A grim Mayor David Miller warned "a small group of people who are using Toronto as their personal dumping ground" to stop immediately or face prosecution and possibly thousands of dollars in fines.

On Day Two of the strike by 30,000 city workers, Miller took the microphone at an afternoon city briefing to concentrate on one issue: illegal dumping.

"I want to put these people on notice that we will not tolerate this type of activity," he said, flanked by equally grim city officials.

"Torontonians are immensely proud of our city. For those few who don't get the message: Illegal dumping will not be tolerated."

Earlier, cameras across the city captured a man unloading trash from his van at the downtown Cherry St. transfer station.

Bags, boxes and broken furniture has been piling up outside the Bermondsey transfer station at Eglinton Ave. E. and Victoria Park Ave. in mounds a metre and a half high and the width of the roadway.

And bags of garbage has been piling up on and around sealed litter bins.

Miller enlisted Torontonians who spot illegal dumping to report the culprits, with locations, amounts and licence numbers, to the city at 416-380-0338.

The fine is $380 but bylaw officers will prosecute dumpers and a first time offence could cost homeowners up to $10,000 and businesses up to $50,000. Miller promised frustrated homeowners 19 new garbage drop-off sites by the end of the week if the strike, which started at 12:01 a.m. Monday, drags on.

"The vast majority of Torontonians respect their city," he said. "They've shown tremendous goodwill by taking their litter home. I ask Torontonians to be a little bit patient. If at all possible, wait a little while longer" before taking garbage to transfer stations.

Miller said his family is stowing their garbage in the garage in High Park so far.

He admitted the promised "protocol" to manage delays imposed by picket lines at the transfer stations still hasn't been negotiated, but he warned that people who unload their trash at the gates are risking the same stiff fines.

"Today is the first day of regularly scheduled collection," Geoff Rathbone, manager of city waste collection, reminded residents. "There should not be an immediate need."

This morning, a couple from downtown Toronto pulled up at Bermondsey in their SUV with 15 black bags stuffed with garbage inside.

"We are homeowners and have five apartments," said the woman who refused to give her name. "The only way out is privatization but I don't see that happening while Miller is around."

Vigilant residents around Christie Pits sent out an alarm this morning over mounds of rubbish there but it was gone in a few hours, picked up by managers.

Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone said it had been left by a church group using the park on the weekend. They will be billed.

"Christie Pits, nor any park, will not be used as a garbage dump," Pantalone said via email.

Miller deflected a question about his once warm relations with unions in light of the strike by two locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

"This labour dispute isn't about me. The issue of affordability is a very serious one. The world has changed since last year. What's more important is that the city as a government keep people employed and provide the services Torontonians need."

The city and the unions are still negotiating, he said.

"Strikes are extremely difficult things. They're wrong for everybody. They're wrong for the workers who should be at work. They're wrong for the parents."

The strike has emptied the 57 city-run daycare centres for 2,800 children as well as park programs and city playing fields. Summer day camps scheduled to open next week are in jeopardy.

Children also lost a prime tourist attraction today because of the strike. The amusement park called Centreville, on the Toronto Islands, announced it has pulled the plug on the rides and attractions for the duration of the strike, forcing 400 seasonal employees off the job.

The park, just getting into its peak season, is stung by the shutdown of city ferries and other services.

Miller's plea for patience in what he called a "hot week" to come came just a few hours after a city worker picketing outside city hall was hurt when a driver nudged him with his car, Toronto police said.

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The driver had been harassing pickets after he was held up trying to get into the underground parking garage. The driver "tried to push the man out of the way with his vehicle," said Const. Tony Vella.

At the Bermondsey station this morning, picketer Ed Barber was angry.

"The union doesn't have any concrete leadership or organization," said Barber, who works for the Toronto water department.

"This is stupid. We should be at work. There's a recession. Why don't people understand that."

One of the main issues is whether workers can bank sick days.

Workers are entitled to 18 sick days a year. At retirement, they can cash in a maximum of 120 days, or six months' pay.

One auditor's report says Toronto would have to pay out $249 million, if all the workers cashed in.

A lingering strike would devastate many of the 8,100 independent and chain restaurants, bars and caterers in the city, Stephanie Jones, Ontario vice-president of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said today.

Small restaurants and cafes are already hammered by the second-lowest profit margins in the country — at 2.5 per cent — because of labour costs, food costs and the fallout from 9/11, she said. Having to spent more time and money on private collection could send them under.

While most restaurants in the city already have private collection, because the city can't pick up often enough, the little independents, particularly in neighbourhoods where they're bookended by greengrocers, retainers and convenience stores, will have to work out their own system.

Jones fears a escalation in Toronto of the ugly scenes played out between restaurants and other small businesses in back alleys in Windsor, where a strike has stopped garbage collection for nine weeks.

Meanwhile, entrepreneurs with offers to pick up the slack of closed summer camps are joining daycare offers on Craigslist. About a half-dozen posted today proposed alternates to the city camps scheduled to start next week.

With files from Raveena Aulakh, John Spears, Vanessa Lu, Noor Javed, Nick Aveling and Rob Ferguson