Pickup drips an oily mess onto street
What to do about a guy who often parks his pickup in the same small area at night, where it leaks copious amounts of oil onto the road?
And when the city doesn’t seem able to put a stop to it, residents can’t help but conclude the truck’s owner is getting a free pass to foul their street with oil.
Areader has been sending us copies of complaints to the city since last fall about an old white pickup often parked at night right under his window, on Northern Dancer Blvd., near Queen St. and Woodbine Ave.
After the truck leaves in the morning, a fresh patch of oil can be found where it was parked. Over time, the entire parking area on the east side of the street, just south of Queen, has been coated by oily patches.
The reader, who asked not to be named, said it’s been going on for at least a year. Even worse, the truck owner doesn’t live on Northern Dancer, but parks there because there are no posted overnight parking restrictions.
“The street looks terrible and every time it rains we watch a rainbow river of oil flow into the storm sewer,” he said in a Dec. 4 email to his councillor, Mary-Margaret McMahon.
“I have reported this truck to 311 multiple times. However, it continues to leak lots of oil into the sewer. They have informed me that the issue has been resolved but I see fresh puddles of motor oil every day.”
In response to another complaint last winter, he got a reply from 311 that said his Dec. 4 report was inves- tigated the same day and that the officer “was not able to locate a vehicle matching the description.”
If they came at night, they’d have a lot better chance of locating it, said the reader, adding he long ago left a polite note on the truck, but the owner ignored it and he doesn’t want to get into a face-to-face confrontation.
It’s an environmental issue, he said, noting that a lot of motor oil has washed into the storm sewer and on into Lake Ontario since it began.
We went there Tuesday, after he copied us on another email, and found lots of oil patches in the curbside parking area just south of Queen.
At one point the sidewalk is covered with oily footprints, which must have been left by someone who walked across a fresh patch on the road. Status: We’ve asked municipal licensing and standards if it could go back at night, when the truck is likelier to be there, identify the problem and do something about it. Otherwise, it is indeed a free pass. 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 call us at 416-869-4823 email jlakey@thestar.ca. To read our blog, go to thestar.com/news/the_fixer. Follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.