Village merchants dream of leaving
Contradicting the mayor’s recent statement that things are going better in the Village, the area’s SDC found that one quarter of its merchants are considering moving or closing their businesses sometime soon, and many more are unsatisfied with the area’s declining cleanliness and safety.
La Presse cites a report showing that the decline of the Village started before the pandemic, and that similar trends have been noted in established gay neighbourhoods elsewhere, as more general acceptance of homosexuality means there’s no longer any need for a special area for gay socializing.
qatzelok 11:29 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
Also, there haven’t been any abandoned buildings to host spontaneous gay orgies in the Village since the late 90s. Grinder has done the same thing to these *spots* that Amazon has done to storefront retail.
dwgs 14:11 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
Well that’s quite a tangent.
Ian 14:17 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
There’s still orgies qatzi, you’re just not invited. Montreal is internationally known for its swinger scene, which is known for all the flavours.
Grindr ruined nightlife about as much as Tinder did, which is to say not at all.
The gay village diaspora is happening because people don’t need to hide away in an enclave tacitly tolerated by the police.
bob 14:40 on 2024-02-26 Permalink
I think it’s part of a general trend of subgroup neighbourhoods. At first they existed as “ghettos” or enclaves (many Somethingtowns or Little Somethings or just some place becoming associated with the group), then as the groups got more assimilated the neighbourhoods ended up targeted for Disneyfication into tourist attractions (Quartier this and that) and/or gentrified. As to the declining safety and cleanliness, that’s on the City. And as to socializing – is that even a thing any more?