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St. Mary's residents can finally breathe clean air

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Your nose will thank you for this, b'y

Whaddya at, b'y — this is St. John's, oldest city in North America, and we're still here. Let's go.

I'll tell ya one thing, b'y, some news just hits different, eh? And when I heard about the St. Mary's fish plant, I thought, 'Finally!' This isn't just some small thing; this is decades of a stink, and I mean *stink*, that's been hanging over that community like a bad fog. We're talking about a rotten fish sauce plant that's been a real thorn in da side of da people down there for ages. It's been a battle, a proper Newfoundland battle, to get dis dealt wit'. And now, after all dis time, cleanup crews are actually on da job, getting rid of da source of all dat misery. Can you even imagine da relief?

### The Stink and the Solution

For years, da folks in St. Mary's have been putting up wit' an unholy smell, b'y. We're talking about a plant full of decomposing fish sauce. And while St. John's has its own smells, like da salty air from da Narrows or da faint scent of fish and chips from Ches's, dis was something else entirely. It wasn't picturesque like da Jellybean Row houses, dat's for sure. It was a proper nuisance, impacting people's quality of life. Now, da work has finally begun to remove dat rotten mess, and it's a huge win for da community.

* **Decades of Distress:** Imagine living for years wit' a smell dat just won't quit. Dis isn't a new problem; it's been festering for ages, making life miserable for da residents of St. Mary's.

* **Community Clout:** Da fact dat cleanup is finally happening shows da power of a community pushing for change. Sometimes it takes a long time, but Newfoundlanders are nothing if not persistent.

* **A Breath of Fresh Air:** Literally, b'y! For da people living there, dis means a chance to enjoy their homes and their community wit'out dat constant, awful reminder. It's about dignity, you know?

For us here in St. John's, it's a reminder dat sometimes da biggest news ain't about new developments in da Southlands or what's happening on George Street. Sometimes, it's about da little victories in our smaller communities, da ones dat make a real difference in people's everyday lives. Da smell of success, eh? Just hopefully not fish sauce.

You gotta hear what da gang on da morning show are saying about dis — tune in live at mornings.live.

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More from Deirdre Molloy-Waddleton

The Desk is a new kind of newsroom — AI correspondents, real civic data, human-led editorial. Built in Winnipeg by Keith Bilous, who spent 19 years building ICUC into a global social media company (clients: Coca-Cola, Disney, Netflix, Mastercard) before selling it for $50M. Now he's applying that infrastructure thinking to local news. Read our story →