Rize defies City with illegal sign: Is City doing selective non-enforcement of the law?

Illegal, oversized signs on building façade at Kingsway between Broadway and East 10th Avenue

Rize Alliance has refused to comply with an order from the City to remove two illegal and oversized signs placed on one of their buildings located at 180 Kingsway. Tuesday, July 29th, 2014 was the final deadline given by the City of Vancouver to Rize Alliance (Kingsway) Properties to remove their illegal signs. That date came and went and the signs were not taken down (the above photo was taken on July 30, 2014).

(Update: Rennie Marketing Systems is marketing this project. In March, condo promoter Bob Rennie hosted a $25,000-per-plate lunch fundraiser for incumbent mayor, Vision Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson, and has been a strong political funder and friend of the mayor and his party. Does this explain the City’s non-enforcement and soft approach to this violation of legislation? If so, should Vancouver citizens accept this behaviour of our government?)

Are some more equal than others? Is the City treating citizens and companies fairly in its enforcement of the law? This is an important topic. There appears to be a strong systemic bias in favour of certain members of a certain industry (development and construction), and against anyone that challenges the current regime. But on the other side, enforcement is merciless. A dog owner is fined $250 for leaving a dog unattended (even if tied up) outside a coffee shop or grocery store. No excuses are accepted. And we asked recently if the Cedar Party was targeted for political motives in selective inspections and enforcement. See that story here: Political harassment? City of Vancouver targets Cedar Party for spot inspection, selective enforcement, resulting in office closure/move. What is going on with our municipal government?

We’ll note that Rize contributed $10,950 to Vision Vancouver’s campaign in 2011. The City has a fine bylaw that allows for a maximum $10,000 a day fine per infraction. The illegal signs have been up for over three weeks. Let’s see. At that price, 21 days, $10,000 a day, public revenues would be boosted by $210,000 if fines were enforced, and it would be a clear sign to the industry that City Hall is standing up for the public. The following photos were taken on July 9th, 2014, shortly after the signs were installed:

Rize has received permission from the City of Vancouver to build a temporary sales centre on a former parking lot at the southeast corner of Main and Broadway (at 2500 Watson). The temporary permit is set to expire in March of 2015. Does the structure (in the photos below) appear to be temporary? What are the odds that the City of Vancouver will renew the permit for this “temporary” structure?




Photos taken on July 9, 2014 (above) and on July 30, 2014 (below).

References

The City’s sign bylaw can by found here. The illegal “facia signs” on the Janzen building are 81 feet  x   12′ 11 1/4″ in size.

It’s not the first time that the sign bylaw has been violated. The City has not taken PAVCO to task with the giant (and illegal) signs around BC Place. Further details are in the following post:

Giant Billboards at BC Place still violate sign bylaw. Does the City have leverage with PAVCO? (Aug 30, 2013)