Plante addresses state of the Village
Mayor Plante addressed the state of the Village on Monday, saying the Émilie‑Gamelin area is under pressure, and once again saying Quebec and Ottawa need to help. Ottawa in particular is blamed for putting asylum seekers up at Place Dupuis hotel.
shawn 21:52 on 2023-02-20 Permalink
But the problem is claimed to homelessness, criminal behaviour – so I don’t understand how asylum seekers at Place Dupuis hotel factor into that?
shawn 21:57 on 2023-02-20 Permalink
I mean I can see how they’d have less money to spend in the area than the former residents of the hotel…
Kate 22:58 on 2023-02-20 Permalink
Maybe it’s just numbers. There are only so many hotel rooms, and a growing number of people who need them. Once people are pushed into true indigence, desperation can ensue.
Ephraim 09:54 on 2023-02-21 Permalink
Emilie Gamelin was like that LONG before the hotel problem. You couldn’t walk by Place Dupuis without being accosted for money any time in the last 10 years. The drug dealers used to sell their drugs on the side streets where they buildings could be used as cover. And St-Andre was used for streetwalkers. The problem with streetwalkers all over the east end… that’s the cops. They thought it was such a good idea to get injunctions against them to keep them away from St-Lawrence at St-Catherine… law of unintended consequences… they moved east and kept on spreading and moving from street to street to avoid the injunctions.
shawn 10:09 on 2023-02-21 Permalink
Oh yes I was there about 12 years ago or more and it was the only time I’ve seen a bike stolen right in front of my eyes. Guy smiled brazenly at me when I locked my bike up right in front facing Ste-Catherine, then moments later tore a more poorly locked bike off the rack and took off on it. The place is a creepy, scary, you name it.
People who lived in my place before me bought a lovely greystone condo nearby on St-André about 12 years ago, too, quickly regretted it because of the area. And he’s a criminologist!
But local merchants say something has changed, worsened, and one has to believe them…
DeWolf 12:18 on 2023-02-21 Permalink
As everyone else has mentioned, Berri-UQAM has always been sketchy, and personally I don’t get the impression that the level of petty criminality or drug use is any worse now than it was before the pandemic. The big difference is that the pandemic was really rough on the area’s businesses, so it’s generally quieter and emptier than it was before 2020. The balance has shifted. Without a buzzing nightlife and as many people shopping, it’s easy to have the perception of being less safe than before.
There’s also a radical anti-homeless narrative being built online and in the media that seems to feed on news coming out of other cities (like how San Francisco, Vancouver and Portland are supposedly post-apocalyptic wastelands now). I’ve seen comments online from people who claim to avoid the areas around Berri-UQAM and Atwater because they fear for their lives, which seems like a ridiculous overstatement, given that they’re still very busy neighbourhoods. But perception is often untethered from reality, especially when you spend a lot of time on the internet.
shawn 12:35 on 2023-02-21 Permalink
Right, I think that’s it.
qatzelok 13:08 on 2023-02-21 Permalink
I think a lot of people realize that the existence of homeless people in a rich country like ours… is a sign of our failure as a society. Look at Cuba – with one twentieth of the resource-consumption per capita – it manages to give everyone a home.
Kate 16:22 on 2023-02-21 Permalink
The odd thing about the area is that you’ve got a university, you’ve got a successful and popular library, you’ve got the Quartier Latin with its bars and restaurants and shops, all atop a major metro hub, but then you also have Place É‑G and some of Ste‑Catherine’s bleaker blocks, cheek by jowl.
The dead bus station is also a major detraction, I’d have to say.
PO 20:28 on 2023-02-21 Permalink
I’d bet money it’s the gare d’autocars. Go to any major city, anywhere, and where there’s an intercity bus terminal, you have homelessness, shadiness, drug addicts, drug peddlers, sex workers, etc. I don’t know why, but it’s always like that. Steady flow of out-of-towners that are likelier to part ways with spare change, access to bathroom facilities, near-to 24 hour public access, and at least in my experience, “I need just 3 more dollars to afford the ticket to Drummondville to see my mother in the hospital” ends up feeling possibly truer if they’re near a bus station.
Not saying it would clear up all of the problems in that area… but remove the bus station, and I bet the neighborhood changes in a significant way.