Cycling

Igor Kenk just won't leave the news. At least one former neighbour liked Kenk.
I guess because Kenk didn't steal his bike or sell drugs to his kids.

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Aug 31, 2009 04:30 AM
Iain Marlow
Staff Reporter

Behind the boarded up façade of Igor Kenk's now-defunct Bicycle Clinic, which
police allege was the nexus of a monumental bike theft and drug-selling network,
people are still working on bikes in the backyard.

And having barbecues. And drinking. And yelling at people who peek down from
a roof and see them still doing these things.

"They live there," whispers Amy Chung from behind the screen door leading out
on top of a funeral parlour on Queen St. W. "They are looking after the property
for him."

Even though Kenk has left the neighbourhood that gradually gentrified around
him – he's in the Don Jail, facing 58 charges related to drugs and theft and three
related to assault – his jarringly unorthodox lifestyle remains imprinted in the
surrounding urban fabric.

Today a controversial process begins that may rid Kenk's neighbourhood of his
presence forever.

The provincial Attorney General's office is using the Civil Remedies Act to drag
Kenk before a forfeiture hearing in an attempt to seize and sell off his property:
the building itself, 927 Queen St. W., which Kenk estimates to be worth $700,000;
two pickup trucks; and 2,292 stolen bicycles taken during a sting in July 2008 from
properties Kenk owned or rented. The bikes cost $250,000 per year to store,
according to court documents, which refer to his property more generally as "proceeds
of crime."

James Diamond, who was lead counsel in an unsuccessful bid to challenge the Civil
Remedies Act before the Supreme Court, said the law is problematic precisely in a
case such as Kenk's, where criminal culpability has not yet been found.

Essentially, a civil court judge could rule assets are linked to criminal activity on a
balance of probability – not beyond a reasonable doubt, as in a criminal court – without
a conviction or an admission of guilt, Diamond says.

If that happens, "his fair trial in the criminal process may be tainted, because there's
a decision out there by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that ties him into criminal activity."

Concerns about Kenk's property are more material back on Queen St. W., where
memories and reminders of his presence remain.

Before Kenk's arrest, "he worked well into the early mornings and seemed to always
have people sitting around drinking beer and putting bikes out onto the sidewalk,
blocking people," says Amy's husband, Stanley Chung, who owns Bates and Dodds
Funeral Services next to Kenk's property on Queen St. W., across from Trinity-Bellwoods
park. The Chungs took over the funeral parlour in 1994; a year later, Kenk moved
his already notorious bike shop farther west on Queen, right next door.

"It's an eyesore," Chung adds, looking at his neighbour's building, which has potted
weeds out front. "It would be nice if someone could purchase it and turn it into a store."

But Chung, 55, fears any possible sale would be complicated by the terrible state of
the building, which was notorious for being a tangled nest of steel spun of used and
allegedly stolen bikes and spare parts.

When police raided the small two-storey building, they found 555 bikes.

Two years ago, Chung says, a small fire broke out in Kenk's store and responding
firefighters encountered a wall of bicycles.

"I could hear the firemen swearing," Chung says. "I'm surprised it's still standing,
to be honest."

Joao Defreitas, 64, who has lived a few doors down since 1973, seems to miss Kenk's
unusual presence. Though the neighbourhood no longer offers prostitutes who proposition
him as he parks his car, it has simply evolved into "lots of places to spend money."

"After he left from here, it's more boring," Defreitas says. "I sit down here many times
on my step and he comes and talks to me. He's very nice. I have nothing bad to
say ... we were good friends, like brothers."

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"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica