Nora Fertikh bought her duplex on Lajeunesse Boulevard 25 years ago. Every winter, she says she watches sidewalk ploughs damage her exterior wall and anything in their way. “The granite is really damaged. You can see the scratches, the chipped bricks and rust from the plow,” she said, pointing to the marks on the side of her building. Fertikh runs a business on the main floor and lives upstairs. A few years ago, she paid to repair the wall and the brickwork, only to see another sidewalk plow damage it again. She showed CTV News a cellphone video capturing the operator in the act. Fertikh sent complaints to her borough, Villeray—Saint-Michel—Parc-Extension, but was told she had to take her case to the independent city contractor. With little success, she decided to take matters into her own hands. “I went to (the hardware store) and I bought heavy bricks to protect my wall and had a friend help me install them,” she said. But the city told her to remove them or face fines. On Feb. 3, Fertikh went to the borough council meeting to demand answers during question period. The reply she got wasn’t encouraging. “We’re short on time and we won’t find a solution tonight,” said City Councillor Martine Musau Muele. Borough officials said many sidewalks in Montreal are no longer up to code — too narrow and often too close to buildings, especially older ones. “We all want wider and more comfortable sidewalks in Montreal, but we can’t replace them all at once,” said the borough’s director of permits, Jocelyn Jobidon. The city has since installed temporary blocks on the street next to Fertikh’s home so cars can’t park, giving plows more room to pass. But Fertikh said she still feels cheated by the borough. “In the end, they’re just drowning people in excuses to avoid taking their responsibilities.” She says she now plans to install security cameras in case plow operators continue to damage her wall.
