Showdown at the Boardwalk Café: Tuggs owner gets an earful from local candidate
There are many reasons readers might be familiar with Sandra Bussin, councillor for Beaches–East York. Some may remember the time she called in to John Tory‘s radio show and called him a “three-time loser.” Others will remember her part in getting the city to renew a monopoly agreement with the Boardwalk Café, the only business permitted to sell food and drinks on the beach in the city’s east end. The cushy deal made against the advice of city staff (where have we heard that before?) guarantees that the restaurant won’t face any competition until 2028. Well, yesterday, the issue blew up in the open as a local candidate challenging Bussin argued with the owner of the Boardwalk Café, George Foulidis.
So says the Globe and Mail:
On Sunday, a fed-up Mr. Foulidis lashed out at Martin Gladstone, a candidate for Ward 32 Beaches–East York who called a news conference in front of the pub to reveal the contents of the 83-page lease, which he’d obtained through a Freedom of Information request…
In his summary of the lease, Mr. Gladstone said the deal was full of irregularities, including quarterly rent payments instead of monthly; no security deposit and no requirement that last month’s rent be paid upfront.
But Mr. Gladstone trumpeted a key finding that wasn’t new at all. It has been publicly known for months that the base rent over the life of the lease is 20-per-cent lower than what Mr. Foulidis first offered and what council approved back in 2007.
It’s safe to say that when council approved this deal way back when, no one expected it to fester the way it has. Some credit for keeping the issue alive has to go to Rob Ford: along with the Jarvis bike lane and the environmental assessment to tear down the Gardiner, the deal with Foulidis is one of Ford’s favourite examples of waste and corruption at city hall.
The issue has become so potent that the Toronto Star is calling Bussin’s seat a tight race, even though Bussin is a long-time incumbent who would be bulletproof in a normal election year. We stopped looking at a normal election year sometime around March, if memory serves.
• Mug full of frustration spills at Boardwalk Pub [Globe and Mail]
• Video: Quarrel at the Boardwalk Pub [Globe and Mail]
• 5 tight city council races to watch [Toronto Star]
• City’s controversial lease deal heats up [Toronto Sun]
I watched this video and I have to say that this candidate was just in for a photo op and backed down like a little girl when confronted by the pub owner.
As a long time Beach resident I agree with Martin Gladstone, and any other candidate who challenges the fairness or legitimacy of this deal. A monopoly is unacceptable in a city that needs to foster entrepreneurial growth as part of a healthy economic plan. Any type of monopoly corrupts and reflects very poorly on the leadership who allowed it to occur, and continue. Both city council members who allowed this deal to take place, and Sandra Bussin, should not be re-elected to represent a community whose best interests they have clearly demonstrated they do not have either the moral wherewithal or the competency to represent. A monopoly is power, and with power comes great responsibility. If we are not prepared to invest the resources to regulate a monopoly, its mere existence is a breach of trust.
There are no ‘levels’ of unethical behaviour – its relativity scale is the same, regardless of whether the issue deals with billions of dollars or one dollar. Unethical behaviour of any kind by a politician cannot be rewarded by re-election. There needs to be zero tolerance. It is absolutely irrelevant if Martin Gladstone’s revelation was self-serving. An election is a time to make leaders accountable for their actions. We need to applaud and support anyone who takes this initiative, regardless of whether we support them as a candidate or not (honestly, do any one of us have the time to do the type of checks and balances required for a job review of this stature?). Without paying close attention to these types of revelations, we either cast an ignorant vote or we align ourselves with the unethical practices that we elect. If Gladstone were elected, then he too, would be held to the same measure as he holds Bussin today.
We elect leaders to look after our interests as a community – as a whole. This is why, in a democracy, our vote is so important. When public officials abuse their power, the electorate HAS the authority to take this power away (that would be you and me). Not only from Bussin, but from any other candidate who has demonstrated incompetence or the abuse of power in his or her elected position. Torontonians need to take a good hard look in the mirror and decide where they each stand on the issue of ethics and the abuse of power. Then cast their vote accordingly.
I don’t blame the guy who got the great deal…any of us would have made the same deal if we had the chance … the one I blame is the councilor who sold out her constituents and the city. She dosn’t deserve to be representing the area .. like it or not this is corupt… what did it get her free lunches on the weekend?
Tim, it got her lots of cash donations from the family who holds the lease!!
CORRUPTION anyone???
SO TUGGS IS LAUNCHING A LAW SUITE AGAINST RANTING ROB FORD…FORD AMAZES ME EVERY TIME HE PUTS HIS FOOT IN HIS MOUTH…DOES CIRQUE DU SOLEIL KNOW ABOUT HIM. JUST THINK IF ROBBIE RANT WINS AND BECOMES MAYOR WE WILL GO BROKE DEFENDING LAW SUITES BECAUSE HIS MOUTH WORKS FASTER THAN HIS BRAIN.
@Tim Devlin,
Don’t type entirely in CAPS, Timmy, ’cause it makes you sound like a screaming, banjo-pickin’ moron.
Back to the issue at hand.
Bussin is infamous for lawsuits, such as the one she initiated against Lery St. Germain over — you guessed it — the Boardwalk Pub! And guess who paid her legal expenses, folks? Us taxpayers! Yup, great to live in a “democracy” like Toronto, isn’t it?
So I guess Ford can now use taxpayer dollars to pay his legal costs against the owners of the Boardwalk Pub and their nuisance suit? After all, if it was good enough for Bussin….
Let’s face it, the city is already bankrupt. Note also that council previously approved a $65k payment for Adrian Heaps legal costs for an incident BEFORE he became a councillor. Taxpayers are also on the hook for Sandra Bussin suing a local newspaper. I’ll bet that Ford will de-classify documents when he becomes mayor and we’ll see if and / or how much was swept under the carpet using Miller’s broom.
Your headline is deceiving as it looked to me by the video that the candidate got an earful from the pub owner not the other way around. Not Council material for sure.
I wouldn’t have boycotted the Boardwalk Cafe over Ford’s comments, but I sure as hell will now that Foulidis thinks he can railroad the citizens of this city. I certainly hope the details of the in-camera meeting are still available so that they can be de-classified by the next mayor of this city. Somebody will have some ‘splaining to do.