Tiny, historic May Ave to be razed

Tragic that the century-old homes on tiny, charming May Ave.,  - the first street in Verdun when you come along Wellington from the Point - are being expropriated for demolition.
   The demolitions have been deemed necessary for the upcoming replacement of the Champlain Bridge.
   There's plenty of empty space on Butler, which is on the other side of the adjacent expressway but city officials have said that the necessary structure cannot be done on that side due to pre-existing infrastructure, water, or electricity or something, I'm not sure, although I wouldn't be shocked if it had something to do with the railway, which is frequently hostile to any demands on its corridors.
   It's clearly a strange situation to be ordered by a government to sell your house, one that puts into question the precious notion of property rights here in Canada.
   The residents I've spoken to are extremely stressed, including international Scrabble champion and English teacher Andrew Golding, who had sought - like many generations before him - to raise his family on the same spot. Another retired couple in condos on Rushbrooke that I talked to said that they didn't believe there was much chance of getting another 1,400 square foot condo for the price they would get at expropriation.
   Expropriation was far more common about 50 years ago when highways and other huge structures were being built. An expropriation has to be done for a common good, so a city cannot expropriate for some sort of private enterprise, which is why the attempt to demolish Cafe Cleopatra on the Main never worked.
   So there doesn't seem much hope of saving little May Ave so we hope that the residents will at least get fair value that will allow them to purchase something similar in the same area.
   I once interviewed an expropriated Laval resident who said that he received 2.5 times his municipal evaluation but others dispute that.
   The city might have some leeway in negotiating with each homeowner but as I've been told, the market is simply too likely too expensive to replace an Edwardian-era downtown cottage.
   Here is a partial list of property owners and their most recent evaluations: