Jeanne-Mance softball group faces city in court
The folks who used the softball field in Jeanne-Mance park, notoriously abolished last summer, are going to court against the city to bring it back. Now that Luc Ferrandez is no longer borough mayor and parks czar, this may turn out in their favour, but it’s playing out during the uncertainty of the campaign for the new mayor of the Plateau.
CE 08:46 on 2019-09-05 Permalink
I know a few people who play softball at Jeanne-Mance and PM would be wise reverse course and put that field back because otherwise there are going to be a lot of determined one-issue voters showing up at the polls and the Ensemble Montreal candidate has already said he’ll bring it back.
paul 08:48 on 2019-09-05 Permalink
Agreed, I hope Alex Norris can see the forest from the trees here.
All their justifications for removing the field are completely hypocritical considering the variety of other safety issues that are ignored throughout the borough.
Kate 12:05 on 2019-09-05 Permalink
Which safety issues, paul?
Meezly 13:11 on 2019-09-05 Permalink
Lucifer Ferrandez really screwed up in how he got the north field bulldozed without their consultation. But I’m torn now I’ve seen how people use up the park space for hanging out & picnics now that the north field is gone.
Don’t get me wrong, my kid runs around with the softball ‘orphans’ and I even donated to their cause. I believe the players prefer the north field over the south one as the afternoon sun doesn’t get in their eyes so I’m hoping if they ever do restore the north field, they could free up the south side as a trade, as it’s actually kind of nice to have the other half of the field as park space for the general public!
Ant6n 09:51 on 2019-09-06 Permalink
Wait there’s a second softball field in the same park but kids are still softball ‘orphans’? That sounds like a serious turf issue.
CE 10:05 on 2019-09-06 Permalink
From what I know from hearing my old roommate complain about it all the time, there are few issues. One is that there’s a shortage of fields so losing one made it worse. People are also upset about being lied to by Fernandez as he had told them they were only removing the field for a year while renovations were done do the tennis courts and then turned around and said they were removing it due to (mostly made up) safety concerns. I think the biggest issue is that it was the superior field. The south field is smaller, forces batters to look into the setting sun, it’s a bit hilly, and the bleachers are smaller and poorly placed. There’s also a lot of history with that field, it’s been there for a very long time so I’m sure there’s some nostalgia wrapped up in it.
I do agree that the space is being well used for hanging out and picnics. I didn’t expect that since it’s on a pretty busy intersection with no trees but I guess there was a need for more space.
Joey 13:59 on 2019-09-06 Permalink
@CE also, because the north field was not totally fenced in (no outfield fence), the space, especially the green space beyond the infield, was often used for lots of purposes when games were not taking place.