Park-Extension
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Park-Extension (Parc-Extension in French) is a neighborhood in the city of Montreal, Quebec. The neighborhood is located in the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough, reaching a population of 29,000 (2001) and an area of 1,6 km². It's name derives from the fact that it is situated at the end of one of the city's biggest and most important streets: Avenue du Parc [English: Park Avenue]. The area is affectionately known as Park-Ex by its residents.
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[edit] Statistics
Average income: $12,306 Percentage unemployed: 30 Percentage of immigrants: 61 People per square kilometre: 18,229 (Montreal average: 5,739)
Most of the buildings were built between 1950 and 1970. Over 29,000 people are packed in only 1.6 square kilometres, more than triple the average population density in Montreal. Most of the population is made up of recent immigrants.
[edit] Geography
The area is bounded by Acadie, Canadian Pacific Railway (2 sides) and the Metropolitan Quebec Autoroute 40. The surrounding neighborhoods are Villeray and Little Italy to the east, Mile End and Outremont to the south, the Town of Mont-Royal to the west and New Bordeaux to the north.
[edit] Government
[edit] Municipal
The current district counicilor is Mary Deros. Mary Deros, Équipe Bourque/Vision Montréal candidate for City Council in Parc-Extension has been a very active resident of Park Extension since 1970. She was elected city councillor for Park Extension in 1998 and re-elected in November 2001.
Former city councilors
Konstantinos Georgoulis
Stavros Zagakos
Sofoklis Rasoulis
Demetrios Manolakos
The district is part of the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension.
[edit] Federal and provincial
The district is part of the following federal riding:
It is part of the following provincial electoral district:
- Laurier—Dorion
[edit] History
The area was a working class anglophone suburb until the 1950's. Then the Greeks moved in the area in the 1960'and 1970's and was almost 70% Greek at one point in time. It's still considered Greektown here, even though many have moved to the 'burbs and been replaced by other immigrants. Now the neighborhood is a mixture of Indian, Pakistani, South Asian, Latin American and Caribbean immigrants. In the late 80's, the area had problems with the shooting-pad/crackhouse blight that scarred the area. however, a concerted police effort in the early 90's has solved that problem. The Park-Extension library in the William Hingston community centre amd the Loblaw's supermarket, the old Jean Talon train station (part of which now contains an entrance to the Parc metro station (part of the blue) and near the Parc commuter train station), are part of the new Park-extension.
[edit] Fence with Mont-Royal along L'Acadie
The fence is erected on the eastern border with Park Extension along l'Acadie Boulevard. The stated purpose of the fence is to prevent children and house pets from running into the busy thoroughfare, but many contend that it was built to keep residents of the working-class Park Extension neighbourhood out of the town. This fence originally had several gates built into it, which the became a subject of controversy when they were locked one year at Halloween, preventing children from Park Extension from trick-or-treating in the town. The Mount Royal town council responded by removing the gates so that the fence could be crossed at any time at any of the six crosswalks along the 1.2 km boulevard.
[edit] Park Avenue name change controversy
- On November 28 the Montreal city council voted in favour (40-22) of renaming Parc Avenue after Bourassa, as announced on October 18, 2006 by Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay. [1]
- If, as expected, Quebec's Toponymy Commission approves the name change, all of Parc Avenue and its continuation, Bleury down to Viger will be renamed Avenue Robert Bourassa. This will cause the newly named street to cross René Lévesque Boulevard, named after a long time political rival to Bourassa.
- This decision by the City of Montreal without any consultation with the people of the city has caused an uproar and a lot of controversy, especially as Parc is itself an historical street name, associated with the city's beloved Mount Royal park.[2]
- There was an online petition against this renaming. The petition is now closed
- The STM's Parc metro station (and AMT commuter rail station) will remain "Parc" due to a moratorium on renaming metro stations. [1]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Borough website (in French)
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