From the day I was first elected as the city councillor for District 2, one of my objectives has been to clean up Isadore Goldberg Park. Strangely sandwiched between a number of buildings on Kildare Road and Sir Walter Scott, it has never been properly accessible to all.

While we have maintained the park and always kept it clean, our plan all along was to try and relocate it closer to Marc Chagall Avenue. One such consideration was the greenspace near the row of town houses. That was put on hold when we needed the land for a temporary lease in order to find an appropriate space for the  workers on the new Equinoxe apartment buildings to park their cars and store equipment. That lease  concludes next summer, at which time the developers must return the land to its previous form.

I would like to thank our Director of Public Works Beatrice Newman and her team for coming up with a solution to make Isadore Goldberg Park shine in its present surroundings. This week we sent letters to residents in the immediate area to inform of the improvements planned for the park, named after former Councillor Isadore Goldberg Park. Work will be done in  two phases. For starters we have removed invasive plants and tall weeds along the fence behind the townhouses and placed geo-textile and poured stone onto the newly cut pathway. This will provide a new entrance to the park from Marc Chagall Ave. In phase two, the city will add a fence along the path (and hopefully paving), benches, new lighting, and other features to the park. We will also give the lights a more decorative look. We hope to do a re-dedication and install a new visible sign.

There are two reasons why the city must remove invasive plants like buckthorn, phragmite, other tall weeds along with overgrown bushes and other bushes. First, this vegetation has attracted insects and rodents. Second, it is blocking our crews from accessing the park with equipment. We need proper access to the park to maintain and clean the park regularly as we do in all other parks in the city, remove old urban furniture in the park, and clean the sewer. Also, Côte Saint-Luc Public Security patrollers will be able to see more clearly into the park when doing their patrols.

With horticulturalist Joane Warren and Beatrice Newman at the park.

As Ms. Newman notes, “we intend to make this park a beautiful space with an accommodating entrance for all.”

The new gravel road.

I would also like to thank Sir Walter Scott resident Alexander Errore for his ongoing interest and encouragement for the state of this park

When the makeshift parking lot becomes greenspace again, I will meet with local residents to determine what we can do with that area as well.

Last summer I commissioned an in-house traffic study on Sir Walter Scott Avenue, following some concerns raised over speeding by both residents of this street and Ilan Ramon Crescent. Are traffic calming devices such as speed bumps or humps needed?

The study showed that the average number of cars per day was around 700 , which means a lot of people are coming and going as we knew. We usually use 10 km/h over the 85th percentile as our rough indicator of whether traffic calming is warranted or not. In our case, the 85th percentile was around 48 km/h, so not overly fast , but very near the mark. People seem to be driving faster in the south direction on average. I will discuss this with council and senior staff over the winter to see what kind of action we will take in the spring.

Our coordinator of Urban Development Eric Ibey has provided major support on this dossier. He is the city’s de facto traffic guru. Last June he was a special guest at my District 2 Information meeting. He listens to the concerns of residents and even goes to meet them when warranted.

Eric has enacted some interim measures, taking away the two or three parking spots that were between Ilan Ramon  and the stop sign on Kildare Road, on the west side  Sir Walter Scott. We believe this will improve visibility for people turning out of Ilan Ramon and create more room for people exiting and entering from Kildare.

Over the summer we had allowed parking on both sides of the street  on Sir Walter Scott. We made it clear this was being done strictly to accommodate the residents of the building at 6600 Kildare Road as their garage was being repaired. Work on that project is now complete so we restored the no parking rules as they were before.

On the occasion of his remarkable 100^th birthday, Côte Saint-Luc city council honoured long time District 2 resident Hyman Avrum Fishman at our September 9 meeting.

I present Mr. Fishman with a certificate, surrounded by the mayor and council.

Hy is by no means your average centenarian. He still lives in his own apartment on Sir Walter Scott Avenue, in no need for someone to cook, clean or shop for him. Despite bad knees, he does his best to get around. His longevity may have something to do with him dragging his exercise bike into the hallway right outside his door and riding like the wind for half an hour at least several times a week, if not daily, says his friend and neighbour Bram Eisenthal.

Mr. Fishman and his neighbour Bram Eisenthal.

A number of years ago Hy dedicated two city benches on Kildare Road in honour of his late wife Fay. He can be seen sitting there often during the spring, summer and fall months.

Hy has become something of a defacto grandfather to his two young neighbours, Alexia and David, children of Gina and Nicu. 

“Several of us in his building are very protective of him and we try to keep an eye on him and make sure he is safe and well,” says Eisenthal. “Hy's mind is sharp as a tack and his collecting of pins from around the world may have something to do with his continuing zest for life, something exceeded only by his passion for his beloved Habs.”

I have always been fond of the people who reside in the Oak Ridge Apartment Building in District 2, located at 5795 Sir Walter Scott. This might be a rental complex, but it could easily pass for a condominium. Many of the residents have been there for years and they have an active Tenants Association, headed by Andrew Halmos. Professor Joseph Brody handled those duties before him.

Tova Lauferman is another one of the movers and shakers there and she was  the one responsible for organizing a lovely picnic for residents on September 3 at Ashkelon Gardens. That is right in the back of City Hall and of course directly next door to the Oak Ridge.

Tova and her team had pizza, cheese bagels, bourekas and a whole lot more. It was a beautiful day and over the course of the afternoon special guests like myself -- as the city councillor  for the building- as well as Mayor Anthony Housefather and D'Arcy McGee Liberal MNA Lawrence Bergman dropped by. See the photo above. That is Tova in the purple shirt and Andrew next to me in the green.

I know that when I have done my door to door campaigning in that building, the reponse from those who greeted me was most polite and enthusiastic.

When I left the picnic, Tova and her team were so wonderful that they put together a delicious doggybag to enjoy as a I moved on to my next destination.