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Despite the fact the Villeray/St-Michel/Park Extension borough council held its first public session ever on Feb. 3 at a new permanent locale at 405 Ogilvy Avenue in the heart of Park Extension, the number of people from Villeray who turned out by far outnumbered their counterparts from Park Extension.
Not in the habit
Since the borough started holding council meetings at the Maison du Citoyen in Saint-Michel following the 2002 megacity reorganization, it was assumed that the low attendance by residents of Park Extension was due to the fact they had to travel to Saint-Michel. "Park Exers are not used to it," city councillor Mary Deros told NPEN following the first Park Extension meeting. "They still call me for what they need and we've been able to service them that way.
"But I think that, as one of my citizens just came over to tell me, that because the meetings are held in French and they may not feel comfortable enough, or they may not have real issues that they feel really strong about, maybe that's why they didn't show. There's still a very strong relationship that I have with my citizens and they still contact me and we're able to take care of them and satisfy them with whatever requests they've put through.
An invitation to Park Exers
"I'm grateful for that. But hopefully the message will get out there that they can come and ask their questions in English and we will respond in English. So it's an open invitation to everybody in Park Ex to come over and participate in this democratic process." One exception to the no-show tendency of Park Exers is longtime resident Hagop Hagopian. A regular over the years at many borough council meetings, at the Feb. 3 session he wanted the officials to tell him when a bus shelter is going to be installed at a certain stop he and others use on the south side of Jarry at Querbes.
"Concerning the bus shelter, we had asked for that several times … and found out that, yes, it was possible to build it," Deros told him, referring to the Montreal Transit Corp. which coordinates such requests. However, she added that the transit agency also wanted a second opinion from the borough's public works department to determine if a bus shelter would be feasible. "I don't remember having received an answer," she said. "But I imagine it's do-able, because in other places it's done, especially if we look on Park Avenue at the corner of Birnam. Going north, there's one on the edge of the sidewalk."
Bus shelter sought on Jarry
Deros said in an interview afterwards she is working to complete the request, which she regards as entirely reasonable, since "there is a seniors home nearby, there's a lot of citizens. There's never ten people, but there's always two or three people waiting, and on cold days, on rainy days, on snowy days, they need some protection."
She said the MTC "seems to have shied away from doing it. They tried to blame our public works, saying that we need the approbation of the public works to build there on the sidewalk. They can do it. We've given them example after example, but they're still hesitating." She promised to "plead" with the MTC's new board "to see if there's any way we can advance this file that's been in waiting for a long time."
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