photo courtesy Yanni K.

   Today the abandoned city-owned Snowdon Theatre, which belongs to city taxpayers, was hit by fire.
   Who is reponsible for this disaster? Look no further than the borough of Cote des Neiges/Notre Dame de Grace.
   Whatever surveillance or barricades they hired to prevent such a fire was clearly insufficient.
   The city councillor for the area is Marvin Rotrand. The borough mayor for the area is named Russell Copeman.
   Neither has been proactive in preventing the ongoing decline of this historic heritage landmark, which is the flagship spot for a part of the city which has long been known as Snowdon.
   The city has not just been indifferent to its plight, it might even be considered actively hostile.
   A few years ago my brother happened to speak to a city bureaucrat about some issue who spontaneously said "it's not like Snowdon, which isn't even a legitimate place in Montreal."
   He remarked that it seemed unusual that a city official would have been so motivated to denigrate Snowdon so recklessly.
   Amazingly enough I happened to speak to another city bureaucrat sometime later who said something very similar.
   I remain convinced that there is a conscious or subconscious will to eradicate this beautiful art deco building and what is symbolically represents.
   Montreal even went to the trouble of changing the sign from Snowdon Theatre to Theatre Snowdon several years ago.
   Why the councillor and borough mayor were not more proactive to stop its decline remains a mystery.
   One can now expect authorities to announce that it is now too difficult to save this structure, which is a convenient solution for them, but ultimately represents their failure, as its repair and rehabilitation would have cost considerably less than many other questionable projects championed by the city and borough.
   The Facebook Snowdon Theatre must be saved page has 258 members, all new members welcome.
See also:

• City seeks to sell Snowdon Theatre
• Gymnasts out in the cold as borough closes Snowdon Theatre building
• Vacant old buildings starting to pile up in Montreal
• Snowdon Theatre latest outrage - CDN/NDG borough denies access-to-information request 
• CDN/NDG borough puts Snowdon Theatre up for sale