They seized the Maple Leaf flags, the I Love Toronto shirts.
Even the Barack Obama photos, for crying out loud.
What are those bullies at City Hall? Republicans?
Or just bullies?
The victim: Harold Garnett, 66, souvenir vendor.
Scene of the crime: Dundas Square, gaudy and sterile. Our wannabe Times Square.
The only warmth is Kevin Frankish and Dina Pugliese, of CITY-TV, smiling down on us munchkins from one of those sky screens.
This place is in dire need of soul.
So why the hell has City Hall forced Harold Garnett from the square?
Why did six bylaw officers pounce upon him, seize his push cart IN THE NAME OF THE LAW and cart off his souvenirs like so much cocaine?
Harold shakes his head.
"If I can't make a living, I will have to beg for money. I've never done that in my life."
First, you may know Harold, or at least recognize him.
For 21 years, he and his cart of doodads have parked on the southwest corner of Yonge and Dundas, outside Eaton Centre.
Same spot, 21 years. No complaints. On the contrary.
Harold paid his yearly vendor fees, now about $3,000.
And he became a Samaritan of the square. He slipped beggars a buck or two from his till, directed tourists, bought bus tickets home for wayward kids, counselled the lost and the lonely.
The free paper 24 Hours called him "a Toronto ambassador" just last month.
An old college textbook ran a photo of him and his cart in a chapter called Social Perception and Cognition.
Around him, his beloved square went nuts with neon and mega TVs. To the powers that be, an old-fashioned souvenir stand must have looked out of step.
Then, in August, Yonge and Dundas became a "scrambled" pedestrian crossing. Even more people spilled around ol' Harold's stand.
So bylaw officers ordered him back, way back, from his roost of 21 years, to smack dab against the wall of the Eaton Centre.
Off the beaten path of tourists and commuters.
Only pigeons came. And they crapped on him.
Harold soon tired of bird droppings and dropping sales, so he moved his cart forward about three paces.
"So as people could see my stuff."
One recent sunny Thursday, bylaw officers pounced.
Nearby hot dog vendor Henry Nguyen, 52, tells me how six men converged on Harold and barked, "This cart is seized!"
They tossed Harold's treasures into garbage bags: 2,694 flags, 3,089 key chains, 602 sunglasses, 432 T-shirts, 272 caps, 15 pairs of slippers, 81 belts, 24 fancy boxes, 12 scarves, 27 tuques (Oh, no, NOT THE TUQUES). On and on.
And 10 photos of Barack Obama, a hero of Harold's.
When a bylaw officer grabbed the scarves, Harold tried to grab them back, so bicycle cops handcuffed him and hauled him off to 52 Division.
"Like a criminal," says his friend Ali Sharrif, 44, who called me about this. "The man raised himself by his bootstraps, created a job for himself, works hard and pays City Hall every year.
"Now, he's in a mess with bureaucrats who wouldn't know how to run a one-table lemonade stand."
The 52 Division cops declined to charge Harold and he bailed out his cart and goods for $500. They're stashed at the John St. warehouse he calls home.
His councillor, Kyle Rae, insists he's helped Harold before, especially during local renos, but it's not his decision where carts go.
He tells me Harold has "played games for 21 years," sneaking his cart into prime spots.
"As pedestrian counts get higher, he can't stay there. But he doesn't listen. He thinks he has a right to go where he wants."
You mean, where he's been for 21 years.
If he comes back, says Rae, he needs to accept being against the Eaton Centre wall. Pigeon poop and all.
Harold doesn't see much point in that. He'll spend winter silkscreening T-shirts and see what spring brings.
Surely, there's a compromise. A middle ground. A little leeway for an icon. Three paces ought to do it, for Pete's sake.
"They took his spot," says Henry Nguyen, doling out hot dogs.
"He was here all these years. He's a good guy. A good guy.
"And it's not fair."
Welcome to Dundas Square.
I thought this was supposed to be the heart of Toronto.
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If you've been to Eaton's Centre/Dundas Square a few times, you may have seen this guy and his stand.
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Not everything I post or say on foro are necesarily true facts. <- THAT is a fact! :blankstare:
I've seen this guy lots of times!!!!
