The first one of over $2000 that I blogged about was absolutely warranted as a moron was caught doing 240km/h in a 70 zone. This one, well maybe not so much. I'm not one for decorating ny car either inside or out, but to each their own. They don't quite see it that way in Montreal.
By Sidhartha Banerjee of The Canadian Press
A Montreal cabbie's elaborate dashboard decor has cost him $1,300.
Arieh Perecowicz had mounted a constitutional challenge in municipal court, saying his freedom of expression was being infringed by the city's taxi bureau, which fined him four times for clutter in his cab.
The 66-year-old had claimed the items — personal and religious knick-knacks and photos — were all integral to his day-to-day job.
But a bylaw stipulates that items not necessary to operating a taxi shouldn't be on view.
A municipal court judge ruled Thursday the bylaw was in order and that Perecowicz's rights weren't infringed.
The veteran cabbie is on the hook for fines and court costs and has another four violations that haven't yet gone before the courts.
The 44-year veteran was defiant after the ruling.
Some of the items near and dear to him remained in place: two mezuzahs (parchment in a case) affixed to his car doors, a picture of his kids, and a picture of his rabbi with a Jewish prayer scrawled in Hebrew on the back.
"What I left in the car, I can't take off," he said.
While he has a year to pay the fines, Perecowicz said he intends to appeal and is ready to go to the Supreme Court of Canada if he can find someone to take up his cause.
Perecowicz now works in a predominantly Jewish area in Cote St-Luc, a separate city on the island of Montreal. He has worked all over Montreal during his career and claims he has never received a single customer complaint about the various ornaments and trinkets.
"I compare myself to a doctor, a lawyer, a dentist, an accountant, where people go to their office and their office is a public sphere ... the only difference is I'm on four wheels and he is not," Perecowicz said.
"They are allowed to keep a mezuzah on their door, photos of their families, knick-knacks, jokes and statues all over the place and it has nothing to do with whatever they're doing or the service they're providing to you."
Perecowicz said there are 20,000 cab drivers of different faiths and backgrounds in Montreal and, according to his own research, no one has ever been fined under the seldom-used bylaw.
Defending himself, Perecowicz had argued he was the victim of a vendetta of the taxi bureau for complaining about drivers who operate without permits.
Judge Dominique Joly wrote that Perecowicz didn't prove that.
The taxi bureau argued that its inspectors were only doing their job.