East End rooming house. EAST..END...ROOMING...HOUSE..
No good news ever starts out with that phrase.
The recent arrest of Claudio Ponari, 57, a landlord of a rooming house 3629 Ste. Catherine E., on that dodgy strip between Prefontaine and Pie IX, is both sad and bizarre.
The rooming house has been a constant headache for police and neighbours, as a woman shot another woman there in 2005 and somebody torched the place two years ago.
The TVA network brought cameras inside the hallways a few months ago to show the unwholesome lifestyles of those living within those walls.
The area has been chronically plagued with crack cocaine use and prostitution.
It's in no landlord's interest to promote drug use, but sometimes these things are beyond one's control.
However the arrest of the landlord in connection with a major crack bust makes the story entirely unusual.
We don't know the details of the drug charges or the evidence against Ponari.
Presumably police believe he either tacitly permitted the drug dealing to go on within his property or perhaps was even more actively involved.
Occasionally landlords will get friendly with tenants and even end up taking drugs with them and bad results inevitably emerge. We assume Ponari is innocent until proven otherwise and hope you do as well.
No good news ever starts out with that phrase.
The recent arrest of Claudio Ponari, 57, a landlord of a rooming house 3629 Ste. Catherine E., on that dodgy strip between Prefontaine and Pie IX, is both sad and bizarre.
The rooming house has been a constant headache for police and neighbours, as a woman shot another woman there in 2005 and somebody torched the place two years ago.The TVA network brought cameras inside the hallways a few months ago to show the unwholesome lifestyles of those living within those walls.
The area has been chronically plagued with crack cocaine use and prostitution.
It's in no landlord's interest to promote drug use, but sometimes these things are beyond one's control.
However the arrest of the landlord in connection with a major crack bust makes the story entirely unusual.We don't know the details of the drug charges or the evidence against Ponari.
Presumably police believe he either tacitly permitted the drug dealing to go on within his property or perhaps was even more actively involved.
Occasionally landlords will get friendly with tenants and even end up taking drugs with them and bad results inevitably emerge. We assume Ponari is innocent until proven otherwise and hope you do as well.
lol @ calling 3629 a rooming house. not exactly
ReplyDeleteSuch chronically-problematic buildings ought to be routinely bulldozed.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly is a rooming house? I associate this term with the Old West but it comes up constantly in Montreal history right up through the 70's. You basically rent a bedroom but have access to a shared bathroom / kitchen / living room? Sounds only slightly better than being homeless.
ReplyDelete3629 is like an undergound hotel run by drug dealers, prostitutes and addicts rent rooms for $5 an hour or $30 a night
DeleteThe landlord is facing serious charges and still in jail. Meanwhile, random local street thugs have taken over this "rooming house".. good job spvm!
ReplyDelete