One year ago Coolopolis brought you up to speed about a possible shantytown operating near St. James St. West in St. Henri.Coolopolis asked the landlord about it and he said he would look into it.
However it appears to very much be operating in the same way as ever, perhaps even expanding.
An intrepid friend of Coolopolis obtained photographic proof of the possible settlement but not before meeting with spirited resistance a couple of days ago.
He was in for quite an adventure as he recounts below.
I was accosted by the owner of the place, who very aggressively demanded that I erase the photos, then followed me home while delivering a tinfoil hat monologue to a 911 operator the entire time!See also: Secret shantytown in St. Henri?
This was a fellow who lived there, in the brick building adjacent to the shanty town. He was francophone, in his 60s, very agitated.
When I laughed at his demand that I "erase the photos" and didn't appear to be impressed or intimidated by his foaming-at-the-hips outcries of "mon calisse de mangeux d'marde" he called 911 and went on a very plaintive tirade that the operator must have found highly amusing.
I should point out that I never set foot on this guy's property and took the photos from the sidewalk. As far as I know, I didn't do anything illegal, so his response was comical and bewildering.
He kept referring to me while on the phone with the 911 operator as "un genre de crotté" - not sure why, since I am a normal looking guy in my 40s - and when I walked into the lobby of my building he reported the address to the 911 operator and said something along the lines of 'but it isn't likely that he actually lives here, because he's a bum" or something similar (in French, of course).
He also described me as "inebriated" to the 911 dispatcher, even though I don't really drink, even socially.
He also told the 911 operator that he was hoping I would walk into a shop with a security camera so that he wouldn't have to keep following me, and that the police could simply demand that they turn over their security footage and identify me from it!
He said that I was "a dangerous person" and that he was going to make sure that I made no attempt to "disparaitre dans l'brume" in his valiant attempt to "assister les agents d'police" and made sure to tell her that I was an anglophone (three times!) presumably to endure a more prompt police response.
To add to the hilarity, he was wearing bright orange rubber boots with dress slacks tucked into them. Followed me at a distance of maybe 10 feet from his shanty town all the way to Charlevoix street, reporting his precise location to the 911 operator the entire time!
There is clearly electricity going to the toolshed dwellings, which as you can see in the photos have been "modified" in all sorts of imaginative ways.
I used to live one street over on St Marguerite from 2005 to 2011 and the shanty town had already been there for a while before I moved there, albeit smaller and with only a chain link fence around it.
I used to think it was some kind of meth operation, but could it be possible that the geezer that pursued me this afternoon simply rents those squalid hovels to neighborhood crackheads?
A pity a photo of the Mayor was not taken and his voice recorded for a voice-over sound byte.
ReplyDeleteDid the Police show up, or has 911 dealt with him before?
Sounds as if he lives in a fog of his own making?
Wonder what they rent for, or is it a lease, maybe Strata or Condo??
Thank You.
The police did not show up, in spite of my very leisurely stroll home, roughly 15 blocks. As for the Mayor, it sounds like he was no stranger to making nuisance 911 calls. Initially he was advised to phone his local police station instead, but he replied that his phone was "only capable of making 911 calls" and ended up tying someone up on the line for a full twenty minutes.
DeleteI think I encountered this fellow when I rode my bicycle through the area. Unpleasant fellow glaring at me from an upper balcony. There was some sort of legal/political diatribe posted up in a window in that building adjacent the lot. I didn't stay long enough to do anything other than to take note of their existence.
ReplyDeleteA concern might what do the 'residents' do for toilet facilities and disposal. Do they used chamber pots? What about grey water? Cooking, as in fire hazard, heating, ditto. Looks like small smoke stacks or chimneys on some structures = gas, wood?
ReplyDeleteWhat about refrigeration and overloading of circuits w/too many plugs, TVs, electric heaters, toasters and so on?
Possible 'Theft of Communications' or whatever it is named re Cable Hookups?
If 'gas' used, did it pass inspection??
Health could be a big issue? under blanket of 'Poor Sanitation.'
Probably no sprinklers.
A fire might be a disaster.
Sad.
Thank You.
Looks like this character has fallen through the cracks regarding the safety and security of dwellings. Must be hundreds of violations. Amazing that this mess hasn't been bulldozed the way other such properties have been in the past.
ReplyDeleteNot sure that calling your local police precinct's phone number in order to make a complaint will get results as I seem to recall that the last time I did so, I was told to call 911 which has the responsibility to direct each department accordingly. Same with the fire department. Some cities still use those old red fireboxes. "Break the glass and pull the lever".
On the other hand, due to the increasing number of frivolous calls made to 911, you would think that if you knew exactly what police building to call--the one serving your district--it would be more efficient to do it that way, but I suppose that modern protocols exist for a reason.
You hear the sounds of torture coming from that shanty town at night. I worked around that area last year, one word: Sketchy. I think the guy that operates the place takes in runaways drug addicts and other down and outs etc. Sure it's a hazard and eye sore but where else would all those folk go? They would trickle into the streets of St Henri and then? Everyone complains but nothing has every been done. Also multiple stray cats in that vicinity.
ReplyDeleteThis would make a perfect topic for CTV's "Talk of the Town" with Mayor Coderre, who will undoubtedly say, "We're looking into it.".
ReplyDeleteHow about demolishing it as a public hazard and moving the squatters to the long-promised low cost housing?
I know for a fact that the guy running the place is renting shacks to homeless people for $300 a month. A lot of them are speed/crack heads and dealers.
ReplyDeleteFor a shack that's a bit steep. I guess drugs don't improve the mental faculties.
DeleteIf the landlord wanted to have a legal shantytown... he would build shacks on trailers. If they're built on a trailer wheelbase and fit within certain dimensions, they'd be considered a camper. The rules for housing change drastically when it's a camper. The "Small House" movement exploits this extensively
The city could complain about it, but there would be very little they could do about it. Unlike now where they're managing to avoid trouble by sheer laziness of the city bureaucracy.
another way of looking at this is some douche bag that can"t mind his own business is sneaking around like a zealot taking pictures of people who can mind there own business and want to be left alone. this is such a provocateur thing to do, shame on you.
ReplyDeleteI can see how a simpleton might arrive at such an endearingly puerile point of view.
DeleteTo those who criticize the perfectly justified whistle-blowing of clearly decrepit "dwellings", will someone please explain to me how living in a shanty-town contributes to the health and welfare of anyone in our modern society?
ReplyDeleteMontreal is not Nairobi.
@ Mr. U.L.,
ReplyDelete"Re Montreal is not Nairobi."
A word was left out.
"Yet!"
This applies to many other cities, and in ways, the WHOLE planet.
It is inexorable and inevitable the way things are going, now.
There is not enough money/funding to help the unfortunate, rebuild the Champlain Bridge AND save the Snowdon Theater, where I viewed my first 'Movie' in the Forties.
Its much deeper than this.
No Money = more vacant lots as in site of old Bonaventure Station as the winds of time blow thru.
Wind is free, for now.
Sorry.
How Monty Python!
ReplyDelete