There was much ado about a little lending library in Toronto this week after the city ordered a retired history teacher to remove it from his front lawn or face a fine and then retracted the demand a day later.

George Sherwood, 73, received the little library as a Christmas gift last year and has been besotted with it ever since.

The small, mint-green coloured box has a little glass window pane and was personalized by his daughters with “George’s Library” painted across the top in gold lettering.

“I love it,” Sherwood told CTV Toronto. “It represents my love of literature and the enjoyment of passing on literacy to others.”

Sherwood thought his library was a way to connect with the community and was shocked when the City of Toronto notice showed up in his mailbox Wednesday telling him he had to dismantle the library within two weeks or warning him he would face a fine of almost $100.

According to local councillor, Christin Carmichael Greb, someone made a complaint which prompted city officials to send a bylaw officer to investigate.

City bylaw states homeowners are not permitted to erect structures closer than 3.5 metres from a city sidewalk.

While Sherwood claims to have phoned his gas and hydro providers to ensure he wasn’t impeding on any lines, he admits he didn’t call and ask the city for permission, nor did he think he needed it.

But Sherwood’s wife, Ellie, told CTV Toronto she can’t understand why someone had singled them out when there are many of these little libraries dotted around the city.

“Most of them are as close, if not closer to the sidewalk than ours,” she said.” I don’t see them being told they have to come down.”

Sherwood’s daughter, Jennifer, was also outraged that the City of Toronto, was trying to take down her father’s Christmas gift.

“Are you kidding me, Toronto?” she wrote in the Facebook post. “Is this how you’re spending my tax dollars, by harassing senior citizens who are trying to spread a little literary love around the neighbourhood?”

Many of Sherwood’s neighbours defended the library.

“I think the sharing of books is a wonderful initiative and we should make it possible, you know, not difficult,” said one neighbour.

“I think it’s a grand gesture that they’ve made,” another said. “The city should leave them alone.”

Mayor John Tory also threw his support behind Sherwood's lending library, tweeting: “I love Toronto's little libraries. We should be encouraging them, not ticketing them. I've sent that message to City staff. The ticket issued to the little library owner at Yonge & Eglinton has been ripped up.”

 

 

On Thursday, Carmichael Greb told CTV Toronto and Sherwood that the city had decided to withdraw the notice and the fine.

“I don’t know who made the complaint,” Carmichael Greb said. “But I don’t see any issues with it. It’s not a huge structure, it’s a temporary structure.”

She added that she also plans on introducing a motion at city council next week, asking that lending libraries be exempted from that bylaw.

In the meantime, Sherwood told CTV Toronto he is just happy he can continue spreading literacy.

With files from CTV Toronto’s Janice Golding and Rachael D’Amore