As spring comes to Montreal's Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, melting snow has revealed a graveyard of broken urban furniture destroyed during snow removal operations. Residents of the borough are troubled by this apparently brazen waste of public money caused by poor planning.
On Monday, April 7, the Ligue 33, a citizens' group in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, brought about a dozen broken bike racks and bollards to the borough office to make sure that the council notices the problem.
“Listen, it's been eight years that City Hall has turned a deaf ear in Hochelaga. So we're not expecting any clear-cut dialogue in the community to make our voices heard,” says Alexandre Giasson, a member of Ligue 33.
“My neighbourhood is deteriorating to an all-time low,” observed Giasson, who has lived in the borough for 17 years. “The action today is that we've started to ask questions about the snow removal operations.”
Giasson described to The North Star the damaged infrastructure he has seen in recent weeks:
“There was a huge amount of broken street furniture, several hundred benches that were ripped out, broken, unsalvageable. Several hundred bicycle racks have been ripped out or broken so that they are unusable. This is street furniture that was built with our taxes.”
The installation of bike racks and similar urban amenities was an electoral promise of Projet Montréal, the municipal party in power both at the city and borough level.
“We want there to be more substantial spending and for it to be thoughtful and constructive, and less flashy stuff that's there to look good,” remarked another member of the organization.
“We know they don't hesitate to waste money. There are snow-clearing operations that require driving over the bollards. Of course they're going to break. We're at a point where we're burning through our cash now.”
The elevated spending on urban furniture in the borough stands in contrast to its unpopular decision to reduce garbage pickup services.
Giasson was unimpressed with the borough mayor's response to the Ligue 33's concerns.
“He told us that there were no lessons to be learned from the snow clearance, that the operation had been a great success. I don't think so. My point is that taxpayers' money is being misused.”