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While the cleanliness of Villeray/St-Michel/Park Extension’s alleys and streets topped a list of priorities for borough officials who were launching their annual springtime cleanup, there could be little doubt it was also on the minds of a number of concerned Park Extension residents, when the borough council met for its monthly public meeting only a few hours later.
Cooperation lacking
During question period, Christos Bekios, a longtime Wiseman Ave. landlord and resident, engaged in a long and verbose exchange with Mayor Anie Samson and Councillor Mary Deros, over the borough's alleged failure to deal effectively with people who refuse to follow the rules of proper garbage disposal in his neighbourhood. "Mme Deros does a great job in my area, but doesn't have the cooperation of some people," he said.
"The question is now, as an owner, I am there to clean the place … The owners collecting the rent, they know each tenant. I know each tenant, who is bad, who is good. I can tell them a few words. I can tell them the rules of the city. I can tell them I don't want their garbage before the time. The city here picks up usually nice and regular. Why have my neighbours who buy and are in their new home now, and they put the garbage loose on the sidewalk … ?"
'I can't go clean his yard'
Maintaining that he spoke to and promised to cooperate with one of the borough's sanitation inspectors, Bekios still wondered why the neighbour continues to get away with dumping trash and garbage in a rear yard. "He picks up a few items from his yard and puts them outside loose," he said. "I do my building and I put it in boxes and I put it in the garbage. Why am I afraid and he's not afraid? … I can't go clean his yard. Now don't give me promises. I want solutions."
Responding over Bekios's continuing protestations, Mayor Anie Samson insisted, "When we're talking about cleanness in Park Extension, St-Michel and Villeray, it's not only the responsibility of the borough, it's the responsibility of everyone here … When we're talking about cleanness, we have to be responsible. You are, but not everyone. We have inspectors, we have complaints, we can do whatever we can, but we cannot do the job of every citizen. Every citizen has to be responsible for themselves."
Increase inspections — Deros
Intervening at one point, Councillor Mary Deros told Bekios, "You're doing a wonderful job on your street. You are my eyes and my ears and I appreciate that. But there is a procedure. Now it's not working. Our director of inspectors is here, he is listening to you. So we will increase the inspection on the street." While Samson and Deros also promised to have Éco-quartier look into the matter, this only further provoked Bekios, who insisted Éco-quartier hadn't bothered answering calls from him.
Taien Ng-Chan, another Park Exer concerned about garbage, described her neighbours' back yard as "a garbage dump and it's been that way since I moved in last May. And mostly it's a huge eyesore. I'm just worried that it's a health hazard, because there's a lot of materials from renovations that they dump there. There's a plastic sheet that stagnant water collects on it, and stagnant water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and I have a three-year-old son." Deros promised to investigate.
Future of former church site
On another issue, Mary McCutcheon, a Stuart Ave. resident, asked what are the borough's intentions for a vacant piece of land on St. Roch St. between Wiseman and Stuart, which was the site of St. Sophie's Church until it fell into disrepair and was demolished. Deros said a legal dispute over taxes owed to the city for the property is still not resolved. "While it is still in court and is not settled we cannot touch it," she said. "It's his property, the parish and the priest. We cannot go and take it over. He's paying his taxes. It is private property. We have to wait."