With pounding drums and the resonating clash of cowbells echoing through the evening air, a crowd of pedestrians swelled in protest outside a borough council meeting in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension. The cacophony was in response to the council’s unilateral action to strip away over 250 designated parking spaces for the construction of new bicycle lanes.
The marrow of discontent was injected into the veins of the community, splitting the town with vehemence. Tensions ran high, police officers had to be dispatched to maintain a sense of order, and local city councillors found themselves in a pressure cooker of controversy for their apparent disregard of public consultations leading up to the project.
In the fervor before the council meeting, Sia Spanoudakis, a key member of the Coalition for Democracy Park Extension, voiced his grievances. “Public consultation was shamefully absent from the planning process,” he lamented. “Decisions were impulsively made by individuals disconnected from the rhythm and essence of Park Extension.”
The hot-button issue that stirred public agitation was the casual disposal of essential parking spaces to make room for bicycle lanes. The borough’s streets such as Ball, Querbes, and l’Épée became controversial symbols of the conflict, with their parking spots erased in favour of cyclist routes.
Chants rang out from the crowd, “We want parking. Gardez les stationnements,” their united voices reverberating through the air. Spanoudakis voiced the residents’ exasperation over the reduced parking facility, which was pushing neighbouring streets to the brink of capacity.
Valérie, a ten-year resident of Park Extension and mother of two, expressed her support for the new bike paths. She argued that the changes were necessary for a more equitable share of the streets, security, and improved inter-neighbourhood connectivity. “Losing parking may be frustrating, but bike paths generally necessitate such reconfigurations,” she acknowledged.
Inside the council room, the heat was palpable as local residents grilled Mayor Laurence Lavigne Lalonde and the council about their decision and its justification. A plea for compromise echoed through the chamber, with one resident asserting the residents’ unhappiness, and the need for “a happy middle point.”
Lavigne Lalonde responded with assertions of meeting evolving road safety standards and following engineers’ advice. She admitted the difficulty of the decision but was hopeful of finding additional parking within the borough. However, she candidly dismissed the possibility of replacing all 250 lost spaces.
The next borough council meeting has been scheduled for Nov. 7, and the residents await it with bated breath, their demands for reassurances unanswered.
