Vancouver's top financial manager resigned two weeks ago, according to a column by Gary Mason in today's The Globe and Mail, after more than a year of expressing her concerns about the city's deepening financial investment in the Olympic Village at Southeast False Creek.
Mason's report contradict finance committee chair and NPA mayoral candidate Peter Ladner's daily assertions that CFO Estelle Lo is still on the payroll and that "she has never spoken to anybody I know about this project or any concerns she has about this project."
Columnist Mason, who broke news of the Olympic Village scandal last week, updates the story today with new (but still unattributed) claims:
Estelle Lo's concerns about the city's involvement in the Olympic athletes' village were well known and dated back more than a year.
It was then that the director of finance for the City of Vancouver first expressed to staff the worries she had about the financing arrangements with the project's developer, Millennium Development, according to sources.
Paramount among those concerns was the potential risk and liability the city was assuming in the project. Did the city have access to Millennium's corporate assets if it needed to recoup monies owed in the event the developer failed to complete the project, she wondered.
Mason directly refutes Ladner's carefully worded suggestion that Lo has not resigned:
There seems little question now that her concerns led to her resignation, which was accepted by the city Oct. 29. Personally, I think she was given little choice: either you resign or we'll fire you. And while Mayor Sam Sullivan said last week he hadn't heard anything about her departure and that, as far as he knew, she was still on the payroll, that seems impossible to believe.
I was told yesterday her office has been padlocked.
And Mason concludes today's column with some real-estate math:
If the loan from Fortress is $750-million and you add, potentially, $100-million to cover cost overruns, and then another $193-million for the cost of the land, then you're looking at total costs of more than $1-billion. That means the 1,100 units in the residential complex that was once the athletes' village would have to average $1-million each.
In this market, it's not going to happen.
Today's Globe also includes a Frances Bula article, which reports that the cash portion of the city's property endowment fund is tapped out:
Vancouver didn't raid the city's much-valued Property Endowment Fund as a source for a potential $100-million loan to the builder of the city's Olympic athletes village.
That's because the fund's almost $200-million in cash reserves have already been depleted to pay for what the city has to build on the site.
And completing the trifecta, today's Globe also includes an article expanding on on the political fallout from Millennium Development's stalled hotel project in Nanaimo, which was reported on The Hook last week.
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Blackbird
3 years ago
Estelle Lo, we need you!
Only you can help us understand what is actually going on here. Rumours and accusations are spreading throughout the city. I appreciate you are probably in no mood to face the media, but it would be so great for the whole city if you could find a way to share the truth with Vancouverites so we can all move on. If you don't feel comfortable talking or writing to anyone at City Hall, please write a letter to the editor of one of our papers or offer an interview to a reporter you trust. We need to know and preferably before the election.
Please?
wally
3 years ago
C'mon Estelle...
...Judy and Sam may have signed your cheques but your salary was paid by the citizens of Vancouver. You owe your actual employer the benefit of your expertise and knowledge. Speak up now so that the folks who pay the taxes can make an informed decision before the election and expose the mealy-mouthed bafflegab that's being tossed around for what it is, a lame exercise in cover-up so as to avoid accountability. The NPA backroom boys have calculated that if we can be fooled for just a few more days then they might be able to avoid a complete massacre.
We all deserve to know if the decisions around the Millennium bailout were rationally considered or if they motivated by a dim panic that serves the needs of a handful of insiders.
joelguy
3 years ago
Three things
1. If Lo's concerns were "well-known", then it seems a stretch to think that Vision/COPE voted yea without also knowing of them.
2. Who makes the decisions around here? Who has the authority to lift the veil? Anyone? No one? Agh.
3. Aside from all this, Bula's article actually seems to contradict what we've been hearing about the bailout. Am I mistaken?
RossK
3 years ago
I believe you are correct Joelguy...
....about the contradiction that Ms Bula's piece reveals.
____
I also would also like to draw folks' attention to another nugget buried deep within the Ms. Bula's piece:
"The current Opposition, Vision Vancouver, was attacked repeatedly in the 2005 election for proposing that the fund be used as a subsidy to enable a third of the Olympic village to be sold or rented at lower rates to middle-income residents."
Now, if you remember, that 'proposal' was deemed unworthy by the current city staff and the current city council almost immediately after it came to power.
The irony in all of this?
The 'proposal', which would have made it possible for a broad cross-section of Vancouverites to live in SouthEast False Creek, was deemed to 'risky' and 'expensive' because it was going to cost the property fund $50 million.
_____
I comment more fully on this sad irony at my place here, for anyone interested.
.
thu
3 years ago
The Vicious Vision
Vision has done a good job at pinning this whole "scandal" on the NPA and Peter Ladner considering they have also been caught with their hands in the cookie jar AND were the original architects of this deal with Millenium. It's interesting how the media has barely questioned Vision's involvement in this, or the timing of this leak. The claim that Vision voted YES for this without knowing all the details is just bizarre and raises so many red flags on it's own.
But, it looks like Vision will be successful in their coordinated and well-funded smear campaign, and with the media's cooperation, they will probably be elected to run the city of Vancouver for the next 3 crucial years. Is buyer's remorse just around the corner at a time when the city can least afford it?
If you're going to blame someone for this loan, you have to include ALL incumbents, not just the NPA. In that case, you should just vote for non-incumbents. Vision has Andrea Reimer and Kashmir Dhaliwal. NPA has some good ones, too: Sean Bickerton and Michael Geller. Independent candidate Lea Johnson would be great on City Council, too. And I believe all these people could work with each other without all the baggage from past Councils.
So, Vote NON-INCUBMENT on November 15, otherwise, it'll just be more of the same.
egmont rapids
3 years ago
wake up THU
READ THIS---
http://bettysearlyedition.blogspot.com/2008/02/for-love-of-olympics.html
Then read this
http://westcoastindienews.blogspot.com/2008/11/something-stinks-in-vancouver-follow.html
realisticman
3 years ago
Grant/egmont
I do hope you watched and listened to Larry Campbell - and Philip Owen, on TV this Tuesday evening.
Very critical of VISION and Gregor was this founder of VISION and the former Mayor.
“It’s an election deal,” Owen said. “We’re faced with the same thing facing the United States. We had Karl Rove and we had Dick Cheney and we had all the negative ads, and I guess someone’s picked up on that and said, ‘Let’s start throwing some mud around.’” ETC....
alive
3 years ago
about councillors
This cloak of secrecy may have been around for many years, but that does not make it any better!
Every land developer loves the opportunity to "make a deal" with the city, like we trade this property for that one and you then allow us to build at a higher density rating?
I can understand that in such instances it would end up where every developer would want part of every action that has been dug up by the first developer.
Perhaps what we need to question is how eager city council was to get this olympic village happening and how far they went in order to make it happen?
It sound like that for a change the advantage was in the developers corner, and they really pushed council well past their normal conservative attitude.
We can go back and ask who the hell got the idea that Vancouver should get involved in the olympics in the first place?
Rather than pin blame, it would be sensible to insure that no future council gets the power to make silly promises (in secret)that could bankrupt the city!
Every city and town seem to wind up with "leaders" who has visions of creating monuments to themselves.
Where I live a sparsely attended forum suggested that "we" should go for a sewer system, even though the majority of property owners have no problems with their septic systems.
The result was a grant of $50.000 to investigate the possibilities and soon the ball was rolling: a referendum that once again only few bothered with and now we get saddled with tax increases as well as the cost of hooking up to this system that really was not needed!
Just an example of "hard working" councillors chasing any opportunity to show how well they represent us!
In fact they only represent the majoriy of the meager about 20% who bothered to vote!
My opinion is that they all want to be a big frog in a small pond (since that is all they can manage, at this time!)
egmont rapids
3 years ago
RMan
Who cares,Larry Campbell was one of the original OKers of the deal!
Larry Campbell is trying to deflect the "leak" as the crime, gimmee a break!
Not one word on Gary Mason`s column today in either the sun or province,not one word from the Nanaimo story, not one word about Estele Lo being fired or resigning!
Not one word from canwest papers or Canwest global News! Gee I wonder why
Funny thing though,Canwest/sun Paper had 2 big front page stories on Sam Sullivan,all complimentary!
Does anyone really believe or expect Canwest Global to play it straight!
It is well known the canwest Global is all NPA all the time,EVERYONE KNOWS CANWEST GLOBAL IS ALL BC LIBERAL ALL THE TIME!
IT IS SO BLOODY OBVIOUS THAT CANWEST IS TRYING TO MAKE THE STORY GO AWAY,IT ISN`T!
VANCOUVER IS GOING TO TAKE A HALF BILLION DOLLAR BATH ON THIS DEAL
LETS TALK TO MS LO
realisticman
3 years ago
egmont
Try and stay calm. You're wrong about The Sun.
Today;
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=6b33fefd-abcf-45e5-a20a-5678ecb75c75
You're wrong too about Global. Click here quick it was the lead story today at 6pm (Millenium and the Village)!
http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html
What were you thinking?
NicS
3 years ago
rman & Sun & Global Trying To Sidestep Real Issue
No "un-realisticman" you are wrong! Both the Sun and Global are reporting on where or who the leaked story came from. As for the story's details of what happened to the Millennium deal, the money and those players. The mainstream media do not want to report on what happened to our tax dollars and which politicians are responsible for betraying our trust in them. Your loyalties are as transparent as The Sun and Global's attempts to avoid the real story here.
The underlying story here is about BC politics, not who leaked what document.
realisticman
3 years ago
NicS trying to fling in a herring
I'm not wrong Nic. Egmont repeated that the Sun and Global had, "Not one word". Well, as I pointed out, they both had lots.
I'm interested in the deal too but, by law, releasing the meeting's details is illegal. We will all have to wait.
egmont rapids
3 years ago
You wrong again Rman
It is so obvious that the Canwest/Global/--Bill Good show this morning,the Right wing neo-conservatives have circled the wagons to try and protect one of their wounded strays.
Yea no-one can talk about a in-camera meeting without penalty of death but a ex-mayor who okayed the deal and another ex-hack mayor can talk in tandem to the press blaming Vision,blaming Gregor asking for it all to go away!
What does what Owen said mean? " The city of Vancouver won`t get hurt SEVERLY'
Victoria times/vancouver sun/vancouver province---Not one front page story on Villiage gate yesterday,but the Sun had 2 front page stories on Sam Sullivan!
It is so obvious what Canwest Global is up to!
People will see right through it!
Just like the polls that have Gordon campbell down 11 points,just because Campbell has destroyed the polls doesn`t change the results!
Don`t insult everyone`s intelligence,if you want to believe everything that shovelled in your face Rman,go ahead, it is up to your snail`s belly standard!
wally
3 years ago
Bill Good should be embarrassed.
The first segment this morning was so blatantly partisan that I phoned in to say, "Enough already, at least attempt a semblance of balance." and got laughed at. Literally. Somebody named Rebecca (producer? coffee girl?) laughed out loud when I suggested that Bill the Bland is lumbering farther and farther away from the honest moderator image he espouses. Claimed Larry Campbell was the counter-balance to Phillip Owen. I've listened to CKNW my whole life. No More - they've lost my trust.