Landlords and parasites

I would like to comment on your article "Among the roaches," [May 15]. I am familiar with the conditions described by the tenants on Vézina. I recently moved out of a downtown high-rise, a building plagued by inadequate maintenance, faulty utilities and lack of safety. My comment relates to Marvin Rotrand’s reported feeling that "[immigrants] are getting empowered" through their dealings with the Rental Board, city inspectors and interest groups. My experience with these lengthy procedures was marked by frustration and rage, not empowerment.

Last December I applied for rent reduction, financial compensation and authorization to deposit my rent with the Board (an option meant to withhold the rent from the landlord until an urgent situation is addressed). The waiting time for the board to hear my request and make a decision was 13 months. I subsequently sent notices, called inspectors and collected evidence in preparation for an audience that has yet to take place.

Meanwhile, my landlord deliberately failed to meet his obligations for the duration of my lease. In contrast, I had to pay my rent to him integrally by law. I sometimes sent dead cockroaches along with the cheque as a reminder. The whole experience is absurd and dispiriting to an experienced Montrealer. I don’t suppose that newcomers would feel empowered by it.

» Julie Filion

Sad kid debate

This is in response to Kristian Gravenor’s column "Army of sad kids" [Kristian Perspective, June 19], about divorced parents. Although he makes some very good points, I must say that I disagree with a few things he said. My mother left my father when I was 16 and in my last year of high school. Obviously it crushed me at the time, and many parts of my life have been affected by this.

However, since then I have seen both my parents grow in ways they never would have had they stayed together. There comes a time where you have to realize that these people are not just "parents."

They have the right to live a fulfilling life just as much as everyone else. I admit that I am one of the lucky few whose parents have been able to maintain a friendship, which I know is much better than what many children end up with, so can’t imagine what life would be like for kids whose parents refuse to speak. I wouldn’t want any child to live in that way. Sometimes the silence is worse than the yelling. Sticking together for the kids isn’t always the best solution. I would much rather have my mother and father living separate, happy lives than the way we lived before.

I don’t believe there is any perfect solution. The best advice I would give someone is to make sure your relationship is strong before you add children, and, if the relationship does end, use all the resources that are available to make the transition as easy as possible for the kids and for the parents.

» Kara Bedell

No doubt divorced parents everywhere will be armed with a plethora of justifications for their decision to opt for a peaceful, one-sided environment for their children’s welfare, rather than one filled with loud, loveless parents. But when I saw your title, "Army of sad kids" [Kristian Perspective, June 19], I thought you might have touched on the army of children deposited into the day-care institution five days a week, some at the tender age of six months! And this is a society-accepted alternative to parents raising the child themselves!

It’s almost to the point where one is perceived as a member of some wacky cult if a conscious decision is made not to put one’s child in day care. Parents everywhere are constantly compromising their kids’ childhood in lieu of maintaining a certain "lifestyle." They insist it takes a two-parent income to maintain a mortgage, two cars and two weeks vacation a year. What do you think the child would prefer: the presence of a loving, doting parent in a shack, or a part-time, often pre-occupied, workaholic parent living in a bungalow in the suburbs with a two-car garage?

What are we teaching our children? I love you but I don’t have time for you? Having a comfortable lifestyle supersedes that of a compromised lifestyle? In my humble perspective, I feel a parent should make a conscious decision that raising children is their responsibility and of top priority and they make it their goal to raise loving, generous, confident, secure adults whose parents were there for them in the most delicate time of their life! What kind of a future can we hope to look forward to otherwise?

» Carolyn Coventry

Dog death not in vain

I do not necessarily agree with letter writer Patrick Tee that the dog Kerri’s murder is in vain [Letters, June 12]. Where there’s a will to prosecute animal cruelty, there’s usually a way. And no, a neighbour’s dog’s frequent barking is no excuse for murdering him (it is only grounds for a noise complaint).

In San Francisco earlier this January, Raija Hossainy, 23, was sentenced to six months in prison for leaving her dog in a closet to starve to death. Now that’s law with teeth.

If only all dog owners, animal lovers and activists lobbied the government to toughen up animal cruelty laws and beef up their enforcement, change would surely come about. In the meantime, police must investigate and apprehend the killer of the dog and press some charges at least. Where is the justice in this? Man’s best friend deserves a lot better than this.

» Manish Patwari

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