Sunday, May 24, 2015

Bylaw Attacks Small Businesses !!

The District is cracking down on bylaw infractions.Are they going after illegal vacation rentals or illegal hippie campsites known for thefts and fires ?? No ! They are attacking small businesses !!
I like the little stores that have sandwich boards.They give the town some diversity.
The only advice I can give is to make all signs in the shape of a resort water meter and then they won't be read by the District of Tofino ..........

click on image to enlarge

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was my understanding that bylaw operates on a "complaint driven" basis. Who's complaining about any signs? Of course, the answer to that question is, "Nobody"!
So where is this coming from? Bylaw only does what they're told to do by......???? Mayor? Council? God?

Good to see district staff's time and efforts, and thus our tax dollars, wasted, once again, on something that no one wants or needs.



COSTCO said...

I fully support a huge tax increase to finance the attack on small business.

Anonymous said...

Heaven forbid that some yuppie in a Porsche takes offense to a sandwich board !!

Ralph Tieleman said...

I think that was the Fire Chief

Anonymous said...

That is a very threatening letter. Not the direction I like to see the village going.

Anonymous said...

Complaint driven usually means discrimination. Laws and by-laws need to applied equally to all or they are by their very definition discriminatory. Certain business' are held to take task while other do as they please with no consequence. Went to a sign meeting last year it was a joke, nothing meaningful resulted. Charter protects all from discrimination on any and all levels. If someone calls you to task on a discriminatory bylaw (which would be by definition void legally for no bylaw or law may fall outside of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms)make a written complaint against all other transgressors. If council fails to act as they usually do, then they are in breech and can (and have) been held to account. Fairness and equal treatment why are these such novel concepts to DOT?
Does Watergate have an answer yet? I suspect they will try to tell us again "Its all good" because there is very little true understanding of fair Governance from the district office...prove me wrong please for all our sake.
We still do have a provincial Ombudsman its soon time for a call if this is not resolved.

Ralph Tieleman said...

The real estate signs are allowed . Even when they are advertising for agents that are from out of town. So a realtor from Nanaimo gets preferential treatment over a tax paying local business operator.

Buddy Hackett said...

If it was the "Sausage Club " at an all inclusive resort there would be no problem.

Ralph Tieleman said...

Sotheby's in the expensive Yorkville district of Toronto is allowed to have a sandwich board. I don't see what the problem is here.

Anonymous said...

From the Committee of the Whole agenda this week. I don't see how these bylaw letters fit in with Tofino's strategic plan.

4.ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
To develop a diverse and resilient economy that
maintains and enhances the natural environment,
sustains local livelihoods, promotes human well being, and supports community development.

All it does is attack the viability of businesses. I got one, and I don't know what the hell for. The sign was approved years ago and has been the same for a decade or more.
This is almost a Braden-esque signage scenario shake down all over again.
Shake down the resorts for all the water they didn't pay for instead please.

Anonymous said...

Where do they come up with these bully bylaw enforcers ?

Ralph Tieleman said...

Osborne agreed.

“Within this council’s term, we would really like to look at these different kinds of engagement, and there are different reasons for doing so and different approaches for doing it,” she said. “I think this takes some time to really think about, and to do well, and to think about staff capacity.”
Good luck improving engagement after sending letter like this !!

- See more at: http://www.westerlynews.ca/local-news/tofino-s-council-ponders-public-engagement-1.1870101#.dpuf

Anonymous said...

Sandwich boards make the town looked like it could be Tijuana or some other chaotic place where people are so desperate for business they'll do anything to attract interest.
we have seen this sandwich board nonsense before when some operators stick two or three cockeyed badly drawn sandwich boards on the sidewalk in front of their business meanwhile obstructing pedestrian traffic.
once it starts it becomes a free-for-all about who can have more cockeyed ill placed sandwich boards

Anonymous said...

bylaw enforcement Survey results 2015

Signage appears to be on the bottom of the the priority list.
So it makes total sense to start cracking down on small business signs ????!!!!
They probably haven't decided yet which consultant they are going to hire to explain these survey results to them.

https://tofino.civicweb.net/document/44759/BE%20Survey%20Results%20for%20Distribution%20-%20ppt.pdf?handle=E3EB2166AC434B789C3A0D7AA9604D1C

Anonymous said...

There is a bylaw about sandwich boards. It's probably not a new law. I would rather see that all bylaws are followed, or banished all together. Small businesses do benefit from little signs, but some business owners who would put them out, refrain from doing so because of the bylaws.

Vacation rentals are an issue, no argument there. Need a place to stay? https://www.airbnb.ca/s/Tofino--Canada?type=cabin

Anonymous said...

We have seen these letters in past years not a big deal just a reminder. Pretty sure most businesses got one but lets jump up and down and scream. Maybe we should rip our clothes off and burn our houses down. Get over it is just a letter.