Sunday, May 25th, 2008 ::: Billboard Permit Fraud

Today we take a look at Pattison Outdoor’s illegal fascia sign at 102 Peter Street.

A Notice of Violation was issued against this property on August 3, 2007, pursuant to our complaint. For the past four months, Pattison has not operated the vinyl on this sign but has maintained the framework. This is what it looks like today:

102 Peter Street wasn’t always a Pattison property. It used to be a Skye Media location. Skye Media was Danny Starnino’s operation that Larry Vann of Vann Media financed. Larry was Skye’s money man, and Steve Wolowich (now at CBS) was the leasing guy. We wrote about Steve in Permit Revoked: 717 Church Street, the ARIDO Billboard, where we implicated him in submitting false information to obtain a fascia sign permit on Church Street. Skye Media was sold to Titan Outdoor, and Skye signs now represent a huge chunk of Titan’s illegal inventory.

The northerly wall of 102 Peter Street does not qualify for a third-party fascia sign permit because it is within 60 metres of these CBS Outdoor 3rd-party roof signs at 128 Peter Street:

The Pattison sign and the CBS signs are 58 metres apart according to a generous measurement on the satellite map:

In November 2000, Steve Wolowich applied for and obtained a permit to build a small 6′x12′ third-party sign on the northerly elevation of 102 Peter Street, between the windows - Permit 00-356457. Wolowich submitted false information in the permit application, in this document, where he attested that the sign was not located within 60 metres of a third-party roof sign:

Of course 58 metres is almost 60 metres, so this is not the worst case of submitting false information. We would conclude that it’s an honest mistake, but we all know Mr. Wolowich’s record.

Wolowich’s permit was revoked and Syke never operated that small sign on this lot. Because the permit was revoked, Pattison can no longer rely upon it.