Did Councillor Pam McConnell mess up by buying a condo in the Regent Park redevelopment?
Some well-placed folks may have broken the rules when they scored brand-new condos in a redevelopment partly financed by the city. Over the weekend, the Toronto Sun’s Sue-Ann Levy stopped baiting Margaret Atwood long enough to delve into the shadier details of the ongoing Regent Park revitalization, an attempt to transform the downtrodden area into a vibrant mixed-income community. She accuses local councillor Pam McConnell, project developers and former TCHC executives (including already-disgraced Gordon Chu) of conflict of interest, since they all bought prime condos in the development, which will get at least $200 million in public funding. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong has already called for an investigation, while Rob Ford promised, “I will drill down and I won’t stop.” If only Ford took conflict of interest issues this seriously all of the time. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »
This really needs further investigation for sure.. but I wish Bozo Ford would shut up as this fatso is the bigeest conflict of interest person ever in the name of politics!!!
I don’t understand this. These condos were built and put on the market. I assume Pam McConnell paid the market value. If the condo has gone up in value, that’s been normal in Toronto.
@Pee
Your handle suits you well, now go take one! And leave this corruption case to the RCMP!
I sell new construction condos & houses and YES, builders are renowned for paying people via FREE condos! It’s called a “paper wash”. That’s how flips are done also.
I want the forensic audit to look for deposit cheques withdrawn from ALL the councillors personal bank accounts!!! Also, check their bank accounts for large deposits that could have been made to cover these deposit cheques!
WHERE ARE THE 14,000 POOR NOW?
WHERE HAS PAM McCONNELL, THE BLEEDING HEART OF THE POOR,
STASHED THEM? IN TENTS?!
Missy…calm down, you seem to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed , little Miss Muffet!
I agree with @ pee where he says he needs further invesigation, I dont read form his note he accused anyone of anything, so take your caps off and go drink some tea. If you read the full details and article in full, the city gave them $200mil to rejuvenate Regent Park – she works for the city as s councillor who approved such payments. Hence, if the council contract and was not referred to see if conflict of interest, then let the RCMP investigate for sure but no need to be a bi@^H with all the caps etc. Think you are both saying the same thing, you just seem angry.
I dont get Missy’s point…what is your last point all IN CAPS about and saying? Bizarre… maybe the RCMP should investigate you… another crooked realtor!!
Missy is clearly Sue Ann Levy, the second fattest moron in this city (next of course to piggy Ford). Anything ‘written’ by someone who works for the Toronto Sun should immediately be taken as little more than a Saturday Night Live spoof on actual journalism. Bravo to them for another soft-hitting, conjecture filled report that remains buried somewhere between Sunshine Girls and Garfield comics, where it belongs.
Once this latest distraction subsides we can all get back to focusing on the literal ‘bigger issue’ in Sue Ann’s eyes: Rob Ford’s public weigh-ins at City Hall. These two prize pigs are really doing a great job of turning city politics into little more than a county fair.
Pam McConnell was in a clear position of conflict of interest.
I believe Missy was referring to the misplaced tenants that were vacated from Regent Park prior to the demolition. Where were they vacated to and will they be re-placed back into Regent Park once the construction is completed.
This article speaks to that: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/25/movin-on-up-in-regent-park
If she didn’t jump the line, get a better deal than other members of the public or have inside information that they were underpriced, then she did nothing wrong. It’s a case of putting her money where her mount is.
Ben, you say Sue-Ann Levy is second fattest to Rob Ford. I took a look, and she is not very fat. She is what is called pleasantly plump, not near the degree of corpulence of Rob or his bother, Doug. However, Sue-Ann Levy is truly annoying, a yappy lap dog of neo-con interests.
I don’t like Ford, I don’t usually agree with Levy, and I’m not sure McConnell has done anything illegal. BUT the bottom line is that under the guise of revitalizing public housing, vast amounts off public money were used to benefit the developer and condo buyers, when in reality, those who depend on public housing received very little benefit. My brother (estranged) who is in the construction industry alerted me to the shady nature of this whole deal years ago. His statements seemed very much at odds with all the great press the project was receiving so I didn’t give it much thought. But reading the details in Levy’s piece tells me that this needs MUCH MUCH CLOSER SCRUTINY. Just because Levy is the one that broke this story doesn’t mean that it should be ignored.
This isn’t about Ford, or Levy ,and it’s certainly not about fat.(why do you lefties always turn the story around when it’s about one of your own). She could have bought in many other condo projects(God knows theres enough to choose from)and saved all the suspicion cast on her. It sure has a funny smell to it. Certainly a lot more of a stink than pudgy(see isn’t that a nicer name) raising a few bucks for a kid’s football team. Do you think he sold off the equipment for a down payment for a publicly funded condo.Let’s check into the claim of “market value & and simply being on a preferred list! I’ll bet it was a preferred list!!
All of this is nonsense and Suzanne Levy should be ashamed.
Regent park has been hailed all over the world for the wonderful job it has done changing one of downtown Toronto’s worst neighborhood, and only Levy would trash that reputation.
Half the project is market, I know because I live here. Pam McConnell bought her unit at market price, as I did. This is all crap to make people angry, and sadly it’s working.
If Pam came from money, this is the kind of thing Sue would get sued for.
She and TCHC staff were all standing around drinking wine at the community centre right after the 200 Wellesley fire and guess what they were talking about!