People Involved In The Greening of de Maisonneuve 1976 The Ville Marie Expressway was about to open and it appeared possible  the inner city dwellers, could benefit from this large public investment as well as the west island commuters. Habitats attended every meeting of the Westmount City Council for five years. This involved convincing three separate councils of the wisdom of closing. It  was the most satisfying planning contribution Habitats made toward the public good.  Dr. John Udy: Wrote the plan for the closing of de Maisonneuve, developed the HABITATS GROUP  for that purpose and spear headed the activities surrounding the group. John was a practising planner working independently or with other planning groups. Chief among the projects he was associated with was checking on the local impact of the Trans Canada Pipelines project to serve the entire country with natural gas from its source in Alberta. In the United States, he was in charge of the plan for Greater Albuquerque, N.M., and had an important role in the ground breaking plan for the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Canada, he was associated with the plan for the Quebec City region, the plan for Calgary, and the plan for St. John's, Newfoundland. Read more about John Udy. Michael and Betty Prescott: Lived on Grosvenor and were responsible to encourage their neighbours west of the Park to come to Council meetings when the closing was on their agenda. They worked hard to get all the signatures on lower Grosvenor, de Maisonneuve and side streets below Sherbrooke.  Michael was very active and informative in his interaction with the  community. He attended single  City hall Meeting, and his support was invaluable. Jean and Derek Anderson: Also lived on Grosvenor and helped Michael in his efforts. John Jonas: Prestigious civil engineer with important government contracts. His day job was heading the Engineering Dept. at McGill. His work kept him busy so he was not able to attend meetings often, but he gave Habitats his moral support. John's wife Holly Jonas was also supportive of the closing. Isabel and Iain Gow: Neighbours residing on Metcalfe Avenue, near de Maisonneuve, who attended the meeting with mayor Drapeau in order to present the case fort the closing, and provided moral support for the project. Mayor Jean Drapeau: Who passed the ordinance to close de Maisonneuve at the park after it was approved by the mayor of Westmount . Was very supportive of a bicycle path for the whole of Montreal, and De Maisonneuve was the first street to be closed in this effort. Peter Duffield: Also on City Council but because he lived on De Maisonneuve, was not able  to get involved because it would be self- serving. But he appeared to support the idea that "once an arterial, always an arterial." Which was contrary to the goal. Brian Gallery: Headed the Council's Transportation Committee. Was vocally against the closing and particularly averse to the bicycle path, believing cyclists were too vulnerable to cross-traffic accidents. (He would not allow his children to bike even in upper Westmount.) But he finally changed his mind and  publicly came out in favour of the closing of De Maisonneuve,  at a meeting in Westmount Park . R. Wright: A powerful lawyer on the Board of the Westmount Municipal Association. Also believed "once an arterial…" but eventually signed for the closing. Charles Aspler: Shared an office with Charles Aspler and was also on the planning committee and shared his views on the closing. Harry Mayerovitch: Shared an office with Charles Aspler and was also on the planning committee and shared his views on the closing. George Steber & Aime Desautels: Worked for the City of Montreal Planning Dept., but at that time, that department was also in charge of the island-wide Arterial Plan and had in a preliminary version, shown de Maisonneuve as an arterial. Isabel and Iain Gow accompanied me to present a petition to take the road off the plan (Iain taught at the Universite de Montreal so was fluently bilingual should French be needed). We were successful, though Desautels was hesitant at first, being burnt by a similar attempt to close Mount Royal (an unlikely possibility, and not really comparable). The Westmount Examiner: Our local newspaper. The editor, John Sanctum was luke warm to begin with, but independently made up his mind that it was a good idea and thereafter supported it wholeheartedly. The Skrobics: Mitch and Irena Skrobic had gone to live in San Francisco, but had written a letter to the Examiner, with no prompting from me, praising the idea of the closing. Michael Fish: Was an architect with offices on de Maisonneuve and because of this, supposedly supported our efforts, but he lived on Cote St-Antoine, and clandestinely developed a group of homeowners on that street to publicly oppose the closing, in the belief that the de Maisonneuve traffic would be diverted onto their street. In my mind this was a legitimate concern and I would have been happy to debate the issue. But he was not available for conversation.  He was invited to meetings, but pleaded  he was unable to come and sent a representative who, it turned out, had no idea what the meeting was about. It seemed evident that he had been sent, not to participate, but to spy on us and report back. In retrospect Micheal was the representative of all those who opposed the closing, fearing that Ste Catherine Street, Cpte Ste Antoine, Sherbooke Street would take the brunt of traffic. De Leuw Cather, INC.: A prestigious firm of civil engineers with an international clientele were hired independently by the Westmount City Council to develop a transportation report for lower Westmount . This report showed that at the time, de Maisonneuve (a narrow, residential street) was handling almost as much west bound traffic as St. Catherine Street and Sherbrooke Street combined. In predicting future traffic patterns, they were of the belief that de Maisonneuve traffic would almost entirely move onto the Ville Marie Expressway as soon as it was opened, and that Fish's concerns were unfounded. Bruce St. Louis: Was head of the staff serving the City Council. His post necessitated that he remained neutral in public, but when the battle was won, he let us know he had been for it all along. Mayor of Westmount: Who's name needs to be found, as he needs to be thanked.( please help us)  The mayor was a retired Engineer who lived in the 4300 block of de maisonneuve. He is the person that ultimately facilitated and approved the closing, which allowed it then to be forwarded to Mayor to Jean Drapeau and his council for approval. Author: John Udy / Urban Planner Westmount Bike Path: Now and In The Beginning © Copyright All Rights Reserved Helene Udy Monica’s Website Design