The man was a crook and the restaurant was terrible, but he was very successful at not paying taxes. After years in dispute, I was there to cheer the tug to tow that dump away. Then the city erected a monument to commemorate him!

https://www.blogto.com/city/2013/10/city_of_toronto_tells_ca...

Q: Is there any kind of open market in moorings?

If a normal restaurant gets threatened with a big rent hike, they can close at one location and open up somewhere else.

Does that approach work if you're effectively renting your location from the Port Authority?

The prices are set by the Toronto Port Authority.

From what I remember, there was a a group of investors that wanted to purchase the boat, modernize it, make it into a really swanky, multi-purpose, venue, on the water. But by that point the Port Authority and owner had been fighting for so long that mediation/intervention wasn't possible.

It could be argued the Port Authority was charging him too much, perhaps just to get him to go. And that the owner was getting old, the best days of his restaurant were 30 years ago.

Of course it does. There are many, many cities by the water.

Oh, his boat couldn't be moved? Is that somehow an imposition on him by the city, or simply lack of forethought?

This guy put his own back against a wall.

> There are many, many cities by the water

I had kind of assumed that if you have to move, one would typically aim to move within one city - if you are trying to keep your customers, that is...