Outrage on the streets

There’s a craving for some paving on Montclair Avenue between Fielding and Somerled, as residents of the cracked and pot-holed block are questioning the political process that has officials refusing to resurface their street this year. “We have residents on this street who have lived here for 51 years and don’t remember when it’s been paved,” says resident Elizabeth Dion, who led a residents’ blockade of Montclair on Tuesday. She contends that better-maintained streets are being repaved while hers is being ignored. Dion says her city councillor, Jeremy Searle, blames the Public Works department for failing to inform him of their paving plans, while borough chief Michael Applebaum hasn’t shown much interest either way. “When I asked him about it at a borough meeting, he hardly let me finish my question,” says Dion.

She’s no fan of the way the city evaluates the condition of streets. “It’s not balanced. The way they do the analysis is visual, it’s archaic and subjective,” she says. That hasn’t stopped her from demanding to see the Public Works department’s evaluations of the conditions of local streets, which they have yet to produce. She believes that the list will prove that the city chose to pave streets in better condition than her own, and will finally provide proof of her suspicion that political favouritism has worked against the 200 residents of her block, which include blind people, veterans and two daycares. :

- Kristian Gravenor