🐞 When the Neighborhood Finally Spoke Up
Yes this page is long, it is my outlet and my place to share details rather than trying to answer numerous private messages and concerns. Please go HERE to this page instead, thank you.
✳️ To neighbors, community members, and local supporters — thank you for caring and reaching out. Please refer to this page for ongoing updates rather than messaging privately, so I can stay focused on my regular work. This situation has robbed me of too much time and energy already. I would like to close this chapter. Now that I have some peace and calm again, I am realizing that the ongoing disturbances were like emotional waterboarding, and not ever catching a break til the unruly tenants were out.
Direct One Drive with allllllllllllll the documentation to answer your questions: 2 Tenants issue 4235 B Quentin Ave
Yes landlord lives upstairs, inherited this home in 2017. They rented out the illegal suite downstairs. Not much noise or issues until June 2024 when tenants moved in that invited a revolving door of various transients and the associated problems that come with an encampment situation.
“The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable — but when chronic disorder is left unchecked, everyone suffers. Compassion and accountability must go hand in hand.”
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Quentin Avenue: A Turning Point for Our Community
For more than a year and a half, our quiet street was anything but peaceful. What began as one troublesome rental turned into a daily battle for sleep, safety, and sanity. We endured ongoing months of intense stress and relentless vigilance.
Now, after fifteen months of persistence, media attention, and collective action reporting, our neighborhood has finally turned a corner.
Part of me wants to cry in relief. Another part of me wants to scream, “Where was everyone when I was shouting into the void?”. I didn’t volunteer to be the spokesperson, I was cornered into it because the chaos was literally on the other side of my bedroom wall— affecting my sleep, safety, and our home-based wellness businesses.
When drama unfolds this close to my sanctuary, silence is no longer neutral — it’s consent.
We learned that staying quiet doesn’t stop the harm — it lets it take root. When decent people assume someone else will handle it, the problem grows. Speaking up early is what finally changed the trajectory here.
So, I spoke up, and eventually, others did too. This page exists as both a record and a resource — for anyone wondering how to handle a similar situation and how to stay grounded through it.
I still carry a mix of relief, gratitude, and exhaustion — but also a steady determination to share what we’ve learned so others don’t have to go through this alone. Doing the right thing doesn’t need applause; it needs persistence and community backbone.
For anyone just tuning in, this page gathers the story, context, and key insights in one place, so I’m not repeating the same conversation dozens of times. It’s also my way of processing this wild chapter of neighborhood advocacy I never expected to lead.
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📺 Media Coverage
I have been interviewed by local news media reporters. My purpose was to discuss these concerns in hopes of raising public awareness about how these systems can work better together. My goal is to help others understand who to contact, what each authority is responsible for, and how to advocate effectively when facing similar problems.
Thank you again to everyone — neighbors, reporters, council members, and community supporters — who helped bring this forward. Let’s keep working together for safer, more accountable neighborhoods.
👉 CKPG Interview – “Quentin Avenue Residents Unite to Restore Safety” (Same interview, different links)
https://ckpgtoday.ca/2025/10/07/quentin-avenue-residents-unite-to-restore-safety-in-their-neighbourhood/
👉 Dave Branco Facebook Post & Video Clips https://www.facebook.com/DaveBrancoNews/posts/pfbid0KpDZFkz1TnTFnKJNrRLfWmKsKbX7Ha5cr2G2pAgqtJtGkrvDtzorXAKrRXZGZaCEl
👉 CKPG Video Archive Stream
https://iframe.dacast.com/vod/349a824d789fb4aa6140ece2c4975ec2/b405c226-f7d0-4608-b305-fcc93db0167d
🗞️ October 16 2025
Nuisance property visited by RCMP, bylaw 44 times since 2024 (Prince George Citizen)
https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-news/nuisance-property-visited-by-rcmp-bylaw-44-times-since-2024-11362251
📑 City Council Documentation — October 20 2025
Abatement Report Part 1 (Document 35009)
Abatement Report Part 2 (Document 35010)
(The links have been removed, however the downloaded files can be found in the One Drive folder above).
🗞️ Follow-Up Coverage:
October 20 2025
City orders Quentin Avenue nuisance property owners to clean up their act
https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-news/city-orders-quentin-avenue-nuisance-property-owners-to-clean-up-their-act-11373408
November 6 2025:
“You need to speak up” Quentin Avenue resident outlines 15 month nightmare that led to Nuisance Abatement Process
https://www.myprincegeorgenow.com/238170/news/community/you-need-to-speak-up-quentin-avenue-resident-outlines-15-month-nightmare-that-led-to-nuisance-abatement-process/
✳️ These articles and records mark the culmination of fifteen months of effort — a tangible proof that persistence and public documentation work.
More newsworthy articles related to our situation:
PG’s new Manager of Bylaw Services:
https://www.myprincegeorgenow.com/234965/news/municipal-news/city-of-prince-george/pgs-new-manager-of-bylaw-services-enjoying-new-role-so-far/
Downtown crime: Safe Streets Rally calls for change
https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-news/downtown-crime-safe-streets-rally-calls-for-change-11360059
‘Absolutely done’: Fires, street disorder push downtown Prince George businesses to breaking point
https://globalnews.ca/news/11483181/fires-street-disorder-prince-george-businesses-breaking-point/
See Something, Say Something Campaign
https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-news/call-police-dont-post-crimes-to-social-media-rcmp-11438877
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🟥 Background: What Happened on Quentin Avenue
For over a year, the property next door spiraled into chaos — constant disturbances, late-night activity, aggressive behavior, shouting matches, barking dogs, floodlights at all hours, and a revolving door of transient visitors. RCMP and Bylaw officers attended repeatedly, but lasting change felt painfully out of reach.
And this wasn’t our first rodeo. We dealt with a crack shack on the other side of us from 2016–2018 with nightly suspicious activity. We recovered from that one, rebuilt stability — and then were blindsided again. That history is part of why this latest ordeal hit so hard.
I’d hoped never to face that again. Yet here we were, history repeating itself — this time with louder dogs, more garbage and clutter, and numerous unknown individuals passed out on the other side of my fence.
Two key ideas help explain why these things matter beyond one address:
Broken Window Theory: Neglected properties send a signal that no one cares, inviting further decay. What starts as one unmanaged property can quickly spread a sense of lawlessness, lower morale, and erode safety for everyone nearby. This derelict state can potentially lower property values as well. Swift action benefits residents, businesses, and the wider community alike.
Compassion vs. Chaos: I often remind myself of that quote about how a society treats its most vulnerable. But vulnerability and violent disorder are not the same thing. We can hold compassion and boundaries at the same time — in fact, that balance is what true community care looks like.
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🟩 Expanded Timeline (June 2024 – October 2025)
• June 2024 — Tenants Move In: I greeted the new tenant over the back fence with my usual neighborly warmth — “Welcome to the neighborhood!” I even invited her to check out my wellness website. Her gravelly response, “Oh, I need that,” should probably have been my first red flag.
• June 2024 and ongoing — Domestic Disturbances Begin: Shouting, fights, police visits, sleepless nights.
• July 7 2024 — First Call to the Landlords: I phoned Josie, whose name is on the property title, and spoke about ongoing noise and dog issues. Her brother Liam lives in the residence upstairs at 4235 Quentin Ave. She told me she doesn’t have much to do with the home since her mother passed in 2017.
• Aug 9 2024 — Two calls to police for domestic disputes during the night. With little sleep, I printed and hand-delivered written documentation of Section 47 of the BC Tenancy Act (grounds for eviction) and a letter of concern. Liam dismissed my concerns saying he’d “talk to his brother.”
• Aug 2024 — I had a deck installed in my back yard. While the contractors were here for a week, they could smell feces coming from the problem yard. They also witnessed a dog attack incident which was reported. Officials came to investigate. Several neighbors gathered out front to voice their concerns of the entire situation next door.
• October 2024 — Public Awareness: Out of sheer frustration and exhaustion, I posted a short Facebook video describing what was happening. I felt embarrassed — a holistic practitioner publicly venting about neighbors — but it got 2,000+ views and started drawing attention.
• First half of 2025 — Numerous calls to authorities, from myself and various neighbors. Many officials attended. The situation continued to escalate for months before finally being addressed. It shouldn’t require this level of community pressure for a serious neighborhood issue to be acknowledged.
• June 26 2025 — There was quite a commotion with another dog attack incident and a tenant transported to hospital. Several neighbors reported. Police attended and we all had a long chat in my front yard explaining the issues and disruptions.
• July 2025 — Community Connection: I posted again on the Nextdoor app. Carmen, who lives behind me on Punchaw, reached out. She’d been filing complaints for months but didn’t have the right address because the house looked “normal” from the street. We compared notes and realized how many of us had been suffering in silence. Carmen also found the city reporting app to be glitchy and delayed.
• July 2025 — Newly appointed Bylaw Services Manager Kent MacNeill attends and speaks with both Rebecca and I to understand the severity of the situation. He takes it upon himself to make this case a priority for resolution and to bridge the communication gaps between RCMP and Bylaw Services.
• Summer 2025 — Collective Action: Soon, multiple neighbors began emailing Bylaw Services and RCMP, documenting incidents, photos, and videos. Rebecca, across the street, started tagging City Council, which finally drew their attention. She has numerous complaints of these individuals tracking behind her property to camp along the 5th Ave thoroughfare. We have found that emails seemed to carry more weight than just phone call reporting. Our reports continued with more suspected criminal and drug activity out in plain view.
• October 7 2025 — Media & Cleanup: CKPG aired my interview the same day City crews arrived to clean up debris and garbage. That irony wasn’t lost on any of us. After this interview aired, numerous people reached out with more questions and comments and also saying they had no idea it was this bad or this close to me (other side of my bedroom wall).
• October 16 2025 — Tenants Out: Locks were changed. Locks were changed. Kent MacNeill, Bylaw supervisor came to tell me the good news in person that “we won”, that the problematic tenants are finally out. He mentioned there was still a lot of stuff in the basement unit, and an overwhelming stench but he surmised that the landlord is not sounding like he wants to rent it out again any time soon. He let us know we’re welcome to attend city hall meeting October 20th just to view, not engage/ speak.
I cannot thank him enough for stepping up and getting the ball rolling in getting this situation dealt with. Looking forward to finally getting some restful sleep after 15 months.
• October 16 2025 — Safer Streets Rally: Over 1000 Prince George residents attended this event to voices concerns of the downtown crisis.
• October 17 2025 — Yes, the next morning! The Fire Incident: A small fire started behind the wooden carport reignited every ounce of adrenaline I’d been storing. Police and fire attended to put the fire out. I called police three times that day for unknown individuals frequenting the property. The landlord told police it was fine for the transient individuals to stay — leaving officers powerless to intervene. Considering the current city-wide issues of fires and loss of properties, I went into full panic mode that day. What if this had happened while I was sleeping, and not noticed or reported immediately?
• October 20 2025 — Pre-Council Meeting Update: Despite the recent Prince George Citizen article and bylaw attendance, disturbances have continued at the adjoining property. Early this morning, yelling and banging were heard again in the shared carport. The landlord remains on-site yet continues to allow unauthorized individuals to access the property, even after repeated police and bylaw visits and a fire incident on Friday. While the neighborhood appreciates the ongoing efforts of the RCMP and bylaw officers, the lenience toward the landlord’s negligence has been disheartening. Our neighborhood’s message remains the same: safety and accountability must come before excuses.
• October 20 2025 — Council Meeting: A Step Forward — and a Hope for Change. The Nuisance Abatement was approved unanimously. My daughter Chantelle, Rebecca, and I attended the City Council meeting. The landlords did not attend, only submitting an apology letter.
Councillor Brian Skakun publicly apologized publicly apologized to the residents of Quentin Ave who were attending in the gallery and acknowledged the delay. While I appreciated that, I still have questions of why this whole process took over a year of persistent reports, emails, media coverage, and neighbor coordination to reach this point.The City committed to reviewing abatement thresholds of complaints required to enact this resolution option so no one else has to endure a similar nightmare.
The apology letter from the landlord does not sit well with me. They knew. I approached them several times in the last 16 months. They willfully ignored me and others until the authorities stepped in.
November 13, 2023 – I delivered a letter to the landlord’s mailing address after we located the original rental advertisement. In that letter, I notified him that we had opened an inquiry into the property’s required legal-suite inspection.
November 12 to 15, 2025:
Following a series of detailed emails outlining ongoing safety concerns and the newly posted rental listing, both the City and the MLA’s office responded with updates:
• Bylaw Services (Matt Hammond) confirmed that a new Secondary Suite file has been opened and forwarded to Development Services for formal review. This step determines whether any enforcement action can be taken under current bylaws and policies.
• MLA Office (Isabelle Saunders) acknowledged the seriousness of the ongoing issues and confirmed that their office has been actively following the case. Isabelle noted that Kiel Giddons will continue raising these concerns at the Legislature level, while recommending continued communication with Bylaw Services and City Council. Their office remains available for further support as needed.
These responses indicate that the concerns are being taken seriously at both municipal and provincial levels, and formal review processes are now underway.
November 20, 2025 – Melissa spoke with a prospective new tenant over the backyard fence. I provided this individual with a written, neighborly heads-up about the previous situation at the suite — information we believed the landlord had not disclosed.
November 22, 2025 – I received a handwritten note from Steve requesting “to meet and discuss the direction of the next lease.” The message attempted to frame the last 16 months as “inconveniences,” but did not acknowledge the severity or impact of what occurred.
November 23, 2025 – After sharing Steve’s letter with our neighborhood group, the collective feedback echoed my concern that the message appeared more like damage control than genuine accountability. I replied in writing to clarify that an apology offered this late did not undo the trauma experienced by myself and our neighbors. I also reiterated my preference to keep all communication documented and asked for clear assurance that the property would be properly managed going forward to prevent any repeat of the previous situation.
✳️ Side Note – Cultural Context: A friend mentioned the owners’ background might include habits of waiting for government authority before taking responsibility. Perhaps — but when you own property in this country, accountability must align with local law and community respect.
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🟨 Personal Impact: Living Next to Chaos
My home is supposed to be my sanctuary. For over a year, it became a stress-testing ground for my patience, nervous system, and spiritual toolkit. Barking dogs, loud cursing, arguments and suspected drug activity bled through the walls and windows. Even blackout blinds couldn’t block the floodlights next door.
I run a holistic healing practice from home — my nervous system is my workspace. It’s hard to hold space for others when your own environment feels like a hazmat zone crime scene and your adrenals haven’t had a weekend off in months. I often mused that I can clear energy anywhere in the world, but when the source of this toxic disturbance is five feet from my fence, my nervous system doesn’t get to clock out. This situation forced me to face that truth in a raw way.
It also unleashed my unfiltered redhead side 😡🔥. My first drafts of neighbor updates were… not exactly Reiki-approved. Thankfully, my digital assistant Dotty 🐞💻 helped polish those profanity-laced rants into the diplomatic, solution-focused letters that actually got results. Without that outlet, I might have set my keyboard on fire.
“During this time, three different practitioners — completely independently — warned me that the level of chronic stress I was carrying was pushing my heart too far. They told me that finally exploding was probably the only reason I didn’t end up in cardiac trouble. That reality still sits with me.
My daughter Melissa, a registered reflexologist and owner of Honeybee Inspirations, brings clients in through our backyard entrance. Too many times, those clients have walked past or overheard domestic disputes, aggressive dogs, and a tarp-covered yard that looked more like a junkyard than a neighborhood property. The overwhelming stench of neglect permeated our side of the fence.
Thankfully, most of Melissa’s clients are regulars who understand the situation. But one new client — a trauma survivor with a history involving violent dogs — was met with aggressive barking during her first appointment. She never returned. That was the breaking point for me. This is what prolonged inaction costs: safety, stability, and the wellbeing of everyone nearby.
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🟥 Compassion with Accountability
This was never about being “against” anyone who’s struggling. There’s a huge difference between hardship and harm — between someone who’s down on their luck and someone who refuses accountability while creating danger for others.
I understand struggle. I rented for nearly 15 years while raising four kids on my own. I’ve experienced the responsibilities and restrictions from both sides of the property line — as a tenant and now as a homeowner of 20 years.
For many years as a tenant, I wasn’t allowed to have dogs or cats. Back then, it felt unfair. Now, as a homeowner, I fully understand why some landlords place restrictions. The damages from neglect or irresponsibility that can be caused by both tenants and animals can be extensive and devastatingly costly.
My stance is simple: compassion without accountability becomes enabling. Whether tenant, landlord, or homeowner, and no matter your circumstances, all citizens must be accountable and responsible for their actions and their impact on the community.
True compassion doesn’t mean turning a blind eye, excusing chaos, or enabling Band-Aid solutions to deep trauma and destructive habits. It means holding people capable of change.
Accountability matters — for everyone.
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🟦 Mental Health, Addiction & Responsibility
This situation isn’t just about drugs or noise complaints — it was a complex mix of addiction, trauma, and mental health concerns that spilled into every yard and window nearby. While I hold compassion for those struggling, I don’t subscribe to the idea that addiction is purely a disease. In my view, it can be deeply rooted in generational and ancestral trauma, but it also involves choices and accountability.
Yes, trauma can create cycles of pain, but healing still requires choice. Personal responsibility and community safety must coexist. And I don’t believe addiction absolves accountability.
As my mentor Raymon Grace often says, “We are not all equal.” That may sound harsh, but it’s true: I don’t want to be lumped in with psychopaths or violent offenders, and neither should you. Compassion doesn’t mean blind tolerance for destructive behavior.
Some people need structured help and safe spaces away from residential neighborhoods, for their safety and ours.
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🟩 What Made the Difference: Collective Action
Here’s the truth: nothing changed until neighbors united and took consistent, documented action.
For over fifteen months, I filed complaints, made phone calls, sent emails, and reported issues — with minimal results. Real movement began when multiple neighbors — each with their own experiences and sleepless nights — began speaking up consistently and with evidence: photos, videos, and timelines.
📌 Key lesson: Safety isn’t a solo job. It took community persistence and media visibility to push this situation forward.
Officials themselves encouraged continued reporting, because their hands are tied without multiple documented complaints.
Once the neighborhood united, things shifted fast: abatement hearings, media coverage, and finally, decisive cleanup action. This wasn’t luck — it was community persistence and collective strength in action.
This is a testament to what can happen when a community stands together with persistence, clear communication, and heart. 💛
🟢 Lesson: Community pressure creates accountability where bureaucracy stalls. This wasn’t just about one house — it was about restoring safety, community trust, and the energetic baseline of our neighborhood. It took courage, persistence, and collaboration to hold the line. And we did it.
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🟪 Reflections & Moving Forward
The cleanup brought huge relief — and for the first time in over a year, quiet actually sounded strange. My nervous system didn’t know what to do with the silence.
Thankfully, the tenants are out and the abatement process is officially approved. I still hope the owners have learned their lesson and that the city’s review of the system prevents this from repeating anywhere else. My only apprehension now is that if the landlord rents the basement again and the property could be refilled just as quickly. (I would hope they would do a hazmat clean up for the back yard excrement and possible discarded needles and paraphernalia).
If the basement ever gets rented again, we now understand the reporting process, the timeline, and the responsibilities of each authority. We won’t hesitate to act early — calmly, clearly, and with documentation.
Since the media coverage aired, I’ve been flooded with messages — encouragement, empathy, and disbelief. Some thanked me for “being the voice” of the neighborhood; others said they had no idea how bad it was, or how close it was to me, until they saw the stories.
Those comments mean the world, but they’re also bittersweet. It shouldn’t take fifteen months, multiple agencies, and news crews for basic community safety to be restored.
For anyone reading this who’s facing something similar: please, don’t wait. Document. Speak up. Loop in all authorities early. Your voice matters — that’s how we got here.
If you notice concerns here or in your own neighborhood, please report them.
👉 City Bylaw: Excessive and disruptive noise especially outside of day time hours, derelict vehicles, excessive debris
👉 RCMP: Suspicious, violent, or criminal activity.
👉 Animal Control/ Animal Abuse Hotline: Any excessive disturbances, aggressive or distressed animals, running loose, attacks, or neglect.
👉 City Councillors: They are responsible for the overall well-being of the community and must ensure the municipality operates in an open and transparent manner.
👉 Members of Parliament: Their work includes debating and voting on bills in the legislature, representing constituent concerns, and holding the government accountable.
👉 Residential Tenancy Branch: provides information, dispute resolution services, and enforcement support to ensure fair and legal relationships between landlords and tenants. (Complaints from neighbors don’t count here, I tried)
Each department can only act within its limits — but together, they form a web of accountability. The key is consistency and communication.
One of the hardest lessons was realizing the city systems don’t cross-communicate unless residents connect the dots for them. Bylaw doesn’t see RCMP files. RCMP doesn’t see Tenancy concerns. The Residential Tenancy Branch doesn’t take neighbor reports. Until multiple residents documented consistently, nothing escalated.
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🗣️ Community Frustration & Public Conversation
The recent media coverage has sparked a lot of intense conversation across social media. Relief, outrage, compassion, anger, debate… it was all there. From outrage at the slow legal processes, to broader debates about housing, policy, and accountability.
Many residents have expressed frustration about how long this situation has dragged on, despite numerous complaints and evidence. Others have shared their personal stories of dealing with similar issues, or admitted they had no idea how serious things had become until now.
In that way, this whole ordeal became a mirror — showing what happens when systems stall and good people assume “someone else will handle it.” A psychological phenomenon called “groupthink”. It shouldn’t have taken this much for people to act.
Rather than bringing those debates onto this page, I encourage anyone interested to explore the public discussion threads directly:
👉 Clean up underway post, personal: https://www.facebook.com/jackie.h.rioux/posts/pfbid025Vg2zUxuckA2YpR3JDi8Moc7CVU1YLssmVSpTkGpy5BuXeLgtaG2B5naqKsYkbmTl
👉 Dave Branco’s social media post: https://www.facebook.com/DaveBrancoNews/posts/pfbid02PffGSRuqKCe67kHo8CjQuCAgpcov1tfWhcjsPBHjhrHdGZ5AfCRXN8aCZMRWkE8Gl
👉 Clean up underway post in group: Enough Already! Prince George Voters For Positive Change:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/842927622705364/posts/2686196575045117
These conversations reflect a wide spectrum of perspectives. Every voice in those threads mattered — even the angry ones — because together, they proved that people do care deeply about this city and how we handle community safety, integrity, addiction, and responsibility. People care about the safety and well-being of our neighborhoods.
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📝 Closing This Chapter: What We’ve Learned
Through this exhausting, but ultimately successful experience, I’ve learned how fragmented and technical the enforcement process truly is.
Each department is doing its best — but they operate in silos. They don’t always communicate with each other, and that gap leaves residents caught in the middle.
• RCMP and Bylaw Services work separately and rarely communicate directly. Each require multiple, repeated complaints before meaningful action can be taken.
• Animal Control operates independently under separate bylaws, with their own criteria for enforcement or rescue intervention. They have limited power unless an attack or cruelty is witnessed.
• City Council can’t intervene until the evidence pile is undeniable.
There is no single accountability system that ties all complaints to a specific address or individual across agencies — no way for officials to see the full pattern until residents connect the dots themselves.
This is eerily similar to the Netflix series “Unbelievable,” which documented a true case where a criminal wasn’t caught until authorities across different counties collaborated and connected the dots.
This ordeal taught me that change happens when citizens stop waiting for “the system” to notice, and start helping it see the full picture.
👉 This is exactly what our laws need: an integrated, cross-departmental system where repeated incidents tied to an address or name build a clear, undeniable pattern of behavior. A system that connects the dots automatically so patterns of harm can’t hide in plain sight. Until then, we are the connectors.
🟢 Lesson: Silence enables harm; communication and persistence invite change.
🏚️ The Nuisance Abatement Process
Here’s how it currently works:
• Bylaw must compile substantial documentation to present to City Council to have a property declared a nuisance property.
• Once approved, the city can levy fines to recoup the significant manpower costs associated with repeated visits.
• If fines go unpaid, they are added to the property’s tax bill.
• Continued nonpayment can ultimately lead to tax sale proceedings.
🏠 A Word to Property Owners
If you rent out property, vet your tenants carefully. British Columbia’s tenancy laws heavily favor tenants, making it a long and costly process to evict problematic occupants:
• Going through the Tenancy Branch
• Attending hearings
• Hiring bailiffs
• Dealing with property damage and renovation costs
This particular property will likely need to be gutted to the studs. If it weren’t attached to my home, I’d recommend demolition.
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🟢 Regulating Through and After Chaos
When the dust finally settles — literally and energetically — your body might not get the memo right away. For months, I lived in a constant state of hyper-vigilance. Even after the sirens stopped, my nervous system kept scanning for danger like a smoke alarm with a dying battery.
Here’s what helped me find my footing again. If you’re ever navigating your own neighborhood storm, maybe it’ll help you too:
1. Breathe before reacting. It sounds simple, but when adrenaline is high, even one long exhale tells your brain the threat has passed. I’d often pause on my porch and just breathe until my shoulders dropped.
2. Ground daily. For me that meant feet on the earth, gentle tapping, or a short dowsing reset. For you it might be gardening, stretching, or cuddling your pets. Anything that reminds your body you’re safe now.
3. Move the energy out. Anger, fear, and frustration all need motion. Walk, journal, dance, yell into a pillow, or scrub the kitchen sink like you mean it. Energy that’s expressed is energy released.
4. Reconnect with what’s good. After so much chaos, simple peace can feel foreign. Light a candle. Sip tea. Watch a mindless show. Let normalcy re-train your nervous system.
5. Don’t rush the decompression. Healing from chronic stress is like re-entry after turbulence — your system needs time to equalize. Celebrate small victories: “Today I didn’t check the window ten times.” That’s progress.
6. Ask for help. Whether it’s friends, professionals, or your own inner guidance, you don’t have to process everything alone. Community got me through the chaos; it also got me through the calm that followed.
🟢 Final Thought: Peace doesn’t just happen — it’s rebuilt, choice by choice. Every breath, boundary, and act of kindness adds up. Closing this chapter means honoring what was endured and reclaiming what’s next.
Thank you to every neighbor, bylaw officer, reporter, and friend who helped turn this chaos into closure. And if you’re reading this because you’re still in the thick of it — hang on. Speak up. You’ll get through it too. 🐞💛
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❤️ Final Words
This chapter has forced me to stand up for myself and others in ways I never expected. It’s brought out both my worst and my best. But ultimately, it’s proven that when neighbors stop whispering and start speaking together, change can happen.
What I Want to Anchor In:
This is the beginning of exhale mode.
I deserve to rest without scanning the street every few minutes.
The energy has shifted — it’s safe to let my guard down a little.
Relief doesn’t mean collapse; it means integration.
I can use this time to refill my reserves before tackling the next wave of projects.
This page is my way of closing this chapter. What needed saying is now said. What needed learning is now learned. I’m choosing peace, recovery, and forward momentum.
🐞 Jackie Rioux
Quentin Avenue Resident • Reluctant Spokesperson • Squirrel-Herding Redhead
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View all the pics and videos of this situation: https://1drv.ms/f/c/e3fa99cd74150946/ErE1xC9xI_pOkx4pIXfiPckBi4WoM85bqgWLMn299ASf8Q?e=nwjeDC