by PATRICK LEJTENYI

Yannic Viau doesn't really go to afterhours clubs, but he likes them. The 27-year-old provincial employee and Gay Village resident likes them so much, in fact, that he's become politicized enough to fight for their rights to exist and wander into the new city's democratic labyrinth to bring them back from potentially endangered species status.

Viau and about a dozen friends decided to pop their political cherries over an issue they feel will threaten the liveliness and excitement of their neighbourhood: the potential throttling by municipal decree of afterhours clubs downtown.

The Ville-Marie borough - which covers all of downtown, Chinatown and the Gay Village - is set to adopt zoning change legislation on May 6 that will turn the lights up on the city's early-morning partyers. The number of afterhours clubs in the borough will be limited to two, with additional restrictions thrown in: all afterhours must be on Ste-Catherine between Papineau and Guy, with a maximum 10,000-square-feet capacity and must be at least one kilometre away from each other. The existing clubs can contest the law and remain open by proving to the city that they have acquired rights. But that means that the onus is on them to show the city that they have the right permits, have advertising and host events. It is these limits that are pushing ordinary citizens to action.

"We feel the law is draconian, abusive and disproportionate to the problem," says Viau, who is acting as spokesman for the cumbersomely-named Comité des résidantes et résidants de l'arrondissement de Ville-Marie pour la tolérance et la convivialité (CORRAV).

"We don't represent the clients or the owners of the afterhours," says Viau. "We're just concerned about the cultural life of our neighbourhood."

Last month, after learning about the changes through the media, the group sent the borough council a lucid, well-written eight-page memorandum to the borough outlining their opposition to the law and recommendations on solving the problem. The borough did not, and will not, respond to it.

Quality questions

Curiously, quality of life is the big argument, on both sides. While the residents' association of Ville-Marie complained to the borough that customers leaving the clubs at all hours of the night and morning were creating noise and traffic problems, Viau says the afterhours and their clients add a vigour and electricity to the downtown core, without which the area would be much more boring. "The advantages of having afterhours far surpass the inconveniences," he says. "I'm not convinced they are a problem."

He has three arguments as to why the regulation is wrong. "First, there's the quality of life," he says. "Second, the law will affect tourism and Montreal's international reputation, which is known around the world for its nightlife. The people who made this law don't understand the economics of circuit life. People come here from New York, Boston, Toronto and even Europe for these clubs. If DJs can't come here, Montreal will drop off as a circuit destination.

"And third, the social makeup of the neighbourhood will be affected. Downtown can't be run like a suburb. There is an equilibrium to be reached."

Robert Laramée, the city councillor for St-Jacques, which includes the Gay Village, doesn't think so. He says he's been receiving complaints from residents about the clubs since he's been elected, and has been working on the changes, along with fellow councillors Martin Lemay and Louise O'Sullivan Boyne, since January. For him, quality of life means the right to a certain amount of tranquility.

"We don't want to forbid all afterhours," he says. "We just want to regulate them and keep these kinds of establishments within certain areas. People want the night to end at some point. It's not so much what's going on inside the club that concerns us - that's something we've never even looked at - but what happens outside."

He does say that it remains possible for clubs to open in the designated zone, if the promoters approach the city with a proposal for study, then hold public hearings, then have a referendum on the issue, a process that he says takes about three months.

Politics and dancing collide

But Viau and some promoters feel that if the downtown afterhours scene becomes too constraining, it will simply migrate back underground and into boroughs more residential than Ville-Marie.

"I think you're going to see afterhours open in the Plateau and Mile End. Everyone, all of these not-in-my-backyard types, will pass the buck," Viau says. "What are they going to do then, send the clubs to the suburbs? Imagine the problems."

The city's medicine, many are thinking, may be worse than the disease. By coming down hard on longstanding afterhours clubs, the legislation may make Montreal's nightlife not only less fun, but more scattered, less regulated and potentially more dangerous.

"Since last year, the city has been doing its best to clamp down on badly managed parties and clubs," says Patrick Simard, a member of the Association of Montreal Promoters, a collection of rave production companies. "Montreal has one of the safest nightlifes in North America, and the world. If the city tries to stop the movement, it will just go back underground, where it will be less secure. Their whole reaction to this is, to me, un peu exagéré."

But such is life in the megacity. In the brave new Montreal, city hall has far less power than it once had, with local autonomy the order of the day. Once the legislation is formally adopted on May 6 it will be sent to the city to be rubber-stamped, and that's that. Even if the city wanted to oppose it, they couldn't, says mayor press rep Darren Becker.

"The city has no intention of stepping on anyone's toes," he says. "The city can't get involved, it's not our jurisdiction. This is a perfect example of respecting the rights and powers of the boroughs."

Referendum push

That doesn't mean all is lost, however. Viau and his group have one last chance to block the law from passing, but it will require a lot of work and a commitment from residents to actually care. They will have to ask residents to sign a register requesting a referendum on the issue, but time is pressing and logistics are a problem.

"There was a public notice in the local borough community paper, but it says that the register will only be open for two days during office hours," he says. "We're getting more support, but there's not much time left."

Precedence isn't on his side. The last attempt by locals to try to block done city deals ended in failure, when residents of Little Italy failed to turn out in enough numbers to force a referendum on the expansion of the Jean Talon Market in February. Still, Viau feels that it's worth the effort. "This is the price we pay for decentralization," he says.

In an effort to get more publicity and get more people involved - he says CORRAV now has about a dozen "hard-core" members, with the number of outside sympathizers growing daily - the group will be holding a public assembly to get resident and media attention. "But if people aren't prepared to mobilize for it, it's not worth doing," he says.

CORRAV's public assembly will take place on Monday, April 28 in room 203 of the Centre St-Pierre, 1212 Panet, metro Beaudry, at 7 p.m. All are welcome. For more info on CORRAV, go to www. ravemontreal.com/corrav.html.