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Toilet saga continues in Potsdam as Agway owner protests with electronic sign

Posted 11/24/16

  POTSDAM – Another chapter in the saga of toilet “gardens” as political protest is being written in porcelain on Maple Street. Agway owner Daryl Kolanko isn't happy to look out his office …

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Toilet saga continues in Potsdam as Agway owner protests with electronic sign

Posted

 

POTSDAM – Another chapter in the saga of toilet “gardens” as political protest is being written in porcelain on Maple Street.

Agway owner Daryl Kolanko isn't happy to look out his office window at a string of toilets, many broken and in disarray along the south side of his store.

“We Don't See Art. We See Tipped Over Toilets,” reads the electronic sign on his building.

Village officials are hoping to convince businessman Frederick “Hank” Robar to at least straighten up the display, but legal action to force removal of the long-running toilet displays is unlikely.

The latest “toilet garden” viewable by thousands of motorists daily are believed to have been moved from a Pierrepont Avenue lot Robar sold recently.

That was the site of one of Robar's public protests over a decision by village officials years ago to deny him a zoning change on property at Market and Pleasant streets. He wanted to sell the land for a Dunkin' Donuts store which eventually opened in another location.

“We are aware of the situation” next to Agway, said Code Enforcement Officer Gregory Thompson of the latest toilet display, noting “those toilets are broken and overturned.”[img_assist|nid=185816|title=|desc=A couple of toilets, some of the many that are overturned in a row next to Agway. |link=none|align=left|width=250|height=380]

Kolanko says he is not upset at the toilet protest next to his store, but at the contrast between the well cared-for displays on Market Street and Pierrepont Avenue and the unkempt row of toilets he sees. Some are broken, many are not upright, some with soil and flowers spilling out, and all without the artistic touch Robar had maintained until now.

The message on the sign over Kolanko’s Agway is his way of “making my little comment. I'm not here to start a fight,” he said.

“In the other places they are upright, dressed up. Maybe if he can stand them up,” Kolanko said. “They're tipped over. If he wants them to look like art, he should stand them up, tidy them up and make them presentable.”

“If a little edging helps clean it up, fine, but I don't expect much,” said Kolanko.

“It would be helpful if he gets the situation with the toilets corrected,” said Thompson. Village officials are trying to contact Robar to try to resolve the situation, he said.

Village officials say forcing removal of the displays would not be as simple as invoking a provision in the village code to cover the situation, because there doesn’t seem to be one.

And a consensus seems to have developed that attempts to sue Robar could be too expensive and risky for the village because a victory would not be guaranteed.

Shortly after a second zoning change denial in 2005 that would have allowed Dunkin’ Donuts at Pleasant and Market streets, Robar placed many toilets on the property and stuffed them with plastic flowers. As time went on he painted a small barn on the property in a rainbow of colors, and planted a couple of rows of corn there.

That marked the beginning of Robar’s visual protests over what he considered an unfair ruling. Since then, he has taken delight in the attention he has been getting, while angering many in the village who want something done to squelch what they view as a visual offense.

In 2011, he planted another porcelain protest on property he owned along Maple Street.

When Robar sold the land at 28 Pierrepont Ave. in October, the new owner, Ron Page, removed the toilets. Shortly thereafter, a haphazard row of toilets appeared at Maple Street and Pine Street, where Kolanko looks out his window and sees a mess.