OCH Cockroach Carnival

Jane Scharf, 21.11.2007 04:22

As soon as I approached the Roach Carnival at 1065 Ramsey Crescent hosted by the Association for Community Reform Now (ACORN) I could feel that unique excitement and energy, which is present when, people take the courage to fight back.

Matthew Champ sings his cockroach song

Kyle Morenzy speaks up to Mcginty

Each new person that arrived with cockroaches placed them in a large jar. This communal act definitely made the point that it is gross to have to live with thousands of cockroaches in ones home. All told there were about 20 protesters made up of residents and members of ACORN and even a songwriter Matthew Champ who sang about taking his cockroach out for a walk and unfortunately it spawned. There was also a good show of media.

I knew Ottawa Community Housing (OCH) had been going down hill but nothing prepared me for the dilapidation of these townhouses and apartments in this OCH project.

Organizer Hibo Ismail declared that we want the province to finance the repairs. There are so many people in tremendous need here. Many that we spoke to wanted to come out today but they were afraid of persecution. They don’t just have cockroach problems they have leaking ceilings, cracked floors, loose roof boards. Hibo translated for a woman named Hakimo who told me that her kids were sick because of mould in her unit. She said she lives in the apartments over the laundry room and steam comes up through the floors causing mould. She has sent doctors letters confirming that this is why her kids are developing asthma but OCH will not move them to another unit. They told her this is not an emergency and that she should only contact them if she has an emergency.

Kyle Morenzy 15, says “Mcginty’s kids don’t have to live with cockroaches so why should we. I think the government all the way up to Steven Harper are too high on their horses. So it is about time that someone kicked them off by showing them what it is like to live in poverty. My family cannot move out of here because we do not have enough money. But we should not have to live like this. I have felt cockroaches crawling on me when I am sleeping. I even saw them crawling in my alarm clock. They are everywhere in my place”

Monsieur Prulx, Co-chair of Vanier Acorn we have not gotten a good response from the OCH so we are now talking to Councilor George Bedard, and MPP Madeleine Meilleur who have show some interest in wanting to help with these problems. We want all the politicians to be aware of these problems.

Resident protester Erin Albright told me that the group is planning to put up a clothes line at city hall where they are going to hang all their complaints about the project. We have also been talking about filing a class action suite and we are now in the processes of selecting a lawyer. “There are 22 of us that want to sign on so far”, she said.

Another resident protester Maria De Souza told me in very broken English, “when I was young I was afraid to speak up so people would step on me. Now I know to speak up and I am not afraid anymore. OCH is doing some things now but there is a lot more to be done. The biggest thing that worries me is the mould in my unit. In some places it is so bad the walls are crumbling.”

Maria hopes to encourage others who are afraid to come out next time.

The city hall clothes line event will be on November 30 at 2:00. For more details one can phone ACORN at 746-5999,

e-mail:: jane@takebackcityhall.info
Homepage:: http://takebackcityhall.info

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Way to go ACORN 27.11.2007 - 12:34 Great work Ottawa ACORN! To learn more about this action and victory of social housing tenants check out www.acorncanada.org josh> Homepage:: http://www.acorncanada.org