***It is important that you sign this petition ONLY if you are a resident of the Plateau-Mont-Royal and a citizen!***
The borough of Plateau-Mont-Royal has passed a new bylaw requiring bars and restaurants with terraces on leased public property to be closed by 11pm on week nights and midnight on weekends. The reason for this bylaw has been noise complaints.
However, such a bylaw does not truly address noise complaints as most noise tends to come from the streets and people leaving bars and clubs, not people enjoying a drink or a meal on a terrace. Furthermore, establishments with terraces on their own property can keep them open while those who lease from the city cannot meaning that if the issue truly were noise, the law fails to reduce it as noise can come from these privately owned terraces and the law thus discriminates against businesses who need to lease from the city. Finally, the new law negatively impacts upon small businesses and their staff as their revenue is decreased as a result of the new closing hours for terraces.
The Plateau-Mont-Royal is famed and loved for its vibrant and dynamic atmosphere. We feel that this law wrongly targets bars and restaurants in trying to subside noise level, negatively impacts the finances of small businesses and their staff, eliminates a privilege for people who work late hours (such as service staff, hospital staff, cleaning staff) and can no longer enjoy a drink or meal outdoors because of this new law, and negatively impacts upon Montreal's outdoor summer culture.
We petition the borough of Plateau-Mont-Royal to give bars and restaurants more responsibility for controlling the level of noise on their terraces and to scrap the law, thus allowing the Plateau-Mont-Royal's famed vibrancy and lifestyle to continue.