The Steeles Ave. mystery of the oozing black goo
What’s that oily black stuff bubbling out of the ground and oozing across the sidewalk on Steeles Ave.? Black gold? Texas tea? Probably not, but it has some people wondering if it’s a toxic soup that’s dangerous to people and pets, and why it is killing the grass on both sides of the sidewalk.
Christine Hogenkamp sent us an email with a photo that shows a dark wet substance running across the sidewalk on the south side of Steeles Ave., between Torresdale Ave. and Black Hawk Way, west of Bathurst Street.
“For the past few months I’ve been walking past this nasty puddle thing that periodically oozes out from the grass and creeps along the sidewalk on Steeles,” Hogenkamp said.
“I don’t know what the ooze is exactly, but it’s definitely killed the grass around it and no one seems to notice it or feel motivated to fix it.”
We went there and found a large patch of dead grass on the south side of the sidewalk, where the oily substance was percolating out of the ground and across to dead grass on the other side.
Steeling ourselves for revulsion, we ran our fingers through the stuff and took a sniff, but didn’t notice a petroleum smell or any other odour, for that matter, which only adds to the puzzle. While we were there a man came along and said he’s been noticing the stuff for about a year, adding that he also suspected it was some sort of oil or a toxic chemical.
We looked on Google Street View and found an image from June of 2016 that showed a smaller patch of dead grass on the south side, but no puddle on the sidewalk itself.
Clearly, there’s something going on beneath the surface that may be a sign of a larger pool of bad stuff underground, which needs to be looked into right away.
Status: We weren’t sure who to ask to look into it, so we started with transportation services, which is responsible for the road allowance area.
Spokesperson Ellen Leesti said they’ll send someone to check it out right away and let us know what they find. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Send an email to jlakey@thestar.ca. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.