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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