Pylons around sinkhole hinder laneway parking
A sinkhole surrounded by pylons in front of a laneway on Hiawatha Rd. is preventing the homeowners from parking a car on their newly purchased property.
By now, regular Fixer readers know we don’t share the city’s enthusiasm for using pylons as a temporary solution for problems that need a real fix, like gaping holes in the road.
Departments like transportation services and Toronto Water are particularly susceptible to the questionable idea of buy- ing time by plunking down pylons until the problem can properly be fixed.
In theory, it’s an acceptable dea. But too often, the pylons remain long after remedial work should have been completed, unless they’re mowed down by passing traffic or booted to the curb by high-spirited nitwits.
Tang Choy emailed to say that’s the situation at the point where the laneway of their newly purchased home meets the street, on Hiawatha Rd., just south of Gerrard St. E.
Choy said that when they moved in on Aug. 1, they had to work around a sinkhole in the worst possible spot, exactly where they pull in and out of the laneway.
“Speaking to another resident on the block, we’ve learned that city-affiliated units have visited the site, and each just leaves a pylon,” she said.
“I called 311 and was told the case has been ‘assigned,’ but no completion date is on file, and it would be ‘escalated.’
“I was referred to the general Toronto Water line. The customer service representative had no idea what I was talking about and insisted I had the wrong unit.
“At this point, there are so many pylons we can no longer access our parking.
“Definitely something we were not expecting as new homeowners.”
We went there and found a half-dozen pylons surrounding the sinkhole, bound together by caution tape.
It amounts to a portal onto a hollow chamber beneath the street that is at about two metres deep. Status: Toronto Water spokesperson Diala Homaidan sent us a note saying they’re investigating the cause of the sinkhole and will fix it as soon as possible.