicably. You dare to tell us we, the motorists, did not "care" For cyclists and pedestrians Who, you scream, were pushed oFF the road by our "speeding" motor cars, In what dream or parallel universe do you truly live in? On Camilien Houde, the elite bike racers were the ones moving the Fastest On Remembrance Road, stop signs prevented any attempt at speeding, Should most oF us have even wanted to, Phooey, we choose to transit For the peace, the beauty and the vistas The mist, the breeze, the snow, the ice, the nice sunrises and sunsets, the sky, We didn't try to speed; A Few minutes of beauty, Fresher air, and contemplation was our need Cohabitation, sharing, respect, equitable shares For all That is simply what we call For, Most oF Mount Royal Park is given over to pedestrians and cyclists already, Plenty oF trafFic-free routes both up and down the mountain abound Why hound us, From the one route previously provided to the motorist to share? In no democratic world is everyone permitted 100%, where's the sense in that? You've alienated in the process, a ton oF us Mourners visiting their loved ones in the City oF the Dead, Unabled bodies, too weak, mangled or ill For your promoted, vaunted "healthier" Forms oF transportation, Even iF they would dearly love to have the expectation oF using them, Parents with young children, or ailing Fathers and mothers, Others are grandparents transiting to care for grand-kids And, of course, some do it to get to work and back, What's so truly wrong with that? Did you really think this out? Or did you simply improvise? Lies aside, there will never be a "one size Fits all" solution. The hammer you brought down to instill your vision is Flawed With this decision, you won't bring peace but anger and Frustration We were Montreal islanders united as a nation in our love oF "our" Mont Royal Enthralled we had a special something, to mitigate our other challenges In a city already plagued with road closures for repairs and festivals and special events Why did you decide there was a deFinite need to deny many oF us, Then "bribe" others with a tacky "café suspendu" Glued awkwardly to the Camilien Houde belevedere of the cross? It's our loss but who truly beneFits, the caFe operator? No doubt a Projet Montréal aFicionado...ho ho ho... Oh, you really touched a nerve here...put the hammer to the bone Like lonely Marie-Antoinette's oft misquoted: "Let them eat cake" You modernized it somewhat with your implied mountain "improvement" oFFer: © Wanda Potrykus - WSP 2018 "Let them have some wine along with the view, in time they'll be molliFied." Have you no pride, or what are you trying to turn us aside From, Mayor Plante? You insult us, with your rough hewn, insanely quétaine "hanging" patio... Oh so quaintly named: Café Suspendu, which blocks the view, Yet again to those passing on the road. You really don't need to goad us into action. Only a Fraction oF the barbs you have inFlicted, Ensure your vision For our mountain needs to be asphyxiated. Quétaine indeed. It's an ugly sight and only accessible to those From the east... For them alone the Feast For the eyes and succour to the palate Why can't you accept your taxpayers live on all sides oF the mountain? Yet how is it only those From the east side get so boniFied? You try to make your case For closure somewhat workable By Funnelling the rest of us on Foot, or bike down the only roadway on the mountain Formerly accessible to the transiting motor car, You claim it's not in Olmstead's vision, it's not "green" But he designed our park 30-40 years before The motorized car came on the scene And accommodations For the passage of the horse and carriage were included The 20th century horseless carriage is merely its modern day successor.