Friday, April 3rd, 2009 ::: The 905

We’ve written about the Pizza Man before. Rick Taddeo runs Gino’s Pizza. A few years back he decided to enter the billboard industry and built 7 illegal billboards — 6 in Toronto and 1 in Mississauga, under the auspices of his company SuperSign Outdoor. All six signs in Toronto are still there; in fact, Pattison Outdoor has now agreed to represent the Pizza Man with media buyers.

On the other hand, the one sign the Pizza Man built in Mississauga has been covered up due to enforcement.  This is what the Pizza Man’s sign at 1801 North Sheridan Way used to look like:

This Order to Comply was issued against the sign in July 2007, and charges were laid. Mississauga has succeeded in getting the sign copy removed from the sign pending the ultimate removal of the structure. This is what the sign looked like yesterday:

Meanwhile, there are two other illegal billboards on this stretch of Mississauga’s QEW. CBS Outdoor has backed up this 14′x48′ structure with two 10′x20′ posterboards about 400 metres west of the Pizza Man’s sign, at Erin Mills Parkway at the QEW, such that the posterboards face the QEW in violation of both the permit issued to the 14′x48′ and the MTO highway signage regulations.

Also, there is this second-party 10′x20′ sign on a car leasing shop on the south side of the QEW, advertising Hyundai. That sign has a permit for a 190-square-foot business identification face but in fact has a 200-square-foot sign face and was developed by a man we know well. His name is Elio Monaco.