A Constituent Files A Complaint Against Illegal CBS Video Screen
Unfortunately, my new mega large flat screen TV did not come with an equally giant sized remote control.
-A local resident
A local resident filed a complaint about CBS’s illegal expressway video screen at 21 Bathurst. We tracked the construction of the sign here.
The complaint is good enough to report in its entirety, below. Even Olivia Chow chimes in.
City legal staff are “now in discussions with the legal representatives of the property owner” according to the latest update.
The resident is in Councillor Pantalone’s Ward 19, but the sign is right across the border in Councillor Vaughan’s Ward 20 so Vaughan’s office is handling the file. Vaughan’s office is reporting that the City issued a removal order 3 weeks ago, which would mean that CBS had been in violation of that order for the past week:
The sign was not turned off and remains on to this day, despite concern from Councillor Vaughan and Deputy Mayor Pantalone. It is an outrage that Municipal Licensing and Standards has not yet acted against this dangerous sign.
We call for the immediate disruption of the sign’s power supply, followed by the removal of the illegal screen by contracted staff, the laying of charges against the property owner and CBS, and the investigation of all traffic accidents that have occurred along any portion of the expressway exposed to this sign since March 7, 2007 and the appropriate apportioning of liability for those accidents.
What we have here is an advertising company, CBS Outdoor, that couldn’t give a flying fuck about the community in which it operates or the laws in place to protect the safety of our roads. So why is the City doing business with them?
April 21st, 2007 at 8:20 am
A well written letter and it is great that some politicians actually made a bit of an effort.
It is a shame though that the City writes to say that the screen has been turned off, then asks if the homeowner can verify this (they can’t?) and then ask if the City can come and view this sign from the resident’s vantage point at night when :
1. It is illegal, what does it matter what it looks like?
2. They just said that it had been turned off, what did they expect to see?
It is scary when the officials behave like this!
Hopefully this attention will help.
I think you midunderstand a bit. Ange is doing a great job. She just heard anecdotally that the screen was off and I think having inspectors visit the condo after dark is a great idea, if only to get them to realize this is a priority situation. There are, after all, three additional illegal video screens in the City. In any case, it looks like this guy has the City’s attention with his letter. -Rami
April 21st, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Just a thought .. Toronto Hydro, a city agency, supplies power to this sign. Could the city ask them to disconnect it?
Of course, they could have done that already. -Rami