Projet Montral councillors reject borough mayor's effort to save NDG's Station 11

Projet Montral councillors in Cte-Des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grce struck down a motion to delay the closure of NDG's only police station Wednesday.

Borough Mayor Sue Montgomery put forward the motion at Wednesday night's borough council meeting, callingfor a moratorium on the closure of Station 11. It also called for Montreal's public safety committee to host a public consultation in NDG on the issue.

Butcouncillorsfrom her former political partystood in her way proposing a lengthy list of amendments that would have takenthe teeth out of the motion.

After Montgomerydeemed the amendments inadmissible,Projet Montral's Magda Popeanu, Peter McQueen and Christian Arseneaultused their power in numbers to quash the motion altogether.

Station 11, located on Somerled Avenue, is slated to shutter this fall. The 78 officers who work there will be moved to Cte Saint-Luc's Station 9 on Westminster Avenuein an effort "to optimize service," the Montreal police service (SPVM) has said.

Coun. Lionel Perez seconded Montgomery'smotion and it was expected that Coun. Marvin Rotrand would support the measure creating a tie with Projet Montral'sthree councillors. In the event of a tie, the mayor has the right to break it by castinga second vote.

But Rotrand was out of town for a family matter, leaving Perez and Montgomery to fend for themselves.

Holding up the amended document at the meeting, with line after line struck out and several paragraphs added, Perez said,"essentially what Projet Montralis trying to do is to completely change the objective of our motion."

Projet Montral's amendments included striking the moratorium and the public consultation, calling for a public informationsessionby the public security committee instead.

Once Station 11 is closed,there will be more than 100 officers based out of Station 9, which has traditionally served Cte Saint-Luc, Hampstead and Montreal West. By including NDG in that list, Station 9 will be covering roughly 120,000 residents.

The closure of the station would leave Montreal's most populous borough with only one police station Station 26 on Decarie Boulevard and the entire city with 19 fewer stations than it had in 1998 when the SPVM's neighbourhood policing model became the norm.

Coun. Rosannie Filato, the Montreal executive committee member in charge of public safety, said consolidating stations has allowed the SPVM to increase thenumber of patrols.

"All the services are going to be maintained andwhat we would like is an increase in services as well," she said.

But Montgomery is far from the only one opposed to the closure of Station 11.More than 2,500 residents signed an online petition against the SPVM's plan.

Calls for local service, consultation

NDG resident Neal Mukherjeetook to the microphone during Wednesday's council meeting to expressconcern that the SPVM is moving away from community policing in a time when tensions are high between certain community groups and law enforcement.

Halah Al-Ubaidi, executive director of the NDG Community Council, told the council thatStation 11 is a "very important service"as it allows local access to police services. She asked why the community wasn't consulted.

Arseneaultexplained thatofficers will be sent to people for serious matters and others can file online for issues like a stolen bicycle.

He said a police officer's office is his car these days and "in fact they don't have to be at the station. They don't want them at the station. They're not out policing when they're at the station."

Hampstead,Cte Saint-Luc oppose station merger

Last week, Hampstead's town council unanimously approved its own motion calling for a yearlong moratorium on the move until public consultations are held.

Hampstead Mayor Bill Steinberg said he is concerned that the way police patrols are conducted will change and officers will focus more on NDG where there are some 60,000 more people.

Beyond protecting the public from crime, he said he is also concerned about traffic enforcement as there are drivers speeding through town and ignoring stop signs on a regular basis.

Steinberg said he wants Hampstead's level of coverage to be maintained.

Cte Saint-Luc is expected to pass a similar motion next week.Mayor Mitchell Brownstein said Station 9 has already moved twice in recent years and he worries that it could eventually be moved out of Cte Saint-Luc altogether.

Both Brownstein and Steinberg said the SPVM shouldn't be making these decisions without consulting the area's political leaders and the public.

Cte Saint-Luc Coun. Mitch Kujavsky said he spoke with police about the matter on Wednesday, but he still wants more information about the decision such as estimates as to how many people are going to be visiting the station every day.

"I get it, the lease is up for Station 11, but this is a big thing with a lot of money spent," he said. "It's a significant change that should be thought through before implementing."