St. Monica’s says it is losing revenue because of the lanes, but others say they have made the street safer and quieter.
A Notre-Dame-de-Grâce church is doubling down on its criticisms of the Terrebonne St. bike lanes, calling on the borough to remove them for the winter.
St. Monica’s Catholic Church asserts that newly opened bike lanes are behind a significant decline in revenue and threaten the future of the 75-year-old parish. But others in the community question the veracity of the claims and are cheering on the new bike lanes, which they say make the street safer and quieter.
A newly formed residents’ support committee will hold a benefit concert at the church Nov. 24 in an attempt to make up for lost revenue.
St. Monica’s held its first post-bike lane funeral the day of the press conference.
“The hearse had to be parked on the other side of the bike path,” said Natasha Hall, a spokesperson for the support committee. “The coffin had to cross the bike path. There’s something wrong here.”
Wong said the borough’s proposed solution would have seen coffins carried to a laneway adjacent to the church, which he said was incompatible with Christian practices.
“When a body is being brought into the church for the final blessing and being brought out from the church, it should be, protocol wise, in a straight line.”
Attendance is down, Wong said, because the bike lane ate up parking spots, leaving parishioners with fewer places to park their cars. He said that while the neighbouring Mackay Centre had offered use of its parking lot, it wasn’t a complete solution because the parking lot wouldn’t be accessible on weekdays.
But for those on the other side of the bike lane debate, the church’s assertions don’t hold water.
“I find it pretty difficult to believe that there’s no parking,” said Jason Savard, a spokesperson for the Association of Pedestrians and Cyclists of N.D.G.
He said that between the Mackay Centre parking lot and parking spaces on neighbouring streets, he couldn’t understand why congregants would have trouble parking.
“The proof is in the pudding,” Savard said.
Councillor Sonny Moroz, who also spoke at the press conference, said the data was not verifiable and that he had not looked at it.
“It’s a camera on the street operated by a resident.”
He said he had asked the borough to install a counter, but the request was refused.
Despite strong feelings on both sides of the debate, many locals expressed ambivalence to The Gazette.
“I couldn’t care less,” said Kate, who was using the bike lane and declined to give her last name. She said bike lanes weren’t needed on Terrebonne St. “It’s too quiet.”
Ronny Grossmann, who lives on Terrebonne St., told The Gazette that he had worried the bike lanes would negatively affect traffic.
“It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be,” he said, adding that the bike lanes had calmed traffic on the street. “So far, everything is good.”
Grossman said he used the bike lanes, but felt they were poorly protected from cars pulling out of driveways.
“As a cyclist you have to be very careful.”
Many on Terrebonne St. said they were glad to see fewer cars since the installation of the bike lanes and the switch to one-way traffic.
Stéphane Rivard said he had been happy to see traffic reduced outside his home on Terrebonne St. He said he doesn’t bike in the lanes, but often runs in them.
“I see more runners than cyclists,” he said.
Another Terrebonne St. resident, who asked The Gazette not to publish her name, said she had initially opposed the bike lanes.
“But the road is calmer,” she said, adding she was now supportive of the project.
Only one resident polled by The Gazette outright opposed the bike lanes.
“It’s horrible,” said Jeana Park, who lives on Terrebonne St. “Each lane is the width of a car,” she said, and parking is harder to find.
But she said she prefers the one-way street to its previous two-way configuration.
Omar Burgan, who lives near the bike lanes, said he and his children enjoy using them. Originally from Montreal, he said he returned a year ago in part because of the city’s expanding cycling network. He said he expects criticisms of the bike lane will eventually go away.
“Every time you build a bike lane, there are people who are very vocal and supremely angry about it.”
But over time, Burgan said, he is convinced that people will enjoy the quieter street and that more cyclists will use the bike lane.
Savard agreed: “Even those who are doubting it are seeing the street is much quieter.”