Week 1 - October 3rd to 9th, 2006
Oct. 3rd, 2006
Possession - look we got a gift with purchase! The snow blower AND vacuum were left.
Al, Sarah, Erin, brought over 2 buckets of house warming gifts and 8 patio chairs rescued from someone's garbage. most appropriate.
We had wine & cheese on the front porch by candlelight and flashlight, followed by dinner.
I attempted to clean one of the toilets. Upon lifting the lid I was not surprise to see it black.
It wasn't flushing so well, but I poured in some industrial cleaner (courteousy of a friend at Home Depot). It was left to soak and then scrubbed with the toilet brush given to me as part of a housewarming gift.
During dinner of take out indian we meet 2 neighbours - a guy from across the street and a woman and her daughter from a few doors down. They are very curious to meet us & find out our intentions for the house. Which , in a nut shell, is a self-renovation project then we'll move in for a bit.
The woman is lovely and tells us the neighbours banded together to oust the crackheads and she was the leader of the pack. She was even on CityTv... I am curious to get the full story.
During clean up to go home, Al and I got to wondering w as to what was under carpets & stuffed into this "closet" in the back addition.
Needles, apparently. Several in the "dining" room under the carpet (and a dirty old condom) and a pile of cigarette butts. Then in the 'closet' Al ripped of the wood nailed to keep things in and we discover a nearly new suitcase - empty, a broken glass lampshade, a microwave and a large bag of garbage. There are many other misc yet-to-be identified items. Oh yes, and a needle. With no additional garbage bags, Al and I decide to attack that 'closet' at a later date.
Andreas also points out the needle he found in the basement, that he brought up and put on the back window. I am horrified to see that a) he touched it and b) the cap over the point is full of dried blood.
Oct. 4, 2006
projectcrackhouse.com is registered & hosted.
Andreas parents, Donna & Klaus, have come to visit and of course the first place they go is the crack house.
I'm at Home Depot (the first of many trips I am sure) to get some flowers - a giant tub of yellow somethings that can stand this temp. to cheer up the front lawn and I also got a bevy of bulbs to plant. Oh yes, and a 'value' toilet seat to exchange for the one on the main floor. What can I say, I like a clean seat.
When I get to the house, Andreas was in the middle of cleaning the front eavestrough to perhaps assist with the sag of the front porch. He and his dad went on to do 'electrical' which mainly involved puting in some switches over bare wires hanging out of the walls, and investigating just how many lights actually worked. We have discovered a large amount of flourescent light fixtures in the house (no, not the grow op kind). I thought that it was perhaps a cheap way of lighting however I would not be surprised to find out that there is some sort of drug-related reason. Easier to see veins maybe?
In the mean time, Donna and I measured every room on the main floor and upstairs. It was a bit dark in the places that have yet been helped by the 'electricial crew' however we managed pretty good dimensions. I will post a floor plan once I have finished it.
Rest of the week Oct 4 - 9th
Tours, tours and more tours. The house was well visited this weekend! It was Thanksgiving and this year my mum and her boyfriend Capt. John as well as Andreas' parents were in town.
Saturday morning I went over to clean up the yard (however futile) and met a couple from up the street ...they were on their way down the street and pulled up in front. I chatted with them for quite some time and they invited Andreas & I over to another neighbour's the following Sunday. I never did get the tulips planted so have booked that for another day.
The rest of the day was lunch with the Bach family - us four plus sister Stef, 2 kids and husband, then we went to Casa Loma where my mum & John joined us for the tour of that house - then on to the tour of the crackhouse! Mum thought it had potential. Everyone else thinks we're nuts. We also met the couple that lives right next door.
Sunday - Just like men, 45 minutes before we were to head out for dinner, Klaus and Andreas decide it was prime time to go over to the ch and take down the 2 cedars at the front!!
Eventually they came back and we ended up being an hour late - but it's ok, it's a Hatfield event!
We had a potluck thanksgiving at the Hatfields with all 5 of them plus friends Mary, Jessica and Larissa. The next door neighbour even came over so all told there was 15 of us!
Monday - more tours - for Mary, Jessica and Linda H. 'Potential' is the buzz word of the day. Al also came over and we started to empty the rest of the 'closet' in the back addition. It was packed with stuff so we just start pulling out stuff. There was a TV, a stereo, leather jacket, piles of garbage...and oh what do you know, more needles. Best find of the day had to be the Hello Kitty mug containing a baggie of white stuff, with instructions on how to use crack and the crack pipe.
After we ran out of garbage bags, it was time to break for lunch. Al went home & I went to my house. I spoke to my mum who was returning to Ottawa and John was insistent that we report the drug findings. So I looked up the number for 55 Division (conveniently located around the corner), had lunch and Andreas & I went back to the house.
Once there, we called the police. The first guy asked how much crack I found (I think this was a qualifying question) because I said, well, a baggie. So he sent me over to dispatch and they said they would send a car.
Not high on their priority list, Andreas and I went about our business, and eventually a car pulled up with what must be the poster-people for Toronto police. One young male, hot, cop and one young, female, gorgeous cop. And both very nice & professional.
Andreas said hello and asked if the place was known to them - the guy laughed & said indeed. Apparently the male cop was *very* familiar with the house - he had been part of the team to execute one or more search warrants (raids) on the place, as well as part of the team that had to evict the 2 older guys who he referred to as the 'permanent' residents and/or owners - who did not want to leave. He also said the place looked the same as when people were living there with the front window boarded up and the door wide open!
They both pulled on the standard issue black leather gloves & we showed them the Hello Kitty mug, with crack, crack pipe and instructions. He said right away that it did not look like crack, however maybe it was cocaine. Upon closer inspection (pouring some out on his glove) he determined that it was more likely to be salt. Then he laughed and said that someone was probably trying to sell it as drugs! No, he did not taste it! It was granular instead of powdery, like cocaine should be. Then he explained to us that crack is more like chunks and they are yellow-ish.
Now I know.
He also said that if we find any more 'alleged' drugs in our 'alleged crack house' feel free to call. The needles can be taken over to the 55 Division and they have a proper disposal unit there if we like. In any case they did not seem overly concerned about the needles.
So he told us a bit more about the previous inhabitants, and even after raids the place would be back as a crack house within 24 hours. He also mentioned the neighbours and the one lady we met already seems to have been the leader of the neighbours. The cop said that she was right standing on the sidewalk during eviction to make sure the place was emptied.
The police explained to us that it is really difficult to evict people - but that eventually the crack house was brought to the attention of the city councilor in the area and they are able to get the ball rolling to close down a house of this nature. I thought that was interesting, I would have thought that was a job for the police.
He also said some older guy lived upstairs, one of the actual permanent resident mentioned above - he would watch them out the front window every time they came for a raid. Also, cop says those 2 old guys now live on Craven Ave (nearby) and they are in the process of evicting them from there too.
Last but not least, mr. hottie police man asked how the basement was doing, he said it used to be held up with 2x4s and was a mess. We took them down for a tour & he says it looks a heck of a lot better however he remembers that in that little space beside the furnace is where a mattress and blanket used to be. Also, the big room at the front was the storage area for all the stolen goods.
After that they said good luck with the reno and went on their way. My poor next door neighbour (who we met on Sat.) was out 'washing' her car and looked a little nervous with the cop car right there. She as actually going somewhere but the cops had blocked her in a bit so I suspect she started cleaning the car so that she would be very handy should anything happen of interest!
As the cops drove away, I explained to her that we thought we had found some drugs and they had come to check it out. She looked relieved and then asked if she could come in and see the place...we said of course and gave her the full tour.
Also, some guy and his wife were walking up the street across from the house and they yelled introductions, told us where they lived etc. The husband came halfway across the street - I think he wanted a tour but I was low on patience at the time so I didn't offer. When we were leaving, we were loading the car and some old guy walking down the street asked us if we bought the house and he's glad to see it and he admires our sense of adventure!
That little closet produced 8 full bags of garbage, 2 boxes of broken glass plus the stereo, TV, Christmas lights, microwave, an assortment of wood, drywall pieces and a dryer door. Plus 4 needles (used), 2 needles (new) - not to mention the used condoms and more of that sterilized water.
Oh yes, and we got three beer bottles to return so there is 30c into the Reno fund!
Sense of adventure, my arse.
Back to Scrapbook and latest update
photos from this week
Sold to this crazy person!
Nice bowl
Yes, this is a used needle.
The closet of garbage
Bye, bye trees
Hello Kitty
garbage from the closet
more garbage from the closet
empty at last