Mystery surrounding street sign is solved

Notice seems to forbid everything, but city says the original ink faded

If you’re on Wilson Ave., you better not do it. Don’t even think about doing it, whatever it is.

And if you do it anyway, you will be violating a city street sign that seems to forbid anything and everything.

You might get a ticket. Or be sent to jail. Maybe you’ll get off with just a scolding for stepping out of line. Who knows? We know who doesn’t know. That would be all of us.

There are millions of stories in The Naked City, but none explain signs that show a red circle dissected by a diagonal line — universally recognized as prohibiting something or other — on a white background.

We got an email from Ian Alter with a curious subject line: “Has Toronto introduced a new mysterious ‘don’t even think of it sign,’ or is it just a mistake?”

He went on to say a “bizarre sign just got installed” at Wilson and Allingham Gardens, the same corner that is home to the King High Plaza, a penultimate designation if ever there was one. Any ace beats it, in a poker game.

“It is so amazingly generic, you know you should not do anything with your car near this sign.

“If you were to stop, stand or park your car in front of this sign, what will the charge on the ticket read?

“Or was it two or more compounded mistakes? A mis- printed sign that was manufactured, shipped and then accepted and installed?”

We went there and spotted the sign at the southeast corner of Wilson and Allingham, and soon found another just like it, across the street at the corner of Wilson and Delahaye St.

STATUS: Allen Pinkerton, who’s in charge of city traffic signs, did some digging and came up with an explanation that lets all the air out of the fun, like a flaccid balloon. “I took the time to review historical Google (Street View) images and can confirm that at both locations, the signs originally displayed no parking at any time. In the past, inks on the baked enamel parking signs occasionally failed, which is the situation here. New fabrication practices eliminate this by applying the inks directly to reflective sheeting. I will have staff replace the significantly faded signs.” What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Email

jlakey@thestar.ca or follow @TOStarFixer on Twitter