LaSalle Tax Anger

There's one thing all candidates agree on -- Airlie Street is in desperate need of a makeover.

From CTV:

LaSalle residents are taxed more than in most Montreal boroughs, due it part to a municipal improvement tax that left many residents fuming.

Now the issue is at the centre of the election campaign.

One duplex owner saw his property tax bill rise by almost $500 in 2007.

Read more ....

My Comment: These politicians may represent La Salle, but they have no idea on why Airlie is in the shape that it is. I know the problem .... I have lived in the area for 45 years.

To begin, with the high business taxes that we have, no business is going to venture into this region unless their clients make them do so or if their business must be conducted on the island. I moved my business out of LaSalle when the suburb joined with Montreal .... I may live here, but why should my business pay the extra tax.

The apartment buildings further up on Airlie are dumping grounds for refugees and immigration claimants. Crime has also gotten out of control. The IGA in the area had to close down because of shop lifting and crime. My mother now never goes there, and I avoid the area at night. What normal family would want to move into such an area .... answer .... no one is his or her right mind.

So .... the politicians may bemoan how bad the area has become .... but they do not have the means to assist in improving the area. There are also numerous social and cultural problems that the area was never prepared to accept nor handle .... throw in high taxes and you will end up with the dead zone that we now have.