Roger-Luc Chayer
A city dirty and messy, it is a city that has lost its pride, at least the opinion of many people living in Montreal or who come as tourists. According to a French woman in downtown Montreal this summer, she had no idea of the general state of dirtiness in Montreal, and she regretted that she had to report it, adding that she would probably not come back, because she felt herself cheated by the commercials praising the magnificence of the metropolis.
She is not entirely wrong, you will agree. Summer or winter, day trash or not, the city seems to have become a huge open dump and it is walking through the streets that we discover the magnitude of the problem. The saddest part of this situation is that Mayor Plante does not seem at all worried or preoccupied by the intensity of the filth all over the sidewalks, the alleys, or squarely in front of the most prestigious shops in her city center.
Yet there is a very specific municipal bylaw, which has teeth, but it does not seem to be enforced. Regulation CA-24-085 on civility, respect and cleanliness is very clear. Clause 3 says: Every waterfront resident shall maintain the public property adjacent to his property or the establishment he occupies in such a way that he is at all times free from unclean or harmful matter. Article 11 says: It is forbidden to soil the public domain. Article 17 says: It is forbidden to spread or scatter the contents of bags, boxes, bins, garbage cans or other containers, to undo bundles, fagots or boxes tied up, deposited on the public domain for the purpose of a fundraiser.
The authority responsible for the application of this regulation and the associated fines is the Direction des travaux publics. And they are salted these fines, between $ 250 and $ 4000!
Michel Archambault, professor emeritus in tourism at the School of Management Sciences of UQAM, said in the newspaper La Presse last April: « In this matter, we unfortunately lost the battle. »
The causes are many, but it is especially the negligence of the boroughs to apply the municipal by-law that explains the « je-m’-foutisme » of some Montrealers. The issue of Airbnb partly explains the accumulation of waste on the sidewalks, because visitors do not know the pickup schedule for their place of residence and when they leave, they put everything in the street without restraint. Solution, just contact 3-1-1 and require an inspector to point to the address of the offense. The city will then issue a written warning and, in the event of a repeat offense, reporting it back to 3-1-1, the offender will be fined. It is necessary to put in it, because it is also of our international reputation that it is here …