Though Ste. Anne de Bellevue's parking meters were already taped up by Monday afternoon with notices explaining fees are cancelled until Jan. 25, it was only at night, during its inaugural monthly meeting, that the town's council nearly unanimously voted for free parking.
"We're doing it quickly during the holiday season to help out the merchants (on Ste. Anne Street)," said newly elected mayor Francis Deroo, who had made a point of mentioning he was against meters on the town's main street during his campaign.
He added council was looking to eventually remove them permanently as it revised all parking norms in the city.
Unusually for Ste. Anne, the decision was not unanimous.
"Mr. Deroo, I ask for the right to vote," said Michel Bouassaly, District 5 councillor, the only veteran from the city's previous council who was successfully re-elected, when the item came up on the agenda.
He was also the only voice to vote against the removal. "I too would like to help out our merchants on Ste. Anne Street," he explained to the public, but added the move was not well thought-out and residents may pay the price for it.
Bouassaly later told The Chronicle he fears the removal of the meters may create a traffic flow problem, since their presence over the last two years has caused shoppers on the street to pay, park, and leave.
With the meters gone, he said, he was worried about that fluidity disappearing. "It's up to the council to decide," he said, asked if he would try to stop the permanent removal.
Deroo, however, was dismissive of the complaints. "(With those meters), people could simply stay three hours and then pay money again to stay more," he said, whereas now, public security agents would be hovering over parked cars on Ste. Anne Street, ticketing anyone who does not remove their car after three hours.
Some merchants on Ste. Anne seemed happy with the change.
"I told him, you do this for me, I'll vote for you," said Olga Papachronis, looking up from manning the cash register Monday evening at the Arcade Basil fast food eatery on Ste. Anne. She said many customers there have simply forgotten to pay for their parking and then found themselves ticketed.
At Café Adelia, co-owners Melanie and Bridget Eichholk said their customers are mostly students who do not own cars, and therefore would not be very affected by the change.
Many lively back and forth exchanges occurred at Monday's meeting, where over 60 Ste. Anne residents packed the room. However, Deroo was quiet about one item on the agenda: the mandating of the city's habitually used external law firm, Dunton-Rainville, to help him investigate certain reports by director-general Martin Houde. "I can't comment on that for now," Deroo repeatedly said on the matter.
