several examples of street pervs in Parkdale

Does Parkdale have an active community watch group?

I'm still waiting on the call.It's not a bad hood. Not as bad as it is made out to be, but there are odd times when I feel I have to really watch my back. Parkdale has a colourful history. It's known for being the place where psych patients live. It's known for having a history of housing sex offenders.It's known for having drug addicts and people who are down and out.It has wonderful bars, and restaurants, and a hip crowd, among the derelicts. It can be beautiful and awful all in the span of a block.

What I cannot stand is sexual harassment on the street. It's happened a few too many times already. When I called the police they only seemed to want to report it if something physical happened. They didn't seem to think feeling threatened was enough.

Sometimes it's on a very, very mild scale. I once felt followed by a strange man in the library. So what I did is turn around, face him, step forward and look him in the eye. He took off. Don't know if he had a mental illness of some kind, but him following me, and seeming to watch me as I checked out my books gave me the creeps. I thought maybe he was in line, but when I turned to face him, he ran. I just don't like feeling I am being watched.

Another time a man started calling out my name. He wouldn't identify himself. He just kept trying to ID me. I did not recognize his voice, could not see a reason to answer him, especially if he was calling out in the dark to me from Masaryk Park. Why do that and not identify yourself? I'm going to assume you don't mean well by your actions.

Worse yet is there is a pretty brazen guy who lives in the area. He strolls the Roncesvalles and Queen area strips.

The first time he made several brazen comments about my body as I walked by him. I felt ill at ease, as he seemed to be making comments at any woman who passed by him. I made a mental note of what he looked like, and told myself never to make eye contact with that face if I can help it.

The second time I remember a woman went to pet a man's chihuahua. The man who was holding the leash, was well, you guessed it, Mr. Perv.

Mr. Perv then immediately tried to take the oppportunity to pet the lady. There is something about Mr. Perv, and the "Eau du Creep" that rolls off him that just reeks of a certain level of sex offender. The lady freaked out and ran. I took off in the other direction.

The 3rd time, Mr. Perv tried to approach me from behind. I heard the voice but ignored it. He kept calling out, "Miss, Miss, hey Miss." Something told me to keep walking, and peek back when I get a little further away. I peeked back, saw Mr. Perv, and kept walking. He changed his tune and said something like, "hey you fucking bitch."

I got further away, and eventually flipped him off because I felt cocky. I was in a crowd of people and they were all hearing Mr. Perv spout off at me. He said something about jamming my middle finger somewhere, probably in some orifice. I just kept walking until I got to the local hardware store. I asked the man there for pepper spray. They didn't have any in stock.

I have seen Mr. Perv following club goers who have probably strayed a little too far west from the Drake or the Gladstone. He was screaming about how it was his right to follow them because it is after 11:30pm. The club goers were running.

Mr. Perv takes any human pleasantry as an invitation to sex, or as showing you like him. I encountered him once unfortunately in the doorway with my bike, at the hardware store.

Mr. Perv said that my letting him through, I guess as opposed to shoving my bike at him, or better yet, beating him over the head with my U lock, must mean I like him. I stepped back, way back, and went into the store without eye contact.

I guess coming from the gaybourhood, I'm spoiled by the generally nice behavior of gay men. The closest thing to street harassment I had there was a drag queen who was enamoured of my floral skirt. And that's it.

So is there a monthly town hall meeting/ or a crime watch of any kind? I was surprised to not see one. I called the west end neighbourhood watch, and they didn't seem to have anything specific to street harassment. I guess I'll just stick with the neighbourhood watch.