Tuesday, January 17, 2017

VINDICATION FOR THE FOUR

DECISION: a recent decision regarding the Title Absolute of the Bay Beach Properties has vindicated the position of four Fort Erie Councillors, namely: Bob Steckley, John Hill, Don Lubberts and Paul Collard during the contentious "Battle of Bay Beach" waged for over a decade in Fort Erie.Because of their efforts to make the town accountable to its taxpayers, The Four were slandered, vilified and sued. This as it is part of the campaign to ruin their lives and reputations of by a group that even gave a code name to their effort "4-2-0."  One lawsuit was finally dismissed after it had achieved its purpose to punish The Four for the firing of former town lawyer Heather Salter. Part of the reason for that was that she was disrespectful to councillors who questioned her handling of the paperwork pertaining to the title of the Bay Beach Properties, especially the incorrect PINs in the title documents.

At long last, a decision has come down regarding the land title at the Bay Beach Properties. The ninety-plus page document calls for the proper PINs to replace those changed during the time the property was being considered as part of a high rise development. At the time, the PIN errors were pointed out to then town lawyer Heather Salter who maintained that the numbers were correct, even when confronted with proof that the numbers were in error. All that must be corrected, according to the decision. The case was brought forth by neighbours to the Bay Beach Properties who spent well over a hundred thousand dollars and years to be vindicated. Over a decade of fighting to save our public beachfront property from a high rise development cost many of us emotionally, financially and health wise. Hopefully, years from now as people enjoy our last public beach in Crystal Beach, that the dark forces who almost ruined our beach will be forgotten.

And, finally The Four are vindicated once again.

A group of "concerned citizens" put up this billboard on Garrison Road several years ago. This was part of the organized effort to ruin the reputations of The Four councillors. A brochure also appeared that also called out anyone who opposed the Molinaro high rise project on public waterfront property. Kimberly Zanko, who is now the Ward 3 Councillor, was the spokesperson for these efforts. Kim, aren't you proud of your efforts? Guess that getting elected made you forget your actions against four decent men who tried to do the right thing for the people. Of course, Kim, you had a lot of help getting elected - by the very people who plotted the ruination of The Four.  It took several years but the real liars were finally exposed in court and in court decisions. 

AND THE FOUR WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG.

12 comments:

  1. This is news that has taken a long time in coming, our four knights in shining amour have been vindicated finally ,they paid a huge price in carrying the banner of truth and justice, we now know who are the scum bags that directed this miscarriage of truth and justice, The local Pravda {Fort Erie Times}should print on their front page their efforts to vilify and castigate honest Councillors to curry favour with a rascal Mayor and a wannabee Mayor the crème puff maker. were not neutral but a disservice to truth. This week a faux President will be taking an oath of office, so what we have gone through here, will be what our American cousins have to go through, remember our elections were rigged also.

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  2. I had closed down the blog because the bitterness I feel towards the perpetrators of the injustice towards The Four is causing me physical and mental harm. The American election was the topping on the cake.I was done. The latest news was helpful but the damage was done a long time ago and it cannot be undone. Trump will do a lot of damage before he will be stopped and it is very distressing.

    I'm struggling to put this all behind me and move on.

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  3. Welcome back Madam Editor.....I sincerely hope you can find the will to keep the blog open as it's just about the only way of disseminating the real truth around these parts......

    THE FOUR may be vindicated by the legal system but unless the truth of what really happened gets out, they will remain convicted by the complicity of the local press and the average duped, dumbed down or too stoned to care, local voter who believes fully the river of lies perpetrated by the ol boys tax money laundrying network (and their willing wannabes). This costs the town huge and if you are one of the few who knows or even fewer who dare mess with the pecking order at the local public tax trough, you will pay.

    Fort Stupid,where many pay willingly to keep a few in luxury.

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    1. Welcome back, CF! Final Vindication That's what James Culic called it. Meanwhile, Kris Dubé has returned to his roots at the Fort Erie Times and completely ignored the decision in his "council notes." Much more important to report about parking for RVs than an issue that was at the centre of the effort by the Old Boys to slander and assassinate the characters of four elected councillors. Worked like a charm it did. Now we have Marina Butler and Kim Zanko, the Chamber Maids among others pushed to replace The Four. Such a disgrace that I had to shut down this blog for my health and sanity.

      I just can't let go of the desire for revenge against those who did this to the people who did not want to see our public beachfront property given over to a high rise developer. All the liars who have gone on to other jobs, rewarded for their contribution to the destruction of the reputations of decent people. And to the few who now see the error of their association with these people, I say: Karma is indeed a bitch ain't it?

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  4. January 18 the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority held their AGM , the time to elect members to various posts within the agency. This year a lot of attention and TV coverage from CBC,CHCH including the press, were at the venue, the reason was the high handed way they handle individual property owners and their deferential treatment to Developers, which we in Fort Erie understand only too well, the post for Chairperson, elected was a person we know, Sandy Annunziata a former Councillor, I did note not one women was on this board, a board of 15 members, of those, eleven are politicians. The crowd in attendance filled the place to standing room only, the NPCA have refused to have a forensic audit, even though the Municipal Act says they can, we did find that they were sitting on half a million dollars of unspent money, which they now say they will return to the tax taxpayers how.? They were berated for instances of nepotism and Conflict of Interest, so this situation is endemic in Niagara.

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    1. Sandy as new head of the NPCA does nothing to improve the situation there. Half his family has their snouts in the ol boy network tax trough somewhere and they know how to feather their own nests first and foremost. Ol Sandy was all for "GIVING" the beach away(hmm wonder why?) and I doubt his tune will change much in his new position as problems at the NPCA originated on orders from the very top politicians of the province on a trip to China. I really doubt he will stand up for the little guy when people so connected are involved in this. Like the last CAO of the NPCA, promotion awaits and qualifications count for nothing, just ram it down the taxpayers throats and get er dun.

      Opportunity for any "ol" unscrupulous opportunist.

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    2. Remember when Sandy was Ward 1 councillor he fought for and got a no high rise resolution on the Fort Erie Niagara River waterfront near the Coal Docks. Sandy came at the Superior Court in Toronto for the court case to stop the condo (in which the Molinaros prevailed) and proclaimed he was "neutral" in the dispute. By then, he was no longer councillor, angling for bigger fish.

      Same names keep popping up, don't they?

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  5. I attended the NPCA in my role as Green Party observer, our interest is about a very large chunk of land bordered by the Welland River close to Marineland on the other side of Stanley Avenue, I am familiar with this area as I lived on the fringe of this sensitive area,1968 to 1970, When I moved to Black Creek I took several saplings about 7 feet tall, they are now at least 50 feet tall, this property was recently sold for several million dollars and then flipped to a Chinese Company partly owned by the Chinese Government for 100 million dollars, a wild number, the Mayor Jim Diodati of Niagara Falls was wined and dined in China, he is also on the board of the NPCA, this is wet land and has all kinds of flora and fauna, snakes, frogs, toads and newts. When I lived there a sizeable deer population. The NPCA who basically, has been taken over by the dark side want to develop this area and do a switcheroo placing another piece of unknown land as a replacement for the wetland. The people around Niagara , including the "Greens" are very unhappy with this turn of events, so a nasty fight is a brewing.!!

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  6. Still not looking forward to that big box planned for across from the Bay. So couldnt build right over the sand, still second prize doesent look like much of a compromise, still ugly and out of place in the village. Lets hope the thing is overpriced, given goofy names to the suites, and planned only to proceed if advanced sales are a condition. It helped to deter the construction of its evil twin. And a thanks to Don L for not caveing. There may be hope yet for this eyesore to remain a bad memory, but what a way to avoid stupid development.

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    1. I'm certain the local mainstream media will give great coverage and insightful reporting to keep the Ruin the Beach Phase 2 in the forefront of the greater public's mindset. After all they have an embedded reporter or is it spy for the ol boy make a buck no matter what dark side.

      They have done a great job so far....yeah right.

      PS,... if the media falls short we can rely on this council of ol boy plants (sorry Donny for the company you keep. It must be hard to keep lunch down some days)

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  7. We had a Town lawyer who was to work on behalf of the Town and paid handsomely to do just that, We expect that person would do due diligence in taking care that everything is done by the book, It has been my experience when dealing with real estate transactions a title search is first thing that is done, liens or complete title would be found, Our Town lawyer did neither of these things but basically handed everything over to the lawyer belonging to the Molinaro Group, This is how our Town got into the position that it did, My feeling is that a complaint should therefore be lodged with The Law Society of Upper Canada, that one of their member failed in their duties to her employer, The Town of Fort Erie and hence the tax payers of the Corporation.

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    1. Not only that, but there a Secret By-Law passed that will keep the public from knowing that the town was ordered by the decision of the Deputy Director to correct the information provided by former town lawyer Heather Salter back to the original information on the title. The problem with the title goes back to 2001 when the town bought the property from George Rebstock without the proper title search. Wayne Redekop was mayor and an attorney at the time. Should he have not known that there would be problems with the title back then? The unclosed road allowance running through the middle of the beach side of the property was known by many, yet, when Don Lubberts brought it up in council several years ago, he was told by then town solicitor, Heather Salter, that he did not know what he was talking about. Yet she must have known that the PINs and other information had been changed from the original title document. A neighbour of the beach side of the Bay Beach Properties pursued the case and it cost her over a hundred thousand dollars to prove that the town's information on the property was incorrect.

      The four councillors were right all along and they were right to question Salter about the title of the land. They were also right in firing her as she apparently did not do her due diligence in providing the proper title information.

      Read between the lines, folks. Do I have to spell it out for you? If you lived here from 2001 to the present, you were witness to a travesty against four councillors and others who questioned aspects of a lousy deal with a high rise developer. Many of the people who are now in power had a direct involvement with the 4-2-0 Plan that was hatched in town hall when The Four were elected in 2010. Do I need to name names?

      Shirley Grace and I are putting a book together with the facts and history of one of the nastiest political character assassinations in Fort Erie history. Stay tuned.

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