Red tape wipeout

Permit problems bring the axe
down on the Mile-End Bike Garage

SOCIALLY SUSTAINABLE, NOW HOMELESS:
Hana MacDonald and Riley Star (front) and MEBG members

by MATT JONES

Up until last month, if you were a cyclist in Mile-End who didn’t know a Shimano from a skirt guard but still wanted to ride your beat-up BMX through the neighbourhood’s matrix of bike paths and alleyways, there was a solution for you. Thanks to bike activists Riley Star and Hana MacDonald, five bucks could get you a membership at the Mile-End Bike Garage, and volunteers would teach you how to change a flat, fix a broken pedal or even bend your entire frame back into shape.

The past year saw the Garage go from a couple of people pumping tires two days a week to an organization of some 300 members using the garage six days a week, from morning to evening. Everything was cruising along well until a noise complaint triggered a visit from an inspector from the city of Montreal.

“The inspector told us that we’d have to get a certificate from the city to continue what we’re doing,” says MacDonald. “We tried to explain that what we’re doing isn’t commercial and that it’s part of a socially sustainable activity.”

Sustainable or not, the co-op would have to get certified. The Garagistes decided to bite the bureaucratic bullet and go legit. But when Star arrived at city hall with $200 to pay for the certificate, he was told that no such document existed.

“In fact, the certificate doesn’t allow this kind of activity at all in this location,” says Star. “The city says what we’re doing is commercial, so it needs to be in a commercial zone.”

That would mean moving from a shed in an alley behind St-Urbain and Clark, south of St-Viateur—which, according to municipal zoning by-laws, is a residential area—to a street-front address around the corner, adding upwards of $2,000 a month to their expenses. This makes continuing as a volunteer-run, almost-free service inconceivable. At least without a backer.

MacDonald points out that other bike co-ops are able to survive because they have big institutions behind them. “Our bind is that we’re on our own. Concordia and McGill have established similar programs, and UQÀM and the Université de Montréal are on the way,” she says. “This kind of thing should exist in every community. We get people to ride bikes safely and to be able to fix them themselves—what’s wrong with that?”

But doesn’t the city have a permit that covers positive non-profit initiatives of its residents? Apparently not—although one municipal politician says she likes the idea of the Mile-End Bike Garage. Eleni Fakotakis, city councillor for Mile-End, says she finds the project “useful and necessary,” and is looking into how the city can manage it.

For the time being, the current incarnation of the Garage has resigned itself to its bureaucratic death; look for a new embodiment in the neighbourhood in the spring. In the meantime, Mile-End residents looking for a place to tune up their bike will have to content themselves with professional bike stores, or cycle down to other co-ops like Santropol Roulant (4050 St-Urbain) or Révolution Montreal (1757 Amherst).

MacDonald says they’ve received a flood of support since being forced to shut down, including sources of revenue and organizations they could potentially ally with. For now, their biggest concerns are housing the Garage’s equipment over the winter and finding a new home for next year.

To help out or to find out more, e-mail garage.mile.end@gmail.com.