Ladner: Mayor using inflammatory rhetoric and misleading information

Peter Ladner makes an appearance.

Subject: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Peter Ladner: Time to focus on solutions for Southeast False Creek

Time to focus on solutions for Southeast False Creek

By Peter Ladner

Mayor Gregor Robertson and his council have to focus on protecting taxpayers and completing the Olympic Village project on time, rather than using inflammatory rhetoric and misleading information to blame selected members of the previous council for problems beyond their control.

No one was able to predict the unprecedented real estate market meltdown, credit freeze and skyrocketing construction costs that undermined the financial feasibility of the project. These were compounded by the city’s commitment to meet a rigid Nov. 2009 completion deadline, dating back to the Olympic bid agreement signed in Nov. 2002. That agreement, followed by the 2003 signoff on the bid with no indemnity from the Province for costs over $30 million, was the first of two key decisions that got us to today.

To paraphrase the Mayor, the Athlete’s Village is a billion dollar project and the city taxpayers own it. To suggest that the cost to city taxpayers will be anywhere near $1 billion is inaccurate, inflammatory and highly irresponsible. Yes, the current level of financing risk is major problem, but the ultimate financial outcome is still unknown, and the project is still a development jewel. The bottom line on the project won’t be known until the $875-million cost to complete is offset by sales of all the units. The $875 million outside cost estimate doesn’t take into account the $70 million in equity Millennium has in the project, the $50 million contingency still to be released by Fortress, and the $200-million-or-so guarantees the city has in the form of Millennium’s other holdings worldwide. Add all that up, subtract anticipated price discounts, and the project is still on track to break even.

This project will not land on the taxpayers. It is being financed under the Property Endowment Fund, worth $2.7 billion at the peak of the market, and well able to buffer the taxpayers from any possible losses—just as it grew to $2.7 billion without any call on the taxpayers.

The second key decision that exposed us financially was the internal Southeast False Creek Steering Committee’s agreement to heed our legal staff’s advice to give Millennium a ground lease instead of taking their $193 million and giving them title to the property. Having the city retain title to the land was felt to be the only way we could guarantee delivery on time.

The city’s involvement in the Southeast False Creek Olympic Village project now spans four councils. Virtually all the decisions have been unanimous, reflecting the commitment of all the councils to complete this project and make it a model of sustainability.

People also have to understand that all the recent decisions, including the divided and gut-wrenching June 2007 decision to formally guarantee completion and a $197 million construction guarantee, as well as the unanimous October 2008 $100 million loan authorization, were made under tremendous time pressures to meet the immovable Nov. 2009 deadline. The time crunch was hugely exacerbated by the COPE council’s seven-month revamping of the Official Development Plan in 2004-5 to add tens of millions of dollars in social amenities which we now know the city couldn’t afford.

The biggest disagreements on this project were in late 2005, when the new NPA council made an unpopular political decision to scale back the COPE-mandated subsidized housing in the project to reduce the city’s financial risk by an estimated $65 million. Vision and COPE have consistently argued for increased public spending on social housing, subsidized housing and daycare at this site, moves that would further weaken the city’s financial position.

What is needed now is for everyone to pull together, acknowledge past mistakes, and negotiate the best deal to complete this project on time and with the least possible exposure to city taxpayers. That is more easily done without accusations, finger-pointing and exaggerated scare tactics.

Peter Ladner is not accepting interview requests.

This will appear as a column in the next edition of Business in Vancouver, www.biv.com

'I'm not trying to re-fight the election': Ladner

There will now be two parallel investigations into Vancouver’s $100-million Olympic Village loan saga, after council unanimously voted to hire its own lawyer to explore how sensitive city information was leaked.

It extends a controversy that exploded in the middle of the civic election campaign and threatens to drag on as a new council begins its term. The investigation was pushed by NPA Coun. Peter Ladner, who lost a bid for the mayor’s seat this month.

“I'm not trying to re-fight the election here or suggest that this issue was a determining factor in the election. I don't believe it was,” Ladner said.

“But I do think there was an ethical breach here, the likes of which I have never seen since I've been in this council chamber."

Opposition councillors, however, called the move “sour grapes” while voting to support it.

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Guns a-blazin: Ladner goes down shootin'

True to his word, Peter Ladner has filed his motion that would see the current council's last meeting spent debating the hiring of an investigator to see who leaked sensitive city documents.

And not to be done, COPE Coun. David Cadman will also ask for a city investigation into the subsequent leak of security "card swipe" info that lead to an unsourced Global TV report that all but suggested Vision Coun. Raymond Louie was the leaker (an allegation he strongly denies).

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How Lo can you go?

Dear Mayor and Council

I would like to thank you for the confidence and support you had given me over the years. I have enjoyed working with you over the past ten years, and appreciate the many long hours and strong leadership you have all contributed. I will miss your smiling faces, the challenges, the exciting projects and will continue to watch Vancouver's continuing growth.

I wish you all well in your endeavors.

Sincerely,

Estelle Lo

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$100 million problem: VPD investigating "alleged theft"

What was a leak is now an alleged theft, with the Vancouver Police Department wading into the city's ongoing $100-million bailout saga.

The VPD today confirmed it will conduct an investigation into an Oct. 14 meeting in which city council reportedly authorized a $100-million loan to the developers of the city's Olympic Village.

"The Vancouver Police have been asked to investigate the alleged theft of documents from an October 14th meeting at Vancouver city hall," VPD Const. Tim Fanning wrote in a short news release today.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan says he asked VPD Chief Const. Jim Chu to investigate “the internal theft of an important classified document.”

“I’m quite concerned that this document may have been leaked to try to affect the election,” Sullivan said.

On Monday, mayoral candidate and NPA Coun. Peter Ladner confirmed his copy of a sensitive city document had been found on the desk of his colleague, Coun. B.C. Lee, two days after the in-camera meeting.

That document is believed to be a source of a Globe and Mail story that alleged council had authorized the $100-million loan, which is still unconfirmed by the city.

"B.C. Lee and I have been set up," Ladner told reporters Monday.

All those involved in in-camera meetings, including the mayor, city councillors and senior city staff, are expected to keep discussions private.

Instead, some details were leaked to Globe columnist Gary Mason, who wrote an anonymously-sourced story that, with just days to go before the Nov. 15 election, has overshadowed the campaign.

The NPA's Ladner, as chair of the city's finance committee, appears to have taken the most punches after the controversy emerged. The NPA-led council has refused calls to publicize details of the meeting.

On the other hand, opposition party Vision Vancouver appears to have benefited most from the story by calling for full public disclosure of the meeting, although the decision made at the Oct. 14 meeting was unanimous and Vision Coun. Raymond Louie sits as the vice-chair on the finance committee.

However, former Vision/COPE mayor Larry Campbell and former NPA mayor Philip Owen have both defended the decision being made behind closed doors.

"[The public thinks] it's been a secret deal. And it's not," Owen told TheTyee.ca Tuesday. "It's a standard process when you are dealing with property in the Property Endowment Fund."

Said Campbell, "If I was mayor, I'd be asking for a criminal investigation" into who leaked the document to the press.