Originally Posted by http://spacingmontreal.ca/2008/04/25/student-fined-628-for-sitting-in-a-park/

Watch out, Montrealers: if you sit anywhere in a park other than on a park bench, you could be risking a $628 fine. At least, that’s what it seems after Brendan Colin Jones, a 25-year-old Concordia student, was fined for sitting on a marble ledge in Émilie Gamelin Park (also known as Berri Square). Jones’ official citation is for “using urban equipment for uses other than those intended,” which seems particularly absurd considering that the park’s ledges are designed to be sat on, and there are almost always dozens of people making use of them.
So why weren’t any of the other people who were soaking up the spring sun slapped with a $628? According to the Gazette, Jones appears to have been targeted because, while he was sitting in the park, he snapped some photos of several police officers confronting a group of people who had been drinking alcohol. When the officers noticed that he had been taking photos, they asked him for his camera. When he refused, they told him that it was not allowed to sit on the park ledge. Jones didn’t move, so the police officers demanded to see his identification and then issued the ticket.
This is alarming because it seems to suggest that police officers can use their powers to arbitarily punish anyone they don’t like. I think most Montrealers would agree that Jones was doing nothing wrong: the very design of Berri Square encourages people to sit on the ledges. “A successful public space develops conviviality, use, social interaction, and obviously sitting around is basic,” architect Gavin Affleck told the Gazette. “Trying to eliminate that from a public space is completely opposite to its whole intention.”
So far, the only comment from Ville-Marie borough has been to say that, as long as people sit in the park “in respect of the bylaw,” there should be no problems. But if the by-laws are so vague as to allow police to fine people for sitting on something designed to be sat on, what then?

Originally Posted by knoxbox

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