A few news items in the Star about the demolition today.
Rubble blocks business, owner claims
By Dalson Chen
Windsor StarSaturday, April 12, 2008
The operator of a business on the same property as the recently demolished Seagrave Building says the massive piles of rubble and debris are costing him thousands of dollars in lost work – and he intends to talk to a lawyer about it.
“I am losing a ton of money here,” said a frustrated Manny Pereira, who runs Lakeside Industrial Supply. “I’m losing three thousand dollars a day here. Who’s going to pay for it?”
Pereira’s company rents, sells and services equipment such as forklifts. It operates out of a leased garage-style building at 933 Walker Rd.
But Pereira said he hasn’t been able to access his business since Tuesday, when workers began tearing down the Seagrave Building – a former fire engine factory that dates back to the 1900’s.
The demolition operation left Pereira’s business surrounded by mountains of crumbled bricks, twisted metal, broken glass, dirt and dust.
“Monday morning, the first thing I’m going to do as a business owner is seek legal advice,” Pereira said.
According to Pereira, no one gave him any prior notice of the demolition. He said he travelled to Calgary on business earlier in the week, and returned to discover the operation already in full swing.
Pereira said he was unable to approach the building on Wednesday and Thursday. Once the dust had settled on Friday, he crossed the site to get to his business, only to be confronted by a man in an orange vest who told him the area was sealed off.
Pereira said he then contacted the construction company, Jones Construction, who informed him the man was with the Ontario government. “They said, ‘Listen, it’s out of our hands. We got booted out ourselves. The ministry has shut the whole place down.'”
Pereira said it’s not clear to him which ministry the construction company meant, and he’s received no information about what’s going to happen next with the site.
Local history buffs have decried the demolition, saying that the Seagrave Building was a part of the city’s heritage. Meanwhile, the property owner has described the building as an eyesore that attracted vandalism.
But Pereira said his only concern at this point is that he be allowed to do business – or receive compensation for being prevented from doing so. “If they want to fight over this for the next 30 years, I don’t care,” he said.
© Windsor 2008
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/story.html?id=70210040-9062-4593-827a-93500d624c0c&k=20259
Good to see the minisrty has intervened in this unsafe hazardous situation. Maybe these scumbag will realize that even though they legally were issued an illegal permit, there’s still repercussions to rushing into the job….
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Also Gord Henderson chimes in today:
Trashing the past
Gord Henderson
Windsor StarSaturday, April 12, 2008
If it’s gold, treat it like trash. If it’s trash, treat it like gold. That appears to be the guiding principle of Windsor mandarins who let bonafide heritage buildings be demolished overnight while irredeemable eyesores linger for years.
The tragedy of the Seagrave Building on Walker Road, knocked down this week because someone in the building department “dropped the ball” in issuing a demolition permit, is that it hadn’t become the kind of building Windsor seems most adept at preserving, like an abandoned, charred motorcycle gang clubhouse with fuzzy ownership, taxes owing and neighbours howling for action.
An inquiry is underway and evidence is being collected to determine who screwed up in handing out a permit to demolish the former fire engine factory which was on a heritage inventory list and should have been red-flagged, given that it was headed for designation as one of Windsor’s historical treasures.
This calls for more than an inquiry. It calls for a reign of terror to root out the guilty. A powerful message must be sent, with one or more guillotined heads bouncing down the city hall steps, that this kind of behaviour, accidental or otherwise, won’t be tolerated.
How do you fix it when a hundred or more years of Windsor history is reduced to a pile of shattered bricks in hours? You can’t. An important piece of our past is gone forever and that’s why “oops, klutzy me, sorry about that” won’t cut it.
What is it about Windsor and its heritage? This city remains in a league by itself when it comes to expunging the past. We knocked down the historic, funky Norwich Block and slapped up an underutilized parking garage and downsized glass office tower. We let the Flatiron building, an architectural treasure, become a distillery parking lot. We celebrated the implosion of St. Mary’s Academy. We welcomed demolition of the priceless Carnegie library. The list of atrocities goes on and on.
‘SAD, DISHEARTENING’
“It’s sad, it’s unfortunate and it’s disheartening,” said Ward 3 Coun. Fulvio Valentinis of the Seagrave demolition. He said it’s especially painful because the two-storey building had significant potential for loft development and other uses.
The irony, he agreed, is that it takes years of red tape and legal battles to get buildings of no value removed from neighbourhoods, thanks to restrictive building codes, and yet a historical gem can be hauled down before the signature dries on a permit. It took years of complaining before a burned-out and boarded-up house on Tuscarora Street was torn down. And it’s just one of many offences to the eye. Valentinis said he and ward-mate Al Halberstadt field continual beefs from neighbours about two abandoned houses on Chatham Street East.
Ward 2 councillors Ron Jones and Caroline Postma have experienced similar frustration with abandoned homes. Jones said a former biker clubhouse on Wilkinson Lane, rat-infested, fire-damaged and seized by the feds, remains “tied up in legalities” and has defied repeated efforts to have it demolished.
Mayor Eddie Francis told me this week that he’s asked the city’s legal department to craft a bylaw that would let the city declare war on eyesores. “Don’t tell me I can’t do it. Tell me how I can do it. We need to have something that can’t be challenged in court,” said Francis of the city’s current legal impotence.
He envies mayors of U.S. cities, especially Atlanta, Ga., and Toledo, Ohio, who have powerful legal tools at their disposal and maintain “Dirty Dozen” lists of abandoned buildings. Structures on that hall of shame list receive intense inter-departmental pressure until they’re torn down or rehabilitated. In Toledo landlords have been set to jail for defying demolition orders.
Francis conceded a “Dirty Dozen” file in Windsor would probably run afoul of our privacy laws. But he wants to map out where the worst offenders are located and develop a game plan to go after them.
Meanwhile, he hopes to use moral persuasion to convince owners of high-profile abandoned retail outlets, including the former Shell station at Dougall and West Grand, the closed Tim Hortons at Giles and Ouellette and the empty 7-11 at Tecumseh and Central, to fix up their properties.
“I’m sure they’ll be co-operative when we call them. I know they’ll help us,” said Francis. I hope that optimism is justified because padlocked buildings on key street corners, cordoned off by huge concrete blocks, deliver a hugely negative statement about this city.
Speaking of blocks, off with the blockheads of those who let a piece of Windsor’s proud heritage become a heap of rubble.
ghenderson@thestar.canwest.com
© The Windsor Star 2008
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=0da7ed98-9e14-4f41-b00b-efd0ef1deec2
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Excellent! Maybe, with enough of us keeping this in the public eye, heads will start rolling down the halls of power that operate this city. I heard news from a reliable source that the person who signed the demo permit was rushed in for an emergency meeting with the mayor. Pressure - GOOD!
I feel for the gent who's business is being affected by all this, but he is also collateral damage by this numbskull move by the city. If he didn't receive notice of the pending demo - no-one did..
We're getting Greg Heil, chair of Windsor's Heritage Committee in as a guest on the new ScaleDown Radio show this Tuesday (SDR runs every Tuesday from noon 'till 1:00 at CJAM 91.5 FM) Hopefully we will have the whole phone-in issue resolved so people can call in to ask Greg questions. The scaledown.ca site is STILL down due to server issues, so we can't do any work over there as of et.
Let's keep the heat on, folks!
I contacted Gord Henderson about this late early Thursday morning and gave him a brief detail as to what happened. I also forwarded this site to him so that he could get a view as to what happened along with the pictures taken.
I am very glad he has written about this in his column! Way to go Gord! The more we can keep these types of shenanigans in the spot light the better for the entire community.
I feel bad for been the owner whose busines has been affected. I did get a return call from the MOL thanking me for my calll on Friday as there were multiple violations on the site.
Good job, VP. At least someone got somewhere. Too bad the city was too cowardly to take action. I noticed it looks like some porfessional fencing is going up around the site.
I contacted 311, and got blown off... I always enjoy seeing my tax tollars at waste:
andrew i called 311 first thing in the morning after the vigil and was kinda told the same thing. call the building department. i did request that they send a building inspector out immediately as there were numerous health and safety violations that were occuring on the site, not to mention the entire issue surrounding the process of demolition. i also asked that i be called back with the status of the situation. still waiting for a response.
pc - Don't wait too long or you'll spend the rest of your life by the phone.
As it is, it took 24 hrs to get my response by email.
I didn't realize that it was 311's job to tell us to call someone else. Wasn't King Eddie's pitch that 311 would be a one call stop?
Oh Andrew, don't tell me that you drank the Kool-Aid too!?!?!
Even though I am way out here in PEI I'm with you guys (and gals!) in spirit. Keep up the good work on this battle. This is the most media coverage I have seen on Windsor's built environment since they filled The Hole on Riverside Drive.
Typical response from the city administrators. If you the council can't get reports in a timely fashion what make us think us lowly peons will get a faster response?
That is how city hall works today. Ignore people until they go away. Well I don't think any of us are going away anytime soon.
Great job VP and Andrew let's keep the pressure on!
How does Mayor butthead define an eyesore? Was the old Seagrave building on Walker an eyesore that deserved to be demolished? How about The Norwich Block or 800 Ouellette? Even the most dilapidated building has some value as scrap material for new buildings. Ever hear of recycling old buildings Mayor Francis? Buildings that would be torn down in Windsor without a second thought are often rehabilitated for new uses in London, Toronto or Guelph.
Link
Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. 0.18
The Ontario Heritage Act came into force in 1975. Its purpose is to give municipalities and the provincial government powers to preserve the heritage of Ontario. The primary focus of the Act is the protection of heritage buildings and archaeological sites. The legislation also mandates the Ontario Heritage Trust, a Crown agency, and the Conservation Review Board, a tribunal that hears objections to municipal and provincial decisions under the Act.
In 2005, the Government of Ontario passed comprehensive amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act to strengthen and improve heritage protection in Ontario.
The Ministry of Culture had previously made changes to the Ontario Heritage Act as part of the Government Efficiency Act, which came into force on November 26, 2002. These amendments were made to clarify, update and streamline provisions in the Act related to archaeology and built heritage protection . Please note that some of these changes were modified by the 2005 amendments noted above.
A copy of the Act may be purchased from:
Publications Ontario
50 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1N8
Tel: (416) 326-5300
Ontario Heritage Act Amendments
For the first time since the Ontario Heritage Act was introduced in 1975, the government has made comprehensive amendments to bring Ontario’s heritage legislation in line with leading jurisdictions in Canada and around the world.
The amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act:
* Give the province and municipalities new powers not only to delay but to stop demolition of heritage sites. Enhanced demolition controls would be balanced with an appeals process to respect the rights of property owners.
* Further expand the province’s ability to identify and designate sites of provincial heritage significance.
* Provide clear standards and guidelines for the preservation of provincial heritage properties.
* Enhance protection of heritage conservation districts, marine heritage sites and archaeological resources.
If you have questions or comments about changes to the Ontario Heritage Act, please call or write:
Dan Schneider, Senior Policy Advisor
Heritage and Libraries Branch
(416) 314-7165
E-mail: dan.schneider@ontario.ca