I was working as a site foreman on a downtown residential lot of approximately one hundred homes. We had a sales trailer on one corner that fronted onto a main street. It had a parking lot that we kept a chain across to prevent shoppers from parking there.
We had a crew of landscape contractors tidying up around the sales area. They needed water from the hydrant for about ten minutes. We are required to get a permit. I don’t know much about obtaining permits as that was handled by someone else. Permits don’t last very long and we have to keep getting them. Anyway it was only ten minutes. Of course the by-law officer showed up right after they started using the hose. He came onto the parking lot and an argument ensued. He was being a hardcore prick and he wanted to write a ticket.
I should tell you a little at this point about our contractors. They were young men of Portuguese descent and grew up in the Christie Pits area of Toronto. A mostly Portuguese enclave. Good honest hard-working men who grew up in the inner city. They weren’t the type to be pushed around by the school bully. That’s when they told the prick to get off the property. He was trespassing. Well the bully lost his composure and immediately jumped on the sidewalk. He knew the laws and had to comply.
Well now he got some of his wind back and demanded to know the name of their company. That’s when our boys told him it was Suck My Dick Contracting. Well the bully lost his composure again and it all went downhill for him after that. They walked right past him and disconnected their equipment from the hydrant. They came back on the site and the bully had to go and look for another victim.
All because they knew private property laws. You can tell any official to get off your property and without a warrant they have to comply. This is an eyewitness account. I stood back and never got involved as I didn’t want to explain who I was. It was also very amusing to watch and I didn’t want to spoil the show.