Safer streets, efficient maintenance, and no more power outages.
Integrate Sainte-Geneviève into Pierrefonds-Roxboro to improve services.
Well-maintained public spaces, revitalized riverfront, and historic village showcased.
The 2002 municipal mergers in Montreal resulted in the former towns of Sainte-Geneviève, L’Île-Bizard, and Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue being grouped together under a single administrative entity.
Shortly thereafter, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue regained its status as an autonomous town, leaving L’Île-Bizard and Sainte-Geneviève in the same borough.
Today, this borough is represented by two councilors and one councilwoman from L'Île-Bizard, a mayor who also resides in L'Île-Bizard, and a single councilwoman for Sainte-Geneviève.
After nearly twenty years of existence, it is time to review these administrative structures.
image par Emdx - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92831626
Although they belong to the same borough, the former towns of L’Île-Bizard and Sainte-Geneviève have no direct natural border. They are separated by a very busy bridge, and most municipal services (roads, public safety, fire department, first responders) are located in L’Île-Bizard.
Worse still, Sainte-Geneviève is completely enclosed within the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro. Some buildings and lots are cut in half, and an entire neighborhood, that of Joseph-Sawyer and Aumais streets, is completely surrounded by Pierrefonds-Roxboro with no direct access to the rest of Sainte-Geneviève.
This situation creates daily inconveniences: inconsistent garbage collection schedules, shared responsibilities for water leaks, and poorly coordinated snow removal and street cleaning.
The management of street sweepers, garbage trucks, waste collection, recycling, and green waste regularly conflicts with that of the neighboring borough.
For citizens, this means wasted resources, unnecessary trips by municipal vehicles, and less efficient service. As can be seen on this map, residents of Aumais and Joseph-Sawyer streets find themselves isolated in the neighbouring borough.
On a social level, many residents of Sainte-Geneviève struggle to use the recreational facilities located in L'Île-Bizard due to a lack of adequate transportation. They therefore turn to services closer to home, in Pierrefonds-Roxboro.
In terms of public safety, coordination in the event of flooding or major construction would be much more effective if it were managed by the borough that already surrounds us: Pierrefonds-Roxboro.
Integrating Sainte-Geneviève into Pierrefonds-Roxboro would not require a municipal demerger.
It would involve a modification of borough boundaries, which could be achieved through an agreement between the two parties and with the approval of the City of Montreal.
This reorganization would allow for:
Inform the citizens of Sainte-Geneviève about how the borough and the city center plan to invest public funds to improve the village.
Establish a development plan for the historic village that highlights the buildings, businesses, and institutions that make it so rich.
Taxes paid by citizens should be used for the well-being of citizens:
Astronomical sums of money have been thrown out the window instead of being used to develop our parks, make our streets safer, and maintain our public buildings such as the Robert-Sauvé Park chalet or the old city hall on Chauret Street.
The money wasted should be used to ensure the safety of children and adults by building sidewalks on Paiement Street, for example.
Examples of wasted money: The biggest waste is hiring engineering firms to prepare plans and other documents that will never be used. Examples:
Other major expenses to highlight to the citizens of Sainte-Geneviève:
The borough pays approximately $975,000 to the Saint-Raphaël sports complex (the Île-Bizard arena). This is an astronomical sum for a small borough like ours.
Every dollar wasted is one less dollar for our sidewalks, our parks, and the safety of our families. Together, we can put an end to this wasteful spending and reinvest in what really matters to Sainte-Geneviève.
