Convention Center Losses Mount

Expected To Lose $700,000
Lack Of Hotel & Economy Blamed

It is reported in the local daily that the operating losses for the VICC are expected to be nearly 50% higher than previously anticipated. It was expecting to lose $500,000.

The VICC manager is reported as saying the worsening economy and the lack of a downtown hotel have both contributed to the rising lose.

Taxpayers need to press their council for some serious accounting on the operating of this facility which barely received enough voter support to be built in the first place. For example, if you remove revenue which comes from the city (taxpayer) for holding council meetings in the flashy Shaw auditorium and other events which could have been accommodated elsewhere, what is the operating loss?

Another interesting statistic would be the total amount of tax revenue the 'old' downtown generated for the city on this property, compared with what is being generated now?

The economy and lack of a hotel may be valid reasons for not attracting more conventions, however the fact is, conventions seem to be a dying business and they are in fact a very competitive one. I for one am absolutely convinced that Nanaimo can offer a great facility in a great city, however, Vancouver and Victoria and Penticton and Whistler are not exactly unknown destination locations either.

Opponents of the convention centre will tell you that many studies indicated that conventions are not the best business model to hitch your wagon to. Perhaps time is showing some wisdom to that line of thinking.

The local daily had to use a Freedom of Information request to find out from the city how many businesses were downtown before and after the convention centre. The fact the city did not want to reveal that information would indicate they may wish to 'put a good face on' the actual status of the convention centre.

If this facility is reported to lose $700,000, it would not be unreasonable to assume the real losses are likely closer to $1,000,000 and you have to wonder if there really is any benefit to the average taxpayer of running a convention centre. I doubt if downtown business has really improved all that much. Yes, there are more cafes and a few other additions to the business community, but are these businesses really making their owners money?

If you ask a business owner how things are going, most will respond positively, even if they are nearly broke, that is just the nature of business. You never say how bad things are until you have a going out of business sale. Most business people are just like the farmer who was asked "what would you do if you won a million dollars?", to which he replied "I'd keep on farming until it was all gone!".

Another interesting statistic would be to demonstrate how much the convention centre has actually cost taxpayers, and what it is going to keep costing taxpayers from here on out. Since it took a Freedom of Information request to simply find out how many businesses are downtown (the statistic of course reveals nothing of type or quality of business) it would probably take an act of Parliament to find out the true cost of this centre.

I have asked all members of council and the Mayor whether or not the builder of the downtown hotel was required to supply a certain number of 'rentable' units, no one replied to my first request. One councillor refered my request to city staff who answered, but didn't answer at the same time. There is little doubt council and staff are not too keen on looking at the VICC and surrounding issues with anything but rose coloured glasses.

I asked the VICC manager Denise Tacon, how many additional rooms would be needed to attract larger conventions, she was unable to answer the question.

Indeed the VICC has given downtown Nanaimo a facelift, but whether it had to be in the form of a convention centre is still open for discussion. Whether is had to cost the taxpayer $72,000,000 (and rising)is debatable. The taxpayer deserves to know just how much money they are pouring into this centre and how long it will continue before we decide to do something else with this state of the art facility.

It is these unexpected losses the taxpayer is continually funding that makes you wonder if we really can AFFORD to be buying $3,000,000 parks!

Your comments are invited.