Raise the Hammer

Who violated the confidentiality of the Municipal Heritage Committee?

"Development firm Wilson and Blanchard applied for a demolition permit in December... on the same day Councillor Brian McHattie says the municipal heritage committee asked that the buildings be placed on their registry.

“It would seem he (developer David Blanchard) was aware of this,” McHattie said Sunday.

Blanchard — who did not personally submit the permit request — said this is not the case.

from: Developer facing heat from heritage lobby over demolition request, TheSpec.com, Dec 30, 2012

It is highly improbable that Blanchard got up one fine morning, and decided to apply for the demolition permit on the very same day that the Heritage committee was going to designate these buildings -- when he had not yet developed a viable concept for his development.

In his own words, he had no plans -- except for the absurd sketch that he reveled to the press, which the press foolishly spun into a major breaking news story.

Subsequently, Clr McHattie did end up asking members of the Municipal Heritage Committee to resign. And rightfully so. Reason being, as it would appear to any average human being, clearly someone on this committee had ended up breaching their confidentiality.

This is a very serious issue, as apart from the city's built heritage being now put at serious risk, it raises questions about what else has been transpiring on this committee in the past.

It is public knowledge that the Chair of this committee is an architect, who is an employee of an architectural firm that designed for Blanchard earlier, by way of the stucco-box extension to the Bank of Montreal building on James & Main.

It is also public knowledge that Clr. Ferguson is known for his deep ties to the construction industry which supports mega-development projects. And has a marked anti-urban stance with his support for continuing fast moving traffic thru the city's core.

So, who violated the confidentiality of the Municipal Heritage Committee, which led to the rushed filing of the demolition permit?

Mahesh P. Butani

Comment edited by Mahesh_P_Butani on 2013-01-02 23:44:07