Who’s going to fix Montreal’s bad roads? | The Corner Booth

The streets of Montreal went viral on social media this week, but for all the wrong reasons.

It started with Feigang Fei, who owns the restaurant Cuisine AuntDai on St-Mathieu St. Frustrated with the lack of progress on Ste-Catherine St. W. roadwork, he posted a photo on X of a construction site sitting empty on a sunny day.

Then it was the pothole vigilantes who dominated the news cycle. When asked why he took matters into his own hands and patched nearly 100 potholes without permission, Saad Tekiout told The Gazette: “I think we deserve to have better roads. I’m doing this for the love of my city.”

Fei, along with Ville-Marie city councillor Leslie Roberts, joined hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on this week’s episode of The Corner Booth to find common ground when it comes to myriad problems plaguing Montreal’s streets.

“For the majority of last year, Ste-Catherine St. near Guy St. was closed.  And then this year, right after it’s opened for a month or two, it started again closing up,” Fei said.

“ For us mainly, it’s less people going to downtown because of frustration. We rely heavily on Uber Eats for deliveries, right? Then a lot of time you don’t have drivers. So the algorithm is going to turn off for your restaurant for a certain period of time.”

Roberts said he has been hearing about similar struggles from business owners since being elected in November.

“ Bottom line is, the work we inherited has to get done,” Roberts said. “ The original schedule was 2030. Through some of our efficiencies, we’ve managed to cut it back to 2029, and we are continuing to look at other ways to do it.

“In the meantime, there are financial relief funds that we have at the city. There were many restaurant owners and business owners in the district that weren’t eligible when we came in, and we’ve now expanded the zone.”

And while Roberts said the city is doing what it can to support local businesses, he has less sympathy for the so-called pothole vigilantes doing roadwork without permits.

“What if something goes wrong? Then what? Are we supposed to pay?” Roberts said.

Fei offered a potential solution: the city could work alongside anyone who wants to help.

“ I would recommend you have a volunteer group,” Fei said. “ You can have volunteers that cost nothing.”

The Corner Booth is also available on The Gazette’s YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.

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