Vision says public has right to know, NPA says misinformation spread
Christina Montgomery, with a file from John Colebourn
Province
A motion by Vision councillors to have a public debate on a $100-million bailout of the Olympic Village failed. Photograph by : Jon Murray, The Province
NPA mayoral candidate Peter Ladner said Friday he was prepared to lose the election rather than go public with — and risk — negotiations on a controversal $100-million city loan to developers of the financially troubled False Creek Olympic athletes’ village.
“I am willing to lose the election to protect taxpayers’ interests in the Olympic Village,” Ladner said.
And he accused his opponent — Vision Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson — of “spreading misinformation” about the city’s involvement in the project and of costing the city millions of dollars by harming the city’s negotiating position.
Ladner’s comments came Friday night, just minutes before Vision Vancouver councillors attempted to table an emergency motion asking for a public council debate on the loan before the Nov. 15 civic election.
The effort failed when the motion was ruled out of order.
Known as the Vancouver Olympic Village, the project occupies a seven-block area on the southeast shore of False Creek. It will feature 1,100 housing units in 14 residential buildings, along with retail space and a community centre. After the Games, it will be converted to 850 market-value homes and 250 units of social housing. About half the residential units have been sold.
On Oct. 14, COPE, Vision and NPA councillors and NPA Mayor Sam Sullivan voted unanimously at a confidential session to approve $100 million in loans to Millennium Development.
All councillors present at the in-camera session are legally sworn to keep proceedings confidential. An open council forum would allow councillors to ask questions about the city’s level of risk as the village is completed — and after the Games, when units will be sold and monies recovered.
Council also reportedly voted to approve up to $450,000 to hire a third party to oversee construction of the rest of the project.
The city has already signed a $193-million guarantee to satisfy the lender, U.S.-based Fortress, and has already advanced nearly $30 million to Fortress on behalf of the developer.
Millennium was facing about $60 million in cost overruns on the construction of the village for the 2010 Winter Games. As host city, Vancouver is bound to deliver completed housing to Games officials next year — hence its attempt to move the project along. The company’s projects in West Vancouver and Nanaimo also face troubles.
Money for the City of Vancouver’s village loan is to come from the city’s $2-billion property endowment fund, a bank of land and cash built up over the years to do things like purchase land for civic theatres or social housing. Its cash reserves fluctuate and can be as little as $30 million or as high as $200 mil-
lion.
The failure of Friday night’s motion to council didn’t stop the accusations, and Ladner insisted Robertson of turning critical negotiations into a “political football.”
The accusation didn’t stop Robertson, who continued to insist that “the citizens of Vancouver should expect no less than full and open disclosure of how every one of their tax dollars are spent — let alone $100 million of them.”
Robertson told The Province that a number of issues not directly related to financial details of the deal should be moved into open debate — including clarification of the status of the city’s financial director, Estelle Lo, who is reported to have tendered her resignation after repeatedly voicing concerns about the city’s financial involvement in the project.
© The Vancouver Province 2008