where next.
So, following the Citizens’ Forum from two weeks ago, and the Jane’s Walks which took place last Sunday in Mile-End (and elsewhere in Montréal, and North America) it is clear that we need to clarify the ‘what next’.
I mentioned in a post last week that among the many things I heard at the Citizens’ Forum that ones that stood out the most top of mind (for most residents) were:
1. Create a sub-committee of the Citizens’ Committee that could take over management of the Bain St-Michel, using this as a Community Public Space. This public space would be used for mobilizing community events and projects, displaying local art and other works, and otherwise serving as a public space open daily for the community. Talk was spilled regarding the fact that since this is one of the few city owned buildings in the neighbourhood, we could actually start a rooftop garden on top of the Bain, and maybe even re-service the roof as another outdoor public space.
2. Related to the first point, was to find an outdoor public space for community uses. One idea that was thrown around was to convert the small (30 car?) parking lot on the NW corner of St-Viateur Est and St-Dominique into a public square / green(ish) space. Ubisoft currently rents this space, so perhaps they could continue to rent it, but change it from a gravel parking lot to a green square where its staff could eat lunch and enjoy the sun. Of course, the rest of Mile-Enders would love it too.
3. Protect and respect the green spaces that already exist in the neighbourhood. This means specifically the large, and semi-wild, green space that borders the railway tracks north of Bernard and behind the big buildings on De Gaspé. People would like this valued for what it is: a multi-purpose space, partially programmed by the community that provides a touch of nature, clean air and coolness to an otherwise concrete and traffic heavy neighbourhood. People would like to see it respected more (i.e., garbage cans, and some benches), but not completely converted into a formalized park space. Also, they really don’t want it bulldozed to make a parking lot, road and new building (which is currently the city’s plan). and
4. Create and plan for coop housing that ensures low-income, multi-generational residents can live in Mile-End. This neighbourhood works, and feels true, because it is full of artists and other creative self-employed entrepreneurs, as well as senior citizens, young families and all the rest. The last thing residents want is this neighbourhood to gentrify to the point that all we see is one class, and fewer generations. Because if this happens, Mile-End will cease to be as beautiful as it is now.
So that is what I summarized after the forum, and largely I think these points are still the big ones that came out of the Citizens’ Forum. However, the Mile-End Citizens’ Committee has released a summary document of what was said at the forum, and there are a few things that I neglected to highlight. These are:
5. Create a Mile-End Market that would sell organic produce from an organic farmer. This could look a bit like what happens in Outremont, but on a smaller scale. As well, given the artistic nature of Mile-End, this would be a great place to allow artisans, artists, crafters and other folks with stuff to give away or sell to do so in a open public space. The places that have been suggested for this are: a) the market-type parking space on St-Viateur Est and Casgrain (on the west side of Casgrain), b) a community schoolyard, or c) the field (Maguire Meadow) behind the buildings on De Gaspé.
6. Keep this place a place for the arts (in their words): Favoriser l’intégration de l’art public pour renforcer l’identité culturelle du secteur. / Soutenir les initiatives qui visent à sécuriser les ateliers créatifs en les regroupant, tel que Quartier Général. / Faire (en sorte que la Ville fasse) l’acquisition de certains immeubles dans le but de consolider la présence créative du secteur. / Créer une association qui représenterait les artistes du quartier. / Regrouper toutes les informations qui affectent les lieux de location pour les créateurs-locataires : réglementation, avantages fiscaux, information juridique, guichet info-atelier, etc.
7. Implement policies that favour “active transportation” in the neighbourhood (bikes, walking, skateboarding, in-line skating, etc.), and otherwise make these spaces more friendly at the human scale, as opposed to the car scale (in their words): Créer une piste cyclable est-ouest à partir du Parc Laurier, des rues Boucher et Henri-Julien, et prolonger selon un plan à déterminer. / Créer un sentier urbain champêtre qui relierait quatre espaces verts en un seul, avec la piétonisation de la rue Alma. / Développer des terrasses, des jardins et des toits verts (sur les grands immeubles et sur la résidence Mile-End pour personnes âgées). / Revamper les façades des mégastructures (murs végétalisés, fresques, balcons etc).
I would add too, that a new traffic plan was put forward by the Imagine (le) Mile-End folks, as a first step to reducing traffic in the Secteur St-Viateur Est. Other traffic calming ideas were also suggested, such as adding some traffic lights in certain key spots, lowing speed limits, adding speed bumps and widening sidewalks at intersections.
8. And, lastly, decontaminate the field behind the big buildings on De Gaspé with natural, bioremediation methods, as opposed to aggressive bulldoze and dump methods. Again, this stresses the fact that people want the meadow protected and respected.
That’s a lot of suggestions, most of them very practical, do-able sorts of things. I would call all of these Phase 1 sorts of projects that we should be able to make serious progress on in 1-2 years. Not all of them at the same time, mind you, but if we were to pick a few key projects out of this list and push them to the front, they would be do-able in the short-term.
Except for a few a bigger ideas, however, there are very few Phase 2 ideas on this list. Or, what I consider more ambitious projects that would take 5-10 years to complete. I think it is fine we start with the Phase 1 list, but I strongly believe that we need to be planning Phase 2 right now, as well. It doesn’t make sense to think about only the easy stuff. Instead, we should be thinking our thoughts through to the medium- and long-term.
What are we trying to foster in Mile-End? What is important to us, and how can we ensure that our values are sown widely across our community? So where next?
I think simply put (in as few words as I can say it in), we need to get people assigned to the easy projects above. We need these to get moving forward, and we so we need teams of people who lead these projects. When a project needs more arms to help out, the group in charge will let the Citizens’ Committee know and folks will be mobilized.
At the top of this short-term to do list is a mobilization around the Public Service Yard (ou la cour de voirie), which is the big truck parking lot, city worker building and road that has been proposed to be paved over our green space. If the city opens a public consultation, this will happen in June. We need a strong counter-proposition for this consultation if we will have any chance of stopping this work. Or, we need a plan that will simply prevent the city from going forward with this project. Either way, this should be the top priority since this will have the biggest impact on our neighbourhood, and it could be coming down the pipe quickly (we still don’t know).
The other thing we need to be doing, is creating a longer term vision that pushes thinking and moves our neighbourhood in the directions that speak most to us. We need to start dreaming now, and getting this down on paper, or on canvas, so that in the next little while we can start planning how to get from where we are to where we really want to be.
So in short: get on phase 1 pronto. And, while that’s happening, start working on the bigger dreams that’ll come after (phase 2). Dreaming the future of a neighbourhood can’t only rest on those projects that are easy to get going. We need to act now on those things we can do now, but think big, and plan for the long-term.
