Westmount Bike Path Guest Book Would you like to share your memories of Westmount before and after de Maisonneuve was closed and the bike path was created? Please take a moment to sign our guest book or submit your story with a picture! Micheal Prescott's Story One Sunday afternoon my wife Betty & I went for a bicycle ride from our home near the intersection of de Maisoneuve & Grosvenor Avenue. As we approached the school on de Maisoneuve, there were two people at the curb (a fellow with a beard and his companion with a long dress i.e. John & Mia) handing out some sort of flyers. Betty stopped her bicycle and I kept cycling on for a half block or so. After about 15 minutes, I returned to the three of them. Betty was interested in talking to John and Mia because we had two children walking along the sidewalks of de Maisoneuve on their way to school and they had a plan to close de Maisoneuve . Thereafter, we all became very close friends, I became Treasurer of the Habitats Project and under John Udy's able direction, we succeeded in eventual closing de Maisoneuve just before the school so that our children were thereafter able to walk along de Maisoneuve 'in safety'! Graziella Malagoni's Story On a very blustery and winter morning I went with my three girls to shop for food at the grocery store on the corner of Greene Avenue and de Maisonneuve. To get home we had to walk in front of the 4300 apartment block. I was carrying the groceries and my three girls were holding onto my coat tails; the wind was so strong that we could not make any headway. John Udy saw us and came to the rescue. He grabbed the groceries and walked in front of us to block the wind. I will never forget it! Every time I remember that incident the image of Suzor Cote’s Femmes de Coughnawag (three women walking against the wind) comes to mind. John Udy was a committed and gentle neighbour who cared about, and participated in, his community. He was an interesting man who was ahead of his time in terms of thinking and living green. - Graziella Malagoni is a Montreal artist who raised her children in Westmount Quebec and used the Westmount Bike Path regularly. Monica Levin's Story I have two clear childhood memories of the time period in which there was the fight to close de Maisonneuve: walking to Westmount Park School when they needed a crossing guard because de Maisonneuve was an open thoroughfare, and using the Westmount bike path when it was only open on Sunday afternoons. Westmount Bike Path: Now and In The Beginning © Copyright All Rights Reserved Helene Udy Monica’s Website Design