Saint Henri West

Here is a photograph by Dylan.

This is the eastern section of the Turcot Interchange heading towards downtown as it becomes the Ville Marie Expressway. In the background we see some triplexes of western Saint Henri, or an area known to some as Turcot Village, often cited as being one of the poorest parts of the city.
This part of town was once known as Les Tanneries, named for the local industry, and it covered the area of Saint Henri that runs into present day Turcot Yards.

The Comittee des Citoyens du Village des Tanneries is working to make a difference in the area. In May of 2005, over 2000 trees were planted along the road that leads to Turcot Yards.

Photo by Mahaut Ricciardi-Rigault

You can read the always awkward google translation of this page.

It’s a terrific idea and, given the enourmous costs of decontamination estimates brought up by potential developers, an inspiration to community based groups everywhere. More to come….

A Community Kitchen Garden Takes Form

Dylan’s, aka Richard Nixon, Saint Henri Photos

7 responses to “Saint Henri West”

Pingback: Housing To Be Demolished « Walking Turcot Yards·

I attended two of the MTQ public information sessions (the first geared towards reps of various community groups); the general public has no clue what questions to ask and the MTQ is happy to take advantage of this…it buys them time. They could have easily invited those residents most affected by the reconstruction but they say it’s ‘too early to alarm people’ (!?)

They skate around the specifics of how many / who is at risk of being bought out … yet at the earlier session attended by community activists who asked the hard hitting questions it was clear that the loft building on St Remi (250 people)? …Disappears; …the twenty triplexes on the north side of Cazelais and north /west end of Desnoyers…Gone ! MTQ response? They say that perhaps only a third of some back yards might go …that’s good isn’t it?

And what about the houses across the street from the devastation? How much do you think their property will be worth? The MTQ tries to reassure that the sound wall, eventually constructed will likely possibly add to the homes property value… Are you convinced?

Did I mention that all the rental units if destroyed, will mean that there will be hundreds of affordable apts in St Henri …that disappear…unless we insist that the MTQ invest needed money to build more of the same.

There is indeed MUCH that can be done! The Consortium de Recherche Urbaine has an alternative proposal to the MTQ version that spares the Village des Tanneries;

Solidarité St Henri and the Green Coalition are working with various University Research Groups are on the case too…

Each of us has to stand up and mobilize, continue to get involved in making the ‘hood as vibrant as possible. Join the CCVT (citizens’ committee), volunteer some time…Dare to make a difference… Remember David and Goliath… The Casino project… Anything is possible ! … And this community deserves a better future after the history they’ve had.

That’s the problem, I’m in my early 30’s, grew up in Verdun, was often in St-Henri, Ville-Émard and Pointe-st-Charles. My photography was shown on Walking Turcot Yards before and this area is one of the most history filled of Montreal. I know what it is growing in this area. So please don’t give me the bull of it.

The casino project would have revived this area of Montreal and those who brought it down alarming people with wrong ideas don’t realized that these people are still poor. It would have brought shops, stores, boutiques, the casino itself, it would have brought tourism to their area which means JOBS, the casino project had more chance of changing their lives and changing Montreal.

The people yelling and moaning are not that community, they are the one that thrives only on fear of these low income families. Don’t stop the progress or low incomes will just stay that, low income. A strong city make for strong communities.

Oh wait…you probably prefer that the whole thing crumbles down and give a bad press to the city. This way we’ll all be low income and we’ll all be in the same boat.

Bureaucrats have made mistakes in the past, Griffintown, one of my favourite part of the city is now a slum because of these mistakes and it saddens me. But that’s exactly what they are trying to fix right now. No more forest of concrete. bring the highway a little bit closer to the people, and let the people on this highway admire the beauty of the blue collars suburbs. The area is full of history, this area is Montreal’s own history and most people drive over it, 30m higher without even knowing where they are.

Blocking the casino project was a mistakes, go and read what the Cirque is doing for the St-Michel community, you’ll discover that they are changing it. You CCVTs stopped that for our area, please don’t screw it up again.

I’m an avid reader of this blog and whatever happens after my post will not change this. Neath (like Chris deWolf) is within my favourite english bloggers. But I guess that post about the CCVTs just made me mad.

The Cirque will do great things for Saint Michel and that is how it should be. But the Miron Quarry was hardly a residential area. The point here may be that 3 months rent as compensation to leave where you live and have invested great energy into the community is hardly anyone’s idea of fair compensation. There is also a matter of the God like powers of the government to just decide they can tear down whole neighborhoods for their mega projects. There were 5 plans considered for the new Turcot interchange and it s possible that one or more of them would not have included tearing down a good chunk of Les Tanneries. A true public consultation would have included those alternatives as part of the process.

What would happen if they decided to tear down a chunk of Westmount or Outremont? Why do poor neighborhoods have to be so disposable? In theory we all have a vote and therefore some potential for equality, but it just doesn’t happen that way. We have all seen Mayor Tremblay’s arrogance in action with the Park Avenue debacle.

Cirque Du Soleil seem to have understood the consequences of the proposed partnership with Loto Quebec in the Point. Unfortunately, the government does not have the capacity to act so responsibly when planning large scale projects and just plunges forward as if it were a crime against humanity to say, “Ok, let’s try this another way……”