Here we are once again, a rainy day in Pierrefonds, and guess what... It stinks. I called the phone number for the Pierrefonds-Roxboro burrough to complain. I was told that I would have to call back on Tuesday since they're only at a call center for emergencies. I guess they do not want to log the complaint calls regarding the smell. An emergency call center will definitely not do that.

It nice to defuse the situation in this way. We are upset at this moment because it stinks. It will likely not stink in 2 days when we get the permission to complain.

Got published in paper again!

Below is the latest message I sent to the disrespectful, incompetent burough mayor, Monique Worth. I sent it on May 9th and to this day have not received anything back from anyone at the city, oh, except the friendly reminder that we owe almost $1200 in taxes for June 1st, 2006. But I did get the permit to install our external air conditioner at the back of our house.

The message also got published in Cité Nouvelles a local paper in the Tribune Libre section (Vol XXXII, number 19, published May 14, 2006).

So here is my message:

Subject: Ridicule de vivre à Pierrefonds

Madame Worth,

Je voulais partagé avec vous ma frustration toujours grandissante de vivre
dans ce bel arrondissement. Non seulement nous avons toujours payé nos
taxes à temps et au complet pour avoir le privilège de vivre dans la
puanteur du site d'enfouissement, mais aujourd'hui j'apprends au
département de la construction que je dois encore payer $30 pour un permis
pour installer un climatiseur externe. De plus, je ne peux pas l'installer
sur notre propriété à l'endroit le plus économique et où c'est le plus
raisonnable d'installer une telle unité, sur le côté de la maison. Une
dérogation coûterai plus de $600. C'est vraiment payant au bureau de
l'arrondissement!

J'en ai assez de me faire chier, oui chier, à vivre dans cet
arrondissement. J'ai commencé très poliment l'année dernière, mais on voit
bien que le respect des règles et la politesse ne donne aucun résultat. On
se sent agresser dans notre demeure. Nous vivons encore dans la puanteur,
donc nous devons installer un climatiseur, on doit fermer nos fenêtres, se
barricader dans notre maison. Pour ce faire on doit encore payer (en plus
de nos taxes) et nous ne pouvons pas procéder avec l'installation de la
manière la plus raisonnable sans payer un prix usurier. Si vous connaissez
l'emplacement de notre maison, l'installation à l'arrière ne changera
absolument rien envers les voisins de l'autre côté de la rue Kimber. Mais,
pour ne pas se faire écoeurer par la direction nous allons procéder à
l'installation plus coûteuse à l'arrière de notre maison pour pouvoir
s'enfermer hermétiquement dans notre maison dans ce bel arrondissement de
Pierrefonds-Roxboro.

Même les rapports du Ministère de l'environnement affirment que les
propriétaire dans le voisinage du site d'enfouissment vivent une perte de
jouissance de leur propriétés. Sans aucun doute, nous figurons parmis ces
propriétaires. Nous recevons une grande valeur pour notre argent.

Je vous invite toujours, vos parents et vos amis, à visiter notre partage
avec le monde entier sur notre blog puanteur de Pierrefonds à l'adresse:

http://pierrefondsstinks.blogspot.com/

Veuillez agréer encore une fois l'expression de ma considération la plus
distinguée.

I've been sitting in our office for a few hours now, and oh joy! it stinks! Every so often my nostrils have been tickled by the "Eau de Landfill" aroma... I barely remember the days when one could smell the fresh air of spring, of fresh cut grass (a neighbour did it earlier!), now I get hits of fresh air promptly followed by Pierrefonds' stink... It's not to the point where I would close the window, but still, enough for me to notice and get pissed off about it!

It's 1 o'clock in the afternoon and it stinks! Ridiculous, completely ridiculous!

It's a good thing that the wind turns, the vile odor will be blown away for a while... One can hope...

It's getting warmer and it would be nice to open our windows to get a little fresh air, except that we live in freaking STINKY Pierrefonds!

Throughout the day today I've been getting whiff of Pierrefonds' stink! This afternoon I had clothes drying on our clothesline and at some point the stink got to me so I decided to bring everything in - dry or not! Tonight, it still smells!

It's getting to be freaking ridiculous - we can't even enjoy the fresh spring air - we are being poluted by local people, which makes matters worst. If it was the other way around, the pressure to solve this issue would be so great, but it doesn't look like the current situation is getting pressure 'cause damn it! It stinks in Pierrefonds, once again!!!

Again some stink. Not so bad tonight, but any stink at this point is WAY too much.

One comment to my previous post from someone living nearby merits that I post it directly in the blog. It just reiterates the utter disregard for the citizens' well being by our idiotic disrespectful elected officials. Corruption in government, OF COURSE NOT, that can NEVER happen. Hey we're just simple citizens who pay their taxes, we're just talking here. I really sympathize my friend. Here is the comment.


Thursday, May 4/06

While it was nice this morning, it wasn't to last... By 2:30pm, the stink was back! Permeating my entire house, even with the windows closed! What is a citizen supposed to do in a house not equipped with air ducts to install air conditionning?!!

And why should we all have to be indoors to enjoy fresh clean air anyway?

What's the point of looking forward to spring and summer if we have to stay inside all the time, just to be able to breathe normally, without wrinkling up our noses and thinking, "Ooooh! What a stink!!"?

I bought my house in 1995, and was told that the quarry was closing; that a green space would be preserved behind my house instead. You see, the old quarry is my nearest backdoor neighbour... What a terrible one!! If a smell so awful came from someone's yard, I could get the police over here to ask them to immediately put a stop to the offensive odours, but since the City is a supporter and benefactor of the smelly landfill company, the regular citizen seems powerless.

Last year, the smell was so strong some nights that it awakened me in the middle of the night, and I had my windows CLOSED at the time!! I phoned the Pierrefonds borough, Environment Quebec, and l'Environment de la Ville de Montreal MANY times, to complain about the strong odours... to no avail. Ms Worth told me that she had only had a couple other citizens call her to complain. ( I found that hard to believe...) I asked her if she was unaware of the general statistic that 1 call represents 50 others who were too timid/busy to vocally complain? She ignored that question, and just kept telling me that the smell wasn't toxic. Well, that may or may not be, but I'm not accepting her word for it. ( Ever see the reality-based movie "Erin Brochovich"??) All I know is my son's asthma has sharply increased in severity since last year, with no other reason to explain it... And even if the stink isn't toxic and killing us,it sure is irritating us! Ms Worth didn't seem to care that it was ruining quality of life in her town!

Pierrefonds is a residential place, and families should be able to enjoy simple pleasures like sleeping peacefully, going on a walk, eating al fresco in your own backyard,etc without wanting to wear a facemask! I can't believe that I actually enjoyed these things more when I lived near downtown, in NDG!!!

I REALLY miss being able to have dinner outside on my deck, or falling asleep to the sound of the breeze in the trees...

EVERY citizen unhappy and suffering due to this awful smell should call and call and CALL the government agencies involved to complain and demand cleaner air (and water) in our town! Clean air is a basic human right that should not be compromised for the sake of some city revenue!

Ms Worth excuses the landfill company and its operating policies because , in her words "without the project, we'll be left with that big open hole" (the old quarry).

Well, let me tell you, I'd rather have a big open hole, that doesn't bother anyone, than a big fat stink that won't go away for 10 years!! And I'm sure a lot of other Pierrefonds citizens feel the same way too.

Well friends, as good as it seemingly has been for the past few weeks (I still have reservations about the water smelling like chlorine or javel), it stinks in our home again tonight. It's so lovely at this time of year that we cannot open our windows to get the air circulating in our freaking home. If we try we circulate stink.

We still have always paid our taxes in full and on time. What value we get for all that money? These politicians must be related to the Liberal Party of Canada.

Now we will be buying an air conditioning unit which sits outside the house, I would bet that the damn borough twits will get in the way of having the unit sit on the side of our house. Our neighbor on that side is across the street, but that may not matter since common sense is not part of this equation.

I just used our handy dandy single click link to send yet another complaint e-mail to these clueless idiots.