citizens’ forum / le forum citoyen
(posted by markefrank)
The Citizen’s Forum for the redevelopment of the Sector St-Viateur Est took place yesterday at École St-Louis (38 fairmount est).
The event was organized by Le comité des citoyens du Mile-End, and they did a fantastic job. In fact, you couldn’t have organized a better event if you hired the best professional organizers in the city. Everything was well planned and executed, and never did I feel we were off course in terms of our stated goal (which, was to come up with a number of specific proposals we can agree on as a community to put to the borough, as well as to contribute to our overall sense of place here in Mile-End).
(Disclaimer: This is a quick summary of the events. The day was jam-packed, and so I can’t get all the nuance here. Le comité des citoyens du Mile-End will release detailed notes soon, and we will repost them here once they do. If you think I have summarized something poorly, please let me know.)
There was a bit of theater to kick off the day, which was funny and served to summarize all the concerns and history of the citizen movement in the neighbourhood. This piece of theatre, put on a by a company that specializes in such events (Mise au jeu), was a great way to get newcomers up to speed about the process and what has been said to date. It also successfully poked fun at us, the residents and our concerns, as well as at the city and its mediocre track record at winning confidence from their constituency.
The “work” part of the day started after the piece of comic theatre, and consisted of each of the 150 people (or so) prioritizing their top 3 concerns in the neighbourhood. A booklet was handed out to each person attending, and in the booklet was a summary of all the suggestions collected throughout the past 2 months, for projects that could make life better in Mile-End. This first task was to go through this list of suggestions and pick one’s top 3.
Once this was done, we shared our top 3 priorities with a small group of fellow residents, and then as a group we tried to pick 1-3 projects to put forward as the “do-able projects” we can get started on in the sector. Once some ideas were picked, we were encouraged to think through next steps and flesh out the ideas a bit.
Lunch followed this group work, and I was very surprised that 1) there was lunch included (I had no idea), and 2) it was so damned good! Soupe soupe made the main lunch, so there was lots of veggie options, and a local caterer in the neighbourhood brought some Thai food for all to sample. I don’t have her information, but everyone seemed very impressed, and I’ve seen her around a fair bit in the neighbourhood. When I get her coordinates, I’ll post them here so you can support some local business!
The afternoon was all plenary sessions, where all the small groups were asked to present their priorities list. After this, the floor was open for people to share thoughts, ask questions, etc.
Again, the day was perfectly planned. The only part I found a bit odd was the absence of English. Don’t get me wrong, I am a total francophile, and love speaking French … but I know there are people in the neighbourhood who are simply not comfortable in French, and I am sure they would have been discouraged from speaking up (or might even have been discouraged from coming if they have low comprehension skills). Again, I think these meetings should happen in French, but if we want these mobilizations to be inclusive I think the Committee will have to work a little harder to make these events more open to English interventions.
That would be my only critique of the whole day, though.
As for what was said, it clearly boils down to two main areas of concern: culture and environment. Throughout all the Cafés rencontres and through this Citizens’ Forum, I have consistently been surprised at how much people in the neighbourhood seem to see eye to eye. Meaning, everyone I have talked to is concerned about the same issues, and open to innovative measures to ensure the quality of life in Mile-End not only continues, but improves, in the short- and long-term.
It is quite inspirational, really, and motivating. I know that most neighbourhoods in the world would not have the kind of creative and open-minded approach to redevelopment as we find here. I think this is our biggest strength (and I think the municipal government is our biggest weakness, but that is for another entry).
So, the two main points in a bit more detail.
Culture
People believe in the artistic and convivial vibe that permeates this neighbourhood, and they are worried about real estate speculation and gentrification. Everyone agrees that we need to concentrate on creating more low-income housing. The community wants to ensure that we don’t become another Plateau (yes, I know, we are officially in the Plateau, but you know what I mean). We want to make sure we have a mix of incomes in this neighbourhood, and especially that those working in the arts are able to find space to work and live here in the Mile-End, now and forever, Amen.
:)
But seriously. This is a big concern. So too is simply maintaining the informal spaces for artistic creation and expression in the neighbourhood. So, simply put: this is an artsy part of the world, and we want to keep it that way.
I guess, actually, another component of this is public space. This topic took up a large part of the discussions, but is closely related to culture. People in Mile-End want more ways to meet others in the neighbourhood. We are demanding truly public space where we can meet, interact, share art and ideas, and otherwise mobilize our energy and passions.
Environment
Everyone agreed that we need to protect and respect our existing green spaces and beyond that create more green spaces and zones in the neighbourhood. This means, the Public Service Yard (or Cour de voirie) proposed by the borough is consistently opposed by everyone I have ever spoken to about it. For more information on this project, see here … but the short story is the city wants to bulldoze the biggest green space left in Mile-End to build a parking lot for big trucks, and a new building…oh, and another road.
Other things people wanted to see were: green roofs, green walls, a new park and public space created in the parking lot currently used by Ubisoft on the corner of St-Viateur and St-Dominique; traffic slowed and discouraged, and parts of the streets taken back to create more gardens and green spaces (to name a few).
A tie in as well to the culture talk … many direct links were made between the need for public space to keep our culture vibrant and green to make that public space liveable. So, while culture and environment might seem like distinct interests, what I was hearing was that people see these as closely linked.
So, in summary, residents here want: A greener Mile-End with more (green) public space, and some sort of assurance that those who make this place vibrant won’t have to move because a bunch of rich, boring people want to move in.
I hope that doesn’t sound smug, because I think it is pretty fantastic. The concrete examples of projects that should go ahead as soon as possible were:
1. Convert the Bain St-Michel into a community space that is open daily, and where we have the capacity as residents to come together, mobilize for specific events, and display and view art created in the neighbourhood. Start with creating a group of volunteers who will manage this, and approach the city to find out how to get this signed off.
2. Turn the parking lot on St-Viateur Est and St-Dominique into a green public space where people can take in the sun, eat lunch and otherwise enjoy being outside. This is good for those working at Ubisoft, as well as everyone else who lives here.
3. Protect and respect the large expanse of green space along the tracks and behind the buildings on De Gaspé. Start simply, with garbage cans and benches. The community is planning a bunch of other guerrilla gardening events that will make this space pretty this summer …
4. Ensure and push for more coop housing, specifically for families, multi-generations, and those with low-income.
These are the biggest ones. There are certainly more, but le comité des citoyens du Mile-End will post the notes soon, and I can repost those I have missed.
In the next few days, we’ll post some more ideas for next steps that we can all get involved with to make sure some of these happen. And again, we will need to mobilize quickly to protect the green spaces by the tracks, because the city is hell-bent on bulldozing this.
more soon …
