Story Archive

Dead Man’s Road

The city of Toronto, Ont., Canada, says it does not own the laneway between the Kensington Community School and several neighbors’ garages, so it won’t maintain it. Unfortunately, if the students who use the lane — and the adults who have to drive down it to park — want to ask the owner to repair its potholes and stop it from flooding, they might need a Ouija board to get his answer. “According to Land Registry Office records,” said a letter from the city, “it has been owned by R.B. Denison since 1861.” Robert Brittain Denison, however, has been dead longer than Queen Victoria. A local councilman said he’d explore seizing the lane, but doing it through property taxes might be a challenge: officials said the lane has no recorded assessment, so “there is no tax bill issued/generated for the laneway.” (AC/CBC) ...Conclusion: death is more certain than taxes.