A Pattern At City Council Meetings?

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Discussion and Debate About An $851,000,000.00 Financial Plan? Almost Nothing!

Discussion and Debate About A Public Toilet ? More Time Than On The Budget!

Discussion and Debate About A $300 Expense For Councillor McKay? More Time Than Spent On The Budget!

Have you ever wondered if the reason this council is so reluctant to discuss the $851,000,000 financial plan in the public eye is because they don't want the public to know how little they understand about it and the implications it will have for decades to come?

It seems the more mundane and insignificant the topic is, the more time council can be absorbed by it. Remember the banning bottled water in civic facilities? How many meetings did it take for them to finally make up their mind?

About that sign bylaw? We passed it! We didn't pass it! We passed it! Then at the last minute didn't pass it! Still don't have one!

This is the same group that would like the public to believe has the expertise and understanding to be meddling in the hotel and trade and convention business playing with multiple millions of not only this generation, but future generations money.

As for expertise and understanding of the hotel and trade and convention business, what in the world qualifies the upper management at city hall to be meddling in that market either? Sure, there are many well educated, and devoted folk on the management team, but just exactly what qualifies them to make the kind of decisions they are currently tinkering with vis a vis the hotel deal? I think many are the same that handled the original debacle which gave us a grossly over-priced convention centre, and no hotel whatsoever. So why would we want to get back on that train with the same engineers and crew?

Remember we paid someone $3,000,000.00 and they didn't build a hotel. In the interest of public service, the next time city hall doesn't want a hotel built, I'll do it for $500,000 and save the city a bundle! Think about it ! $3,000,000.00 to build a hotel, and no one noticed the guy we were paying, wasn't building a hotel, which was part of the deal from the get-go.

The management/mismanagement of the convention centre, hotel complex in Nanaimo could be a poster child for how not to run and manage a major project. On a much smaller scale we have decisions to not spend $4,000,000 and upgrade a perfectly good building but rather blow off $12,000,000 on a building that was never tendered!

Then we are told to 'just trust us' as they stick handle a multi-million dollar hotel deal that Nanaimo simply does not need in spite of all the misguided claims a hotel will suddenly make a success of the convention business.

Tell me, after 5 or 6 years of Titanic effort on the part of the VICC manager and staff, how many delegate days are we into now? How many more conventions could really be attracted with an extra 100 - 150 rooms? Who is to say, we don't get the same number of conventions and just transfer the room revenue from the existing hotels to the bright shiny new one we are all helping pay for.

These are but a few questions that absolutely need to be answered to the public's satisfaction before this city council and city administration make a huge blunder that will cost for generations!