Pointe-Claire's flower pots are ugly and look like recycling bins, critics say!
18 Jun 2019
They’re big, bright and blue, but not everyone is happy with dozens of new plastic flower pots installed along streets in the Pointe-Claire and Valois villages.
Pointe-Claire resident Stéphane Licari said the flower pots are ugly and resemble blue recycling bins. He said the flower pots look more like industrial barrels one might see outside a factory — not a village.
“That colour has nothing to do with a 300-year-old village,” said Licari, a member of the Heart of Pointe-Claire citizens coalition. “This affects the whole look and feel of the village.”
Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere said the flower pots, which cost $28,270, are part of a beautification project.
“This initiative is part of our vision to beautify Pointe-Claire and Valois Villages in order to promote local business,” the mayor said. “Partnerships have been established to enhance this development. Last winter, string lights were distributed to merchants in collaboration with PME MLT West-Island to decorate their storefront during the holidays.
“The installation of the flowerpots fits in this spirit. It adds a touch of colour in our villages (in line with the official colors of the city), and adds decoration and greenery,” Belvedere added.
A total of 82 flower pots were added in Pointe-Claire and Valois village: 42 of large format and 40 of small format. The city also noted that the flower pots are made in Quebec, are recyclable, and resistant to frost and UV rays.
Tim Thomas, owner of an antiques store in the Pointe-Claire Village, said the flower pots are the latest in a series of blunders by city planners.
“The flower pots are part of a continuing pattern of ineptitude and a lack of appreciation of ‘the esthetique’ or ‘good taste’ that began with the replacement structure for the Pioneer,” said Thomas.
“And they don’t fit Valois either because they make both villages look as though the merchants forgot to put away their recycling bins,” Thomas quipped.
But the flower pots are not the only problem in the village, noted Thomas. He said new signs indicating parking locations are hard to discern from a distance.
“The signs are so small that one has to drive across the oncoming lane and get up really close to read them. At night, this requires high beams.
“Sadly, both the flower pots and the traffic signs are good ideas, the problem seems to be in execution,” Thomas said.
