Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 ::: City Hall: Variances

“It was a smart investment. The city should have jumped on this. Why do they criticize me now? They gave it to me after everybody else refused it. I bought it on the open market.”

-Fred Dominelli, Globe and Mail, July 5, 2003, on how he came to purchase land in the Front Street Extension right of way

Well, I’m tipped off, say, that they’re going to layout a new park at a certain place. I see my opportunity and I take it. I go to that place and I buy up all the land I can in the neighborhood. Then the board of this or that makes its plan public, and there is a rush to get my land, which nobody cared particular for before. Ain’t it perfectly honest to charge a good price and make a profit on my investment and foresight? of course, it is. Well, that’s honest graft.

-Senator Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, 1905, “Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft”

Despite our best efforts, on Tuesday, April 8, about two months after five Buildings Department officials investigating illegal billboards “stormed into” Fred Dominelli’s offices at 153 Dufferin Street (he kicked them out), Toronto and East York Community Council approved variances for the erection of a Gardiner Expressway billboard at 1A Atlantic, land allocated for the Front Street Extension which was purchased by Mr. Dominelli. The staff report strongly recommended against approval, noting the impact on nearby residences, historic areas, and traffic safety.

Today, the Globe’s John Barber comments on the issue:

Barber has written about Fred Dominelli many times in the past, even once juxtaposing his 1A Atlantic land purchase against Tammany Hall. We previously considered matters relating to this land in:

Neither Paul DeMelo nor Pam Coburn Could Get Fred Dominelli His Permits

Inspector Vito Furlano Botches Inspection of Former City Councillor’s Front Street Extension Billboards

Billboard Permit Fraud: 127 Strachan

He seen his opportunities, and he took ‘em.