There's something else at play here which has only been alluded to by Bigtime so far.
Why is Ald. John Mar getting directly involved in this? Seems to be a really clear case of grandstanding going on. There's no reason for him to show up with the cops or to make it publicly known that it was he who supposedly walked by and noticed this situation (I have my doubts that much is true either, but I digress). The only reason seems to be so he can grab the spotlight and somehow show that he's taking charge or taking care of business or what have you. The showing up with or standing along with policemen is one of his recycled image tactics too (Mar's a former RCMP officer and police issues is a major plank in any of his political platforms).
Really Mar should have stayed out of the whole affair. It's pretty shaky ground for elected officials to hint at the notion that the police are their personal strike force (that's going out on quite the limb I know, and I don't buy it, just saying the optics get cloudy with the messages he his sending). He should have lodged a bylaw complaint and left it at that.
Again, for the record, I think it's entirely appropriate for bylaw and/or police to come down on this. Just questioning Mar's very public involvement as a very obvious case of grandstanding.
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