Assholes and Incompetence

You know, it’s shit like this, and land owners like Ashok Sood (who FYI, owns Champion Products Corp) who don’t give a rat’s ass about Windsor or our history, who make this City and undesirable place to live. Assholes and incompetence is the reason there is a giant hole in the historic heart of Walker Road in old Walkerville.

The historic Seagrave Building on Walker Road (which was featured here and here), was built around 1905, and in this building the first motorized fire trucks in Canada were built.

The city fucked up once again. This building was listed on the Heritage Inventory, and as such it should by law be afforded a 60 day waiting period before a demolition permit is issued. Guess what? It wasn’t. Some moron at City Hall issued the permit without batting an eye.

The same thing happened in November 2006 with the Walker Farm Manager’s house.

Following the Walker Farm House fiasco, I raised a stink and I received this reply:

Please note that the Ontario Heritage Act has been amended so that
properties that are considered for heritage designation must give Council
60 days notice of the intention to designate. After intention is given,
Council must make a decision whether to designate the building or allow
demolition.
Here is the relevant portion of the Ontario Heritage Act – See Section
27(3) – for the 60 day delay part.
Restriction on demolition, etc. If property included in the register under subsection (1.2) has not been
designated under section 29, the owner of the property shall not demolish
or remove a building or structure on the property or permit the demolition
or removal of the building or structure unless the owner gives the council
of the municipality at least 60 days notice in writing of the owner’s
intention to demolish or remove the building or structure or to permit the
demolition or removal of the building or structure. 2006, c. 11, Sched. B,
s. 11 (2).

*We have unfortunately issued a demolition permit without following this
procedure. In the future, please ensure that if a building is considered
for heritage designation, that (the heritage planner) be notified and, under no
circumstances, issue the permit unless Council approves the demolition.
…*

Good to see that the city can’t even follow it’s own policies.

I have honestly had it up to here with the City and their piss poor job of doing anything.

The Mayor of Monmouth summed it up better than I ever could in his excellent post here.

No advance warning at all. It was obviously done on the hush. There is one exception to this. Rick Gruber who is the area Building Inspector rushed out today to halt the demolition because even though there was a permit to raise the building, there was no permit to close Walker Road. In fact, the sidewalk is the only thing which separates the building from Walker Road. Witnesses said that a man riding a bike almost got clocked by falling bricks. Four thirty rolled around. Quittin time for city employees and Jones fired up the beast and started tearing the old girl down. Right in the middle of rush hour. One reason…They rented the rig from Amicone for a tight time window and the clock was ticking. Within two hours the building was really history. Ashok Sood who owns that property along with most of the 8 and 900 blocks of Walker Road stood on the opposite side of Walker to witness his planned demolition. He is planning to attract a “Big Box” operation on the East Side of Walker.

– Mayor of Monmouth

You know what? Fuck you, and fuck your big box. Enjoy your vacant lot, and rest assured that I will fight any attempt by you to redevelop your holdings for big box use.

Special thanks for the photo above to Chris Edwards, who went back after me and caught the demise on camera.

His series of photos can be found here: http://walkerville.com/seagraves/

This is unacceptable, and fucking pathetic. Whoever issued this permit in contravention of the Ontario Heritage Act should lose their fucking job.

I’ll keep everyone posted if I learn anything.