LED Sign Rental Policy Change

VICC Can Sell Advertising

$100/Day $250/Week

Councillor Fred Pattje must be pleased with the current decision to allow third party advertising on the contentious LED sign on the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. However, that is what they are now doing in another attempt to save this failing business exercise.

The sales of third party ads, were one of the main sticking points for some councillors when the subject of LED signs was being kicked around for two years by the previous city council. If you are a 'real' business in town, good luck getting a permit for an LED sign, and forget the idea of selling third party ads. How do you spell HYPOCRISY??

WHY CITY HALL SHOULD NOT BE IN BUSINESS

The VICC apparently can now sell third party advertising to anyone, with the money to pay for it, and that even includes other city owned facilities such as the Port Theatre. The Port Theatre and the Nanaimo Museum, neither of which would exist without YOUR tax dollar support are allowed six free ads per year, after that they pay like anyone else. Only the business minded brain trust at city hall wouldn't intervene and straighten out this nonsense.

The first paid ad to appear on the sign was for Burn Awareness Week for Nanaimo Fire Rescue! How in the name of blazes does a city owned facility charge another city department for the use of a city owned sign?? Especially when you consider the subject "Burn Awareness".

Only the ivory tower dwellers at city hall will be able to give you an answer to that one..... of course I suspect they will hand off that question to the new spin doctor, once hired.

When you consider that the VICC, The Museum and the Port Theatre would not exist without YOUR tax dollars, this whole idea that free advertising is not available ALL the time is just so much nonsense. It is likely just another way, the folk at city hall are trying desperately to make the VICC not look like the money-sucking business failure it truly is. Too much 'face' would be lost at city hall, if this project were finally accepted for the complete failure it really is, so there is no limit to the number of tax dollars they are willing to throw at it.

When it comes to running business, most of the folk at city hall would mess up a two house paper route.

Another example of complete lack of business expertise, was the competely stupid idea to allow only ONE food vendor in Maffeo Sutton Park!! Apparently, no one had noticed that food carts and the variety they bring are something other major cities are encourageing all over the place....... but not at city hall in Nanaimo. Right now, a couple wants to sell veggie, tacos from food truck at Departure Bay beach, but can't jump through the hoops at city hall, so they are going to Parksville.

We are spending $1.5 Million on the new Economic Development Corporation to tell the whole world how business friendly Nanaimo is and how we want everyone to come here and do business. Yet, we can't figure out how to license a food truck??

I hope that any new business person does not check our reputation for being, perhaps one of the WORST city halls to deal with.

Note: Sometime ago when I was talking to the manager of the Port Theatre regarding their claimed operating deficit I asked him about advertising events at the theatre on this sign as a means of increasing business. He told me then, the space was not available to him. I did inquire at the time why a city owned facility (the Port Theatre) couldn't use the LED sign on the VICC and was told they always could, providing they paid a modest programming cost to display their message.