Sunday, July 12, 2015

Mayor McKay Comments On Radio

McKay Supports Manhao's Reason To Sue City?

The following appears on the WAVE 102.3 website under the heading of Manhao pulls out of conference centre hotel project:

Another devastating blow to the efforts to build a hotel to go along with Nanaimo's conference centre.
The city has announced that SSS Manhao has informed them they will not be going ahead with their proposed 50 million dollar hotel project.
This, despite the fact Manhao had stated they were already into the project for 5 million dollars.
Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay says Manhao didn't feel the majority of council supported the project.
He says this shatters confidence in Nanaimo. We have to work very hard to try to regain the confidence of the international investment community because that's where investment in a project like this will come from.
McKay says he wouldn't be surprised if Manhao turns to legal action to recoup some of their costs.
He says he's not surprised this happened, considering the way Manhao was treated with disrespect at council meetings.

Manhao Disrepected?

If you read what McKay is reported to have said in the Bulletin and now (I presume) on air with the WAVE some of the reasons for his apparent inability to get council pulling in the same direction are becoming obvious.

How many times have you heard Councillors repeating the mantra " a decision of Council is a decision of Council, and once made is supported by Council" ? Does this sound like a Mayor supporting the will of council? If memory serves the decision to grant Manhao a six month extension was a unanimous decision of Council, which would include McKay.

To support the decision to grant a six month extension and now turn around and suggest the reason this company is withdrawing is because they were disrespected by Council seems to be an eyebrow raiser to me. To further go on and suggest the company has reason to try and sue the City for $5 million or so, goes well beyond the eyebrow raising stage. In fact, that goes straight over into the 'I can't say that in print' stage.

Manhao was disrespected? That is the same company who went mute for about a year or so, aren't they? To hear the Mayor side with this company rather than supporting the Nanaimo taxpayer's position raises the question of who is disrespecting the Nanaimo taxpayer. A clue ... it isn't SSS Manhao.
As close as it came.......

allvoices

2 comments:

  1. If there was a real "need" for hotel someone woulsd build with out all the breaks that were offerred. Some times your first loss is your best loss: I expect this idea was going through SSS Manhao mind. they also have bad stck market and I am suspcious the origional plan would have evolved to condos.

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  2. Delusions of grandeur have cost Nanaimo $100 million over the last ten years. There was never a good business case for the VICC, with or without a hotel. The Manhao deal was no deal at all. Manhao had a buy-back guarantee, so it will cost them only the interest on the $550,000 they paid for the hole in the ground. The City still has ten-year tax holiday on new hotel construction, and the VICC is still a White Elephant. Because Nanaimo is a dysfunctional community, nothing will change in the foreseeable future.

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