Beleagured Ste. Anne's merchants further irked, this time by lost parking spots

J.C. Provost, head of the strip's merchants' association
is --along with many merchants --deeply displeased by
the loss of parking on the strip. 

  Ste. Anne's has entered a new chapter of conflict, as merchants -- already irritated by massive road construction which wrecked much of their much-needed summer commerce-- are complaining about the loss of 40 parking spots in front of their businesses with newly-installed sidewalks.
   Sidewalks have been widened in parts, gobbling up much useful street parking. The accompanying narrowing of the road has made for driving dangerous, at least in the eyes of some of the more elderly clientele, according Street Merchants Association Jean-Claude Provost.
   The parking lot across from city hall is being redeveloped as a park and 16 of the 28 spots will be lost, but apparently the work has stopped because workers still don't have final plans.
   Some worry that town hall even wants to eradicate even the 12 remaining spots on the small lot.
   The long-lasting construction work now slowly coming to an end has profoundly irritated both merchants and residents, as it was an extremely long, dusty and noisy process that ran five months over schedule and led many to simply stop coming to the yuppie village strip, known for its waterfront terraces and gorgeous sunsets.
   The repairs led to the complete closure of the strip for an extended time, making even it difficult to even walk through. Subterranean infrastructure has been revamped and the phone poles buried and lamps replaced with something more decorative in the spring.
   Since the 80s and possibly earlier, town administration have been dealing with residents denouncing what some call rowdy clientele on the strip, as many of the 8,000 students from nearby schools hit the strip, a number double the town's population.
   The most famous incident took place in 1989 when Canadian Olympic swimmer Victor Davis was run over and killed on the strip following an argument in a bar.*

This depanneur owner was the last to know that
he was losing parking spots in front of his store.

    The town of 5,000 notes in its documentation that it has created 80 more parking spots but it appears that they are mostly near the train station, a long nine minute walk away from the main drag.
   So chances of people parking up there to dash in to store to buy cat food are pretty much nil..
  In the mid-90s then-Mayor Bill Tierney sought to get visitors to the strip to park near the train station and come in on a free evening shuttle bus, but there is no word of any new plans to bring in such a device to ferry people in to the area.
  Tierney, a drama teacher at nearby John Abbott College, was voted out in 2008, most notably after trying to unsuccessfully place parking meters along the main drag.  
   Some believe that his successor Francis Deroo might also suffer the same fate next fall, as the painful repair fiasco was highly-irritating to many and some issues, such as the rush-hour bottleneck at the intersection remain frustrating to many.
*  Davis was killed outside of 69 Ste. Anne, known as the Brass before it burnt down in 2000, around the same time as the famous Quai Sera also burnt down across the street. Davis was killed after an argument with people who included driver Glen Crossley, at the wheel of a Honda, 1 a.m. Nov. 11. 1989. One of Davis' friends told me a rather eerie story about that incident, holla if you want me to tell it.