A woman in the Upper Plateau says that the City of Montreal has been "negligent" and uncommunicative during work on her street that has caused major disruptions to mobility, as well as at least one injury.
Olga Grilo told CJAD 800 that pipework in front of her house on Jeanne-Mance Street began last week between Mont-Royal and Villeneuve, and that the road is closed and there are now thick hoses crisscrossing the sidewalk.
The hoses are of particular concern to her. "There's no wooden ramp over [them], there's nothing", she said.
It was over one of those hoses that her father tripped when he was coming back from an appointment Friday evening. Her father takes adapted transit, which couldn't drop him off in front of his house due to the street closure, instead letting him out half a block away. While on his walk down the sidewalk, her father tripped on a hose and fell, "face-first".
After an eight-hour wait in the emergency room, he was treated for lacerations and bruises to his lips and nose, in addition to a broken denture. Since it happened on a Friday night, she said nobody from the City was available for her to inform about the incident until Monday morning.
When she finally got in contact with the city, she said she learned that the official overseeing the work project is on vacation until the end of August.
Grilo added that she and other residents have been in touch with the city about other details of the project, which they were only informed about two weeks prior to work beginning, and that while they've been responsive, they haven't provided many answers. One thing they have been told, however, is that the work will likely continue for a while, and that it will get worse before it gets better.
"Obviously, they have to tear up the sidewalks, they have to tear up the streets, and then they have to repave all that, once they get the pipework done."