The Plante administration should not extend parking meter pricing hours downtown, the official opposition insists.
Scheduled for this spring, an extension of paid parking meter hours has been controversial for the past few weeks in the City.
For the leader of Ensemble Montreal, this change of schedule would penalize residents of the sector without dedicated parking, but also people who come to Montreal to take advantage of the cultural offer.
“The administration deserves a ticket for the way it manages parking schedules in the City, it tries to pass one quickly to Montrealers,” judge Aref Salem.
“It is harmful for the economic activity of the city”, he hammered during a press briefing Monday morning.
AUDREY SANIKOPOULOS / QMI AGENCY
Ensemble Montreal leader Aref Salem and opposition economic development critic Julien Hénault-Ratelle.
Responsible for managing parking in the metropolis, the Sustainable Mobility Agency had installed stickers in mid-April announcing a change in paid parking hours on parking meters in the city center.
Thus, the display indicated that parking would now be paid from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
At the moment, it is compulsory to pay for your place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
After a text on the subject appeared in the “Montreal Gazette”, the Plante administration mentioned an error.
However, these new timetables had been adopted in the budget of the Sustainable Mobility Agency of December 19th. They were to come into force on April 1, according to this document.
An extended moratorium?
Faced with criticism from several players in the economic community – including the Société de développement commercial Montréal centre-ville – Mayor Valérie Plante proposed a two-week moratorium on April 17.
After these two weeks, there is no clear information on the application of the new timetables, deplores the opposition.
“We recently learned behind the scenes that the moratorium would now last a few months and end towards the end of the summer,” said Julien Hénault-Ratelle, opposition spokesperson for economic development. He accuses the Plante administration of acting “in secret”.
Beyond the moratorium, the opposition wants the City to back down in the long term on the file. She will therefore propose a motion to prevent the modification of the parking meter schedules at the next municipal council meeting in May.