City Of Montreal Pays $1.1 Million For A Ferris Wheel That Doesn't Even Work
Okay, we've heard of the city of Montreal making some questionable and sometimes outlandish decisions, but I think this just might take the cake. The city has just paid $1.1 million for a public art installation at Pie-IX and Henri-Bourassa that essentially looks like a giant, fake ferris wheel.
The wheel, which is called The Velocity Spots, is 20 meters in height and is meant to be a tribute to public transit. Personally, I just don't see it. What I do see is the fact that they maybe should have spent that money on actual public transit, not a ferris wheel looking structure with no functional purpose.
And do you know how much an actual working ferris wheel would have cost? According to this site for suppliers, roughly $100,000 - max. We could have 11 working ferris wheels instead of this immobile pile of metal.
Provincial law in Quebec does in no way require the city to spend this amount of money on art. In fact, it says that 1% of the total annual budget should be reserved for the construction or renovation of buildings and infrastructure OR for art projects OR for Quebec architecture. So I guess improving infrastructure, which the city desperately needs, took a back seat to this massive art installation.
Why the city makes the decisions it does, we'll never know. But hopefully they'll soon start listening to what the people actually want.
