Highlights of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough council meeting held Monday, June 3, 2019

MONTREAL, June 6, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ -

Healthy snacks all year round!

Access to healthy, fresh food is a challenge for some borough residents, especially children. Although the programs and resources exist and are put in place throughout the school year, they do not continue over the summer. This means that there are many children at day camps subsidized by the borough who do not have healthy, balanced snacks.

In response to recommendations by the roundtable on reducing poverty in CDN?NDG, at the initiative of the Minister of the Côte-des-Neiges Presbyterian church and in keeping with its endorsement of Politique de l'Enfant Naître, grandir, s'épanouir à Montréal: de l'enfance à l'adolescence (Policy on Children: Being born, growing up and thriving in Montréal: From childhood to adolescence), the borough is proud to grant $14,500 to the Depot Community Food Centre to carry out its food security support program, with the goal of improving and expanding the Programme de collation santé aux camps de jour (Healthy Snack Program for day camps) subsidized by the borough.

In co-operation with the Multicaf community cafeteria, the goal is to extend the Healthy Snack Program to day camps in vulnerable parts of the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood and to three day camps in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood not yet covered by the program.

A new, green means of self-serve transportation comes to Montréal!

Dockless self-serve unregistered vehicles are appearing in more and more cities around the world. They may be bicycles or scooters, electrically assisted or not, generally billed by the minute or half hour. Users simply park them on public property once they have finished, without the need for docking stations.

A number of suppliers expressed their intention to provide this kind of service in Montréal starting in spring 2019, and so the Quebec Minister of Transport confirmed plans to authorize a pilot project allowing them to be operated on public roadways.

To prepare for this new transportation service and the announcement of the pilot project, in April of this year, City Council adopted a by-law concerning dockless self-serve unregistered vehicle services. The by-law lets boroughs determine sites where these vehicles can be left on their respective territory. To ensure proper monitoring of this new means of transportation, the borough plans to identify and define sites where they may be left.

By authorizing the creation of specific parking sites for dockless self-serve unregistered vehicles, the borough will ensure better access to the new vehicles, with their low carbon footprint, and simplify their deployment across borough territory.

The reserved spaces, to be located at specific spots that will not interfere with the visibility of other roadway users, will limit the risks of dockless vehicles being abandoned at random and will contribute to better sharing of public spaces.

A new reserve devoted to climate emergencies, and funding for a five-year tree-trimming plan

The borough reported a $4.2 M management surplus in fiscal 2018, of which $3.4 M will be allocated to various projects. These include the launch of a five-year plan for trimming trees on public property and the creation of a special reserve for responding to climate emergencies.

Given the pressing need for tree trimming across its territory, the borough came up with a five-year plan at an estimated cost of $2 M. The Borough Council allocated $1.2 M out of the $3.4 M surplus from the past fiscal year to this plan, so 60% of the funds required for the project are already in place. This amount represents an investment of $400,000 per year, and will guarantee its implementation for the next three years.

As for environmental initiatives, a total of $500,000 will be allocated to create a new reserve for climate resilience. This will make the borough better prepared to react and take additional action in response to unforeseen events related to climate change (heat waves, microbursts, etc.).

SOURCE Ville de Montréal - Arrondissement de Côte-des-Neiges - Notre-Dame-de-Grâce