Plans for park go kerplunk

How does a plan to create 100 garden plots morph into blueprints for a condo development? When a civic leadership favours the green of dollar signs above the green of vegetable patches, according to Mile-End city councillor Helen Fotopulos.

Through a leaked document from the city parks department, Fotopulos recently learned that Mayor Pierre Bourque is set to reneg on an election promise--which he made in both the 1998 and the 1994 campaigns--to create a community garden at a site at Henri-Julien and Maguire St.

"Urban planners have said Mile-End is in dire need of green space," Fotopulos told the Mirror. "There are so many social and economic divisions in our district. The community needs to get seniors together with students to cultivate potatoes and tomatoes."

Fotopulos is encouraging Mile-Enders to pressure Mayor Bourque into keeping his promise by writing him letters and signing petitions circulating in the district. She insists that, although the condo development plan could generate almost $1 million in city revenue over five years, the city needs to consider the value of neighbourhood green space.

Says Fotopulos: "To attract people to this neighbourhood, you have to come up with community space."

--Dominique Ritter