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The Hotel and Former Mayor Korpan
Letter to the Editor:
That former Mayor Korpan is “Shocked and appalled” (letter, June 18) by Council’s behaviour in discussing a proponent proposed doubling of the time allowed to proceed with the latest Conference Centre hotel project is, in itself, shocking and appalling. Once bitten, twice shy. Need we be reminded of the ongoing money pit presented by our present Conference Centre. Mr. Korpan, aided by Councillor Brennan and her then fellow Councillors (minus Loyd Sherry), led us into a quagmire costing millions a year and rising.
A referendum was held on the project on November 20, 2004, which barely passed. It assured voters that the Conference Centre/Mariott Hotel project would be completed at a cost of no more than $49.5 million (plus $3 million from the Province) coming from City taxpayers. We can all remember that before the agreement finally fell apart, the front end cost to Nanaimo taxpayers ballooned by 40% to $72.5 (to the best of my knowledge no forensic accounting of this project has ever been done) and the promised hotel which was to be developed simultaneously disappeared without a by your leave (or the return of funds advanced by taxpayers). Both of the conditions required by the referendum thus vanished into the bowels of City Hall… but the ongoing costs did not.
It is best to remember the old saying that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Nanaimo taxpayers are continuing to pay high costs for bad decisions and poor contracts in the matter of this Conference Centre. It is no wonder that talk of projects which fall into the shadow of such history lead to heated discussion. Would that there had been much more such discussion back in 2004.
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I remember that episode clearly.
The vote came out at 51% for 49% against, and Mayor Korpan
being interviewed immediately
after the results were in declared
‘Well, a win’s a win!’ in a triumphant voice. Oblivious to the fact that the opposition side had only a matter of four weeks
or so to mount it’s campaign,
and managed a 49% resistance.
Another interesting feature of that campaign was the use of Diebold machines to count the votes, manufactured in the states, and evidently designed (during the Bush era) with the special feature of having
a ‘back door’ allowing tampering
by savvy programmers to produce a 51 to 49% pro vote!
The info is there on line for anyone wishing to research it.
Moe…iPod.
I’d like to know what the Conference Centre is actually costing us to sit empty. I believe the contractor gets $1M per year but the cost of servicing the debt is another $2.5 M/yr (interest + principle). Are these amounts accurate? Yes, it also would be nice to find out where the other $30M went. It might be not too late to get a forensic audit done.
Are such things, as the costs of the Conference Centre, considered within a core review?
The total costs of the conference centre is well over $3 million per year to City of Nanaimo taxpayers.
Former mayor Gary Korpan should be ashamed of himself. How he has the stones to speak out and try to keep running for council is beyond me.
He and the band of misfits, i.e.. Ron Cantelon, Doug Rispin, Jerry Berry, Al Kenning etc, did a terrible number on this community.
We are going to be paying for their mismanagement, incompetence, hubris, arrogance, and downright stupidity for many years to come.
I thought Mayor Bill McKay was going to put an end to the madness by repurposing the conference or at least totally getting it off our books.
Instead, he’s the lapdog of another band of misfits, i.e. The Yes Committee and Kim Smythe, who have about as much common sense as rabid monkeys.
McKay is a terrible disappointment. Nanaimo is screwed for the next few years, unless the rest of council picks up the mantle of leadership that has been collecting dust for about 25 years.
Prediction: The conference centre will continue to bleed money by the time the next election rolls around. It will continue to sit empty and we will be having the same conversation come 2018/2019