the grab bag # 7

Illegal tree removal costly for local realtor (redacted)

By Cheryl Rossi-Staff writer

A local realtor will have to pay $205,000 for the removal of 72 trees from three adjacent Point Grey properties.

Paulo Leung of Regent Park Realty pleaded guilty to 72 counts of tree removal without a permit and was fined $205,000, or $2,850 per tree, May 10.

Rosy Palace Investments, which owns the multi-million dollar Belmont Avenue properties, was found not guilty.

In November 2005, neighbours called the city to complain that 82 Douglas fir, holly, maple, weeping willow and fruit trees had been removed from the lots that sit above Spanish Banks and edge the University Endowment Lands.

"The surprising thing was that the complaints didn't come until the job was done," Jackson said.

The three properties were listed for sale at $14.8 million at the time the trees were removed.

Following a police investigation, the owner and realtor were charged with 82 counts under the city's private property tree bylaw.

The city, Greater Vancouver Regional District and Department of Fisheries and Oceans were left wondering how the clearcut would affect the stability of the nearby slopes and the salmon-bearing Spanish Bank Creek.

"The one comment that was made on this was that the amount paid exceeded the [realtor's] commission in the sale, so I thought that was interesting," Jackson said.

Leung continues to work for Regent Park Realty. He did not want to comment on the case. (from the Courier)

Also from the Courier, this letter:

Condo dweller living good life with clenched teeth

To the editor:
Re: "Centrepiece bowl of Granny Smith apples essential part of urban lifestyle," May 16.

Finally someone has said it. With humour and tongue planted firmly in cheek, Michael Kissinger has shone a light on the murkier aspects of developers manufacturing reality while marketers gleefully, albeit unimaginatively, sell the illusion.

Living in high-priced ghettos is even more laughable than considering apples in a bowl as the enticement. The hilarity of materials advertised in glossy portfolios, substituted by inferior products, rock bottom standards of construction and finishing is ever so amusing. For the novice to the pushy condominium concept of existence, please know that the vision of warranty inspectors will see no defects. Lilliputian-sized spaces that cannot accommodate furniture are augmented by the laughable absence of storage space.

I also enjoy the comedy of square footage that includes the balcony in the price point. Since marketing has become a euphemism for deceiving, living in a condominium in Vancouver is a clenched-teeth smile. Yes indeed, I'm living the life.

A. Gould
Vancouver

Could'na said it better myself...