Op-Ed: Montreal City Chronicles (Part 4) Special

Montreal - This feature article looks at life in a large Canadian city going through a rough patch urban-wise. Garbage is an especially problematic challenge for Montreal.

The city is “spring cleaning” up again. This time the mess is not from trash but was caused by the jubilation, (if you are a riotous hockey fanatic) or resulted in woe, if you are a shoe-store owner on St-Catherine Street where the down-town action took place this past week. There the pandemonium following the play off matches ensued with great flair, almost as if it’s becoming some-kind of a local tribal-like, ritual in the city when the weather warms up. Watching the news, at times you get a sense, that the packs of youths storming through smashed store-front windows, are competing in a street sport as frantic and fast- paced as the one on ice. Too bad, I was not there that night for the play by play. Garbage, hockey games and mayhem in May To add to the general unease associated with the garbage bags and the graffiti, there are signs of an economic drift or slide downwards as well . Recently, I strolled along St-Laurent Street to buy a pair of sneakers at my favourite store . A place which was once a cherished part of my childhood. Back then my grand-dad took me there many moons ago. In those days the street was vibrant, yet quite pleasant, clean and prosperous. “The Street” (as the great Montreal writer Mordecai Richler, affectionately called it) has since it seems to me, also fallen victim to the graffiti vandals and decay. It looks run down and shabby now. I passed several boarded up vacant commercial spaces; spray- painted with decorative “tags” meant to impress pedestrians or perhaps the police as well. Piles of rubbish could be seen on both sides of the street. I spoke to the owner of one Peruvian restaurant who told me in Spanish (I love this language!) the trash is not his waste, but was left on the curb by his neighbour. Pointing the finger at some-one else or at the less than visible clean up crews is a familiar refrain on the street of the city. Nothing gets done in the process. A drive by the riverside One weekend, I went for brunch on the western side of the island in the fairly affluent Lachine district, which borders the St-Laurence River. Naturally, graffiti can also be seen on municipal infrastructure such as the water purification station there as well. The taggers seem to have a very extensive and well-organised network, which covers the entire island of Montreal. Curious to hear what the local sheriff in town might say, I went into a near-by Police station. And a charming and lovely ( alomst armed to the teeth) lady-constable told me, there needs to be stricter and harsher penalties on “taggers”. And that the judges are just too lenient with offenders. So what are the elected city officials waiting for, to follow up on this law enforcement officer’s suggestion? For another vandalization maybe, like last week's defacement of a war memorial to take place? Garbage Blues There's an interesting Facebook page ( "Montreal, Graffiti, Garbage and Ignorance"), which vividly and sadly shows the deteriorating state of “green spaces” in Montreal. Local “litter rats” use parks and the Mt-Royal Mountain site for their pick-nicks and camp-fires. Cans, bottles, plastic- bags, and other debris it often strewn about and left behind by city -campers or doped up mid-night revellers.

"Those people should be fined and the bylaws should be enforced. It's just a matter of time before some careless people have a fire on a hot dry summer day and the forest catches fire. It would be a real tragedy,"

comments one Montreal resident who recently participated in "la Grande Corvee", an annual event which is meant to tidy up the once lovely and pristine mountain park in the city. Try dumping or leaving your trash behind at a city park in Zurich, Manchester , or maybe in much bigger urban spaces like Paris or N.Y.C (Central Park) and I bet a cop will stop you on the spot or give you a fine in no time . But here apparently its “laissez-faire” or anything goes, it appears.

Sarah Lessard

smokers' detritus in the city

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Fags and butts Chucked away smokers' "fags" or cigarettes butts also adorn the pavements, trees-poles and drains, curbs etc. and along with the rubbish and spray-pained artwork are an almost permanent fixture on the urban landscape. Since those frequenting bars, clubs and restaurants and office towers in the city are forbidden to light up inside the locales, they happily puff away and then toss the remains of their tobacco fix on the ground with great gusto. Hey boys and girls! Did anybody ever hear of civic pride?