Garbage Guy finally stops trashing his neighbourhood
Garbage Guy’s reign of terror along Military Trail seems to be coming to a merciful end.
Since 2013, we’ve been writing about one of Toronto’s worst neighbours, who infuriated the Seven Oaks community by plundering garbage put out to the curb for pickup and redistributing it around the area.
And that’s just the start. He attracted the attention of police by harassing and threatening people who objected — smearing feces on their front doors, for example — or hijacking shopping carts and filling them with trash.
He used the hydro corridor behind his townhouse to store his junk, including dozens of bottles filled with urine, and put out rotting food to feed raccoons and coyotes that sometimes menaced the neighbours.
Short of catching him in the act, police said there wasn’t much they could do about it, especially since it became clear that mental health issues are behind his behaviour.
It eventually became serious enough that community health workers came up with a plan to help him and police finally took him into custody on at least one occasion.
Some of the neighbours keep us posted on his activities, so it was a relief to get an email recently from one who said police issued a warrant for his arrest in late October and that the problems seem to have abated.
“He is definitely seeking help again, and I do hope our taxpayer dollar for services provided to help people like (him) can be used wisely,” said the email.
“The dangers that exist again in our community caused by him can only be measured by someone getting hurt. There is more that meets the eye in this man’s severely troubled past and present.”
We took a look at his old haunts on Tuesday, including the hydro corridor behind his townhouse and yard, and found none of the previous signs of his pilfering and stockpiling of garbage, or hijacked shopping carts.
We met up with a neighbour walking a dog in the hydro corridor, who said the trash and shopping carts disappeared several months ago. She added that she recently saw him on a bus, and thought he looked a lot healthier.
With a little luck, he’ll stay on the straight and narrow path. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer or email jlakey@thestar.ca . To read our blog, go to thestar.com/news/the_fixer. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.