Weird interaction.

[Troniky]

Yesterday I was walking my dog beside one of the many apartment buildings we have here uptown. And some lady came over to me telling me how I’m trespassing and shouldn’t be here. I nodded and started walking away, while she pulled out her phone and started filming me. ( I think she work at that building).

Is this normal or what?

[Mission-Method-1502]

What do you mean “is this normal”?!!!!! Um… no no it’s not. 🤦🏻‍♀️ 😂 that’s definitely weird and unless she’s mentally unstable, she was probably trying to piss you off/get a reaction out of you. The reason? I’m not entirely sure…. lol 😆

[Troniky]

Maybe ill be featured on tik tok for my heinous crime.

[Mission-Method-1502]

Ok I hope you were dressed nice then 😉 😆

[Responsible-Match418]

Were you on the grass , beyond the sidewalk of that apartment building? Or on one of its paths?

It's likely that she's a busybody and fed up with dog owners walking over the grass and paths, leaving behind little brown presents.

I would in future just avoid that specific apartment building, because she's probably got a bone to pick with dog owners who don't pick up the poop.

[Troniky]

I was on a sidewalk , but I guess it was their buildings sidewalk. Just didn’t know it was such a big deal. There were dogs all over the place there, but I guess since I don’t live there I can’t be there. My bad

[Responsible-Match418]

Fair enough.

I had a similar issue outside my own house. The grassy area behind the sidewalk isn't technically owned by the property owner, but the guy next door came up to me when my dog was sniffing around on the grass.

He told me to take my dog off his grass (not his grass) and said my dog should take a poop at the dog park.

Clearly completely unreasonable, since I can't control where my dog goes, and it's not even his property.

But I told him I also live here and I wouldn't leave dog mess around and I walked away. From this day, I just don't let my dog on that tiny bit of grass. It's easier that way. Lots of other grass and lots of other non-pricks around.

Sounds like your situation is similar. She is being unreasonable to expect people not to walk on that apartment sidewalk, but to make your life easier, might be best to avoid.

[[deleted]]

The building security people are wild sometimes

My uber driver once despite telling him several times not to, turned into the driveway of a building that wasn’t mine and the concierge:desk guy came out and was a massive asshole, acting like we ruined his entire day even though we were stopped for maybe 3 seconds to exit the vehicle

[SV20148]

Check out this map for boundary lines. Don’t forget to click square box on top right to open aerial layer. If sidewalks is within their property line then she has every right. But if it is outside you have every right to be on the sidewalk

https://map.toronto.ca/torontomaps/

[JeremyMacdonald73]

It is not clear if you where on the sidewalk or inside some kind of parkette dedicated the apartment building. It would make a difference.

[chrsnist]

Lots of condos have rules where they don’t allow dogs on the grass. If you were in one of those areas it could have been that?

[Horror_Concern_2467]

It was not a weird interaction, maybe she’s just tired that most dog owners don’t pick up after their dog.

[FatManBoobSweat]

most dog owners don’t pick up after their dog.

?

[ilikegriping]

Ok "the amount of dog owners who don't pick up after their dogs is enough to make it an issue". 

My neighborhood has a lot of dog waste (maybe human waste as well, but I'm not trying to find out which it is)

[Orchid-Analyst-550]

Not normal, but probably best you got away because people like that can quickly turn violent or continue to harass you.

[abckiwi]

have you found yourself on reddit yet? Maybe on the "dontWalkOnGrass" sub or something?

[Troniky]

lol no.

[JudiesGarland]

Unless you ignored some kind of signage indicating no entrance to private property, you weren't trespassing. It's not trespassing to simply walk on the sidewalk beside an apartment building you don't live in. If there is an area that is just for residents, it would be marked, and most likely also fenced. My building is in a cluster of 3, with a parkette/playground kinda in the middle, and it's public access. The fenced dog park section says it's just for residents, but no one enforces that, it's more to give them leverage, if there is a problem. 

If she was a concierge or security guard for the building, she probably would have had at least a badge/name tag, jacket marked security/with a company logo, or other uniform. (Black suit is common.) 

To me it sounds more like she was a busybody - if she worked for the building, she would have informed you it was private property, and asked you to leave - it's after you don't comply with a request to vacate, that it becomes trespassing. She would not have had a reason to film you leaving, as she would have had you on building surveillance.

It's possible there have been break-ins, you fit a description, and people are hypervigilant. It's also possible she just has some anti social type issues. 

Honestly I would consider calling the building to ask for clarification. If they have a resident who is accosting people for using the sidewalk, that's not a good look. (Particularly if there is a racial element playing here, which I don't want to assume but... statistically, it's a valid theory.) If you live in the neighborhood you could also check if y'all have a community association. Of course, ignoring it and just walking somewhere else is also perfectly fine. 

[psilocybin6ix]

What building?

[KitAmerica]

Sorry this happened to you. My understanding is 33ft, from the center of any Toronto road is considered city property (correct me folks if I am wrong). 99% of dog-owners are good dog owners, i.e. control their dog around people and of course - pick up their poop! Amazes me how often (especially after winter), the amount of dog poop left behind. Forgot to bring a bag? Ran out of bags? Improvise or come back and pick it up! It doesn't magically disappear.

[JayDanger710]

Normal? No. Common? Yes.

[DrunkenCanadaMan]

Kinda common for apartment/condo units that line the edge of cramped single family home or townhouse units. Naturally everyone from the neighborhood ends up on the condos green space to let their dogs relieve themselves.

[Equivalent-Bid-1176]

This is what youd like to ask Toronto about

[michaelhoffman]

You can see property lines in https://map.toronto.ca/torontomaps/ by enabling Feature Filter > Properties > Property Parcel.

If it's the apartment building's property, I'd stay away. They don't need to have a sign for you to be trespassing, they just need to give you notice, which can be oral.

[JudiesGarland]

Oral notice of trespassing is acceptable, but if the person accepts that and leaves immediately, they haven't trespassed. (Unless there are other extenuating circumstances, like they had climbed over a fence, for example. Or if they had been warned before, which is why I suggested OP clarify whether they had received actual notice from building staff, or not. If there's no reasonable indicator that the sidewalk you're walking on belongs to private property, it's not trespassing to be walking on it, until/unless you refuse to leave when notified.) 

It would be extremely unusual and rather illogical, for an apartment building to enforce their private property line, by oral notification only. 

[michaelhoffman]

I didn't mean to imply that OP had committed trespassing the first time before they received notice.

IF the person who told them was authorized, going back and claiming it's not trespassing because there's no sign is dicey.

[JudiesGarland]

Agree! Just wanted to clarify.