Some merchants at the Southwest One complex in Pointe-Claire are furious.
“It’s really a disaster,” fumes Eleanor Phelan Mootoosawmy, executive director of Statcare Clinic, one of the businesses in the complex. She says a new paid parking system set up last month in the parking lot is creating chaos.
“People are saying they don’t want to come and, you know, spend 20 minutes trying to get into the parking lot, 20 minutes trying to get out of the parking lot, and maybe another 10, 15, 20 minutes trying to pay for the parking.”
Gates were installed at the entrance just over a year ago to control parking — clients doing business there could still park for no charge.
The measure was meant to stop visitors to the Lakeshore Hospital across the street, from parking at Southwest One for free. But on Jan. 2 this year, Southwest One began charging.
“It’s $1 or it’s $4 maximum for patients that get their tickets validated, or clients of this building,” Mootoosawmy explains.
Business owners say the new system is causing major headaches, and even their staff is having trouble finding parking. On top of that, they say they’re losing business.
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Karen Meyer, the Montreal operations manager for Concordia Physio Sport, says business there is down since the paid parking started.
“Thousands — tens of thousands of dollars,” she smiles wryly. The trouble, she says, is that there’s just one pay station and only one exit.
“It’s about the lineups occurring upon exit, and so that’s blocking the circulation of the parking for the people to actually find a spot.”
Not so, says Martin Gauthier, Southwest One’s general manager. He says Wednesday was a bad day because of the weather but denies that there are long waits.
He plans to install another pay station next week but says creating another exit is more complicated. Charging for parking, however, is here to stay.
The business owners say they don’t know what will happen in the end. Some are considering legal action and at least one is thinking about moving.
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