Bronstein: Grand Prix terrace fiasco is another shame for Montreal

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This isn’t exactly how we expected to start summer in this city.

However, there are already signs that this will be a difficult adventure, especially after learning that Laughter Festival — one of the main sources of tourism revenue and recreational relief — has been canceled.

Although summer doesn’t officially begin until June 20, for many Montrealers the real start has always been Grand Prix Weekendwhich concluded on Sunday.

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The hope is that the influx of visitors will bring hope for Christmas in June, with spending in restaurants, hotels and shops to the tune of around $100 million, which could use all the help they can get after years of Covid and ubiquitous roadwork. Let’s not forget that the Grand Prix is ​​also a huge boon to our governments at all levels, bringing in much-needed tax revenue.

Therefore, the city goes to great lengths to present itself as a world-class metropolis. Despite the orange conesThe last thing Montreal wants is a mess that tarnishes its reputation in front of wealthy tourists from around the world.

But that’s exactly what we got on Friday night, when Firefighters closed four decks on Peel St.including the high-end Portuguese seafood restaurant Ferreira Café. This happened at 9pm and the terrace was packed.

The reason was that the deck did not meet fire code. It’s not that the inspectors don’t have the power to notify the restaurant owner of the violation, but they certainly could have notified the restaurant earlier in the week that if they didn’t comply, they would close the deck.

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It is inexcusable to wait until the first night of a Grand Prix weekend for this to happen. This could have been easily avoided. Yet, the city has suffered once again.

In an emotional Instagram post that quickly went viral and was reposted not only at Café Ferreira but also in countless other city centers, Sandra Ferreira, director of operations at Café Ferreira, broke down in tears after the Terrace Café was shut down, declaring that she was “ashamed of my city.” She also noted that she had a permit for the Terrace Café — which cost $40,000 — and that when she spoke with city officials, she thought everything would be fine because previous warnings from city inspectors had been addressed.

Not surprisingly, Mayor Valérie Plante was upset when she learned of the conflict and wanted to make sure it never happened again – definitely not in front of tourists.

Glenn Castanheira, executive director of the downtown Montreal business group SDC, put it best: “It’s like killing a fruit fly with a bazooka.”

Indeed. This issue could have been handled much better.

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As the gruff prison warden in the classic film Hard Lie tells Paul Newman (who happens to be a racing fan): “The problem we have is a failure of communication.”

This is also a problem that has plagued the Plante administration for years.

One does have to feel bad for the restaurant owners and merchants in that regard, especially on streets like Peel Street, which cannot be accessed from St. Catherine Street due to construction.

The reality is that downtown restaurant owners, hoteliers and businessmen have been kidnapped for years. Trying to solve the problem of seemingly uncontrolled road construction In our decaying infrastructure—and will continue to do so for decades to come.

As for the game itself, Everything seemed to be going well, except for some VIP crowds rushing into off-limits areas of the track and some non-VIP crowds having problems getting in.

But the city was hit again when the U.S. Rapper Pitbull cancels his concert Last minute crowds braved pouring rain to see him perform at Parc Jean Drapeau on Saturday after his plane apparently had a problem, leading to the cancellation of the show.

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Pitbull has apologized, and concert promoter Evenko has refunded the money. That’s great, but it’s hard to believe that a big-name artist didn’t have a contingency plan for this kind of emergency.

On the other hand, the weekend concert ended well. Snoop Dogg not only appeared at the Bell Centre His performance on Sunday didn’t leave a huge impression, but he won the hearts, minds and even lungs of fans in the process.

Snoopy probably didn’t need a plane to get here, though.

City managers will now be crossing their fingers that the summer goes by without a hitch, and they will no doubt want laughter to be in the air — but not at their expense. ComediHa in Quebec City! — which took over the financially troubled festival’s main asset — has stepped in and tried to fill the humor void with a tribute to Montreal from July 18 to 28.

Hopefully this is more than just a one-finger salute to the city.

bbrowstein@postmedia.com

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