‘It’s the only place I can talk to my son’: Family reeling after building orders memorial honouring slain son be removed
The place where Francesca Rapino feels most whole is also the place where she has felt most empty.
It's a brick wall enclosing an underground garage in east Hamilton, right outside the multistorey building at 2520 Barton St. E. where Rapino has lived since around 2003. Draped in flowers, photos and letters - and a plastic slip to stave off wind and snow - the wall is a colourful ode to her son, Mario Rodgers, who was intentionally run over by a car and killed just next to it on Dec. 13, 2021.
I didn't see what happened to him, so to me, it's like he's still there," said Rapino.
Rapino makes the trip to the memorial nearly every day, as do her youngest children. They stand there often in the cold, staring and talking to the wall as if it were Mario, the bubbly 22-year-old who had a penchant for cars and basketball. Rapino said the night it was erected, more than 150 people came to pay their respects, leaving flowers and candles and photos.
Everyone loved him, everyone knew him around here," she said. It's not about a closure thing for me. It's about being closer to my son."
But that closeness is now in jeopardy.
Golden Equity, a Montreal-based property management company that owns 2520 Barton, has ordered the memorial be taken down this week.
It is private property and really not any place for a memorial," said spokesperson Ian Copnick. It also happens to be blocking a parking space, and the person who normally parks there has been forced to park in visitor parking."
Another concern for the company is the memorial attracting unauthorized persons" to the property, Copnick added.
Copnick said the company held off on requesting the memorial be removed for more than a month to give the family time to mourn.
Quite a bit of patience was exercised," he said, noting a formal request was made on Jan. 18. It's now Feb. 2 and nothing's happened. There's only so much patience the building can have. People are constantly coming and putting new flowers, and we just can't have that in front of the building."
Tammara Baylis, a close family friend and the godmother to one of Rapino's children, said she was given the go-ahead by building management in mid-December to erect the memorial.
Two or three weeks later, though, their stance changed.
They said, You know, people come here and they ask what happened and we've got to explain to them,'" Baylis recalled. Like, I understand you have to explain it to them, but right now, that's Franca's only place to sit and talk to her son and grieve. She and her kids sit there for hours and hours every night."
Baylis said she had not heard about the memorial blocking a parking space or attracting unauthorized people to the building.
The memorial has in fact become a hub over the past two months - a place where Mario's friends meet and family members mourn. On his birthday, just two weeks after he died, dozens met in the building's lot to celebrate his life. More recently, a petition to save the memorial garnered hundreds of signatures.
We had a party and let balloons ago," recalled Rapino of the Dec. 28 birthday event. It's amazing how many people showed. I didn't know he knew so many people."
Rapino said she can't bear the thought of removing the memorial. While the initial shock of Mario's death has dissipated - and a 24-year-old man has since been charged with second-degree murder in connection with it - she said the pain persists.
It's the only place I can talk to my son," she said. The (property managers) should give me a little respect. I want that parking spot. If I have to pay for it, I'll pay for it."
Sebastian Bron is a reporter at The Spectator. sbron@thespec.com