by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

Many in this city appreciate the lure of a warm pub, where any citizen can trundle in uninvited and sit among friendly faces and quaff a fine pint of ale or lager at reasonable prices. Still others might prefer the challenge of a video or pinball game as an entertaining diversion.

But those don’t apparently include city councillors for the sprawling NDG/Côte-des-Neiges borough, which has recently voted to forever ban the opening of any new bars except on a small industrial strip in the southwest corner of the borough.

On Monday, Jan. 6, West End councillors helped push through a zoning change that now limits any new bars or video arcades to the industrial and commercial strip of St-Jacques west of Madison.

So never again will a new bar or video arcade open anywhere in the heavily populated, mixed commercial and residential area south of Jean Talon and north of St-Jacques, and west of Outremont-Westmount and east of Côte St-Luc/Lachine. Except, that is, on the strip known for its big box stores and used car lots where no cranky residents are likely to complain about bars or arcades, because nobody lives down there.

“We’re not allowed to outlaw the opening of bars or arcades in our boroughs but we’re allowed to have designated areas,” says West End councillor Marvin Rotrand, who, along with colleagues Michael Applebaum and Francine Senecal, helped push the measure through.

“There are no residences in the area that could be disturbed by the opening of facilities,” says Rotrand, who notes that West End citizens aren’t crazy about the 70 bars and four video arcades already in the borough and get in a fevered mode whenever a new one opens. “When (former Mayor Pierre) Bourque was elected in 1994, his first gesture in our area was to allow big bars to open on Queen Mary and Monkland. There was a 5,000-name petition signed against that and 200 people showed up at a meeting. The city backed down and allowed small neighbourhood bars, but even so there’ve been endless complaints about the people, noise and traffic they bring.”

Devil in the definition

The ban appears ironclad; any reversal would require the passing of a bylaw in council, with two readings and a public meeting. Under the new bylaw, existing bars and arcades are permitted to remain open but if they close for six months or more, they lose the right to reopen.

The move has been described as “extreme” by opponents like Alan Patrick, NDG resident and press attaché for council opposition leader Pierre Bourque. “I immediately think of places like the Cinema V. If it reopens, you can’t exclude the possibility that if you go to a show or a concert, they’d have to have a bar. Plus there are various bistros and other types of establishments that could enhance the life of citizens in this area,” he says.

Patrick also questions the wisdom of designating St-Jacques W. as the only place to open a bar. “It’s a commercial zone with very little public transportation. People would have to take their cars, which encourages drinking and driving, unless you’re ready to walk home three miles after having a beer,” says Patrick.

McGill Urban Planning prof Raphael Fischler has mixed feelings concerning the ban. “It’s a perfectly legitimate measure in the sense that there are many bars and it’s not like they’re lacking in that area,” he says. “But why do that over such a large territory, and couldn’t it be done in a more fine-grained manner? Aren’t there some street corners where indeed a bar may not be such a bad thing? You could make a case for a more refined intervention.”

The arcade ban sprouts from complaints from parents, who tend to ring up their city councillors when they learn that their children have been spending time plumping hard-earned coins into flashy, blinking machines. “When people define what a good neighbourhood is, they cite safety, quiet and control over children, to make sure they’re not exposed to danger from traffic or dens of sin,” says Fischler. “These are legitimate concerns, but the public sometimes demands things based on prejudice, and other times their demands are perfectly reasonable.” :