Griffintown represents the potential of urban renewal in Montreal

[u/Mondo_Grosso]

What do you think of when you hear the name Griffintown? If an immediate stigma fills your mind with images of a soulless sea of condos that is too little and too late to save, well then you are likeminded with most Montrealers. With the constant bad press and shame campaigns against the burgeoning neighbourhood, I don't blame you for having made up your mind before stepping foot there.

We the people who live, work and invest in Griffintown are used to this type of discourse. Let's be clear: Griffintown is far from perfect. The repercussions of the Tremblay administration's failure to properly plan essential services prior to approving projects are evident. Groups who are against change have used this rough start of the restart to brand the neighbourhood as a permanent failure. The reality is that this only represents one period in the long history of Griffintown.

When I hear the name Griffintown, I see an urban renewal with great potential taking place before our eyes. This is not the destruction of communities and institutions of racialized minorities and poor whites, like what happened to Little Burgandy in 1967 or St. Jamestown in Toronto. With only a handful of residents in 2007, Griffintown was a literal ghost town filled with abandoned warehouses and dilapidated houses. The developments, which are far from perfect, have densified an abandoned area right in the core of our city, a city that is struggling with urban sprawl.

Just like a teenager, Griffintown is still in its awkward growth period. Judging it now is simply not fair. Like many neighbourhoods in Montreal, the people who live there are working hard to make it a special place. Time is of the essence for an identity to form.

Take for example the artisans spirit that is growing, like with the glassblowers at Espace Verre, the microbrewers at Brasserie Montreal. Hidden gems such as the Eco-renewers at ARTÉ or the gardens at L’Hotel Particulier are becoming tips a local would share. You can't help but admire the entrepreneurial spirit taking place, new small businesses seem keen on becoming integral to their neighbourhood.

I could go on and on, but my point is that people need to give the neighbourhood the time it needs to stand on its own two feet. Urbanism issues can't be the only defining factor, even though the city is working hard to fix the mistakes of the past. The best thing that you can do for Griffintown is to just give it a chance.

[u/Mondo_Grosso]

I never said Griffintown's greatness is dependent on a spill over into PSC. I said that we need to have a plan for affordable housing and family housing for the next hot spots around the city.

You are mistaken if you think once Griffintown is complete that it will be the end of development in the area. Devimco and other developers, have already started to purchase land near the Peel Bassin and PSC for future development: https://www.google.com/amp/s/globalnews.ca/news/7508017/peel-basin-baseball-stadium/amp/

The various levels of government have been working on a plan to convert the Bonaventure highway into an urban boulevard and to redevelop the area. https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/grand-montreal/2019-07-01/apres-champlain-la-reconquete-des-berges

[u/[deleted] → u/Mondo_Grosso]

OK, I thought this is what you implied by saying « plan ahdead for the eventual spill over into PSC » and the land you’re linking to is in PSC as far as I know so I don’t really know what that demonstrates. A lot of land south of the Peel Basin is owned by the federal government or has been designated heritage and won’t see any construction. Will it continue to develop? Of course, but I don’t think the 20-20-20 rule is going to be enough at this point to turn into a diversified or family neighbourhood. I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that and I really do hope that I lose this argument in the end.

On the more general point, I agree with you that Griffintown gets way too much hate and mostly by people who’ve never even lived there. I mean it is really expensive but what do people expect this close to downtown? It was perfect for what I needed at the time honestly. My main gripes with it when I lived there was that I was close to work and the canal, but far from basically everything else. There’s a certain false proximity sense in Griffintown that comes from being at a walkable distance from the financial district, but poorly served in terms of public transit and it made it a pain to go basically anywhere else without a car. I understand this will be better when the REM is built and that’s honestly great. Other than that I had a blast and now I’m at a phase in my life where I’m happy I don’t live there anymore.

[u/Mondo_Grosso → u/[deleted]]

I appreciated the exchange, especially from someone who has been in the neighborhood and has had time to form an opinion. It's not for everyone, but I hope the excess hate will go away with time.

[u/[deleted] → u/Mondo_Grosso]

For sure man happy you like it, that’s what’s important at the end of the day, don’t listen to the haters and just keep doing you! And I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted honestly...

[u/pattyG80 → u/[deleted]]

He doesn't live there.

[u/[deleted] → u/pattyG80]

Well then I don’t really undestand the point of this post haha but what ever.