A waterside boardwalk, marina, delightful shops and restaurants, schools: such are the elements which have long made Ste. Anne de Bellevue - the furthest-west of Montreal's island suburbs - into an urban gem.
But lately the town's decline is immediately evident to anybody cruising into the city of 5,000 founded in 1703.
Anybody who has hit the main drag would have noticed the jawdropping vacancy rate, which includes a pair of large-sized, once-thriving adjacent restaurants, leaving visitors half-expecting to see tumbleweeds blow by.
What caused the sudden decline in fortunes? One might look no further than a costly and ill-advised major rehaul of the main strip that left it closed for over a year and then left it more cumbersome to navigate upon its return.
But here's a bit more background: the city was one of those municipalities that demerged from one-island-one city in June 2004 as 1651 voters opted to leave the City of Montreal against 356 that voted to stay.
The popular mantra was that smaller cities are run more efficiently, as they keep a tight reign on their spending.
This formula might work for cities like Westmount which have solid cash coming in from commercial taxpayers such as Westmount Square, but Ste. Anne's has a different scheme.
And of course, it's easy to brag that you pay less but as you know, you get what you pay for.
Ste. Anne's squeezes their nickels by subcontracting such tasks as city inspection, which has led to very poor service. The city has since been unable to keep competent people on staff, as workers frequently leave to other more lucrative careers in such fields as pet grooming.
As a result of going solo, the tiny city was forced to take on expenses of maintaining 11 kilometres of roads and a pair of highway overpasses which a past mayor said "we can't possibly afford."
Already-high taxes were raised by over two percent in 2014, forcing landlords to sacrifice repairs and in many cases pass on those higher-expenses to commercial and residential tenants.
Many residents live north of Highway 20 and have no connection to the main strip, which they see as a place where drunken CEGEP students make noise and bother people, a reputation that has been undeserved for about 20 years as the Brass and other youth-catering establishments are long gone.
But the popular agenda of townsfolks that come to council meetings is to discourage commerce and traffic, a popular will that has hurt the tax base and led to a high vacancy rate on the main strip.
About four years ago then-mayor Francis Deroo approved a massive remake of Lakeshore Boulevard, aka Ste. Anne.
The street was closed and dug up for over a year with predictable results on the fortunes of main street merchants.
The renovation included trendy new elements such as wider sidewalks and narrower streets, changes which cost about 20 street parking spots.
Once reopened, elderly drivers found driving too harrowing on the lane-sized main drag and so they stopped coming. Other motorists noted the difficulty parking and also stopped coming to the many restaurants.
As a result, the newly-widened sidewalks have been less-trod, the newly-implanted benches unoccupied.
The massive marathon remake of main street included new underground wiring which would allow the removal of the old wooden electrical poles.
About two years later the poles are still there.
The one-term mayor that oversaw the urban remake is long gone.
Whether the city can recover and once again thrive is another question.
But lately the town's decline is immediately evident to anybody cruising into the city of 5,000 founded in 1703.
 |
| Restaurants have been closing in Ste. Anne's at an alarming rate |
What caused the sudden decline in fortunes? One might look no further than a costly and ill-advised major rehaul of the main strip that left it closed for over a year and then left it more cumbersome to navigate upon its return.
But here's a bit more background: the city was one of those municipalities that demerged from one-island-one city in June 2004 as 1651 voters opted to leave the City of Montreal against 356 that voted to stay.
The popular mantra was that smaller cities are run more efficiently, as they keep a tight reign on their spending.
This formula might work for cities like Westmount which have solid cash coming in from commercial taxpayers such as Westmount Square, but Ste. Anne's has a different scheme.
And of course, it's easy to brag that you pay less but as you know, you get what you pay for.
Ste. Anne's squeezes their nickels by subcontracting such tasks as city inspection, which has led to very poor service. The city has since been unable to keep competent people on staff, as workers frequently leave to other more lucrative careers in such fields as pet grooming.
As a result of going solo, the tiny city was forced to take on expenses of maintaining 11 kilometres of roads and a pair of highway overpasses which a past mayor said "we can't possibly afford."
Already-high taxes were raised by over two percent in 2014, forcing landlords to sacrifice repairs and in many cases pass on those higher-expenses to commercial and residential tenants.
Many residents live north of Highway 20 and have no connection to the main strip, which they see as a place where drunken CEGEP students make noise and bother people, a reputation that has been undeserved for about 20 years as the Brass and other youth-catering establishments are long gone.
But the popular agenda of townsfolks that come to council meetings is to discourage commerce and traffic, a popular will that has hurt the tax base and led to a high vacancy rate on the main strip.
About four years ago then-mayor Francis Deroo approved a massive remake of Lakeshore Boulevard, aka Ste. Anne.
The street was closed and dug up for over a year with predictable results on the fortunes of main street merchants.
The renovation included trendy new elements such as wider sidewalks and narrower streets, changes which cost about 20 street parking spots.
Once reopened, elderly drivers found driving too harrowing on the lane-sized main drag and so they stopped coming. Other motorists noted the difficulty parking and also stopped coming to the many restaurants.
As a result, the newly-widened sidewalks have been less-trod, the newly-implanted benches unoccupied.
The massive marathon remake of main street included new underground wiring which would allow the removal of the old wooden electrical poles.
About two years later the poles are still there.
The one-term mayor that oversaw the urban remake is long gone.
Whether the city can recover and once again thrive is another question.