Since 1989, concerned Milton Parc citizens have fought to save this little alleyway between Park Ave, Hutchison, Pine and Prince Arthur – one of the last vacant pieces of land in our neighbourhood – as a precious green space for the benefit of everyone living and working in the area. The land was sold in error in a tax sale. The City said it would recover the land, but didn’t.
After years of ineffective pleading with the City, local citizens themselves converted it into an inner-city park and named it ‘Parc Oxygène.’ Citizens and community groups invested their own time and money, planted trees, flowers and shrubs to improve and transform it into ‘an oasis of green in a sea of concrete and asphalt,’ and have voluntarily maintained it as a park ever since.
During this period, citizens continued to ask the City to re-zone the land to protect the park or to buy it from its owner, a private developer, to make the park ‘official’. The City did nothing. In late 2009, citizens learned by accident that after all these years, without any consultation or notice, the previous Plateau Mont Royal borough counsellors re-zoned the land to allow a developer to build on the park site.
Now, we the residents of Milton Parc, demand that the current borough take immediate measures to reverse this decision and act to save and protect Parc Oxygène as a vital and important urban green space. We demand that the borough heed the wishes of local citizens and either buy or expropriate this land for the use and enjoyment of all who live and work in the area. It is a fundamental question of health, safety and the quality of life of our urban environment.
Help save our park! Get involved! Everyone welcome!
