Creepy condo stalker a wake-up call to get involved
Toronto Sun
AN HARVEY—columnist
30 October 2017

In this age of unwanted sexual advances, why do we too often look away? 

Why did the property management and board of directors at a swank Yorkville condominium not take immediate action to alert all residents to reports someone with a pass key was letting himself into womens’ units and, in at least one case, masturbating in the washroom?

The property manager points to the board of directors. The board of directors point to the property manager. Now, after the Toronto Sun reported on events at 35 Balmuto St., the property management finally issued a more definitive statement, if only to shoot the messenger: “The media reports have also included allegations of a general lack of attention to security.  This is entirely false.”

The good news is they completed a “detailed security audit of the building” and that all workers will now be issued ID tags and sign in. Further, three years after the board said they’d look into it, they’ve approved a fob system for the elevators, restricting access by residents to their own floors.

“In light of recent events, the Corporation is expediting this project,” the memo says. “Residents are also advised to be attentive to their own security measures, including: making sure that your unit door is locked, using the in-suite Cyber Suite alarm panel (not working in all units), and not permitting strangers to ‘piggyback’ entry behind you through the garage or lobby doors.”

What took you so long? Was it the complaints about a couple of homeless druggies crashing in underground parking at 35 Balmuto?  Have we forgotten Dr. Carolyn Warrick, beaten to death in the garage of 1001 Bay St. by two drug addicts in 1995?

Or Instagram pics this week of a dare-devil thrill seeker on the parapet of your building? How did he get there?

Or was it the legal liability of what happens when we don’t alert people? Ask Jane Doe. She sued Toronto Police and won $220,000 because they failed to warn about the Balcony Rapist in the 1980s and she became unwitting rape bait.

It stinks. Maintenance fees at 35 Balmuto are 91 cents a square foot, up from 45 cents when it first opened in 2012 so it isn’t a cash flow issue. 

To be fair, events at 35 Balmuto St. are’t isolated. It is probably happening at other condo buildings in this city. Scary, huh.

We have a perfect storm in which Toronto’s vertical communities are becoming the norm. Stats Canada says 30% of dwellings in Census Metro Toronto are highrises. In the old city of Toronto, those numbers rise more dramatically.

RBC reports condo construction at a record high of 5.8 units per 1,000 people while single family home starts are falling.

Anonymity is not a benefit of living in a vertical community. It’s a downside. The criminals hope you’re not sharing with your neighbours. 

It’s time to get involved in your vertical community.

This is a wake-up call for every condo and apartment highrise in this city. Unauthorized entry into women’s apartments is a violation of their personal space, tantamount to sexual assault. 

We have a duty to each other.

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