Bagel war in the New York Times
The New York Times writer on Montreal issues examines the rivalry between Fairmount and St-Viateur (the bagels, not the streets) against attacks from highly sensitive residents who don’t want any trace of woodsmoke in the area.
Jack 15:48 on 2019-11-26 Permalink
But a car for every human doesn’t seem to be a problem.
SMD 16:02 on 2019-11-26 Permalink
There is no news here. This story broke a year ago and the City has been very clear ever since that existing ovens would be grandfathered in, if and when the rules changed. Why is the NYTimes phoning it in like this?
Chris 23:58 on 2019-11-26 Permalink
Jack, why do you think that those who dislike the wood smoke don’t also dislike the car fumes? Tackling one doesn’t mean the other shouldn’t be tackled, and no one can tackle everything at once.
MarcG 06:52 on 2019-11-27 Permalink
Is that sentence weird or is it just me? “rivalry against attacks”?
Kate 09:03 on 2019-11-27 Permalink
MarcG: Yes, it is a weird sentence. I meant something like “in rivalry with each other but both facing attacks” etc. etc. – is that better?
Blork 10:34 on 2019-11-27 Permalink
@Chris, one could argue that it’s not one kind of smoke against another, it’s the degree of one kind of smoke against another. As in, a few cars wouldn’t be a problem but it’s become a problem because there are so many of them, and their utility is constrained to only the people using them. Whereas there are only two bagel shops in that area, and the entire neighbourhood (indeed the city) benefits from having a few bagel shops making bagels the traditional way. If there were a bagel shop on every corner it might be a different thing, or if every house had its own wood-burning bagel oven that only made bagels for that house.
Meezly 12:28 on 2019-11-28 Permalink
Agree with SMD that the NYT was totally phoning it in. But really – “a battle pitting environmentalists against bagel-loving traditionalists”? So click-baity!
The article doesn’t bother to interview a single “environmentalist”. A frustrated neighbor makes one quote. There is one “environmental scientist” who happens to also be a “bagel supporter”.
Really, the article is a puff piece on Fairmount and St-Viateur, which is fine, but the headline could have been more accurate, like “A Common Foe Unites Rival Bagel Kings”.