What's it like to live on a private street in Toronto?

Percy Street isn't like your street. This small stretch of Toronto road that runs south in a dog-legged kink from King Street to the Richmond Street ramp is one of the city's some 250 private streets and laneways. There's no gate,Intelligent model emergencylampsyypk system,with anemometer and dogvane which will collect and transfer wind information to PLC controller. but the 35 residents here are just about as separate as it's possible to be in the city,Waterproof laundryequipments Lighting is a perfect architectural LED light for homes. and they like it like that.

"We call it the 'Republic of Percy,' it's kind of a joke," says Kali Hewitt-Blackie, co-owner of The Percy Bed & Breakfast at No. 6. "When you walk down the street it's like you're living in another land. It's not like Toronto, it's like something in England or someplace."

What really sets Percy apart is its lack of access to regular city services. There are no gates, barriers, or glaring warning signs, but snow, leaf, and garbage management are all arranged privately and paid for out of the resident's pockets. Even sewer maintenance costs are part of the experience shared by other private community residents like the home owners of Wychwood Park near St. Clair and Bathurst.

"We nominate people to do things," explains Hewitt-Blackie. We have a guy that's in charge of the bank account ..Filipino soldiers install modernlamps through a roof in a shantytown in Manila.. we have a little street signage committee, a street lighting committee, and we have one dealing with the rest of the things to do with Streetcar [the new condo that backs onto Percy.]"

Luckily, with the arrival of new neighbours on King East residents were able to strike a deal with the developers to have the street surfaced in cobblestone (it was a potholed dirt track before) and have the crumbling lead water main replaced, reducing the chance of a costly crisis.The solarlanterneep Hummer Intelligent model 3KW with Siemens PLC controller adopting human-oriented touch screen. In fact, things have become much more comfortable for the enclave's inhabitants since the condo arrived.

"We used to shovel the street ourselves," recalls Hewitt-Blackie. "All the younger people would really help out ... there was an older lady beside us who never shoveled - everyone took turns and helped."

Now the condo dwellers pay for the street's private snow removal in perpetuity out of their annual fees. To protect the new cobblestone road surface and stay on the right side of regulations, city garbage collection workers walk down Percy Street and collect bags by hand.

"Typically, city vehicles are not allowed to go on to private property," confirms Andre Filippetti, a traffic planning manager with the City of Toronto.

The little road has always been private. It was laid out between 1885 and 1890 by property developer James Quinn to accommodate the predominantly Irish workers at the nearby Gooderham and Worts distillery. The two-up-two-down mansard roof homes, built in two phases with outdoor bathrooms, were listed as heritage structures with the City of Toronto in 2006.

Residents here talk excitedly about the street's historical connection to bootlegging during prohibition and the associated shady dealings. To illustrate, renovators working for Cindy Wilkey - a lawyer who used to live at No. 5 - found $50,000 in cash at her former home in 1988.

The bills - a mix of depression-era Bank of Canada tender and notes issued by commercial banks - had been squirreled away behind a false ceiling for more than 60 years.

"They started counting out the money into piles.A roofhook is a cost-effective way to install solar at your home. When they got to fifty thousand-dollar piles they just thought they had died and gone to heaven. So they spent the next hour playing with the the money: they rolled around in it, they threw it around, they rubbed it all over their bodies," laughs Wilkey.

It never became clear who was behind the booty or why they kept it secret so long. One possible culprit was the "notorious miser" who lived in the house with his family from the 1950s. Though his daughter testified she never knew about the cash, her father worked as a delivery driver at the Don Valley Brick Works and had the mean