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In December, 2006, the Borough Council of NDG in Montreal under the administration of Michael Applebaum and under the central municipal government of Gerald Tremblay successfully smothered the Fraser-Hickson Library.
The Montreal Gazette reported:
"Supporters of the Fraser-Hickson Library rallied in the rain at Montreal city hall last night in a last-ditch effort to save the cash-starved Notre Dame de Grace institution from closing for good Dec. 22.
"The Fraser-Hickson is a keystone of our community," marcher Phyllis Carter said, recalling how she joined the library as a teenager in 1959.
Sharing Notre Dame St. in front of city hall with Park Ave. name-change opponents, about 50 Fraser-Hickson supporters waved signs and took turns shouting: "Save the Fraser-Hickson" and "Save Park Avenue."
The two causes go hand in hand, Carter, 70, said.
"The city should spend money on libraries instead of on changing street names."
Aliya Ahmed, another library supporter, presented city councillors with petitions containing more than 13,000 names of people opposed to the closing."
But Michael Applebaum's team and Nicholas Hoare of the Fraser-Hickson's board of directors were deaf to the pleas of the community.
Thus, at July, 2010, the people of NDG have been without adequate library services for three and a half years now while Michael Applebaum builds monuments to his own glory at the tax-payers' expense.
For the record, I present here two appeals I made to the Montreal municipal government of Gerald Tremblay at City Hall in 2006 in an effort to save our library.
Address by Phyllis Carter at the City Hall of Montreal,
November 27, 2006
To Mayor Gerald Tremblay:
I have been a member of the Fraser-Hickson Library since it opened in NDG in 1959. Our library is the keystone, the heart of our community.
NDG is a rich community - rich in human resources. It is diverse, but cohesive, embracing newcomers. We are rich in hope. We believe in continuing education and being productive members of society. And the library is our community's living room where all these good things come together.
So many residents of NDG are aged, and widows, and live alone. The Fraser- Hickson is a community center for those of us who are not able to hop on a bus in all kinds of weather to travel to other libraries. The Fraser-Hickson is close to home - where we need it !
We may have grey hair, but we are not ignorant or obsolete. We may be poor, but we each have the treasure of a vote.
Mr. Mayor, have you considered the cost - to your career - if you turn out the lights of the Fraser-Hickson and rob the people pf NDG of our library, our community center, our heritage?
This is not about money. It is about politics. The City has enough money to upset Park Avenue with a threatened change to the name of this long-established community thoroughfare. Use the money to save the Fraser-Hickson Library instead.
Phyllis Carter
Mayor Gerald Tremblay did not answer.
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Address by Phyllis Carter at the City Hall of Montreal,
December 11, 2006
Is this the place? I feel like Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
Phyllis Carter, a pioneer of the Montreal community of NDG, and a member of the Fraser-Hickson Library.
I will address my question to M. Tremblay's eminence gris, M. Labonte.
The Fraser-Hickson Library, situated in NDG, and now under the threat of closure, is a long-established Montreal institution. NDG residents are determined to keep our library open - at the location where it has served Montrealers for generations.
I understand that the City of Montreal only finances libraries that the City owns. Therefore, if the City helps to finance the Fraser-Hickson, the City would then own our library.
The citizens of NDG will not sell their souls for what is rightfully their own..
The money you manage belongs to the people. It is your responsibility to use it for the good of the people of Montreal of which NDG is a significant community.
The Fraser-Hickson provides essential services to the voters and tax-payers. Maybe this is a different story - A Christmas Carole.
Which law requires the City of Montreal to eviscerate NDG by appropriating or failing to support our library?
And is that legislation engraved in the stone tablets Mayor Tremblay brought down from Mt. Sinai - or could you make a genuine effort to support our library, without confiscating it ?
Where one eliminates books and libraries, one will one day eliminate cultures.
Phyllis Carter
In December, 2006, Mayor Gerald Tremblay of Montreal and Minor Mayor Michael Applebaum of the Borough of NDG closed the door on the Fraser-Hickson Library and on the people of NDG.
In July, 2010, we still do not have a library to replace it.
Lest we forget at the time of the next elections.
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