Stella I Love You, You B*tch

*the names have been changed to protect the noisy.

On a rainy day, yelling was heard outside the house. A few doors down, a romantic Romeo was out on the front sidewalk attempting to woo his Juliet. Except Juliet was busy with someone else in the park last night. Or at least that is what Romeo was so upset about as he yelled sweet obscenities to his Juliet.
This could be the beginning of the next Harlequin Romance Novel, or a paragraph in a homicide investigation. Sometimes it's hard to tell which way the tide will turn.
Let's hope cooler heads prevail on this one.

Party Duplex Must Be On Double Secret Probation

The main floor of the Party Duplex got cleaned out again last weekend. But the occupants of the upstairs are still residing there. The Party Duplex has been pretty quiet the last few weeks, which is good. But yesterday, around 6pm we witnessed some beer bottles being thrown out of the upstairs window at the back of the house. They were being hurled into the back lane and breaking on contact. My husband was taking the garbage out at the time and just about got hit by one of the beer bottles as it flew through the air.
Then a short while later, we were in the back lane talking to one of the other neighbours. We could see from where we were that it was the four year old that was tossing the beer bottles. Was he making a statement on what he thought about the beer in the house? Or was he just trying to entertain himself in some fashion? I don't have an answer on that.
What happened next, though, was amazing. The mother, who saw the audience of neighbours, started yelling at the boy to stop throwing the beer bottles. And the same mother began cleaning up the mess her son made. She picked up all of the broken beer bottles and put them in the dumpster.
This is the same mother that we encountered a month ago when her son was throwing rotten apples down the lane. This is the same mother that told us her son could do anything he wanted because "it's just the North End".
I think someone has been put on probation, maybe double secret probation. I see a change in attitude from this young mother. Lets hope she keeps it up.
The home team scores another point !!!

Update on Residential Tenancy Act For Manitoba And Us - Posted Sept15/10

I have an update on the post I made on Sept 15/10 entitled "Residential Tenancy Act For Manitoba And Us".

I received a response to that post from one of the candidates running in the Mynarski Ward (David Polsky):

Hi xxx The Residential Tenacies Act is under the durisdiction of the Province of Manitoba. You would have to contact your MLA George Hickes at 945-3706 or by email - george.hickes@leg.gov.mb.ca.

Or you can contact the Honorable Kerrie Irvin-Ross. She is the Provincial Minister responsible for Residential Tenacies Act. Her phone number is 945-6190 and email - minhcd@leg.gov.mb.ca.
Thank you.

I took his advise. I sent an email to George Hickes and the Honorable Kerrie Irvin-Ross.

George Hickes

I have a neighbour on my block who has disrupted the neighbourhood the entire summer. They have had loud drinking parties that last until 6:00am every night that it has been nice this summer. Finally on Aug 20 at 9:30am the police arrived at the house. The children and dog were removed. CFS arrived on the street. The kids and dog were taken away. The next day the adults were taken away. A week later the property manager had the residence cleaned up (after throwing up when he entered the unit). Then a week later the same people moved back in. The same people were given new furniture and clothing by CFS. And the same people partied all night long this last weekend on Friday night and Saturday night. They were yelling, swearing and screaming at each other in their back yard. One was smashing the other persons car in their back yard. How long must a neighbourhood put up with this kind of behaviour.

They do not appear to be involved in crime, so the Safe Communities and Neighbourhoods Act does not apply as of yet. These issues fall under the categories of The Residential Tenancy Act and The Neighbourhood Liveability By-Law.

There needs to be a change in the Residential Tenancies Act in section 67 - Landlord to investigate complaints. The section states the landlord needs to "make a reasonable effort to remedy the situation". This is a very subjective statement. There needs to be a footnote and rules on what is a reasonable effort. There needs to be accountability that the reasonable effort was done. Each recurrence of an issue must escalate. There must be a limit to the number of complaints on each type of issue.

When sections of the Neighbourhood Liveability By-Law are violated, the landlord must be held accountable and must be given specific criteria to act on and specific outcomes if issues are not resolved.

I have been writing a blog about my street http://adayinthehood.blogspot.com/. I began on Aug 22, after a particularly bad week on the block. I have specific issues relating to this one "party duplex" in my blog. It is located at XXXXXX. It is known to the Police, to the city By-Law office, to CFS, and who knows how many other places.

The police have enough work to do. They should not be forced to come to these problem houses over and over again because the current Acts do nothing to protect citizens. The By-Law officers do not seem to be able to enforce violations, they are aware of issues and file reports on issues, and request that issues be resolved. But they do not seem to be able to put the pressure needed on landlords to correct the issues.

The City of Winnipeg, and in particular the North End has many houses like this one that need to be taken care of. I do not want your office to tell me it is a city issue and the city to tell me it is a provincial issue. Someone has to take responsibility. Someone has to review these Acts and ensure they are working to take care of all citizens of Winnipeg and Manitoba.

Thankyou

My email was forwarded by the office of the Honorable Kerri Irvin-Ross to Gord Mackintosh's office.

On behalf of the Honourable Kerri Irvin-Ross, Minister of Housing and Community Development, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail.

As the matter you address falls under the jurisdiction of Honourable Gord Mackintosh, Minister responsible for the Residential Tenancies Act, I have taken the liberty of forwarding your e-mail to their office for review.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us. I will ensure this is brought to the Minister's attention.

Yours sincerely,

Nancy Renwick Special Assistant to the

Minister of Housing and Community Development
Room 358-Legislative Building
(204) 945-6190

I finally got a response from Gord Mackintosh's office.

So, I do have some power in resolving these issues. If the landlord does not resolve these issues in a manor I feel is reasonable, I can contact the Residential Tenancies Branch. I will keep that in mind if the Party House starts up again.

I am also glad to see that I can file a complaint if I feel these issues are not being taken care of.

Knowledge is a good thing.

New Party House? I Hope Not !!

Do we have a new party house in our back lane? I sure hope not. But last night at 1:30am, just before Oprah was over, there was noise coming from the lane. My husband opened the window and stuck his head out to see where the noise was coming from. It was not coming from the ususal Party House. I think we had that issue taken care of. This time it was coming from a house behind the Party House, on the other side of the back lane.
About ten minutes later, I stuck my head out to see. I could hear the party across the lane. And I could see them in their second floor suite through their window.
Well, I called the Police to let them know there was unacceptable noise coming from a drinking party across the lane.
This is all I can do about it. I do not know the landlord, so I cannot call them and let them know what their tenants are doing. I called the police. If the police had time last night to drop by and ask the occupants of that residents to please keep it down so their neighbours can sleep, then great. Otherwise, I hope they are notifying the landlord that there was a complaint.
I will continue to call the police each time someone in my neighbourhood decides they should party after midnight and wake me up. This is not acceptable, and I am not going to stand for it.

To the Party Houses out there - Get with the program, join society, respect your neighbours, and keep the noise down after midnight. I don't think that is too much to ask.

Was It Something I Said ??

The property manager for the Party House showed up earlier today. He put a couch in his truck and then left. It was hard to say exactly what was going on, and why he was at the house removing a couch.
But later in the day I noticed there was a pile of furniture at the back of the Party House next to the lane.

And one of the dumpsters in the back lane was full of broken furniture and baby strollers.

Do you think it was something I said?
The property manager showed up again, and said he would be coming back later in the day, or tomorrow, to pick up the furniture and mattresses that were stacked at the back of the lot of the party house.
I guess the people who were causing all the problems at that house have left again. And I guess all the furniture and mattresses that were just given to them from CFS are being thrown out again.
I had a look at the items that were stacked at the back of the lot. These are items that have only been in the house for a month. They would have been the replacement furniture and mattresses after the Party House got shovelled out last month. And they were all full of mouse droppings.

I am expecting another influx of mice in my house tonight. Better put the mouse snacks out.
Oh, my husband just told me he replenished the mouse buffet, so we are open for business.

Action At The Party House, But Different Than The Usual

There was action at the party house again tonight. But it was not the usual noisy party at all hour of the night. This time the action was around 8:30pm. It came in the way of an ambulance. There was a police car at the scene, and the usual supervisor car for the ambulance. A couple of women and a few kids were walked into the ambulance. The stretcher was not used to transport anyone. The police did not stick around until the ambulance was ready to leave. The supervisor vehicle left as well.
Maybe one of the women or kids needed medical attention. Maybe they needed a ride to the Health Sciences Center area. I just hope the kids are alright. They are the innocents in all of this. One of the kids was quite upset about having to go into the ambulance and was heard yelling "I don't want to go". I could hear him crying in the ambulance.
A few cars had to turn around on the street and go back the way they came. They could not get past the ambulance on the street. One resident was on their way out, and had to turn the car around to leave. An ambulance on the street is not that unusual. We have had our share.
If the ambulance was called as a glorified taxi ride, it is adding to the shortage of ambulances we have in the city. And it may be keeping an ambulance from attending a real emergency.
It's just another day in the hood.
And in the distance is another siren.

Woken up at 3:48AM - sent complaint to 311

I was woken up again from the Party Duplex bringing their loud shouting, swearing and unpleasant banter outside. This time it only lasted twenty minutes. I think it was 4 degrees below zero last night. I guess they didn't like the temperature and went back inside by 4:10. But that did not change the fact that we were woken up again. And we were kept awake for twenty minutes while listening to these inconsiderate people yelling and swearing at each other.
I sent an email to 311. I am lodging a complaint regarding noise. According to the Neighbourhood Liveability By-Law, this noise is not acceptable. Here's hoping something will get done.

I would like to make a noise complaint regarding ####### Ave.

I was woken up last night at 3:48AM by loud shouting and swearing coming from the back yard of ####### Ave. This went on for twenty minutes last night.

I was also woken up last weekend by noise coming from the back yard of ####### Ave.

Sunday Sept 12 at 3:00am I was woken up by loud yelling and swearing. It went on for two hours, until 5:00am. A guest of ####### Ave, who drives a burgundy K-Car was also driving his loud car up and down the alley all night, starting at about midnight. The car has no muffler and makes a terrible noise.

I was also woken up on Saturday morning Sept 11 at 4:20am by loud yelling and swearing coming from the back yard of ####### Ave. The woman yelling in the back yard was also smashing a vehicle that was in the same back yard.

I was also woken up by loud yelling, swearing, screaming, threats to neighbours, breaking of windows, breaking of fence on the morning of Aug 20 at 4:30am coming from the same back yard. This incident resulted in the police arriving the next day and action being taken, including the residents leaving. But it was only a temporary relocation and they residents are back. They are continuing the disturb the neighbourhood.

According to the Neighbourhood Liveability By-Law, this noise is not acceptable. I would like action taken regarding this issue. I would like to know what is being done with this issue.

Comment: "nothing happened until they murdered someone on our front street"

I received a comment on a post I did on Sunday Sept 12 entitled I Call The Police This Morning For Advise On The Party Duplex . This post was regarding a problem house on my block. The neighbourhood has been calling the police all summer regarding problems with drinking and loud shouting matches all night long. The By-Law Officers have been called regarding large amounts of garbage in the yard. The tenants were temporarily removed at the end of August. The house was cleaned out. And the tenants moved back in. Now the partying has started again. When I called the police I was told to just keep calling when there are isues and eventually the landlord will get tired of dealing with the issue and evict the tenants.
The comment I received reads as follows:

It has to get very bad before the police will actually do anything, i called the police, landlord and eventually the real estate agent on the sign at the property that was the source of hell beside my home, nothing happened until they murdered someone on our front street.
I hope it never gets that bad for you and your neighbors.

There needs to be a change to the Residential Tenancy Act. There needs to be a change to the Neighbourhood Liveability By-Law. The problem houses need to be dealt with long before a murder occurs in someones front yard.

Thursday is Garbage Day In My Back Lane

Sure enough, 6am I heard the garbage truck coming down the lane. I sure am getting service these days. I could set my calendar to the garbage trucks now. Even civic holidays don't disrupt my Thursday garbage day. And this week the dumpsters were not even overflowing. There were a few dumpsters that were actually full, but not all of them. I think this week we only had regular residential garbage in our dumpsters. How weird is that!!!

There were a few issues in the back lane though. First, there is a dresser, two chairs and a foam mattress beside one of the dumpsters. The dresser has been there since Sept 4, and the foam mattress and chairs have been there since at least the 11th of Sept. I guess I was just wondering if they would be removed without me making a ticket. I am getting the feeling that I am the only one on my block that is reporting these items to 311. I was thinking that the paid employee of the City of Winnipeg that drives down the lanes verifying tickets might also drive down lanes looking for items for pickup. Maybe that was a little wishful thinking on my part. I will get on that today and report the items to 311 so the City worker can drive down my lane and verify that the items do need to be picked up. I think I should take a walk down the other lanes in my area as well, then, and see what other items have collected since the last time I did a back lane check. What would these people do without me? Maybe I should become a City Worker. Maybe 311 should put me on the payroll to walk or drive down back lanes and streets and report all the large items that are just sitting there, week after week. I could follow the garbage trucks and take note of the items they leave behind.

I could locate back yards where people leave their garbage in bags thinking the garbage trucks will pick it up. Here is a pile of garbage that is missing a dumpster. This garbage has been here since Sept 4. The people moved out of the house where these items are sitting. They did not bother to walk the garbage to one of the dumpsters in the back lane. The garbage trucks do not pick up anything that is not in a dumpster, and because this is just on the ground, it will stay there until I make a ticket to tell someone about it. I actually did make a ticket a few days ago. I requested that it be sent to City By-Laws for investigation. I also requested that this issue be looked at by those that decide where dumpsters go. There is a big gap in space between dumpster locations on either side of this particular residence. Maybe part of the fault in this garbage being dumped on the ground is that there is no dumpster close to this property. I wonder if one of the dumpsters at the end of the lane will get moved over behind that house. That would make sense to me. Why have a huge gap, then three dumpsters at the end of the lane.

If I was patrolling the back lanes of the North End I could also keep an eye on houses that choose to leave their garbage right below their upstairs windows. The upstairs tenant of the Party House is still tossing garbage out the window, and it just stays on the ground below. As the weeks go by, the garbage pile will grow, I am sure. It will grow until finally it is at the point where the City By-Laws officers will request the landlord to clean the property again.

The apples are still falling from the tree in the back yard of the Party House, and remaining on the ground. Nobody is cleaning them up. They are on the ground rotting and turning into muck. I could not imagine walking on that lawn. There are kids in the house and kids that play in the yard. The apples just squish under ones foot if they are stepped on. And the apples are still full of wasps. And the apples are feeding any animal around that needs to feed. I read the liveability act. This should not be an acceptable back yard. If I was employed to go down the back lanes and look for issues like this I could report them. But I am not. I am just a resident of one city block. I am just a resident who reached a tipping point. I am just one resident in the North End trying to take back my neighbourhood.

Fruit Share Winnipeg, What A Great Idea

If you have been reading my blog you are aware that I have wasps in my yard. I have a large amount of wasps in my yard. This is from the garbage in the back lanes and from an apple tree a few houses down from me. The apple tree is full of over ripe fruit, and it is falling on the ground and rotting. The apples in the tree are full of wasps and the apples on the ground are absolutely over run with wasps.
I did my civic duty and informed 311 about the issue. They, in turn, referred the issue to the City By-Law Office. But I still have rotting apples on my street, causing odor, wasps, and I am sure rodents.
My husband spoke with the property manager a few weeks ago, when he was shoveling out the suite for the residents. It seems it got too dirty, so the residents were temporarily removed, and house cleaning was performed. I digressed, sorry. The property manager said he did not care if we picked the apples. So, I went into the yard with a ladder and pail. I thought I would solve the problem and pick the remaining apples that were on the tree. I thought I could be a good neighbour and distribute the proceeds to everyone on the block. I began picking and was soon bitten by one of the wasps in the tree. My husband managed to pick half a pail of apples before we were driven out of the yard by the wasps.
In an earlier post I was suggesting that maybe the City By-Law Officers could collect the addresses of these problem trees and have them picked. The fruit could be donated to worthy causes, such as Winnipeg Harvest, soup kitchens, church groups who could bake with them, etc.
Then I was watching Breakfast TV this morning on Channel 5. There was a person on the show talking about a new group in town. They are Fruit Share Winnipeg. They have a blog at

http://fruitsharewinnipeg.blogspot.com/ and are currently working in a few areas of town only. But it is a start. If you have a tree that you would like to get picked, register it on their site. If you want to help picking, register on their site. What a great idea. Did I say that already? Who cares, I will say it again, what a great idea.

Now, what if that organization could get a list of problem trees? What if they could take care of these problem issues and turn them into a great day of picking apples?

What a great idea.

I Call The Police This Morning For Advise On The Party Duplex

I called the police this morning. I wanted to know what I can do, in a pro-active way, to remove the problems coming from the Party Duplex. I told the officer that I did not call the last two nights in the middle of the night because I was not sure anything would be done. I went through a brief history of the residence and the visits from the Police and the City By-Law Officer. I said even after everyone was removed a few weeks ago, they were brought right back in to the house to start the process over again.
I was met with sympathy and understanding. I was told to call the police in the middle of the night each time there is an issue. I was told the police would try to come out when the issue is happening, and they are not always too busy. I was also given the phone number for my district police office and told to give them a call.
I called the district police office and told that officer the same thing. Again, I was met with sympathy and understanding. I was encouraged to call the Police every time there is an issue, and to call when the issue is in progress. I was also told that there is a Livability Act that I should look into. I was told about the Community Support Unit, and I was told to contact my local MLA. I was told to have my neighbours sign a petition and sent it to my MLA.
I asked the officer what it would actually take to have these tenants removed. I told him that I was a landlord for a while and know that it is very difficult to evict problem tenants. The answer I got was that if we keep calling our complaints in to the police and keep informing the landlord about the issues that eventually the landlord will get tired of it and get rid of the tenants or the tenants will tire of the harrassment and move.
That was not the answer I was looking for. Where are the rights of the neighbourhood? And how bad does it have to get before a landlord finally has the right to, or is forced to evict a tenant?

I took a look at that Neighbourhood Liveability By-Law which I found on line at http://www.winnipeg.ca/CLKDMIS/Documents/DocExt/BL/2008/2008.1.pdf
Under the section of Basic maintenance
Section 4(1) properties must be safe .... and pose no threat to neighbours
Section 5 There is a general obligation to maintain the property
Section 6(1) the property should be free of garbage
Section 8(1) vegetation should not be unsightly
Under the section of Nuisances and Unsanitary Conditions
Section 29(2) the landlord should control infestations of rats, mice, pests and ensure to not provide food or harborage for pests
Section 29(3) there is an obligation to prevent existance of rats, mice, pests
Section 36(4) windows are to be kept in good repair
Section 53(1) occupants must not deposit, discard, leave garbage on street, public place, private property
Under the section for Noise
Section 67(2) noise is looked at by different criteria
  a- time of day / day of week
  b- nature and use of area where noise emanates and nature and use of area where noise is heard
  c- nature of activity producing sound
  d- volume, duration, nature of sound and whether the noise is recurring, constant or intermittent
  e- "the 'A' weighted sound level of the noise or sound and the ambient sound level, if measured, but not 'B', 'C' or 'linear' weighted sound levels (what does that even mean?)

These seem to be the sections of the Neighbourhood Liveability By-Law that are in violation that I can see from the outside. So why are the tenants back in the house?

Party Duplex At It Again 3:00AM-5:00AM

The party duplex was at it again last night. It was 3:00AM when I woke up to their yelling. The loud banter went off and on for two hours. Last night the woman added crying to her foul mouthed banter. The guy in the K-car without a muffler who seems to stay at the party house most nights was driving his loud muffler-less car up and down the alley all night.
You know, this is the house that had the armed stand-off with the police a few months ago. Our street was blocked off, and the police were crouched down on the outside of their fence with a blow horn saying "come out with your hands up". Yes it was, I put a post in my facebook on April 2/10 "Cops to the left of me ..... Cops to the right of me ... stuck in the middle with a mad man !!!! just 4 doors down ..... hmm"
That party duplex is just more of the same thing, every night.
Give us back our neighbourhood.

Woken Up At 4:20AM By Yelling From Party House

F#ck you you f#cking sl#t. No f#uck you. Oh ya, f#ck you b#tch. No f#ck you. ....

This is how I woke up this morning. But it was not at the hour I was wanting to wake up.  I woke up at 4:20 AM. The noise was coming from the back yard of the party house. The noise went on for a few hours. At one point during the wee hours the woman began smashing the car in their back yard. It sounded like damage was being done to the car and windows. At least they were damaging their own property during this early morning round of banter.
The noise level was not as high as it was the last time they were partying on Aug 20th. The day they had their kids hauled away temporarily. That's because it is colder outside now. We have all of the windows in our house shut now. But still, the noise from their yelling was loud enough to wake us up. The yelling and swearing was loud enough to travel over two double lots, into our yard and through our closed windows.
Again our neighbourhood had its sleep disturbed by individuals who have no respect for anything or anyone.

There is movement at the Party Duplex

There are people moving into the duplex. The current occupant seems to already know them.
Two weeks ago, on August 20th I called the police to make a noise complaint. This was at 4:30am. They said they had received several other complains as well regarding the noise issue. The people had taken their party to the back yard and were yelling at each other. This went on until at least 6:00am. I know, because I could not sleep all night.
The next morning, at 9:30am the police arrived at the house and were banging on the door. They were banging for quite a while. Finally a four year old boy answered the door. Next thing I saw, there was a dog tied up next to the police car with an extention cord, and four little kids in the back of the police car.
A while later a few vehicles showed up, looking like Child and Family Services. And Judy W, the mayoral candidate, was there as well. The kids diapers were changed on the street, and the kids were taken off.
The next day there was a white truck at the party house, with a few big guys. There was a lot of yelling coming from the front yard of the house. A short while later the truck drove off with the two big guys, and several occupants of the residence.
Not all of the residents left. There are two suites in the house. The upstairs resident was still seen, with a young child. The young child and other kids of the neighbourhood were throwing rotten apples down the lane a few days later. The adult did not care, and said its the North End, and he could do what he wants. The adult was seen on a few occasions tossing garbage out the window into the yard.
Then last weekend, on Sunday, the party duplex got cleaned out. All the dumpsters down the lane got filled with garbage. Mattresses and a couch were left by the dumpsters. That mess finally got cleaned up on Thursday when the garbage trucks arrived.

The rotten apples are still in the back yard, and the wasps are getting worse every day.
Aug 20 was not the first time we called the police regarding that duplex. Several complaints had been made by many people in the neighbourhood. Several calls to the police and the landlord had been placed. This house is a known issue and has been for quite some time.
Now, it looks like people are moving in to the duplex. The current resident seems to know the people who are moving in, and I heard someone give a list of furniture that will be provided to them as they move back. It looked like another vehicle from CFS.
Did the residents get temporarily moved out so someone could shovel out their mess, then moved back in with new furniture and clothing? How often does this house cleaning process happen?
And will they be partying again tonight? Are we back to sleepless nights?

When Life Gives You Lemons You Make Lemonade

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade, or rather, when life gives you apples falling and rotting under the neighbours tree, you pick them and make apple crisp.

The property manager cleaned up the house and yard of the duplex a few doors down. When he was in the yard the question was asked, "Can we pick the apples off the tree?" The yard has a huge apple tree, filled with large apples. As of late the apples have been falling to the ground in the yard of the party duplex. The apples have been rotting and attracting wasps.

Although the apples were mostly cleaned up yesterday there are more on the ground today. I went into the yard to have a look at the tree and see if I could get an apple to try. I was wondering what the apples would be like, and if they would be ok to eat. There were so many apples on the ground that it was hard to walk without stepping on them. The apples on the ground were also covered with wasps. Some apples could hardly be seen for the amount of wasps on them. Other apples no longer held the shape of an apple and were just brown sauce on the ground.
I was not able to reach any of the apples on the tree myself. So, my husband got a stick and knocked one of the apples out of the tree. I took the apple home, washed it, and cut into it. We both tried the apple. It was good. It was a nice, sweet tasting apple. It wasn't grainy at all. It was actually a very good apple.
So, I decided I would go back into the yard with a ladder and a bucket, and pick the apples. That way they would not be dropping on the ground, rotting, and collecting all the wasps. The property manager said he did not care if we picked the apples. And the people living in the duplex do not seem to care anything about their yard. So, off we went. My husband brought the ladder, and I carried the bucket. I found a section of the tree that seemed to have a fair amount of apples. The ladder was set in place, and up I climbed to get some apples.

As soon as I was up the ladder I had a wasp on me. I thought I would be ok. They don't sting unless they are bothered and I thought I would just be careful not to bother the wasp sitting on my arm. I went to pick my first apple. I put my hand around it and noticed it had a hole in it and was full of wasps. That apple stayed in the tree. I went to the next apple. It looked fine, so I plucked it out of the tree and placed it in the bucket.
That was when I put my arm down. My arm touched my side, and the wasp stung. That was it for me. I was ready to leave with one single apple. The yard was full of wasps on the ground and they had overtaken the tree as well.
My husband was brave enough to go up the ladder and see what he could do. He was careful to check each apple before picking it, and slowly worked to get the apples out of the tree. He got half a bucket of apples from the tree. That was about it. The apples are high up in the tree, and full of wasps. The wasps were swarming all around the tree. And the apples on the ground were full of wasps as well.
We went home with the bucket half full of apples. It was harder than I thought because of the condition the yard was already in. I was hoping to make a bigger dent in the apples still on the tree.

But home I went. I washed the apples and cut half of them up, and made apple crisp.
I told my neighbour what I did as well. I said maybe next year we can pick the apples from the tree before they start falling on the ground. Maybe next year the entire neighbourhood can pick the apples from the tree and prevent the apples from falling to the ground and making the mess that we now have.
I wonder how many other trees there are in the city that have apples falling on the ground in the same fashion as this one. How many other yards are full of rotting, wasp infested apples?
What if the city had a list of these yards with apples people are not picking, or using? What if someone, or some group, picked the apples? They could be given to community members who wanted a bag of apples, or given to the food bank.  They could be given to a Church group to bake with and give to a soup kitchen. Something could be done with the apples so they are not left to rot on the ground.
Maybe we could turn a negative into a positive, with just a little imagination.

Party Duplex Gets Cleaned Out

I contacted the City of Winnipeg about the garbage and rotten apples in the back yard of the party duplex on my street. They were going to investigate. Thank goodness. The apples were attracting wasps and really starting to stink. And garbage was piling up in the back yard. I even saw the resident upstairs pitch garbage out of the window into the back yard.

On Sunday a van pulled up in the back lane behind the party house. The woman from the van was hauling garbage out of the house, and filled up two dumpsters. I have no idea if it was related to my complaint or not, but thank goodness. I was glad to see that someone was going to take care of the garbage accumulating at that house.

Then the property manager of the party duplex arrived at the house around noon. Again, I am not sure why he was there. He entered the location, came out and threw up. I guess it was pretty nasty inside. He mentioned that there was a vacancy that needed to be filled. Maybe he came to clean up a vacant suite. That may be the result of a whole other story from a few weeks ago involving several noise complaint calls to the police all night, the party duplex residents yelling, breaking glass, threatening neighbours all night, and the police arriving at 9:30am, followed by CFS taking three kids away. 

The police were banging on the party duplex door for quite a while. Finally the door was answered by a four year old. Next thing we saw, there were three kids sitting in the back of a police car and a dog beside the car. CFS finally showed up, changed a diaper, and took the kids. It breaks your heart to see that kind of stuff going on.
... Back to the cleanup. The property manager hired a fellow to clean up the house. The fellow had been working for a few hours already before the property manager came to check on things. He hauled garbage out of the house all day.

Enough garbage was taken out of the house to fill every dumpster in my back lane. Every dumpster is now full or overfull from the contents of the duplex. If this all came from just one suite, how bad was it in there?
Lets just say the main floor of the duplex is 1200 sq ft. I know the dumpsters are 5'x4' and stacked 6' high. It looks like 5 dumpsters worth of garbage, plus a couch, a few chairs, a kitchen table, 2 box spring and mattresses and 1 single mattress. The dumpsters alone are 600 sq ft of garbage.

Was it just from the main floor? Is the suite empty, or is this just round one? If this was the condition of the main floor, how bad is the second floor? If the property manager threw up when he entered the suite, how bad is the entire house?
And while the garbage was being hauled out of the house, while the yard was being cleaned up, the person upstairs threw another bag of garbage out the window into the back yard.

I know it's on your mind. It is certainly on mine. How many bed bugs were evicted during the clean-up. How many bed bugs were distributed down my back lane into every dumpster. How many bed bugs are on the mattresses, on the couch, in and around the entire back lane now that the garbage has been distributed?
Who gets to take the garbage out tomorrow from your house? And how close do you want to get to your dumpster?

Bad Apples in the Alley

I opened the back gate to check on the dumpsters in my back lane tonight and all I saw on the ground was rotten apples. The lane was filled with rotten apples. I looked over toward the house where I knew the apples came from and three kids were standing in the lane. One of them was throwing apples.

I went back into the house and told my husband that the kids were out in the lane throwing the rotten apples down the lane. I said the lane was filled with rotten apples.

We both went out to the back lane and approached the kids. My husband told them to stop throwing the apples. I told the kids to pick up the apples and put them in the dumpster. I said they should have more respect for where they live. I told them that it was not right to be throwing the apples in the lane.

Well, the mom of one of the kids came out of the party duplex. She was screaming mad. She started yelling and swearing at us, asking if we were swearing at her kids. She was swearing at us telling us we better not be swearing at her kids. I said that I told the kids to pick up the apples they threw in the back lane and put them in the dumpsters. Her response was that the kids could do what they want. She said "this is the North End, what do you expect". My husband said he "expects neighbours to treat the neighbourhood with respect". She said "it is not her area anyway".  She yelled for a bit longer before we went our seperate ways.

After that bizarre introduction to my back lane tonight I proceeded to take pictures of the overflowing dumpsters. Here it is, my favorite dumpster of the week. The diaper box is still balancing mysteriously on top. No garbage fairies visited last night. Here's hoping they will come tonight.

Later in the day the kids started attacking one of the houses in the neighbourhood. The house is under construction and currently empty. The kids were banging the side of the house with a metal pole and destroying some of the wiring on the outside of the house. Luckily none of the windows were broken. That is mostly because the lower windows are all boarded up currently. As I was checking the house to see what damage they did, I looked over to the party duplex and saw garbage being thrown out of the upstairs window. I guess that is their garbage disposal system. And that would explain why the back yard looks like a dump site.
Thats it for now.

Rotten Apples in the neighbourhood

While doing my daily dumpster check I couldn't help but notice the apples in one of the yards. I guess there is an apple tree at the party duplex. Apples have been falling from the tree and are left on the ground to rot. This is causing odor in the back lane. It is also luring wasps to the area.

The people who own their homes on the block are great. They take care of their houses. They take care of their yards. They are respectful of others when it comes to noise control, parties, and being neighbours. Its the ones that are renting who do not seem to have the respect for their property and the property they rent from others. They have no thought for people around them.
So, this is another thing that must be dealt with by someone other than the habitants of this dwelling.

A day in the hood in Winnipeg

I looked out my door on August 21 as I was getting ready to go out for the day. To the right of me, at the end of street was a police car. It was blocking traffic from going down the side street. Behind the police car was the swat team truck, and there was an ambulance sitting on the street as well.
Wasn't it just yesterday when there was an ambulance and two police cars on our street? It was to the left yesterday, so it was not the same issue. And it was yesterday when a guy in a half ton truck stopped at our dumpster to deposit his garbage. Apparently he feels it is his right to use our residential dumpster to deposit his door and metal construction scrap. He even told us to clean up our back lane and be happy that he is putting garbage in our dumpster.
Oh ya, and the day before that we had another guy come to the dumpster to drop off his construction material. He said he does have a dump truck, but the Brady Landfil charges him to dump garbage so he prefers to use the dumpsters in the north end.
The night before that our neighbours decided to bring their loud swearing, and screaming into their backyard. They started partying at about 2pm, but took the party inside while it rained. I guess the rain stopped by 4am, because that was when I woke up. I did call the police about the noise after a full half hour of screaming being heard, even after I closed the window. But the police are too busy with more violent activities to respond to a neighbourhood who cannot sleep.
If it was the only night we were without sleep, I would not be so upset. But it seems that every night that it is nice, either the rooming house / crack house or the duplex beside it is partying.
Well, I am mad and I am not going to take it anymore.
What I just mentioned was a small picture of my neighbourhood.
I am going to start writing about the activities in my neighbourhood. I don't know if it will do anything, or promote any kind of change, but it will allow me to get it off my chest.
In my wildest dreams maybe it will assist in some small way to help change the laws that allow the many issues to continue. Maybe we can have the "catch and release" of criminals changed to catch and discipline.