Restaurant owner denies knowing people were living in adjacent suites condemned

The co-owner of Oh! Calcutta restaurant testified Tuesday he was aware a wooden door had been placed on the basement floor as a makeshift bridge so staff could walk across raw sewage about 15 to 20 centimetres deep from a sewer backup.

Ehsan Ali, however, said he was unaware anybody was still living in the basement when public health inspector Daria Romanish ordered the restaurant to be closed down and declared the basement suite unfit for human inhabitation on March 21, 2011.

Ali said he found out people were living illegally in the basement a week or 10 days prior to Romanish’s inspection and told them to leave. He said he called police on March 21, the same day as the sewage backup was discovered by health officials.

Romanish found evidence of three people living in the basement.

There were three separate sleeping areas with beds, a large-screen television, clothing, personal items such as toothbrushes and toothpaste and photos, among other things.

As well, restaurant items standing in the sewage could be seen in photos entered as exhibits by prosecutor Rob O’Neill.

There were also plastic bottles floating in the sewage that could be seen in the pictures.

Ali and co-owner Salauddin Choudhury each face 58 charges under the Public Health Act relating to the restaurant, the basement and two illegal suites in the upstairs of the building at 507 17th Ave. S.W.

Choudhury failed to show up for the first two days of trial and was arrested Tuesday, spending the night in custody, and he has not participated in this trial.

Ali said he also was unaware that several people were still living in the two upstairs suites at the time of the March 21 inspection, long after it had been deemed unfit for human inhabitation.

Even if he was aware, he said, he was not responsible for them as he had relinquished the lease on the upstairs.

However, O’Neill told provincial court Judge Heather Lamoureux in his final argument that Ali should be convicted as he still had control and was responsible for maintenance at that time.

O’Neill cited numerous health and safety infractions in the upstairs suites, including uncovered plug-ins and missing or non-functioning smoke alarms.

As well, he said an outside staircase to the upstairs had rotting boards with grass, plants and weeds growing between steps, and no lights for the stairwell or at the landing area, creating a highly dangerous situation.

Ceiling tiles were buckling and had fallen because of the water damage, mould had eaten through the ceiling and the kitchen ceiling had caved in and fallen from the water damage. There was also mould on the walls in the pantry.

O’Neill also noted the fact that, although there were windows in the bedrooms, none of them complied with minimum size requirements for egress, in case of fire or other emergency situations.

He insisted the owners had allowed the upstairs suites to be reoccupied in the face of the inspector’s order, without any of the repairs being done as required.

O’Neill requested that Choudhury’s trial begin next Monday, as two weeks were set aside for the entire case and Ali’s trial is expected to be concluded by the end of this week.

House Hunting in ... Croatia

This eight-bedroom stone villa, built in 2005, was designed to house a large extended family or to function as an owner-occupied vacation rental. In addition to the owner’s two-bedroom unit on the second floor, the four-story structure has a one-bedroom apartment and five studios, each with a bath and a kitchenette. Made of gray stone, with a red-tiled roof, the house has a one-car garage and a gated courtyard with a swimming pool. The one-bedroom apartment is on the first floor; it faces the pool and adjoins an exercise room. The main entrance, which opens onto a patio with a tiled roof, is one flight up. It is reached via a stone staircase.

The entire second floor is taken up by the owner’s two-bedroom apartment. The kitchen has a cream-colored ceramic tiled floor and windows overlooking the patio (also called a gloriette). The wood cabinets are painted white, and the hardware is stainless steel. The living room has an oak floor and pale yellow walls mounted with contemporary rectangular light fixtures. A sliding glass door opens onto a balcony with stucco arches overlooking the garden and the Adriatic Sea. The master bedroom, off the living room, has orange lacquered closet doors. The adjacent hall bath has a tub with a hand-held shower nozzle. The bathroom, its walls lined with yellow and white tile, has a bidet. The other bathroom, near the front door, has a shower stall and glossy turquoise tile.

The property is on a hillside cul-de-sac 15 minutes north of Dubrovnik in the village of Zaton. A small downtown, within walking distance, has restaurants, shops, a newsstand and a post office. The harbor, where you can swim and moor a boat for the day, is a five-minute walk. For longer-term boat moorings, the marina at the Adriatic Croatia International Club is about 10 minutes away.

The property market in Croatia is “generally steady, but coastal areas have slightly picked up since August,” thanks in part to foreign buyers, said Ivo Perkovic, a sales agent for First Property Croatia in Split. Prices in some areas are still off as much as 25 percent from their 2007 peak; Mr. Perkovic believes prices have stabilized at this new lower level. He said that although interest among Croatian buyers was strong, high mortgage interest rates were impeding purchases. Foreign buyers almost always pay cash, he added, because banks in Croatia generally will not lend to them.

“Prices in Dubrovnik are the highest in Croatia,” said Tatjana Tosic, director of property marketing and sales for the Dubrovnik Sun Gardens Resort. And Mr. Perkovic says homes in move-in condition in Old Town Dubrovnik start at 3,000 euros per square meter (about $365 per square foot, at 0.76 euros to the dollar).

Ms. Tosic says prices in the Dubrovnik region can go as high as 6,000 euros per square meter. The home profiled here is priced at 4,375 euros per square meter.

Before the financial crisis hit Europe, Dubrovnik was a popular second-home destination for residents of Britain. There are still some British buyers, Ms. Tosic said, but now the market is dominated by expatriate Croats who want vacation or retirement homes in Croatia. There are also many buyers from former Soviet bloc countries like Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, Ms. Tosic said.

Mr. Perkovic cited the area’s popularity in recent years with buyers from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Austria. He has also noticed an increase in the number of Americans, encouraged by a stronger dollar and a perception that property in Croatia will hold its value.

If a foreigner’s home country welcomes Croatian property buyers, Croatia will reciprocate. “This depends on bilateral agreements between Croatia and that particular country,” said Vedrana Kelleher, sales director for Savills Croatia.

“At this point in time, besides Croatian citizens, all citizens of E.U. can also buy without any restrictions,” she said.

Transaction costs include a 5 percent transfer tax paid by the buyer, and legal fees of about 1 percent of the purchase price, Ms. Kelleher noted. Legal fees cover the cost of obtaining government approval, which for American buyers is typically a straightforward process. Some agencies charge buyers a real estate agent commission of up to 2 percent, though Ms. Kelleher said that was not routinely the case.

Foreign buyers are urged to make sure the agent they use is licensed, as there are otherwise few legal protections, Mr. Perkovic said.

Real estate prices are advertised in euros, but the transaction takes place in kunas, according to Ms. Kelleher. The final exchange rate is determined on the day of sale.

Heaton starts remodeling, construction company

After living six years in Alabama, Eric Heaton has moved back to this area and started Heaton Remodeling and Construction Inc. in Princeton.

“I grew up in this area and decided to come back to help my dad and brother with the farming operation,” he said. “We wanted to raise our kids in this environment. I would eventually like to hire a crew.”

Heaton, the president and owner of the firm, enjoys doing bathroom and kitchen remodeling projects, but he would like to specialize in timber framing projects.

“I think it is one of my gifts that I enjoy making and building things,” he said.

Previously, Heaton had worked for Key Builders and Bullington and Isaacson Construction in Princeton prior to moving to Huntsville, Ala., where his wife’s family was located.

“The last three years we have pondered and prayed if and when to make the move back up here,” he said. “Last summer, we felt was that time.”

Heaton graduated from Princeton High School and North Park University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in biology.

He also took a course in Sante Fe, N.M., where he learned how to do timber framing and rustic-style architectural projects.

“No one does this work around here,” he added. “I would like to create my own niche and to think outside the box.”

In his more than 10 years as a carpenter, Heaton indicated he experienced several different aspects of the construction industry as a lead carpenter, a project foreman and an estimator.

“During this time, I have valued what it means to be precise and accurate when it comes to residential construction and remodeling,” he said. “Even allowing the smallest details to be overlooked can lead to larger problems in the final phases of the job. For this reason, we take the finest details of the project and incorporate them into the overall scope in order to achieve a higher level of quality craftsmanship.”

Some of the services offered by Heaton Remodeling and Construction are framing/timber framing, trim/finish carpentry, cabinetry, ceramic/stone tile, hardwood floors, windows/doors, painting, drywall, kitchen/bathroom remodeling, siding/cornice, outdoor living areas, decks/patios, fencing and masonry/concrete.

Flooding front and centre at architecture exposition

Flooding will be the main theme of the Architect '12 fair, featuring flood-escape housing design, a trend toward ceramic tile instead of wood, and redesigned mechanical and engineering systems.

Chalay Kunawong, vice-president of the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage (ASA), said flooding was the hot issue with the public, so Architect '12 would be about nothing but water.

"We have lived with water since long ago. We have to continue to live with it," he said.

There will be seven academic zones about water at the fair: Learning from Yesterdays, Architecture and Cities, Thailand's Settlement with Water, Our King and Water, Global Case Studies on Architecture with Water, Six Water Cities, and Visionary Water Architecture.

The Learning from Yesterdays exhibit will show how Thais lived with water and learned from it during the Dharavadee Age, the Sukothai Age, the Ayudhya Age and the Ratanakosin Age.

Architecture and Cities will show how city planning developed.

Thailand's Settlement with Water will show samples of people living with water such as the Koh Panyi community and those living in raft houses.

"We will select six provinces like Nan, Nakhon Ratchasima, Ayutthaya and Nakhon Sawan for architect firms to review and introduce flood protection solutions for future guidelines, not just basic ones," Dr Chalay said.

The fair will provide free of charge some 30-40 flood-protection housing designs with a usable area of smaller than 150 square metres.

Architect '12 will take place from April 24-29 at Impact Muang Thong Thani. Of the total exhibition area, 60,000 square metres, or 70%, is booked. Visitors will include architects, designers, engineers, contractors, developers, project owners and the general public.Visitors are expected to number 250,000. The ASA is aiming for 5 billion baht in sales for exhibitors at the fair.

Those exhibitors will include construction materials producers and suppliers such as Deco Room Co Ltd, a 33-year-old Thai-style furniture maker based in California that is shifting its focus to the Thai market.

Managing director Sopond Phairojmahakij said the company plans to spend 40-60 million baht to expand furniture production in Thailand after shifting its production base to Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district seven years ago and the showroom to Srinakarin Road in Bangkok four years ago.

Mission Viejo group brings artwork, $10,000 for tornado relief

A delegation from Mission Viejo, Calif., on Monday delivered a check for tornado relief and some public artwork.

The artwork is a ceramic tile mural called “Doves of Peace.” A subtitle reads “for the city of Joplin, Missouri, to help rebuild their parks after an incredible F5 tornado in May 2011.” It is on display in Joplin City Hall. A nearly identical one is on display in the City Hall in Mission Viejo, in southern California.

The group presented the city with a check for $10,000 on Monday. They had raised the money from many fundraisers, including raffles of gift baskets, and selling the opportunity to glaze pieces of tile that are part of the mural.

Cathy Allen and Margot Ferron headed up the fundraising effort. Allen, with the city activities committee, was organizing the town’s Fourth of July street fair when the tornado struck Joplin. Allen went to Mayor Dave Leckness with the idea of using the event to do something for Joplin. He approved.

Ferron joined the effort and began the Mission Viejo Supports Joplin campaign.

Booths at the street fair allowed children to create cards showing their support for Joplin children. It also attracted their parents, where large water jugs were awaiting their donations.

That effort raised $2,667. Allen and Ferron said they knew they could do better.

The Orange County city’s Hometown Block Party at the end of July provided another fundraising opportunity, with Christmas in July and a theme of “It’s better to give than to receive.” The event was sponsored by Mission Viejo’s Pacific Symphony.

They raffled tickets to a Los Angeles Angels baseball game.

“It was raised a dollar and $5 at a time,” Ferron said. She said the initial goal was $5,000, but it kept increasing each time the goal was met.

Ferron and Allen said they also were assisted by Lion’s Heart, a youth organization, and the local Boy Scouts troop.

On Sept. 9, with the fund $800 short of the $10,000 mark, an anonymous donor pitched in with the final $800.

The artwork is from a painting by the late Joe Koons in about 1969. He was a mentor of Melanie Yarak, who was part of the group who came to Joplin. Yarak said Koons taught her about the idea of allowing community members to glaze the tiles. Koons died before the “Doves of Peace” mural was created. His daughter, Jennifer Koons, was another artist listed on the piece. The fourth artist is Cha-Rie Tang.

Julie Koons, Joe Koons’ widow and Jennifer Koons’ mother, also traveled to Joplin for the presentation.

“I’m very proud and I know he would be thrilled,” Julie Koons said of the destination of her late husband’s art.

“He was the kind of guy who talked with a laugh,” Yarak said of her mentor. “I can just hear him telling me ‘incredible,’ if I were to tell him how his art was being used.”

Take That, Tsunami

Japan's World Cup soccer victory over the US women's team yesterday devastated the Yanks, but also gave a major kick in the pants to the bad fortunes haunting a nation struggling in the wake of a devastating tsunami. It was the first-ever World Cup win for the gutsy women, who endured to outshine the US team in a penalty shootout 3-1. "This was a devastating loss for us," said US midfielder Heather O'Reilly. "We were all stunned when that second goal went in, thinking we were five minutes from a championship." The US dominated play throughout much of the game, and was up 1-0, then 2-1 until a tie pushed the contest into overtime, then, finally the shootout.

Nimble, quicksilver Japanese goalie Ayumi Kaihori nabbed two of the American penalty kicks, and Carli Lloyd sent her ball sailing over the crossbars, giving the Japanese their victory margin. Though heartsick, the Americans were generous in defeat, notes the Wall Street Journal. "Japan was playing with a very large 12th man—it's called desire and hope," said US striker Abby Wambach. "I feel devastated. Japan, give them all the credit. They never gave up." Added goalkeeper Hope Solo: "We lost to a great team. I truly believe that something bigger was pulling for this team."

Sean McKeever Talks About Upcoming Marvel Trading Cards "The Avengers Kree-Skrull War"

"This July Marvel and Upper Deack are coming together and releasing five new comics that took place during the Kree-Skrull War. But these comics are going to be told through the trading cards and are apart of real comics continuity.And they are written by Fear Itself author Sean McKeever It will be a 190 card set and will have these stories for you to put together":

- The Sacrifice, a 20-page story that focuses on Cap, Thor, Iron Man and Vision, with art by Manuel Garcia.

- Power, a four-page story about Super-Skrull with art by Carlos Paul.
- The Debt, which tells a story of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in an eight-page comic drawn by Andy Smith.

- The Fall, which is about Nick Fury and features six pages of art by Allan Patrick.
- Soldier's Honor, a four-page story that focuses on Captain America and has art by Fabio Jansen.
and more in over 40 pgs. of comics on trading cards.

"Each card has a front and back, with nine cards fitting together to make a two-sided page. The cards will be sold with nine cards per $3 pack, and 24 packs per box. Upper Deck will also have additional insert cards in the collection, including "cover art" for the stories."

Newsarama: OK, Sean, when this was announced, it sounded more like it was about the cards instead of a real comic. But I guess since they got a real comic writer to do this, it's legit?

Sean McKeever: It is! It's a real Marvel comic. It's the first time Marvel has done something like this, and it's part of continuity. And it ties into a major storyline, with the Kree-Skrull War.


Nrama: How does it tie into the Kree-Skrull War?

McKeever: The great thing about Kree-Skrull War is that it started out in smaller stories that were hinting it, but then it grew more and more epic in scale.
So if you read the story, there are a lot of personal stories, and then once it gets big, there are a lot things going on in different places, like the big battle between some of the Avengers and the Skrull armada, and then there's Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch trapped on the Skrull homeworld.

So as they're jumping around from issue to issue, from one place to another, editor Bill Rosemann and I found these gaps in the story. And we thought, well what happens during that time? What can glean more insight into the story, and also glean more insight into the characters during that time period?

Electric Sky sells in Australia, India

UK distributor Electric Sky has sold a package deal into Australia, and is reporting sales into Denmark, India and more.

Denmark terrestrial DRTV has acquired the current affairs documentary Secret Iraq (2 x 59 minutes) by Quicksilver Media for BBC2, which was recently nominated for a BAFTA. The doc gives a new look at the story of Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Fox in India has picked up Mercurio’s Menu series 1 and 2 (26 x 21 minutes) by WTFN Entertainment for the Seven Network Australia. The travel and cooking series is presented by Strictly Ballroom star Paul Mercurio.

Also in India, Discovery has acquired Trishna & Krishna: Separate Lives (1 x 52 minutes) by WTFN for Seven (pictured). The documentary focuses on the separation of Siamese twins, and has also been picked up by UKTV’s channel Really.

In Australia, Seven picked up a package of programming, including green Olympic games documentary Going for Green: Britain’s 2012 Dream (1 x 48 minutes) by Darlow Smithson; HD two-parter Building Sea City (2 x 44 minutes) by Furnace for the Discovery Channel and architecture special Bridging the World (1 x 48 minutes) by Title Role Productions for History.

Seven also picked up a number of racing series including Racing Green (8 x 26 minutes) by  Von Planta Productions for BBC World News; Great Grand Prix Racing Heroes (12 x 52 minutes) and Le Mans, Battle of La Sarthe (1 x 52 minutes) both by Brunswick Films. 

Elsewhere in Australia, XYZnetworks’ LifeStyle HOME channel picked up A Place in the Sun – Home or Away series five (55 x 48 minutes) by Freeform Productions for Channel 4. Nine Network Australia has licensed World’s Fattest Man (1 x 60 minutes) by Electric Sky Production for Discovery TLC/Channel 4.

Electric Sky also announced other recent deals with E! Entertainment, which has licensed more than 40 hours of fashion and design series including Big Boutique series one and two (52 x 24 minutes) and Big Boutique In the City (13 x 24 minutes) and Fashion Avenue series 1 – 3 (32 x 25 minutes) which is presented by supermodel Jodie Kidd. 

In New Zealand, Sky Network acquired HD special Looking for Lowry (1 x 78 minutes / 1 x 60 minutes) by Foxtrot Films, featuring Ian McKellen. The doc celebrates British artist L.S. Lowry.

Lastly, French broadcaster Planete has picked up a package including Crime Scene Insects (1 x 47 minutes) by Crocodile Media for the Crime and Investigation Network; Partners in Crime (6 x 25 minutes) by Very! for Crime and Investigation Asia and The Second Coming (1 x 50 minutes) by UK producer Wild Dream Films for National Geographic USA. This one-hour documentary special features three men who claim to be the second coming of Christ.