With friends like this…
With friends like this you don’t need enemies: a guest columnist in the Gazette writes under the heading Montreal is no stranger to overcoming adversity about how filthy and graffiti-ridden our streets are, how our downtown is no longer safe – patrolled by police in riot gear. I do not recognize the 1980s New York picture this guy is drawing and I think it’s irresponsible of the Gazette to run this kind of item, tending as it does to reinforce its suburban readers’ fear of the city.
Our city is so safe, there isn’t a street I wouldn’t walk down alone at midnight. It’s so clean, the idea of describing it in terms more suitable to a third-world favela is an insult to people who actually have to live in those favelas. We have some drama, yes, but trying to heighten that drama by publishing inflammatory rubbish is a distasteful editorial choice.
Mark 09:11 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
The irony is that the people I know in the suburbs experience much more vandalism by bored kids–cars purposefully scratched, bus shelters smashed, etc.–than downtowners do.
Bill Binns 09:30 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
I appreciate the safety of Montreal, it’s really of the major things that keeps me here. I also found myself standing in the Metro last weekend noticing the almost total lack of graffiti. Amazing for a city of this size. The columnist may have a point regarding our infrastructure though. How can a city built on an island take such poor care of it’s bridges?
C_Erb 09:41 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
The city doesn’t maintain the bridges, they’re federal jurisdiction.
Jack 09:55 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
Joel Raby is a 1%’er, who is writing solely from that perspective, ignore him. I mean seriously, how many investment bankers do you know?
jeather 10:55 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
I know people who live in the west island. None of them are scared of the city. (Also, 1%ers live in Westmount, Outremont and TMR. Their kids live in the Plateau.)
I have no idea what this article is talking about (not Montreal) or who it is aimed at (not Montrealers). I think most people agree that our municipal leadership is lacking, sure, but our crime rate isn’t exactly terrifyingly horrific, and I don’t see any current travel alerts about Canada — there is one from late April, saying mostly “be careful and avoid getting caught up in a demonstration”, but nothing now.
paul 10:56 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
Safe, yes…
Clean, no. I would argue that it is the dirtiest city in North America (at least from personal experience)
I recognize that we have more important things to spend our money on, but I think the problem isn’t from a poorly run municipal service but rather a cultural indifference to littering that you don’t see elsewhere. I question if there are education campaigns?
I would reduce garbage pick-up to once a week, spending the money on other cleaning measures. Project Montreal has indicated a desire to reduce this service, but are tied into their union contract until 2014.
jeather 10:57 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
FWIW, in the Sud-Ouest we have once a week garbage pickup (as of April of this year).
walkerp 11:23 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
East coast cities in general, U.S. and Canada, are dirtier and more broken down than west coast cities. Montreal is okay, but people still litter here, don’t pick up after their dogs and so on all behaviour that is basically unthinkable on the west coast.
C_Erb 15:26 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
Dirtiest city in North America?? Have you been to Philadelphia? I often heard it referred to as Filthadelphia, a nickname it more than earned. There are many other American cities that make Montreal look clean enough to eat off in comparison.
Also, myself, I don’t mind a bit of dirt and grime here and there. Have you been to Ottawa? That place is almost shiny it’s so clean. It’s also incredibly boring!
Ian 19:51 on 2012/06/13 Permalink
Even compared to Toronto Montreal is cleaner, maybe not for graffiti but certainly for air quality. Also, while we have more riot cops, Toronto has a lot more homelessness. I’ve never had anyone barf through my mail slot while I was living in Montreal.
John B 07:48 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
Safe: ok, maybe.
Cean? No way. This is the dirtiest city I’ve lived in, and I’ve lived in most major Canadian cities. There’s trash everywhere. I found a half-drunk pepsi on my car yesterday. I clean up a couple of pounds of litter from in front of my apartment building each year. There’s trash everywhere.
paul 09:05 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
@C_Erb – Filthadelphia, nice! :-) I haven’t spent more than a few hours there and can’t comment.
For interest’s sake what other centres do you feel are dirtier? I haven’t visited the southern US, but compared to the major eastern centres (NYC, Chicago) and the West coast, Montreal is much dirtier IMO.
@Kate, not to derail the conversation but I find it interesting that comparing the cleanliness of our city to third-world centres is irresponsible and insulting, yet the students comparing their movement to the Arab Spring (not to mention Charest to Mubarak, SPVM to the SS, etc) is appropriate and justified. Any rationale behind this??
Kate 09:06 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
You guys are seeing a dirtier city than I see. I’ve been all over town this week and kept my eyes open, and it’s a city – there’s the odd bit of litter, yes, but it’s certainly not crawling with filth.
I think people get hung up on the general grottiness after the snow recedes in early spring. Yes, we have a couple of discouraging weeks – the trees still bare, the sidewalks scattered with leftover gravel, litter and dog poo reappearing from vanishing snowbanks. But go out today! This city is so beautiful in June with flowers and leafy trees and clean sidewalks and nice stuff.
qatzelok 09:11 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
It’s true that Montreal has a lot of people walking around 24/7, and these people create a lot of litter.
Perhaps Saskatoon does it better: everyone permanently locked in a car with a plastic bag on the seat to put their empties. Or Halifax, which has no pedestrians after 6 pm.
These are the soulless dead-bourgs that the Gazette article is praising. It’s like that paper will do virtually ANYTHING to lower its readers’ self-esteem. Would it be an exaggeration to call The Gazette a “reader abuser?”
It might explain the nasty collective behavior of its readers/victims.
paul 09:26 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
Agreed Kate, the spring weeks are especially challenging and the city is in generally good shape especially on major thoroughfares – but I can definitely give you some streets to visit which are regularly filled with garbage.
@qatzelok – are the much cleaner NYC, Chicago, Vancouver, etc ‘soulless dead-bourgs’? Trash Saskatoon and Halifax all you want, but all cities have their pros and cons; what they lack in vibrancy, they make-up for in civic pride. I am not arguing that Montreal becomes suburban Calgary; Montreal’s vibrancy is what makes it great – but it doesn’t mean we cant emulate certain aspects of a variety of cities. We don’t need to reduce our strengths to address our weaknesses.
qatzelok 09:46 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
@ paul: “We don’t need to reduce our strengths to address our weaknesses.”
I disagree strongly. As soon as you start cracking down on jaywalking (for example), you begin to negatively affect pedestrians. Same with those banes of suburban priss-heads – litter and graffiti. Crack down on those, and you reduce other positive things. The Gazette wants all of Montreal to look like boring Monkland Avenue.
paul 09:51 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
@qatzelok – I don’t really care what the gazette wants, I am just suggesting what I would like to see. Jaywalking is one of the best things in Montreal, but beside the point; we are talking about litter, tagging etc.
Could you elaborate on what positive things tagging and litter bring to our city??
qatzelok 09:53 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
Youth culture and pedestrian traffic.
paul 10:05 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
I think that is grasping: I find it hard to believe that a significant reduction in litter would result in a reduction of pedestrians or a decrease in culture.
The percentage of people that regularly litter or tag must be extremely minimal, but their impact on the street scape is quite large – I would argue for the worse but I imagine we disagree.
Kate 10:57 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
OK @paul – tell me where the garbage is, I’ll go with a camera and report back.
jeather 11:38 on 2012/06/14 Permalink
Montreal is dirtier than many nice cities, but — except for a bit after the snow melts — it’s not this pit of squalour. I might not want to walk around barefoot, but I don’t need closed shoes and pants that cover my entire leg.
And wanting less litter doesn’t mean killing people who litter on sight, nor does it have anything to do with jaywalking. (Quebec City has litter, too, and almost no jaywalking [where I am]. It’s eerie.)
Kevin 07:45 on 2012/06/16 Permalink
I’m late to this discussion but I just got back from a week in southern France
Our city is filthy.
Garbage cans are 2-3 a block in Cannes, Nice, and smaller cities and they are always empty. I can’t tell you how often I search for a can in Montreal only to find it overflowing with trash.