JOE BEEF’S BEEF GETS RESULTS
City alters course on Notre-dame St. after outcry
Hours after a high-profile restaurateur roasted the Plante administration online for a project that removed parking spots on Notre-dame St., the head of the city ’s executive committee announced late Thursday the plan is now off the table.
“Despite the enthusiasm (of the local commercial development authority) it seems this development (plan) is not one preferred by local merchants and we have therefore taken the decision to withdraw these temporary measures and explore other ways to support local businesses,” Benoit Dorais, who is also mayor of the Sud-ouest borough, wrote on his Facebook page.
“The year 2020 has presented unique challenges and represents an opportunity to ... rethink our city. We will continue to collaborate with the businesses of the Sud-ouest to ensure their support and find the best ways to allow them to flourish despite the present health crisis.”
The retreat came hours after David Mcmillan, co-founder of the Joe Beef restaurant group, took to Twitter to criticize the plan and the city administration.
Describing the administration of Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante as authoritarian and referring to next year’s municipal election, Mcmillan wrote: “Shutting down our streets, removing all our parking and getting clowns to perform isn’t COVID economic relief. Get @projetmontreal OUT 2021. Let’s take our city back. @Val_plante @Quartierscanal don’t speak for merchants or understand business.”
Mcmillan’s ire was focused on the temporary reconfiguration of Notre-dame St. W. this week, which eliminated eastbound traffic and removed parking from both sides between Vinet and Workman Sts., a stretch of roughly a kilometre intersected by Atwater Ave.
The measures, which were to remain in place for two months, were part of the city’s plan to create space for outdoor cafés, bike paths and pedestrian areas as a way of promoting local businesses.
But Mcmillan said the measures were doing the opposite, driving customers away and making the operations of local businesses even more difficult.
At the New System BBQ restaurant, the sense of relief was palpable Friday. With its dining room shut since March, the 72-year-old establishment has been relying on takeout and pickup orders to stay alive, with 10 drivers shuttling roast chicken all over the city.
“To give you an idea, on Wednesday my orders were down 22 per cent. Customers were calling to cancel because they couldn’t find anywhere to park,” said owner Richard Bassila.
Delivery people had to park a block away and cart in 200 pounds (90 kg) of potatoes at a time. The driver of a 40-foot tractor-trailer shipping vats of oil had to park illegally on the side street next to the restaurant. Bassila received two parking tickets from police on the first day of the new configuration. He plans to fight them.
“In a place like the Plateau, they have the population density to make this work,” he said. “They have local traffic that can walk or bike in. We don’t. We survive on the car. They come, they park, they shop and then they go.
“Thank God we survived the pandemic. But now the city is trying to kill us.”
Bassila credits media attention and restaurants like his, Joe Beef and the Burgundy Lion for generating negative publicity and forcing Projet Montréal to reverse course so quickly. A news report about the issue he posted on his
Facebook page was viewed by more than 12,000 people in one day, he said.
“You should see the comments,” he said. “People were not happy. You saved us.”
Had Projet Montréal offered to keep parking on one side of the street, Bassila said, he might have been on board. But he was never consulted, and the change came as an unwelcome surprise, he said.
At L’oeufrier restaurant, which has been on Notre-dame St. for five years, assistant manager Sophie Leblanc said that since the street closure had only been in place for a few days, it was hard to tell if it had made much of a change.
“For us, it was about the same. But most of our clientele is from local traffic, who are walking anyway, so a street closure doesn’t affect us as much as others.”
Because Notre-dame still had one traffic lane open, and is thinner than larger commercial streets like Mont-royal Ave. — which has been completely closed to traffic, with great success — it’s harder for restaurants to put a decent-size terrasse on the street, Leblanc noted. The result is that the street lacks the bustling, pedestrianized vibe that attracts clients on Mont-royal Ave.
Leblanc said her section of Notre-dame St. never sees a lot of pedestrian traffic, so it was questionable whether closing the street would help.
A clerk at the Karibu gift shop selling trinkets and natural products said he thought the concept was a good one, but the way it was carried out was not.
“It was presented to us as a fait accompli, with no discussion and no warning,” said the salesman, who asked not to give his name. “If we had time, maybe we could have prepared.”
Within minutes of reports of the city’s retreat, Mcmillan once again took to Twitter, saying: “Thank you to all who voiced support for fluidity, communication, merchants and residents.”
In a place like the Plateau, they ... have local traffic that can walk or bike in. We don’t. We survive on the car . ... Now the city is trying to kill us.