Roger-Luc Chayer (Photos : Gay Globe Media)
The City of Montreal is Filthy Beyond Belief — and Never in Its History Has It Been So Neglected by Municipal Authorities
The streets are dirty, the sidewalks stained with all kinds of substances I dare not describe here. Trash litters the ground, and all the City can come up with is that it’s the fault of a few irresponsible citizens who don’t manage their garbage properly.
That’s what was being said yesterday on the airwaves of 98.5 and QUB FM, when municipal officials were confronted with the appalling state of the metropolis.
They mentioned that some Montrealers throw their garbage bags into alleyways, leave their recycling bins open so their contents can blow away in the wind. Citizens were blamed for being careless—if not outright filthy. But not once did the City acknowledge that the new garbage collection schedule — now limited to once every two weeks in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve — might have anything to do with it.
Of course, when the City decides to collect trash only every other week, the result is predictable: garbage bags pile up, green bins outside multi-unit buildings overflow quickly, and rats and raccoons — to name just a few — take advantage of the situation by ripping open the bags in search of food. But no, the City refuses to talk about that. It denies all responsibility — it’s all the fault of Montrealers!
And in a way, the City’s right: it is the fault of Montrealers… for having voted for the officials currently in power. Now they must assume responsibility for the widespread filth overtaking several boroughs.
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In Ville-Marie and the Village, the situation is even worse.
Based on my own observations over the past two years, two very specific causes explain the overwhelming presence of garbage on the streets and sidewalks of the Village.
First, many tenants and property managers of large buildings put their trash out on any given day, not just on the official collection day. This leads to piles of garbage bags accumulating on the curb for all to see.
Second, the large number of short-term rental units like Airbnbs adds significantly to the problem. Tourists are responsible for emptying the unit’s trash themselves before they leave. Since their stays end on any day of the week, garbage bags often end up on the street several days before the next scheduled pickup.
Another key factor is the large number of homeless individuals and psychologically distressed people who systematically rip open garbage bags left on the street, looking for returnable cans or bottles.
Some of them — and I’ve seen this many times — empty every bin they come across, not in search of anything of monetary value, but for “treasures” that only have meaning in their drug-clouded minds: a piece of fabric, a button, something shiny… After they’ve ripped open and dumped out the contents of twenty or more bins in front of a single building, the trash ends up scattered all over the sidewalk. And since the garbage crews don’t pick up what’s not properly contained, it stays there in full view of everyone — until the wind carries it further afield.
That’s what the City refuses to see. The solutions may be complex, but turning a blind eye to reality is certainly not one of them.
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