A mother living in Montreal-North is currently fighting to regain access to her private parking space.
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“I’ve been fighting to get my parking space back for seven years and nothing is moving,” rages Myriam Labbé.
The mother has lived in the district since 2010. Six years later she realized her dream and became the owner of a semi-detached house.
There are parking spaces on the foreground of her new home that she wants to use. Unfortunately, the city had other plans.
A few months after moving in, Ms Labbé received a notice from the city administration. Major work is being carried out on his street: the repair of all the sidewalks. But she had no idea that the lowering that gave her access to her parking space would disappear. In fact, the new sidewalk is 10 centimeters high, the normal height of a pedestrian sidewalk.
Montreal-Nord resident Myriam Labbé expresses her frustration very well in Benoit Dutrizac’s podcast, available on the audio and video platform QUB radio :
“I have a neighbor who was there during the work, the workers also wanted to deprive him of access,” says Ms. Labbé. He persisted and they belittled him. During this time I was at work. I couldn’t intervene.”
QMI AGENCY
Since then, it’s been a real obstacle course for the Montreal North resident. In addition to the numerous calls to the administration, she attended three city council meetings. The last time was last Tuesday. Annoyed, Ms. Labbé insists on getting her message across at all costs. Mayor Christine Black then decided to have her microphone cut off. This visit will also not be continued.
An acquired right?
Myriam Labbé’s location certificate shows that the parking lot actually existed in 2009. She herself adds that the former owners lived at this address for more than 20 years and the location was there. Therefore, it is difficult to know when this space was actually developed. The county might be able to answer that question, but for seven years we have simply stated that the new municipal charter prohibits new locations like this.
Despite all this, several homes in the neighborhood have parking spaces similar to Ms. Labbé’s, adding to her frustration.
“Why was mine convicted and the others not,” she asks. I want an electric car, how do I connect it?”
This situation is reminiscent of these 11 owners in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district. Last January they fell victim to a fifty-year-old regulation that prohibits parking in front of homes without garages. The situation was revealed by Journal journalist Francis Pilon.
Mayor Valérie Plante’s office responded that it was “clear that reflection on the regulation is necessary (…), especially for owners of electric vehicles.”
For Myriam Labbé, this consideration has not yet occurred.