Well, at least nobody can say that there is no debate in Council these days.  While continuing to loan millions in interest free taxpayer money to Millennium/Suro does not seem to bother 5 of our Councillors, for this and many other good  reasons four others strenuously debated the issues involved and voted against.  As it unfolded we were also reminded that the bulk of the money to be received from the Arena/Foundry lands will no doubt go to the developer to put in a high rise  parking lot for the public as there would otherwise be no parking at the park.  Beyond the sizable loan over at least two years, taxpayers will also be asked to put up more money to try to find a developer who will perform.  I thought that these developers would perform this job for the sake of their own reputations if for no other reason.  Then again, we may wish to ask, if this is what should be done, why was it not done at the start.  It is all a great puzzle to me, though it appears that the major hidden element behind this is that if this default were actually recognized, that any new proposition would have to be brought to the public for agreement.  I guess we really don't want that to happen, when the majority Councillors now have the public in the palm of their hand.

After some further discussion and by a 6 to 3 vote, Council voted to exchange some 21% of our available heavy industrial land for a resort classification at Cable Bay.  This means that they need not fall back on the parcel which they tried to get the city to annex for them by the suspect means of a negative option referendum, a popular means by which an unsuspecting public can be "led".  It seems that we go to a lot of effort to avoid democracy when it comes to issues.  Like the cartoon said, representative democracy is where you elect your dictators.

It also became increasingly evident that Council has not been given a good grasp of the budget and what is involved.  I felt that staff did not seem to feel it necessary to ensure that Councillors had a clear idea of what was before them but that they should take or leave what was put forward as "suggestions .  It felt it little bit like stockholders at GM must have felt when they asked the Chairman and CEO about what the company was doing and were withered with dire consequences and previously untendered details.  And as it turns out the budget information given to Council apparently only reached them minutes before the meeting began. 

We now know what is happening to GM.  Do we know what is happening to Nanaimo?



 


Comments

Concerned

04/07/2009 12:50:14

Two of the concerns I have with the whole foundry land deal is the upgrades completed and ongoing today. We the taxpayer spent 300 thousand dollars and change on intersection upgrades and now we the taxpayer are upgrading the maffeo sutton park for 1.5 million. The million dollar question is for who ? It best not be for the American developer.

 

Eric Cameron

04/07/2009 16:49:55


What an exciting council meeting ! Real emotions and some very good points raised. It must be a source of relief for Loyd Sherry to know that he is no longer the lone battler.

I really have gained a lot of respect for Bill Bestwick. He has shown that the great support he got during the last election did not make him pompous but rather spurred him to become more dedicated to his profession. Some of his insights were very shrewd and he showed tenacity. Great !

So far, our new Mayor has been as malleable as Jerry Berry could hope but we'll see if that lasts. We only need one more council member to wake up and this horrible deal will finally be nullified. Who knows, it could be Ruttan who sees the light.

 

matahari

04/08/2009 18:25:41

I would make the following comments with respect to the April 6th council meeting.
1.Jerry seemed to quite agitated and sweating some of the questions.
2.I wish there had been more follow up on L.Sherry's (and Bestwick's?) concern about potential geo-technical and environmental problems with the condo site.This could be very,very serious.
3.Mayor Ruttan is a huge disappointment.He is basically clueless.
4.How in hell does Larry McNabb keep getting elected?He is likely ,without a doubt,one of the stupidest municipal politicians in B.C.
5.Fred Taylor asked some very good questions,but having done so he typically walks away from the mike without demanding an answer.The politicians and little gerry are let off the hook.
6.We have not seen the end of the Millenium issue.I fear there are 'sleeper' clauses in the contract that will come back to haunt the taxpayers.We will see what the next 12 months brings.If it turns out that Millenium sqeezes even more from the city then they already have,then Berry and his Ass't Mgr. (the talking ghost) will have to be fired.(but they won't be).
7.I re-read some of the comments made by former city councillor,nutball Jeet Manhas,about how everything Millenium was doing was so wonderful and they were working so hard and nirvana was just about to occur.And now this phony,shifty-eyed,lying half wit is running for a provincial seat.God help us if he gets elected.

 

Ron Bolin

04/08/2009 22:00:34

Dear Matahari: Please be advised that I have only two possibilities in dealing with comments on this site: I can leave them or I can delete them. You have expressed yourself very strongly here and I have no problem with that (though I do believe that strong statements should be properly identified by name rather than a handle). Strong statements can be made quite adequately without name calling (a la your point 7) and I request that in future you refrain from doing so. I do not want to have to delete comments here.

 

Concerned

04/09/2009 11:25:22

I find Mataharis comments very suttle as a lot worse could have been said about this individual. But I agree Ron this is not the forum for Jeet bashing, that forum will be held on May 12th 2009.

 

matahari

05/13/2009 18:29:20

Mr. Bolin.It is said by you that one should be polite during public discourse.I guess this means sitting back and taking it when municipal politicians spend 3 years lieing to the public.This is exactly what Manhas did when he continued to spout how wonderful Millenium was and how hard they are working on the project,and how fortunate Nanaimo was to have such a great partner for the hotel.Well we all know what a hoax this was and still is-Millenium has made zero progress since day one,yet Manhas never once told the truth about the situation.In fact he did the opposite.Thank goodness the voters of Nanaimo recognized his utter incompetence and character deficientcies.
I don't think it is in the interests of the people to be nice to politicians who are incapable of telling the truth,as you appear to believe.

 

matahari

05/13/2009 18:29:30

Mr. Bolin.It is said by you that one should be polite during public discourse.I guess this means sitting back and taking it when municipal politicians spend 3 years lieing to the public.This is exactly what Manhas did when he continued to spout how wonderful Millenium was and how hard they are working on the project,and how fortunate Nanaimo was to have such a great partner for the hotel.Well we all know what a hoax this was and still is-Millenium has made zero progress since day one,yet Manhas never once told the truth about the situation.In fact he did the opposite.Thank goodness the voters of Nanaimo recognized his utter incompetence and character deficientcies.
I don't think it is in the interests of the people to be nice to politicians who are incapable of telling the truth,as you appear to believe.

 

matahari

05/13/2009 18:30:36

Mr. Bolin.It is said by you that one should be polite during public discourse.I guess this means sitting back and taking it when municipal politicians spend 3 years lieing to the public.This is exactly what Manhas did when he continued to spout how wonderful Millenium was and how hard they are working on the project,and how fortunate Nanaimo was to have such a great partner for the hotel.Well we all know what a hoax this was and still is-Millenium has made zero progress since day one,yet Manhas never once told the truth about the situation.In fact he did the opposite.Thank goodness the voters of Nanaimo recognized his utter incompetence and character deficientcies.
I don't think it is in the interests of the people to be nice to politicians who are incapable of telling the truth,as you appear to believe.

 

matahari

05/13/2009 18:31:30

Mr. Bolin.It is said by you that one should be polite during public discourse.I guess this means sitting back and taking it when municipal politicians spend 3 years lieing to the public.This is exactly what Manhas did when he continued to spout how wonderful Millenium was and how hard they are working on the project,and how fortunate Nanaimo was to have such a great partner for the hotel.Well we all know what a hoax this was and still is-Millenium has made zero progress since day one,yet Manhas never once told the truth about the situation.In fact he did the opposite.Thank goodness the voters of Nanaimo recognized his utter incompetence and character deficientcies.
I don't think it is in the interests of the people to be nice to politicians who are incapable of telling the truth,as you appear to believe.

 



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