By Pepper Parr
June 17th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
Residents have rights, at least that’s what Mohammed Kamal, a resident of Bluff’s Way in ward 3 thought when he called the city bylaw enforcement department about storage containers and cars bearing disgusting signs hung on the sides of cars that were on a flatbed in the backyard of a neighbour.
The owner of this property has his house close to the road; the neighbour has his home at the back of the lot – his view coming out his door is the flatbed with cars and the foul banners
The view from one of the exit doors on the Kamal property. His Real Estate Lawyer has not been able to get a single offer on the property that has been on the market since February.
Mr. Kamal, an Information Technology specialist, who has been in Canada since 1998, thought he would get a response from the bylaw enforcement people, which he did get.
The advised him to call the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) because part of the property in ward 3 came under their jurisdiction.
The city bylaw people are partly correct, the NEC does have jurisdiction over some matters. But nothing to do with the storage of 40 foot containers in the back of a residential property.
Kamal got passed back and forth between the city and the NEC and apparently the ward Councillor’s office.
Rory Nissan, Councillor for ward 3, who now lives in ward 2, was sent an email on March 23rd; Kamal who understands Information Technology keeps detailed records.
Included in those records is the notation of a threat from the neighbour on what could happen if the Kamal complaint was not withdrawn.
Kamal just wants to sell his home and move on. Based on the photographs included in this article we ask – would you buy the house ?
In addition to the cars with the disgusting signs on them there are three 40 foot containers on the property.
The three 40 foot containers on private property are understood to be illegal based on the understanding Mr. Kamal has of the bylaw. He has no idea what is kept inside the containers.
It is a sad commentary on our society that people display this vulgar hateful garbage for everyone to see. This particular one really takes the cake, to go to these lengths, it isn’t rational or acceptable.
I feel very sorry for Mr. Kamal and all the other neighbours. And it sounds like the guy is also making threats?? There is no excuse for this stuff and council and certainly the ward 2.5 councillor should be working hard to help and should have been long ago. Rory seems to come out for election campaigns and photo ops and that’s about it. This isn’t the first ward 3 resident who has complained that he ignores them.
This is harassing and it’s offensive and possibly dangerous, as threats are now part of it. Nobody would want this on their street and we don’t want to see it on trucks driving around or on boats at SOM or anywhere. Show some respect!
Perhaps one of the thorniest social and legal issues of our day is where freedom of speech becomes destructive license. Here, one individual’s questionable right to express his/her viewpoint is directly affecting the rights and freedoms of another. Where do you draw the line, how should it be drawn and who should draw it? It’s fascinating “stuff” if you’re not caught in the middle.
The problem here is the lack of institutional interest and commitment to resolving the problem; rather, there is the expected ‘bureaucratic shuffle’ between the City by-law enforcement, the NEC (really not their problem) and the Councillor. Anyone who has had any dealings with bylaw knows that active (let alone proactive) involvement is simply not in the manual. Indeed, those expecting bylaw to enforce after hours noise, fireworks or parking complaints are faced with a rather cruel joke. Your issue better be between 8:30 and 4:30 and never on a weekend. Parenthetically, the only more disadvantaged citizens are the ones who have a coyote problem.
I’ll let Joan Little extoll the virtues of the Niagara Escarpment Commission. Having been responsible for their ‘administrative support’ out of Treasury for several years, I found them to be a typical arms-length agency – entitled and generally useless. However, in this case it really isn’t their concern and their inclusion in it is a pathetic misdirect by the City.
Finally, we have the Ward Councillor and, by any standard, 1 1/2 months exceeds any reasonable response time. But, given Mr. Nisan’s move into Ward 2 without any official notice to date to his Ward 3 constituents, perhaps we are dealing with chronic geographic confusion – a well-known cause of action paralysis. Indeed, Mr. Nisan is reportedly using City surveyors to map the boundaries of the new (virtual) Ward 2.5. I suppose that Mr. Kamal’s complaint may actually not be his problem depending on where those electoral lines are found to lie. As such, we should congratulate him on his ‘better late than never’ response to a problem that may not actually be his. I do know, however, that the Mountainside Centre is definitely within the 2.5 boundaries and that he will attend the ribbon-cutting ceremonies on the 30th.
[Note to self: since the 30th is a Friday, Constituency Office Day for MPPs, perhaps our local MPP will also make an appearance. How will I recognize her?]
In the final analysis, I hope that the Gazette will attend Mr. Nisan’s on site review and record his careful pacing off the number of steps from the offending collection of red-neck junk to his new electoral boundaries.
All kidding aside, call out to the owner of the containers, cars, trucks etc who clearly dislikes our Prime Minister – I hope that you do not have children. If you do, what do you think your example is teaching them?
This is not uncommon, perhaps a story to investigate why people feel this way? I had a similar situation that was resolved with conversation over a cup of coffee and some donuts.