What kind of fleas do you get from your friends?

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Friendships are something to be treasured. 

They can be lifelong friendships started before your school days, to those developed recently due to circumstances that put you together.  Whatever the situation, good friendships are those that last and are meaningful.  The kind of friendship that when they ask for help, you don’t hesitate.  They may not always share your values, interests and goals but, they share a link that bonds you together so that you can laugh, play, work and live together in a manner that brings satisfaction to the soul.

You may have a lot of friends but those soul mates can usually be just counted on just one hand.  They are the ones you’d die for.

You can tell a lot about someone when you observe their friends.  Sometimes you see a side of that person you would never suspect.

I recently read an article by Dan Cooper, a very successful and well-known broker in the GTA.  In his blog he featured a story about how “Successful friends help to motivate and inspire”.  Based on his success, I was not surprised to see he ran in circles that included Peter Gilgan and Jim Balsillie plus some others that were mentioned.  Very successful men if you look at their empires and wealth.

But this isn’t the only thing they have in common.  Seems they both have had brushes with the law.  In Jim Balsillie’s case, it was the stock fraud with Rim (Blackberry).  You know, where executives were helping themselves to the company fortune and shafting shareholders through questionable stock option dealing.  Something frowned upon and he paid the piper for that misdeed.  Still, not my kind of guy for a friend.  Shafting shareholders.

Now, Peter Gilgan, as we all know if you’ve read my blog, has had his (or should I say Mattamy Homes but since it is a private company, any decision by Mattamy is a decision by him) hand slapped a few times. 

Mattamy Homes did illegal environmental work in the Ottawa area by building berms that could have caused undue flooding and hardship and it plead guilty to this self-centred act. 

His company also began illegal work on land in Milton – land saturated with human waste.  He got temporarily shut down on that one, although workers had to go for medical testing and god only knows what happened to the neighbours who breathed the stuff when the dust went downwind. 

And, in my case, his company pushed through a sale by doing illegal (code) wiring that put my children at risk.  An act that did not receive any punishment, although the works director for the Town of Oakville stated they would not allow this to happen, even though they did. 

So, it might be cool to hang out with Peter and Jim but, I’d be afraid to turn my back in case they decided to add money to their Billionaire status at my expense. 

What is the saying: “He that lieth down with dogs, shall rise up with fleas.”

My friends aren’t rich but they got what they got honestly.  And, I know I can trust my back with them – we’ve already looked after each other in the past and that kind of friendship builds the ultimate in trust. 

I’ll take their fleas any day.

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Even the Trades find Mattamy not so good!!!!!!

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A house is put together by a team, working together to produce the best product they can for a customer expecting a certain level of quality in the process.  Without co-operation at all levels, it becomes very difficult to actually achieve this.  A new homebuyer puts down the stated amount, makes decisions on upgrades and other factors and when they move in, they should be able to enjoy the new home with minimal interference. 

Based on what you have read in this blog, you know this isn’t always the case and why I recommend a house inspector be hired to protect your interest.

Why this doesn’t happen is the result of a number of issues.  An ethical builder, who not only treats their customer right but also a builder who treats his sub-contractors in an ethical and honest manner should be able to produce a high quality house.  Unfortunately, sub-contractors who are treated less than honestly have two decisions to make –   do short-cuts to ensure their survival or, go bankrupt.  We’ve seen the results of short cuts.

If you go to this link, you will read a comment from a sub-contractor with a viewpoint on Mattamy’s treatment of those responsible for ensuring your new home is built to a high standard.  It is comment # 8.

I won’t comment on it all but I am disturbed by the comment:

 “I even had the displeasure of sitting down with the VP of construction and he said to my face “He doesn’t care about safety.” I was shocked at this statement”.

Well, based on my experience and what I have seen, I’ve got no problem believing this statement was made.  In my case, as you know, they had no problem with illegal (code) wiring that put my house at risk of a fire and my children’s lives at risk.   They even got a building inspector to OK the wiring so that the house could be sold and later, the former Mayor of Oakville, Ann Mulvale let the investigation go south.

In Ottawa, they were convicted of building an illegal berm, which could have put people’s property and lives at risk due to flooding.  In Milton, they began construction on land that had recently been fertilized with human waste, putting the construction worker’s lives at risk (they had to go and be tested) and the lives of the neighbours.  Not much consideration in terms of safety.

I was visiting my house building site and observed someone driving a large construction fork-lift.  I would normally have pulled him over for drunk driving after watching him bounce off scaffolding and other objects.  Not a care in the work while he rampaged around the construction site.

And, in regards to personal safety, some Mattamy bully boys approached me and I know I had some fear for my safety.  Fortunately they saw it was better to back off and it wasn’t due to my fine physique 🙂

So, if you want an insight into how some trades are treated by Mattamy and why maybe your house was less than perfect, visit the link.  It is an eye-opener.  Maybe Wikileaks should visit the construction industry and see what is really happening with our money.  I can recommend Mattamy be on the list.

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The People have spoken in Oakville – sorry Mattamy

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Well, the People have spoken in Oakville and they have decided that the way things have been going for the last four years is worth supporting and want to let it produce some results, instead of being dashed to pieces by a developer supported council.  Maybe we the taxpayer can see our Town and Region be developed properly with the development community paying their share.  I’m sure Billionaire Gilgan can afford the pay cut, although I am concerned about quality, considering his company allowed illegal wiring in my house when they were making big money.

As you know I wasn’t a fan of Ann Mulvale, especially considering how my complaint regarding Mattamy Homes putting my children at risk was not really handled professionally.

But, I must acknowledge her very successful record of obtaining donations for various projects, even though one was done while my complaint was supposed to be handled.

Mattamy Homes has seen fit recently to donate money:

“The Milton Centre for the Arts fundraising campaign kicked off with a bang following the announcement of its first major sponsor.

Peter Gilgan, founder and CEO of Mattamy Homes, has donated $750,000 to support the centre’s 500-seat threatre, which will be named Mattamy Theatre.”

So, now that Ann Mulvale doesn’t have to worry about being Mayor of the Town of Oakville, maybe she can see fit to put her talents to the raising of money for the new hospital that is being built at Highway 5 and 3rd Line. 

It is not a Oakville hospital but will be a Regional hospital for Halton.  So, since she was so concerned about Mayor Rob Burton’s plan regarding the payment for this hospital, maybe she can put her well honed talents to getting Mattamy to put some money into this hospital.  Seems only fair since Mattamy and other developers made all the development that is putting the pressure on our infrastructure.  He saw fit to give $750,000 to a theatre to get his name on the building.  Maybe Ann can talk to her buddy Gilgan and get him to put a few million of his billion into the new hospital. 

What’s more important to Gilgan – saving lives or good theatre? 

I forgot, his company puts out good ads but does illegal and potentially dangerous wiring and builds on land toxic with human waste. 

Hell, if he does donate, I won’t even complain if he names part of it after himself.  I know which part I would suggest.
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It’s who is behind the throne that really counts. Right Gilgan.

One thing that has been a real sore spot in the GTA and, I am sure, in other jurisdictions around the world, is the amount of control developers have over the community.  Yes, these are people who have to invest a lot of money in land over a long period of time to ensure there is space to build homes and commercial properties.  And, sometimes they invest in land that doesn’t really show promise within their lifetime.  They have to take risks and for those who are successful, they become billionaires like Mattamy’s Peter Gilgan.  Others go bankrupt.

It seems though that some wish to give themselves a better chance of success by investing in the right people.  People who can help them be successful.  In one post we see how this happened.  The full story is at this link.

“So around came Frank Cairo along with his co-worker Susan Murphy.  A very quick back story on Susan Murphy.  She is a lawyer who used to work in the planning department of the City of Ottawa and was involved in the shutting up of a certain city water engineer who raised concerns about the planning in Kanata West.  She subsequently jumped ship from the City of Ottawa and went to work for Mattamy homes and Frank Cairo. “

With the problems in Ottawa, I guess Susan wasn’t overly helpful to the Mattamy group.  But maybe they should have listened to the engineer.  Kind of script that you would see in a thriller movie with the hero trying to tell the world the truth and the corrupt power structure thwarts his/her every move.

In Halton, Mattamy hired  former Halton Chair Peter Pomeroy, who had a small skirmish with the law back in the day.  I guess Mattamy wanted his contacts in the region that would assist them in developing the land.  His “power” was shown to be a hollow tiger when Regional Council told the developers they were going to have to pay their way.  This after the Mulvale era.

Of course, after this statement, I wonder just how good Pomeroy is:

“Certainly a lot of them don’t know why they’re here but I do, and so do their employers,” said former Halton regional chair Peter Pomeroy, who now works on behalf of Mattamy Corporation.

Brings busloads of workers from the construction sites to force Halton Council to stop the development charges and he makes this statement about the depth of perception of the issue by those working for him.  Real good management technique there Peter.

And now we come to “Asphalt Annie“, who is trying a comeback in Oakville as mayor.  She is so aware of her reputation as one of Gilgan’s “boys”,  she has in her campaign literature that she does not accept donations from developers.

“As a campaign policy, Ann Mulvale will not accept donations from companies engaged in the land development.”

As a good politician she understands that is the way the wind is blowing here.  I guess better late than never. 

This from her last election.

Mattamy Homes
2360 Bristol Circle
Oakville, ON L6H 6M5
TOTAL RECEIVED: $125.00

Of course, this is a pittance in comparison to the amount she secured for Wellspring while investigating my complaint against Mattamy for doing the illegal (code) wiring.  I guess putting children’s lives at risk is small potatoes in the big picture.

Well, sorry Annie, but your reputation as a developer groupie is based on fact I believe.  Even Peter Gilgan kind of likes you.  With the leer he is giving you I’d be a little careful.  God only knows what he will ask of you.  He didn’t get to be a billionaire without without taking advantage of things.  (i.e.  construction on Milton toxic waste land, illegal berms in Ottawa and illegal (code) wiring to name some)

Peter Gilgan leering or gloating behind Mulvale????

And don’t let Mattamy Homes scare you with the old boogeyman story that the developers won’t develop in Oakville if the development rates are left where they are.  Oakville has prime development land and the developers will come.  Maybe they all won’t be able to get to billionaire status so quickly like Gilgan did due to past policies but we are willing to work with them and build a good community.  We’re just asking them to share the costs.  Funny, but it only seems that billionaire Gilgan is putting up the main fuss.  Everyone else just wants to do business.  As you can see, Gilgan is even supporting a mayoral candidate to ensure he gets what he wants.

The rest of us will vote for the community and not our pockets.

Mattamy – is there a pattern in your development?

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When I was taking classes in Urban Planning, I was given a project to do where we were given a blank piece of land and were told to develop it. Interestingly enough, when I did a stint at Municipal Affairs, I actually did some assessments on a sub-division that was the model for the tract of land I was given in the project.

While trying to be very creative I put the road along the edge of the ravine, with a walking area on the ravine edge. My instructor looked at the draft, liked what I had done but told me to start again. He told me he was marking this project as a developer would have it done. Done in a way that maximized the potential return from the tract of land. Scrap one draft and moved on to doing the standard “make it profitable”. When I did the assessment on the sub-division, it looked exactly like my finished project. So much for doing what looks good for the community.

Speaking of which, does Mattamy have a thing for substandard land. I’ve heard of people selling the proverbial swamp land in Florida but it seems that Mattamy buys sub-standard land (i.e. swamp), does a little earth moving and then builds on it. You can imagine the future problems – flooding, excess settling and bugs.

Appears that a Gail Moorhouse down Cambridge way pointed out that they had a mosquito problem in a certain sub-division built by Mattamy on the edge of a swamp – The Portuguese Swamp.  This from the Cambridge Citizen.

“In 1989 the Portuguese Swamp was cited as a reason that a new subdivision should not be allowed to proceed… This objection was noted but did not stop the construction of the Mattamy Townline subdivision which started in 2002.”

So, Mattamy was told they shouldn’t build on or near the swamp but they did.  Now  do you see how they can sell cheaper.  They buy cheap land on or near swamp land and then build on this unsavoury property and keep the costs down to make sure they can undersell their competition.  Kind of like Ford or GM buying cheap steel to save but the consumer ends up with rust.

She brings up a good point.  Have Mattamy pay to correct the mosquito problem either directly or through development fees.  Maybe they should have put a warning on their sales brochures that the area was susceptible to mosquitos and possible diseases (West Nile anyone).

Is this a one of?  Bracebridge had the flooding basements and in Ottawa, they built illegal berms.  In Ottawa they also tried to sell houses that were on land susceptible to flooding.  And lets not forget the Milton scam – construction on toxic waste.

Ah yes, good old Mattamy.  Build the dream with the built-in horror story.

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What’s it all about Gilgan?

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I’ve already referred to the Gordon Pitts article in the Globe and Mail titled: “Mattamy Homes’ Peter Gilgan takes the long view.”

It gives a good overview on the inner workings of a billionaire.  He blames Ontario for those he had to lay off as he “could not get approvals to develop and go forward on land we should have had approvals on.” 

Yes, too bad the planners and environmental people were worried his construction might cause future damage to the environment and houses.  Kind of like the flooding land in Bracebridge or, building berms to change the floodplain near Ottawa.  And, lets not forget how Mattamy just went ahead and began construction on land in the Milton area that had recently been fertilized with human waste – thus putting workers and neighbours in danger.

God forbid that the government protect the environment and those living in an area.

And this statement: “Or municipalities decided they needed a whole lot more money at a time when we needed to reduce our costs by 15 per cent. They were looking for 25-per-cent increases and so forth in development fees.”

For a change, local politicians tried to stand up to the developers in Halton and said that if you want to make money, then don’t do it on the shoulders of an already stressed out taxpayer.  In other words – PAY YOUR OWN WAY.

 Billionaire Gilgan led the pack of snarling developers into council and made the usual arguments.  Even to the point of stripping workers from job sites and busing them to the council meetings.  And not just once!!!  For those buying Mattamy Homes – now you know where your money went – buses, not necessarily quality. 

The message sent to Council – how dare you put realistic costs on our development and hurt our ability to rake in a fortune thanks to the taxpayer.

I notice that Billionaire Gilgan might have found it too expensive to run his own mansion in Oakville and sold it for a paltry $35 million.  And he, along with a lot of other mansion owners in the area got a tax cut and don’t pay the same schedule the rest of us schmucks do.  I guess that is how you get to be a billionaire – get tax cuts on your house and get the taxpayer to pay for the development costs.  Not a bad racket.

Of course, he blames the government for making him lay off people.  Next he’ll be blaming the taxpayer’s for layoffs because we want developers to pay their own freight.

“The tide is turning again now. But the idea that we were getting a free ride doesn’t stand the test of accounting. That’s a nice statement to make. Back it up. I haven’t seen anybody back it up yet.”

The tide is turning?  Does Billionaire Gilgan refer to the upcoming municipal elections?  Will developer friendly “Asphalt Annie” get re-elected and get the ball rolling for more taxpayer freebies to the developers?  Who knows?  Just watch the donations.

Back it up……. well how about the idea that Oakville and Burlington taxpayers (largest group in Halton) subsidized the water pipe to Milton with their taxes, which allowed the developers to start their ravaging of the landscape and the making of billions.  The taxpayer is still paying that levy.  Want some more proof – stay tuned.

Billionaire Gilgan made this statement and allowed us into his personal space. “But I’d actually like to find something else to focus on, sort of one night a week, and I haven’t nailed it yet. It’s something non-physical but more spiritual.”….”I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’ll know it when I see it. I know there is something missing.”

Here’s a hint Peter.  Your dad got shafted with a “lousy job” on his house.  Why not have a little empathy for those of us who bought a  Mattamy House in good faith and spend some spiritual time helping out those of us who got the “Royal Mattamy Shaft”. 

Or, do you get your kicks out of putting children’s lives at risk with illegal wiring, allowing a sale to increase your Billionaire status.

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Shame that nice people of Milton might experience the Mattamy shaft.

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I attended the Downtown Milton Street Festival on June 6th in the evening and had a great time. Good music and a nice variety of vendors and open stores. I, of course, parked my vehicle and walked to the festival, forgoing the free Mattamy sponsored bus ride.

Mattamy will play up their community service but, for a company that does illegal (code) wiring, illegal landfill dumping and a plethora of other misdeeds, I think the free bus service is just a political sop for the local politicians. Remember, it was in Milton that Mattamy began construction on land fertilized with human waste, contrary to regulations.

Anyways, I was pleased to see that people accepted my handout and while walking back along the street, I didn’t see any on the ground. Either the people were reading them or, at least thinking Green and putting them in a garbage bin. I thank those that did either.

Here is a copy of what I handed out..

“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE RIDE”

 

 

It’s always nice when you get something free from someone but, do you really think it is free – without a cost somewhere?  For example, those taking the free bus that was supplied by Mattamy Homes.  Do you think the Town of Milton is really getting it for free?

 

Here we have a builder that was stopped by the Province for starting construction on land fertilized by human waste in the Milton area.  What else has Mattamy Homes been guilty of?

 

FACT:      Mattamy Homes sold a residence to a homeowner without electrical power.

 

FACT:      Mattamy Homes connected the homeowner’s furnace illegally (code) to the home next door (indoor wire strung under joints, through a hole in basement wall, across outside pedestrian walkway and through another hole in basement wall next door)

 

FACT:      Mattamy Homes sold a house that had no insulation in the front bay window, plus it had missed caulking in places.

 

FACT:      When notified, the Town of Oakville did an investigation, a copy of which the homeowner did not receive.  When pressed, the Town of Oakville Council, under former Mayor Mulvale, claimed they could not proceed on complaint and shifted it to the Province.  When the Province denied any responsibility, the Town of Oakville refused to have the case reopened and still does.

 

FACT:      Neither Mattamy Homes nor the building inspector appears to have had any notification of wrongdoing, although the former Director of Building Services, David Humm, is on record that he would not recommend occupancy under these conditions.

 

FACT:      Former Mayor Anne Mulvale was actively pursuing Mattamy Homes for funding regarding an admirable project, while the complaint was being investigated.

 

 

 

If you have any information concerning undue influence or wish more information please contact Oakville_homes@hotmail.com or visit www.oakvillehomes.wordpress.com

 

HIRE A HOUSE INSPECTOR FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION!!!!!!!!!

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There is no free ride……

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In my previous blog, I noted that I will be attending the Downtown Milton Street Festival on June 6th.  I will be handing out information pamphlets to inform people of the problems and illegal activities of Mattamy Homes, who is offering free bus rides to the festival.  As I said, there is no free ride.  It was in Milton that Mattamy Homes went ahead with construction on land fertilized with human waste and was stopped by the Province, not Milton.

My complaint was handled by former Town of Oakville Mayor Ann Mulvale, who was actively engaged in acquiring donations from Mattamy Homes.  This is, to me at least, a conflict of interest, which she did not declare.  The new mayor, Rob Burton, has seen fit not to be involved at all.

And, is there a problem with corporations giving donations to politicians?  I guess it depends on your point of view.  We all have the right to donate to a politician but it is limited and recorded.  Corporations also can donate but are they asking more than you and me?  We want the politician to follow the platform they got elected on, while a corporation may be expecting the politician to vote a certain way – a way that will benefit the corporation.

Alex Cullen, Councillor for Bay Ward in Ottawa’s west end is trying to have changes made in the Municipal Elections Act that will prohibit corporate and trade union donations for Ottawa City Council during election campaigns. 

If you go to the Barrhaven News article you will see arguments for both sides of the story.  Obviously, those receiving large donations, will be against any changes.  And, donations don’t have to be through the Municipal Elections Act.  What about donations to various projects brought up by local politicians?  Yes, we may receive benefit from these projects but, at what cost?

For those of us shafted by Mattamy, we only see politicians bending over backwards for the developer and we receive no protection from the very agencies we pay our taxes to.  I may be wasting my time handing out these information sheets but, at least I’m not accepting donations from Mattamy and turning a blind eye, like some have.  And, it only strengthens the argument that you need a house inspector.

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Mattamy starts the spin-doctoring…

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The spin-doctoring is already started.  In the Ottawa Citizen, Mattamy claims that it bought the property with the berm already in place and was only trying to make it conform with the conservation authority’s standards, and they later found out they needed a permit.  Yeah, right… Here is an award winning builder who has been involved in this stuff for ages and they really didn’t know the process.  Just like when they started construction on land fertilized with human waste up in Milton.  Well, the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority didn’t take that line of crap.

Mattamy plead guilty to the charges and it was “accepted reluctantly” to “maintain positive relations and to resolve the matter,”  according to Mattamy spokeswoman Susan Murphy.

Your right about the “reluctantly”.  Mattamy never likes to give up and as you can see in previous blogs, doesn’t even acknowledge their mistakes.  I only wish the Town of Oakvillehad the balls to do their job as professionally as the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.  But then, the Town of Oakville has to deal with accepting donations  from Mattamy.

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JD Powers – lovefest with Mattamy Homes

I read the following today, which is from a press statement by JD Power and Associates.

“When prospective buyers are in the market for a new home, they look to a
trusted resource to assist with their decision-making process, indicating that
builder referrals are a key source of information,” said Thibault. “Those
builders with a track record of high customer satisfaction performance will
have a distinct competitive advantage in a softening housing market. Buyers
tend to purchase from builders that present the least amount of perceived
risk. Testimonials from friends, relatives or colleagues can provide
prospective home buyers with confidence in their builders as they make one of
the most significant financial decisions of their lives.”

and,

“Builders are recognizing the importance of providing defect-free
products and are putting more emphasis on quality assurance mechanisms prior
to home delivery,” said Thibault. “This approach is a particularly efficient
way to run their businesses. Not only are home buyers satisfied at the point
of delivery, but eliminating defects also puts much less demand on builder
warranty service teams.”

 

Well, I certainly find a few things wrong this statement.  I don’t understand how a company can state that a builder is number one when in fact this builder has not only illegally (code) wired a home in order to put a sale through, has been found doing construction on land that was recently fertilized with bio-solids – contrary to provincial policy and, has just recently been charged with doing illegal landfill in the Ottawa region (and trying to circumvent the legal process by getting a back-dated work order).  To me, this brings the research methods utilized by JD Powers into some disrepute.  Maybe these other builders better start making more donations to charity, etc and get a higher press profile if they want to make sales.  No one has mentioned to me any illegal methods used by other builders.  I mean, every builder sometimes has quality control problems (I only wish I could tell you about Mattamy Homes quality control on one house – it would blow your mind) but here we have a builder that breaks the law in order to sell houses.  And the government lets them do it.  This recent charge is interesting.  Will Ottawa cave in by giving them a retro-active permit, thus negating the charges laid against Mattamy Homes – bring on the donations….

In that statement, “perceived risk”, I am wondering just how much risk people attach to the construction of their home, knowing that a builder might illegally wire it (base on prior performance), might have built the home on land contaminated with human waste (based on prior performance) and still continues to utilize illegal dumping practices (Ottawa) and expects to be home free with a politician (read donations) sponsored back-dated permit.  If you feel you can recommend a house with someone exhibiting these kinds of ethics, then I certainly don’t want you being my friend or recommending anything to me.

Every year JD Powers pushes Mattamy Homes. It is almost a love-fest and I think the other builders are starting to wonder.  I mean, if the other builders were that bad, they wouldn’t be selling houses.  Maybe their closing gifts aren’t as nice, they don’t donate enough money to charity and local politicians or, they just aren’t warm and fuzzy to the buyers.  Who knows?  But, I do wonder about it knowing some of the past illegal activities of Mattamy.  I guess money buys everything, including good press.  All I know is that I’d hire a house inspector and have it written into the contract that they can inspect during construction.  At least that way, you can ensure your getting the advertised house that JD Powers says you will get.  If you don’t, you’ve only got yourself to blame for what you end up with and little help from the government who gets the donations.