Failure to receive summons delays Housing Court case
LOCKPORT—The owner of the partially collapsed Peters Dry Cleaning store was scheduled for a Housing Court arraignment on building code violation charges Thursday, but he said he didn’t go because he hadn’t been served with a summons.
Chief Building Inspector Jason Dool told Judge Thomas M. DiMillo that he had sent notice to store owner Patrick McFall, but DiMillo said there was no such letter in the court file and adjourned the case for a week.
McFall said in a phone interview that he was not served even though his new store is less than a block from City Hall. “I’m not going if I’m not served,” he said. “This is just part of the city’s campaign to harass me.”
One wing of his former store on Willow Street caved in Dec. 15. Since then, McFall and the city have been arguing over possible demolition. Deputy Corporation Counsel Matthew E. Brooks said the city filed a notice Thursday seeking a court hearing on “the safety of what remains.”
According to this Buffalo News article and several reports from witnesses of the the proceedings, the City's Chief Building Inspector, Jason Dool, lied to the Judge during a housing court hearing! Makes you wonder, if he is willing to lie to a Judge, who else would he lie to and/or what reports might he falsify? At the very least, Mr. Dool should be found in contempt of court, I would prefer to see him let go for violating the public trust! Don't hold your breath on any action being taken by the City though, heads will turn the other way, just as they did for Pat Schrader.
As a side observation, conspicuously absent was any type of report or coverage by the Lockport Union Sun & Journal. But we're not really surprised by that, are we?
I'm not sure Mr.Dool would gain anything by not being truthful about Peters and the notice to appear. Do you think he would put on a tie for no reason?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the bottom line with all these " high profile"cases whether it's Nicholas,Schader/residential kennel, or McFall is they are ( allegedly) all in violation of local and state building codes. The behavior of the City of Lockport after the violations are cited, is another issue.
Welcome to Lockport where you can do what ever you want. Just look around there's evidence of it everywhere! It's one Ginormous free-for-all.
I believe it was Mr.Brooks and the building inspection department that was guilty of lying to the judge. They were both sitting there and Mr. Brooks did the talking. Actually the summons was filed at 1:12 and court started at 1:30. The summons could not be served when it was just filed minutes before court started. MR BROOKS told the judge he was positive Mr. McFall was aware he had to be in court and that he was served with a summons and he stated a certified letter that I believe he said Mr.McFall signed for it, and they HAD A RECEIPT FOR IT. Not so, Mr. McFall was never legally notified about court. Thanks to the court clerk who pointed this out to the judge. Yet, these pocket pals of the mayor go unpunished. By the way if the city says Mr.McFall owns the building why did they not notifiy him when the crack in the building showed up?...a neighbor called them to inform them of it. Also this neighbor was told they would TRY to get a building inspector out to Peters at 3:30. If the contention is that McFall owns it should he not of been notified that there was a structural problem. Someone could of walked over to his new business and given him the news as his new business is like a block and half away. Mr. McFall had made arrangements to have this mess cleaned up the next morning. He was stopped by the building inspector and told there may be abestos in the window caulk of the blocked glass window. At this point he had to comply and stop clean up. Whether he owned the building or not, depending on who you believe, he cared enough to arrange clean up, IMMEDIATELY.
ReplyDeleteNo, this is all a personal attack on Mr. McFall by Jason Dool and the mayor. The mayor has his pocket pals do his dirty work for him.