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Sandra Ferreira tapped into a geyser of discontent over the weekend when she declared online: “I am ashamed for my city.”

As Montrealers are now well aware, the director of operations at Ferreira Café took to social media with raw emotion after fire inspectors closed down the bustling patios of several Peel St. eateries Friday night, just as Grand Prix weekend was gearing up.

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After all that goes into preparing for an influx of tourists, the fire department’s heavy-handedness was widely seen as a slap in the face to the city’s struggling restaurateurs and a black eye for Montreal’s international reputation.

And that wasn’t the only damper on an event that usually signals Montreal’s eagerness to brush off the winter doldrums and put its best (well-heeled) foot forward for an all-too-fleeting summer of fun.

Pole Position magazine documented a litany of snafus. Heavy traffic caused chaos all weekend. On both Friday and Saturday, many patrons were trapped either trying to leave or get to events at Île-Notre-Dame due to communication problems between police and organizers.

A concert by American rapper/singer Pitbull was cancelled at the last minute due to “transportation problems.” Environmental activists blocked a bridge leading to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday. Some race car drivers were late getting to the track.

Heavy rain flooded the pits, media loges and some other facilities at the site, while parking lots were reduced to mud.

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Even Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx said Wednesday that she, too, was “ashamed” of how things unfolded. A moment when Montreal should have shone was mired in embarrassment.

Questions about the organization of a premier event aside, Terrasse-gate has also triggered some major venting at Mayor Valérie Plante from Montrealers frustrated by all the problems plaguing the city.

The arrival of summer means the proliferation of orange cones as construction season brings labyrinthine detours and hellish congestion. Despite branding herself the mayor for mobility, trying to better co-ordinate work and trying to corral zombie pylons, Plante has been unable to tame Montreal’s nightmarish traffic. (The jams on F1 weekend hardly come as a surprise.)

Many Montrealers are feeling less secure amid a rise in crime. Homicides are down, but assaults, vehicle thefts and, most notably, hate crimes are up. Fuelled by the fallout from the war between Israel and Hamas, tensions have sadly pitted Montrealers against each other.

In the ongoing deadlock between the metropolis and the Quebec government over the massive shortfall in funding for public transit, the Communauté métropolitain de Montréal, comprising 82 municipalities in the region, recently voted to almost triple vehicle registration taxes, to $150 from $59. The CMM, led by Plante, may not have much choice if it wants to avoid painful and counterproductive service cuts. The annual fee is one of the cities’ few fundraising levers. But many drivers are seeing red over the hefty hike and raising questions about fairness for those who don’t have much access to public transit.

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The city has bungled the opening of a supervised drug injection site next to a school in St-Henri. Officials turned a deaf ear to the warnings of citizens that marginalized Montrealers wouldn’t mix well with young kids, and, worse, tried to tar opponents as NIMBYs. Now that these dire predictions have come true, making the neighbourhood unliveable, the mayor and her inner circle have little to offer but platitudes about learning to coexist.

There are perceptions, real and imagined, that Montreal is dirty, especially as downtown struggles with high office vacancies and shuttered storefronts in the wake of the pandemic.

Moving Day is weeks away and the days of Montreal being a renter’s paradise are long gone. The city is trying to be proactive this year about helping the people who won’t have a roof over their heads as of July 1, but there are few quick fixes to the housing crisis.

Plante has enacted a bylaw to require developers to include social and affordable units in their projects, but most have chosen to pay a penalty instead and no new lodgings have yet been built under the program. Housing starts in general are down in Montreal as developers complain of red tape. Plante has promised to fast-track permits for straightforward new construction.

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Amid the fallout from the terrasse fiasco last week, Plante unveiled a master plan for Montreal that calls for the creation of 200,000 new housing units in the coming decade, including much non-market housing near transit. But the announcement of that 2050 urban plan was overshadowed by ongoing grumbling about the overzealous fire inspectors shutting down the Peel restos. Perhaps it should have been postponed so Plante could help smooth ruffled feathers.

Add to the tumultuous mix homelessness, mental-health issues, inflation, a slowing economy and climate change — a list of crises facing the city that Plante herself listed when she tabled Montreal’s “sober” city budget last November — and you get a sense of the generalized mood.

There’s a bit of déja vu in the pile-on directed at Plante. It’s reminiscent of the summer of 2020, when the first COVID-19 lockdown lifted and Montrealers were similarly ornery. They were looking for someone to blame and Plante was a handy foil, even if much of what was ailing the city then was beyond her control.

With an election on the horizon — and with former mayor and archrival Denis Coderre topping the polls — Plante was forced to react. She postponed some of the one-third of construction work the city actually controls. It was an olive branch to grumpy citizens and a chance to get back in touch with the needs of the public.

As in 2020, Plante must now emerge from her bubble and listen to Montrealers.

Unlike in 2020, many of the things people are bothered about do fall under her responsibility. She is accountable three-quarters of the way through her second mandate — even if there is no obvious challenger yet waiting in the wings.

Montrealers have many grievances. They cannot easily be swept under the rug.

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