This ward needs an enema!
On February 7th, I visited the Danforth Mosaic BIA office and was warmly received by a crew of board members and temporary staff. I want to thank the new Chair of the organization, Litsa Kostouros, for allowing me to view files in the office. It was a very busy time, and I know that I didn`t make it easier wanting to visit the office. When I arrived there was a man organizing boxes, a young woman and middle aged man trying to chronologically file invoices, a female senior steam-cleaning blackened seats in the board room, the President and Treasurer were going through boxes of bizarre items, trying to find invoices and files. I really felt sorry for these folks who I understand spent an exorbitant amount of time organizing a bunker ravaged by Kremlenite bloodshed. ---
It struck me that I was at the BIA office with the right people, but the wrong day. What irked me was the fact that over three years of an organization appeared to be missing. What angered me is that the salaries of over $90K every year were not enough to maintain a filing system. Pathetic. What books? What audits? And, this is why I stick my neck out for the merchants on Danforth Avenue. They are the victims of another circle of fraudster. Whether the group came from their own street or was the result of appointees from the councillors circles, the activities of this office are extremely concerning. Definitely not the magnitude of the Toronto Housing board per se but the same attitude proliferates this arm of the city.
I could not bother these folks and returned three weeks later when the office files were finally organized. Not to my surprise, the files were reflective of the handover. I copied everything on file in the office. I reviewed every document. To my dismay, things were worse than they originally appeared.
What kind of a world do we live in, where neighbours steal from neighbours? Where bands of thieves are supported by elected officials? Where taxpayers are kicked in the teeth and suffer injustices when they speak up? The Danforth we speak of is a place where poverty is rampant. Storefronts are shut down. Vagrants make it uneasy to walk down the street on any given day or night as the street has become a barren wasteland. Yet one thing that remains profusely painful is not that the storefronts are vacant or that most merchants are struggling to pay their bills, but that the very same neighbours would take advantage of their street.
How do I know all of this? Leroy asks questions and he does his homework. When I photocopied every file, I reviewed all the minutes and learned that these petty thieves were not following bidding rules. They sat on a board supporting one another and using the budget to help themselves. What one company could have done for a fraction of a cost, was awarded to board members who neglected to follow the rules. No conflicts of interest were declared. No bidding out to the public. No adherence to city policies and a grisly record of conflict with members who either try to take part in the organization or have a grievance to raise.
When we speak of pathetic, I can tell about a little carpenter named George Fortounas who expensed this organization $300 for a lock that has cost $125 at Home Depot and major retailers for the last eight years on the market. George Fortounas did not have a receipt. He scribbled expenses onto a piece of paper and gave it to his friends. In turn, he was given a whole $175 more than the retail price he would have paid. And, it doesn't end there for this board member. No. He was the fat, little gopher boy who attended the random board meeting and bobbled his head when needed. Inexcusable. Ignorance is no excuse.
When we speak of losers, we should point to wise guys like Nick Sissakis, who brought in and awarded contracts three to four times more than the retail value. Nick Sissakis wheeled and dealed in all the "streetscape" and "capital" contracts. Most of this was sole sourcing.
When we speak of corrupt, we should use Pat Silver as a poster child for cronyism. The slithering sliver of them all, who should be explaining herself to the auditor general of the city. In fact, I beg of Mayor Ford to charge this woman and never let her be part of any city agency or board. Where does she get off hiring and paying herself? I do not believe a CHAIR who pays herself to play a flute has any business remaining a chair. She is a ghastly excuse of a musician and has no right awarding herself or her company contracts of the BIA. She never once consulted with the membership to survey their wants and needs. Instead, the members got a big bill every year while she received cheques in the thousands. Who told her she could expense a clown for $600 or a group of dancing mascots for $8000? Greed can kill you Sliver. To my knowledge, dancing mascots are not worth $8000 for two half-hour performances. No matter how cute her mascots were, $8000 is out of the question!
And when they were done, they called the police on the merchants. And that was not all. They rigged an election. Oh but wait, Faustian land deals? Run and hide nitwits. To the rest of you just trying to make a living, please get a vomit bag and take a Gravol. The witch hunt is not over.
I will end my article on this note: beware the Slivers, the Fortounas, the Sissakis of the street. If they're out there to line their wallets with your dime, then it`s already over before it has begun.To my lovely Councillors Janet, Paula, Mary, Mary-Margaret start listening.
Can somebody tell me what kind of a world we live in, where a bunch of swine dressed up as people get all of my press?
This ward needs an enema!
