Ville Marie mayor proposes free parking downtown

[GDS]

By Anne Sutherland, The Gazette

 

Benoit Labonté, borough mayor of Ville Marie, will be tabling a motion tonight that will provide for eight days of free parking downtown in an effort to help merchants in these tough economic times.

 

He will propose that city parking meters will be free from 9 a.m. on Dec. 20 to 5 p.m. on Dec. 28.

 

The gross loss of revenue from those metered spots will be $800,000, but Labonté said the net loss to the Ville Marie borough will be between $100,000 and $150,000.

 

“We’re talking about one week in the year to help our tax-paying merchants, a kind of subsidy,” Labonté said.

 

“The message we’re giving to citizens is come downtown to shop and don’t go to the suburbs.”

 

Labonté and his Vision Montreal councillors have a three to two advantage on the borough council, so the motion is expected to pass.

 

--

 

[Malek]

wait wait wait... this is just incredible. I could rant for hours on this... should i? omfg:rolleyes:

[brad-514]

Oh FFS... this guy is the very definition of opportunistic. I find it highly ironic that they would call themselves "vision montreal"... used to be funny, now it's just sad.

[MTLskyline]

Not sure what seems to be the problem? I think it's a good idea?

[Malek]

its somewhat of a good idea... but its coming after years of car bashing and "we can close ste-catherine to cars, buisness will be better"...

 

that was a load of bullshit alright

[rosey12387]

its somewhat of a good idea... but its coming after years of car bashing and "we can close ste-catherine to cars, buisness will be better"...

 

that was a load of bullshit alright

 

Don't you know the environment is only in danger when the economy is doing well? It's a new theory called "global selective memory".

 

It's time ecological conservatives and eco-capitalists like Jim Harris (ex-leader of the Green Party) get seats in Ottawa. The environment has always and will always be a pertinent issue that needs to be taken care of. Even without the whole idea of carbon emissions our environment is in major need of help. Several eco-capitalists have run for the Conservatives especially in Toronto, unfortunately none have yet to be elected by their constituents. I'm crossing my fingers for the next election, whenever that may be, regardless of which party comes out on top, that we elect some eco-capitalists to the HOC.

[LTS]

Les commerces seront déserts, prédit Stationnement de Montréal

 

Mathieu Perreault

La Presse

 

La décision de l'arrondissement de Ville-Marie de rendre gratuits les parcomètres du 23 au 26 décembre risque d'avoir un effet contre-productif, affirme le président de Stationnement de Montréal, Roger Plamondon. Faute de pouvoir trouver une place, les banlieusards risquent de déserter les magasins du centre-ville.

 

«C'est une bonne idée de vouloir attirer plus de gens au centre-ville, mais les parcomètres gratuits, ce n'est pas la bonne manière d'atteindre l'objectif», a expliqué M. Plamondon en entrevue avec La Presse. «Pour maximiser l'affluence, il faut que les automobilistes trouvent rapidement une place. Et pour qu'ils trouvent rapidement une place, il faut que les tarifs de stationnement sur rue soient assez élevés pour que les gens qui stationnent toute la journée aillent dans les stationnements payants.»

 

L'analyse de M. Plamondon est confirmée par Donald Shoup, un urbaniste de l'Université de Californie à Los Angeles qui a publié en 2005 un livre qui a marqué son domaine d'étude, The High Cost of Free Parking. «Les parcomètres gratuits avant Noël sont très courants dans les villes américaines. Mais année après année, on se rend compte que les places les plus proches des magasins sont occupées par leurs employés, et que des gens qui normalement iraient dans des stationnements de moyenne durée, par exemple ceux qui vont au cinéma ou au musée, monopolisent plusieurs places. Les gens qui veulent passer une heure ou deux à magasiner pour Noël ont souvent plus de difficulté qu'à l'habitude pour se trouver une place.»

 

De plus, les parcomètres gratuits ou trop peu coûteux exacerbent les bouchons. «Quand le stationnement sur rue est gratuit ou presque, un automobiliste sur trois dans les zones commerciales est une personne qui cherche une place, dit M. Shoup. En d'autres mots, si les gens ne trouvent pas facilement, le trafic augmente de moitié.»

 

Toutes les études le démontrent, selon M. Shoup: l'idéal, pour maximiser les revenus des commerces, est d'avoir un grand nombre de clients qui viennent pour une courte durée. «Si une personne vient magasiner et trouve une place gratuite, elle va parfois rester trois, quatre, six heures. Et elle ne dépensera pas nécessairement trois, quatre ou six fois plus qu'une personne qui reste pour une heure.»

 

N'existe-t-il pas des personnes qui sont allergiques à payer pour se stationner? «Oui, certainement, dit M. Shoup. Mais est-ce que les commerçants du centre-ville veulent absolument attirer des gens trop pingres pour payer leur place de stationnement? Ne pensez-vous pas que les gens qui acceptent de payer sont aussi ceux qui dépensent le plus quand ils magasinent?

 

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/regional/montreal/200812/04/01-807175-les-commerces-seront-deserts-predit-stationnement-de-montreal.php

[Malek]

Don't you know the environment is only in danger when the economy is doing well? It's a new theory called "global selective memory".

 

It's time ecological conservatives and eco-capitalists like Jim Harris (ex-leader of the Green Party) get seats in Ottawa. The environment has always and will always be a pertinent issue that needs to be taken care of. Even without the whole idea of carbon emissions our environment is in major need of help. Several eco-capitalists have run for the Conservatives especially in Toronto, unfortunately none have yet to be elected by their constituents. I'm crossing my fingers for the next election, whenever that may be, regardless of which party comes out on top, that we elect some eco-capitalists to the HOC.

 

i have not mentionned the environment once here, i'm just rolling my eyes at how badly Labonté is flip-flopping... after all the crap thrown at car drivers, now all of a sudden he wants them back... yeah:rolleyes:

[rosey12387]

i have not mentionned the environment once here, i'm just rolling my eyes at how badly Labonté is flip-flopping... after all the crap thrown at car drivers, now all of a sudden he wants them back... yeah:rolleyes:

 

My bad, I thought it was alluding to hypocrisy over cars being bad for environmental reasons.

[MTLskyline]

City cancels free parking

 

Quashes move to aid downtown merchants

 

By ANNE SUTHERLAND

December 6, 2008

 

Montreal city hall may become known as the Grinch who stole free Christmas parking.

 

Thanks to the city, there will be no free parking downtown for nine days during the holidays, contrary to a motion approved by the Ville Marie borough council.

 

Stationnement de Montréal, the company that manages parking for the city, will not disable 7,500 parking meters in the borough. Instead, there will be two-tiered parking rates Dec. 20-28.

 

Ville Marie borough mayor Benoit Labonté had said Tuesday his borough would shut meters to help downtown merchants.

 

The problem, Stationnement de Montréal says, is that the borough doesn't have jurisdiction over all roads in Ville Marie, and had no right to close the meters.

 

Arterial roads that go through many boroughs are under the city's jurisdiction. So meters on René Lévesque Blvd., Ste. Catherine St., de Maisonneuve Blvd., Sherbrooke St., St. Laurent Blvd. and St. Denis St. are under Montreal's control and will operate at the regular rate of $3 an hour.

On secondary roads, like Peel and Drummond Sts., Ville Marie has the right to alter parking rates. On those streets, the fee will drop to 25 cents an hour from 9 a.m. Dec. 20 to 5 p.m. Dec. 28.

 

It's "ridiculous" that this issue became political, said Karim Boulos, deputy mayor of Ville Marie borough. "We could have fought this in court and wasted taxpayers' money, but we chose to say enough is enough and charge only 25 cents an hour."

 

asutherland@ thegazette.canwest.com

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