Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 ::: North York

We received an urgent call from a certain sign service professional on Sunday. Turns out Jim Pattison can’t stop breaking provincial and municipal laws regulating signs along Toronto’s highways. There were already four illegal Highway 401 billboards on Beverly Hills Drive. CBS has been operating double-faced illegal signs at 51 and 55 Beverly Hills. Over the weekend, Pattison added a fifth and sixth illegal billboard to the street when it constructed this double-sided structure on the roof of the El Magnate Nightclub, the site of more than a few police raids (El Magnate translation: The Tycoon) . Here is Pattison’s Jimmy job:

The structure was built without any permits whatsoever. The two CBS signs nearby can be made out in the background of this photo:

Here is a better photo of the illegal CBS at 51 Beverly Hills:

And at 55 Beverly Hills:

The 51 and 55 Beverly Hills signs probably have first party permits. The first party permit issued to 51 Beverly Hills is questionable as it is located to close to #55 and the North York signs by-laws prohibit even first party roof signs from being erected so close. Notice the atypical structure of the 51 Beverly Hills sign indicates that it was originally a first party sign that was converted into third party use. A 1999 satellite image indicates that these two structures are over 9 years old; nevertheless, they cannot be used for third party copy. This 2006 satellite photograph shows the signs at 51 and 55 Beverly Hills and indicates that the construction at 31 Beverly Hills (building on the right) is new:

Meanwhile, on Highway 400, Jimbo has recently posted third party copy on the roof sign at 114 Norfinch that we wrote about in Illegal Along Highway 400: Norfinch Drive when it was blank, like the sign at 31 Beverly Hills:

Complaints have been filed with the City and the Ministry of Transportation.