Seniors living in the Plateau are finding the borough council's efforts to eliminate parking spots frustrating.

Just over three weeks ago, the borough barred car traffic from a stretch of Christophe-Colombe Ave. that enters Laurier Park, painted the asphalt green, and announced plans to plant grass on top of the roadway.

The borough calls it a way to make the area people-friendly, but seniors say the move has made it very difficult for them to use a community centre in the park.

The golden age club "Jardin des Aines," which has been using the centre for 50 years as a place to play bridge and socialize, says attendance has dropped by a third in the past two weeks, because members can no longer park near the building.

"People are saying they won't be back. So if it keeps on, this club will close," said club member Hany Chehata.

Parking is available on the south side of Laurier, and there are 22 new spots on Mentana, but nearly 50 spots were eliminated by the borough. Corneliu Montano lives in the area, and says the replacement spots are just too far away.

"You know they're in their seventies and they can't walk across the park to get to their cars, let alone in the winter," said Montano. "So they're moving out."

Chehata agrees that the borough has created a problem, saying "we have about ten members who are over 90 already. Just to go up the stairs is a problem for them. So just to ask them go around and look for a parking spot and walk all this is difficult."

Borough mayor Luc Ferrandez admits his administration may have acted hastily.

"Maybe we were a bit fast to do it because we thought, that will go, that's not such a big trouble," Ferrandez said.

He's willing to listen to suggestions, including adding more parking spots, and creating a drop-off zone behind the centre, but he is not prepared to reverse the borough's decision just yet.

"This is something we don't want to put at risk," said Ferrandez. "And if they're not happy with the situation and they prefer to move, we'll look for a situation and if they prefer to stay we'll look for a solution too."