A piece of art in Montreal North has some residents of the area upset over the $1.1-million price tag.
Quebec artists from the BGL art collective designed and built the work of art on the corner of Pie-IX Boulevard and Henri-Bourassa Boulevard along the Rivière des Prairies. Green and yellow baskets still have to be added to the outside of the 20-metre-high structure.
Then-Interim mayor of Montreal Laurent Blanchard approved the sculpture in 2013 as an homage to mass transit.
But some Montreal North residents believe the city should have used the money towards something more useful.
One passerby told CTV Montreal the money would have better been spent on children, while another said the city should have fixed the roads.
"It's ridiculous," one woman said. "It's nothing but a wheel."
Despite the criticism, Montreal City Coun. Chantal Rossi believes the art will enhance the borough when it's completed in September.
"When a new oeuvre d'art is coming in a place it's always controversial," Rossi told CTV Montreal. "But after all it will be an identity for the people of Montreal North."
There are some residents of the area who appreciate the work of art, such as Jean Villeneuve who called it magnificent. He hopes the art will bring more visitors to his home turf.
"In Montreal now, we are so poor that we need something to attract people," Villeneuve said, "to tell everybody in Montreal that it's a very nice place to live."
With a report from CTV Montreal’s Rob Lurie
