Montreal contains one borough that towers above all others but lacks in power what is has in size.
It's an urban area so large that is would be Canada's 30th largest city in Canada if it went solo.
Cote des Neiges/ Notre Dame de Grace is home to 165,000 residents, which ranks it large than Sudbury, Niagara Falls, Sherbrooke, Nanaimo, Fredericton, Kingston and countless other Canadian cities.
The borough has two representatives on the city's 12-member Executive Committee, Councillor Lionel Perez and borough mayor Russell Copeman but still punches below its weight and routinely sees its needs overlooked, as seen in such fails as:
The borough administration was even corrupt and got nailed for crimes.
Secretive meetings and dodgy land deals led to a corruption conviction against longtime councillor Saulie Zajdel. Longtime former borough mayor Michael Applebaum is soon to be tried on corruption as well. (The secretive methods continue still, by the way).
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Solutions do not seem near at hand, as councillors bicker among each other: one has grown old and cynical, another is bent on establishing a wacky personality cult and one is so fixated on bicycle paths that he wore a helmet at a city council meeting.
The borough needs a break and there is one slam-dunk project that could easily go far to finally put it on the right track.
The borough must move out of its bland office space at 5160 Decarie across the street to the Snowdon Theatre.
The project would allow the landmark Snowdon Theatre to be rehabilitated and could also usher the return of the gymnasts into their proper place on the upstairs level.
It's a no-brainer as the borough - in spite of its large population - has easily the worst town hall on the island. Compare its town hall anywhere else, such as Verdun, Westmount, Outremont, which all have impressive buildings.
The borough currently rents its offices from a numbered company.
It already owns the Snowdon Theatre, so there's not much involved in the switch.
Once installed in the Snowdon Theatre the borough could then imitate the mayor of Montreal and order a section of the nearby highway covered up.
Covering a section of the Decarie above Queen Mary would help return Snowdon to the glory it once knew before it was demolished in the mid-60s by the Decarie Expressway project.
It's an urban area so large that is would be Canada's 30th largest city in Canada if it went solo.
Cote des Neiges/ Notre Dame de Grace is home to 165,000 residents, which ranks it large than Sudbury, Niagara Falls, Sherbrooke, Nanaimo, Fredericton, Kingston and countless other Canadian cities.
The borough has two representatives on the city's 12-member Executive Committee, Councillor Lionel Perez and borough mayor Russell Copeman but still punches below its weight and routinely sees its needs overlooked, as seen in such fails as:
- The highway on-ramp to the Ville Marie Expressway was demolished, never to be returned, forcing downtown-bound motorists to much-slower routes via already-congested Cote St. Luc and Decarie or through the slow city streets along St. James in St. Henri
- All traffic to the MUHC Vendome superhospital travels through NDG, while a route via Westmount was permitted to remain closed
- It failed to develop Blue Bonnets, which means that massive mall tax cash revenues will instead go to TMR with its upcoming Royalmount Mall
- It made no progress creating the long-needed Cavendish extension
- Massive numbers of new traffic lights have been installed through the area, making driving a headache
- The costly Turcot interchange rebuild will move traffic to the bottom of the cliff below St. James, making life in the area noisier and more polluted
- It has failed to maintain the Snowdon Theatre, a property is owns but allowed to fall into disrepair and crippled a gymnastics club where hundreds of girls practiced the sport
- Completely unable to make any progress on rehabilitating the long-deteriorating and vacant Empress Theatre
The borough administration was even corrupt and got nailed for crimes.
Secretive meetings and dodgy land deals led to a corruption conviction against longtime councillor Saulie Zajdel. Longtime former borough mayor Michael Applebaum is soon to be tried on corruption as well. (The secretive methods continue still, by the way).
Solutions do not seem near at hand, as councillors bicker among each other: one has grown old and cynical, another is bent on establishing a wacky personality cult and one is so fixated on bicycle paths that he wore a helmet at a city council meeting. The borough needs a break and there is one slam-dunk project that could easily go far to finally put it on the right track.
The borough must move out of its bland office space at 5160 Decarie across the street to the Snowdon Theatre.
The project would allow the landmark Snowdon Theatre to be rehabilitated and could also usher the return of the gymnasts into their proper place on the upstairs level.
It's a no-brainer as the borough - in spite of its large population - has easily the worst town hall on the island. Compare its town hall anywhere else, such as Verdun, Westmount, Outremont, which all have impressive buildings.
The borough currently rents its offices from a numbered company.
It already owns the Snowdon Theatre, so there's not much involved in the switch.
Once installed in the Snowdon Theatre the borough could then imitate the mayor of Montreal and order a section of the nearby highway covered up.
Covering a section of the Decarie above Queen Mary would help return Snowdon to the glory it once knew before it was demolished in the mid-60s by the Decarie Expressway project.