MONTREAL - With public consultations complete, Serge Goulet, president of Devimco which is promoting the $1.3 billion reconfiguration of Griffintown, announced: "It is clear that we have 100% public and municipal support for the project". The mega-project originally raised eyebrows when it was presented as big box stores with a minor residential component, but the currently proposed lifestyle centre with residential and office towers seems to please Montrealers. At the question session and thesis presentation, residents and experts voiced their praise for the projects, and in a few isolated instances, minor concerns. Borough Mayor Jacqueline Montpetit who presided over the sessions said of the few dissidents: "These people are simply being picky. Can't they see how much $1.3 billion can buy me, I mean the city of Montréal."
At the thesis presentation, individuals correctly identified that 60m towers are conducive to density, durable and semi-durable goods must be purchased on-island, and that a community can indeed function without education and medical facilities. One presenter, a young professional slated to move into the community next year, was so pleased with the project that he created his own website, www.ouigriffintown.com, to profess his undeniable support. His testimony was so moving that it prompted Mr. Goulet to say: "I was deeply touched at how that young man expressed his support through the website that we, [cough] he, spontaneously created."
With the public fully backing the project, the city of Montréal will complete the rezoning of the sector, and within a year residents may expect the remaining buildings, many of them century-old eyesores, to be razed to the ground. The dream of a soulless community built around a lifestyle centre is finally and deservedly becoming a reality.