NOTRE-DAME-DE-GRÂCE – Jenni Lee has owned Setsuko Massage and Space on Addington for 14 years.
Her spa is peaceful and quiet but recently, getting there has been anything but.
“In the past month, they permitted the entire street, so now there’s absolutely no spots for my clients and my therapists,” she said.
“We also teach classes out of here, so the teachers and all the students can’t find any parking.”
As a result of the Turcot construction, about a month ago, Addington went from a one-way to a two-way street, forcing cars to park only on one side, leaving little room for people with permits, let alone customers.
“People come here to relax,” Lee said. “They’re already dealing with traffic to get here and then they have to deal with the stress of finding parking.
“It just makes it really challenging.”
To ease the challenge, Lee wants the city to grant her temporary parking passes for her staff and clients.
But NDG city councillor Peter McQueen insists that’s not possible.
“The problem is that there’s not enough spaces,” McQueen said. “There was parking on both sides, now there’s only parking on one side. There’s no solution we can give. If we give more parking to her visitors, that would only take away from other residents or from somebody that also needs more parking.”
According to McQueen, the solution is in the hands of Transport Quebec.
He said Transport Quebec needs to move a wall that’s been set up around the construction site in order to increase the traffic flow.
“It’s time for Transport Quebec to do the right thing for the people of NDG,” he said. ” Pull the fence, move it back 15 feet so Addington can go back to being a one-way street and with the exit out here on Girouard Street and everybody will be happy again.”
Residents living on Addington hope for a solution fast because their patience is running out.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Adrien Benn. “People are moving out, the bottom dwelling is up for rent, it’s been up for rent for a while. No one wants to live on this street.”
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