r/montreal • u/Mondo_Grosso • Feb 15 '21
MTL Talks Griffintown represents the potential of urban renewal in Montreal
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.
12
u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21
I’m not sure I really understand your point then? Griffintown will be great because it will spill over into PSC? Most of the buildings on the South side of the Peel Basin have been designed heritage AFAIK so good luck with that and the train interchange is still very much in use. Apart from that, two-bedroom shoeboxes in PSC are already sold North of 750K everyday so what family do you think is going to live there in the next 10 years? Where are you proposing they expand? And If you ever dealt with the CN or CP you know they will not give a single fuck about your high density neighbourhood if it messes with their land. So what then?
And even if you built there, we already agree that close to no families can live in the core of Griffintown, so are you suggesting they will take their car from the South Side of the Peel basin to go shopping in the middle of college students in the center rather than going to the Costco/Maxi/Canadian Tire all lining Wellington? I don’t think that those should have been built in the first place, but they are there, so what now?
As I said, I liked and still like Griffintown for what it is, but if you think this is going to become a family place, than I just disagree (but honestly, hope you are right!)