One man’s junk… is now history

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/05/2010 (5809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One man’s treasure has become civic trash after a Point Douglas homeowner lost his battle with the city.

Herman Holla, of Higgins Avenue, is angry that city workers — armed with the neighbourhood livability bylaw Tuesday — removed a portion of the mountain of stuff he has in his backyard after area residents complained.

"I’m a rational person and I’m a reasonable person," Holla said. "This is not Tuxedo. It’s not Charleswood. Everyone looks down their nose at this area, but we are proud of it."

Holla once owned an antique shop on Main Street and, almost two decades ago, ran for city council in Fort Rouge against Glen Murray and Sam Katz, an election Murray ultimately won.

He lost again in 1998 against Harvey Smith in Daniel McIntyre.

Holla has also been responsible for saving two heritage homes in the city and has donated numerous vintage photographs of Winnipeg to the University of Winnipeg’s Western Canada Pictorial Index.

Now, his backyard is still crammed with stacks of lumber, old kitchen appliances, vehicles and other assorted items.

But a chunk of the collection is gone, courtesy of city workers.

Holla said when the city sent him his first notice last year, it was two days before Christmas, it was cold and his yard was covered with snow.

But Holla said since then, he has been working on clearing out items from his backyard and was paid $68 earlier this week after delivering nearly 500 kilograms of scrap metal.

"Don’t tell me this is useless," he said.

City spokeswoman Michelle Bailey said Holla has had months to clean up his yard, verifying the city first sent him a warning in December and two follow-up warnings since then.

"This shouldn’t be a surprise," Bailey said.

"He didn’t comply, so a crew has gone out there… It’s a fire hazard and it attracts vermin.

"It has to be dealt with. It’s not a scrapyard."

Bailey couldn’t say when city workers will be back, but she said when they are they will be removing the rest of the items that shouldn’t be there, including garbage, scrap wood, metal, and old appliances.

"He will have to pay for it so it will be added to his property taxes," she said.

"Other taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay to clean his yard."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca