MONTREAL - Some Projet Montreal members objected strenuously to those opposed to their parking plan at city hall Monday night.
A group of Plateau merchants were on hand at the city council meeting to voice their opposition to borough mayor Luc Ferrandez's plan to install hundreds of new meters, but they are taking some solace in a decision by the central city to suspend a rate hike for at least a year.
The merchants association said member businesses are suffering because shoppers are increasingly turning to the suburbs -- where parking is free in huge lots -- rather than pay rising meter fees.
An altercation with Project Montreal officials, who said the group is trying to torpedo the plan, left Gordon Bernstein, president of the St. Laurent Merchants' Association, stunned.
"I'm screaming, ‘Lache moi!' which is, ‘Let me go!' and all these people who either work for Project Montreal or work in their offices came in and some citizens - I have no idea (who they were) - came in and they were crowding around me," he said.
No one from the borough was available for an interview but said Bernstein is trying to deprive the borough of much needed money.
Bernstein said Ferrandez called him a liar over the campaign the businessman's group has waged against the parking plan.
"They accuse us of being liars, of stirring up fear, of leading people into the world of inaccuracies. I mean they're quite dramatic," said Bernstein, whose group wants Ferrandez to put a halt to the borough council's plans.
"I find it very expensive, especially in this economy. People are having a hard time taking their cars, coming downtown. It's complicated, plus they have to pay all kinds. It's ridiculous," said Paulo Branco, owner of the Go-Go Lounge nightclub on St. Laurent Blvd.
St-Laurent Merchants' Association president Gordon Bernstein said the plan will cost the Plateau customers.
"People have voted with their feet, with their wheels. They've gone to the South Shore, they've gone to Laval. I mean, we're bleeding. We're losing customers, we're losing population base and they're going to places where they have cars and can use them and live a totally different lifestyle," said Bernstein.
Montreal wresting back control from boroughs
There will be some changes to how parking meter fees are transferred to individual boroughs, Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay announced Monday.
Boroughs will not have jurisdiction over major arteries, and the city will collect half the funds collected by meters, said Tremblay, suspending a decision reached in early October to let boroughs collect all funds raised by parking meters in their territory.
"The intent is still to give to the boroughs the responsibility of the parking meters, but we need a better framework. We have to make sure that everyone understands the rules of the game," said Tremblay.
For every dollar spent on parking, 50 cents will go directly to the borough, while the other 50 cents will go into a fund for redistribution throughout the city's boroughs.
The decisions will have ramifications for the Plateau-Mont Royal borough, which decided in late October to hike rates by $1 per hour to $3 per hour on all meters, and to install hundreds of additional meters.
The city of Montreal will now be the sole arbiter of parking meter hikes, and announced Monday the changes would not be immediate, and are not factored into the city's budget until 2012.
Boroughs will be permitted to install new meters on residential streets with the executive committee's approval, but the Plateau will have to suspend the planned price hike, which Plateau borough mayor Luc Ferrandez said would impact the budget by $2.5 million.
"We're going to lose half of the revenues of this parking plan because it will go to downtown. There's also a lot of things to discuss with them about the fees on the arteries, but for the rest we're going forward," said Ferrandez.
Update: This story has been modified since it originally appeared.
