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Sid told us when he went to court his old buddies, he had made rich disowned him. Not only did they disown him; one of them paid two men to lie and pointed all the heat at Sid. Sid protested the liars but more influential members of Toronto’s 1950s society wanted him off the street. So, he went to jail for fifteen years for what is considered a victimless crime. All the shipments Sid didn’t pay for were covered by insurance. No supplier lost their full investment. Rapists and murders got less time than Sid. After Sid went to jail, the federal and provincial business and personal tax laws were changed to prevent this from happening again. I remember this change as my father was running a construction company in a small Ontario town on the Niagara Peninsula at the time. He and his partner had to change from a partner proprietor ship to a corporation. Dad used to complain about Toronto shysters always causing trouble. Little did he know a future mayor of Toronto was one of those shysters. Sid got a kick out of that story. Sid got out of jail and moved directly into Rochdale. He saw how lucrative and easy it was for him to make money dealing small amounts of pot and hash. Because he was known and considered hot, he did not get into dealing any large shipments. He was recognized and loved throughout the building. He seemed to know how to handle anyone. The receivers knew who he was and the property managers they put in were always wary of him. After a couple of months of receivership Sid decided to make a statement. The receiver had made it difficult for him to rent an apartment in the building but did not kick him out. So, Sid moved into the 2nd floor lounge. This lounge was used for general meetings and public events. Sid living there did not interfere with the meetings. We all knew him and he had things to say that were worth listening to. One of the things I had to change in the 2nd floor lounge was the carpet. It was ruined by the large unruly parties that were held there and people letting their dogs in to crap on the floor. Sid moving in stopped all that obnoxious action. Sid Smith the property manager recognized this. He thought it was a good thing and did not try to kick him out directly. In public they cursed each other out. Behind closed doors when I was talking to each of them separately they semi admired each other. As enemies will sometimes do. Sid decided to give Sid a present. Sid Smith started, on his own, looking for a tough carpet for the lounge. Sid was an ex-army major. He was a student of social psychology and crowd control. He was studying the experiments that were going on using colour as a passive form of subtle sway. He had been reading how bright neon colours tended to keep people away. In some cases, they were even said to cause headaches. Sid Smith decided to give Sid Stern an amazingly bright orange deep pile semi-shag carpet. I was given the sample to show to Sid in the lounge. As soon as I saw it I knew he would love it. Sid had taken LSD for the first time the previous year and was fairly psychedelic at this point. Sure enough, Sid took one look at the sample, his eyes light up and he said; “Is this hot orange carpet for me?” I assured him it was, we sat down and smoked a joint. We spent a good hour admiring the new carpet sample talking about the logistics of the installation. I left Sid the sample so he could show everybody. When I had first come in he thought I was there to tell him he had to leave. The truth was I had pleaded his case to Sid Smith and Bob Greene of the Greenies. I wanted him to stay in the lounge because it stopped a lot of vandalism. When the receiver recognized this, they went along with me. The Greenies thought they could keep better track of what he was doing. We found this hilarious because Sid was way ahead of them with decoys and open activities. He smoked and dealt small quantities of pot and hash openly. To the point of smoking pot in the restaurant across the street. Sid was always upfront and defiant so he never had any quantity on him. When fined he would go to court with an entourage and show them how to slow down the process. Plugging up the courts was one of his tactics. I don’t remember any complaints from the residents about Sid living in the lounge. We all loved a character and the building was full of them. Of all the carpets replaced in the building the 2nd floor lounge lasted the longest. We tried replacing four hallway carpets but they never lasted longer than a year. In some instances, it was sabotage and in others it was just not good enough quality. From my perspective the receiver was a godsend that allowed us to keep the building going. The big maintenance budget they brought with them showed me they knew a hell of a lot about running a building. When I left in early October/73 I had spent better than $150,000.00 in basic building maintenance over thirteen months. This was more than the Rentals Department took in over a whole year. This allowed us to keep the building going for another two years until the receiver got complete control of the whole building. The last Rochdale resident walked out in late summer of 1975. By the time the photo of me getting a gold watch from the crew and property management was taken in October 1973 I was ready to run. All I could think about was getting out of that job. I was so surprised, embarrassed and caught off guard when they gave me that watch that I couldn’t look at the camera. My next job involved magic, animals, a little travel and I was ready for it. At the end of the day I am glad to have been part of the Utopian experiment known as Rochdale. Thank you very much for reading this I hope it has enlightened you. Brian Lumley - Rochdale Maintenance. Previous Exit Next |