The City of Vancouver, Canada "...a man who has failed to set and reach productive goals, a man who has never done anything worthwhile by his own standards, will often seek to disguise his feelings of inadequacy by taking a postion of power in which he can experience the pseudo-self-esteem of telling others how to live their lives." - Morris and Linda Tannehill.
On 5 July 2005, Lynn Urekar, a licence inspector with the City of Vancouver tried to force her entry into my property. I reported this matter to the Mayor, Larry Campbell, the City Manager, the head of the licensing division, etc. Nothing happened. Two months later I put this case on internet, as I did not think anything was going to happen. Of course, nothing happened. After the new Mayor, Sam Sullivan, was elected, I reminded him of the matter hoping against hope that he would take some action. On this occasion, the legal services department of the City wrote me a letter to blackmail me not to raise this matter. Sidetracking the issue, they wrote me that I was running my business illegally until 13 July 2005. I provided evidences to the Mayor and challenged them to take legal action against me. The spineless people went quiet. Here is the sequence of events: · The case of the queen of District-23, Lynn Urekar, forcing her entry into my property. · This is a letter I got from the City. They wrote me more than 5 months after my report. · In the above-mentioned letter, the City's department of rationalising-their-misdeeds, a.k.a. the Law Department, says that I did not have a license when I was operating the food unit. Here is a copy of the temporary license dated 27 June - the permanent license takes its own sweet time to arrive. Here is the health permit issued on 1 July 2005. Those experienced with how it all works warned me of troubles when I decided not to ingratiate myself with Lynn Urekar. The attempts of the City's law department are utterly incompetent despite the fact that they are probably using services of a big private law company. In their letter, they have written to me that Lynn Urekar is respected (of course!) by others in the City, so this somehow proves that she did not make any attempt to wrongfully enter my property. Rest of their letter is a threat to quieten me (considered an ugly trick among ethical lawyers) by saying that I ran my business illegally until 13 July - they have refused to accept my business license issued on 27 June and health permit issued on 1 July as valid, pretty much meaning that I forged these documents when I started my business on 5 July 2005. Or in other words MasterCard magically transfered money from my credit card to the City's account after calculating what license fees were due on me on a pro rata basis from 27 June until 31 December 2005. If the City's Legal Services office is correct in their accusation, I have been a serious criminal (worse given that I am an immigrant). I have requested the City to take legal actions against me - the Maoists, which these City officials are, should be happy with such self-flagellation. Be warned. Do not dare complain or the Legal Services of the City will dig up strange interpretation of bye-laws to hassle you. Also, according to them a public servant no longer has to carry an ID, a business card is enough. So if someone/anyone in Vancouver tells you that he or she is public servant, grovel and do what is asked - common criminals have a wonderful time, and why not, you are better than the ones in the City anyway. I closed the restaurant in early February 2006. Manufacturing in this real world is only for those who can kowtow to the losers in the City (who obviously hide their feeling of inadequacy by bullying others). Did you wonder why manufacturing is moving to Asia? Jayant
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