Council hears complaints about garbage pickup changes and dirty streets
Laval executive-committee vice-president Ray Khalil, who was substituting during the May city council for Mayor Stéphane Boyer who was away in Toronto for an economic conference, opened the meeting by drawing attention to a campaign launched recently advising Quebec’s principal political parties of the priorities Laval hopes will be taken seriously before the provincial elections in October.
“The campaign aims to concentrate on three dossiers, being the expansion of Cité de la Santé Hospital, the enlargement of our CEGEP Montmorency and the extension of our Orange Line,” Khalil said, referring to the Metro public transit system which has three stations in Laval now.
The campaign, being conducted by the City of Laval in conjunction with a coalition of local stakeholding community groups, includes an online petition which can be found at https://www.jesignepourlaval.com.
Stakeholders backing city
The stakeholders include Cadillac Fairview, Cégep Montmorency, Chamber of commerce and industry of Laval (CCIL), Cominar, Comité des usagers du CISSS de Laval, Conseil des médecins, dentistes et pharmaciens du CISSS de Laval (CMDP), Corporation du développement communautaire de Laval (CDC), Fondation Cité de la Santé and Société de transport de Laval.
“Laval is growing rapidly, but its services are not keeping pace,” states an English-language message posted on the coalition’s website, while noting that “for a third consecutive year, the Laval region ranks 17th out of 17 in terms of government investment per capita.”
As a result, they maintain, students are being turned away from CEGEP, access to healthcare is becoming more difficult, and transportation across the territory is increasingly challenging.
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church’s 50th
During a portion of the meeting reserved for city councillors’ statements, Chomedey councillor Aglaia Revelakis noted that on May 23 Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church will be marking the 50th anniversary of its founding. Saint Nicholas Church was the first Greek Orthodox congregation to be created in Laval.
During the public question period, George Kaoumi, a resident of McNamara Blvd. in city councillor Seta Topouzian’s Renaud-Coursol district, voiced a complaint that’s probably heard quite often from Laval residents in the spring.
“Our street is always dirty,” Kaoumi said, maintaining that the motorized street sweeper hadn’t been by on the street yet this year, and that it passed by only three times last year.
“The filth in front of our house is the accumulation from last year until this year,” he continued. “It’s disgusting, I hate my house and the City of Laval because of this. On the other hand, in Montreal the sweeper passes once every week and does this on a regular basis.”
Fewer garbage collection days
Among other things, Kaoumi questioned the city’s decision to pick up garbage from residences just once every two weeks, instead of once a week as it was previously. “This will in fact create a climate that favours the spread of insects and parasites, as well as foul odors,” he added.
Responding, Topouzian maintained that the city has had 18 to 20 motorized sweepers cleaning streets throughout Laval following the end of winter. “More than 40 per cent of routes have already been cleaned,” she said during last week’s council meeting.
“Now I understand that your street hasn’t been done yet,” she continued. “So, I am making a note of this. We are going to make sure that somebody will pass by to clean it. That’s a certainty, don’t make too much of it. This is part of my responsibilities and it will be my pleasure to take care of it quickly.”
More waste disposal complaints
More complaints followed about Laval’s updated waste collection system. Salim Masri, a manager with Plan A, a provider in Laval of premium residential and commercial rental spaces, complained about the city’s failure to pick up items of bulky waste left outside at least one of the company’s buildings.
He also complained about an insufficient number of garbage containers provided by the city to deal with waste from a Plan A apartment building with 110 units, while adding that garbage pickup every two weeks is inadequate to deal with the building’s enormous volume of waste.
“We have had no choice but to rent an extra container,” said Masri. “It’s us who are paying for the rental of the container and it’s also us who are paying for the pickup.” Several residents also e-mailed in questions, comments and complaints about the new garbage pickup method.
Khalil responded that most cities in Quebec that have done like Laval by steering away from garbage pickup while emphasizing recycling have in fact managed to lower the amount of garbage they send to landfill. “So, whether we like it or not, we have to try encourage good habits, while forcing it a little bit,” said Khalil.
Multisports complex wanted
Also during question period, Lyne Carry of Saint-Bruno district said that she and others in the community had decided to form a committee for the purpose of encouraging the city to build a multisports complex where track and field, triathlon, tae kwon do, table tennis and judo could all be practiced.
“We are ready to furnish our expertise to make sure that what would be built would meet norms and would be profitable,” she said, adding that other sports associations could also join the project. City councillor for Pont-Viau Christine Poirier, who is responsible for dossiers concerning local services on the executive-committee, said the city has no plans currently for a multisports complex.
“In the current budgetary context, together with our willingness to increasingly invest in the maintenance of our existing infrastructure, we are not launching many new projects in the coming years,” said Poirier.
