Civic politics junkies have been waiting to see whether the NPA would get into the ugly topic of the Olympic village, a tricky one for them as the party risks getting mud on its own face. As you’ll recall, the uproar over the village’s financial mess three years ago dominated the election campaign.
Today, Suzanne Anton decided to call for an accounting on the village’s finances, which I guess she and her party are hoping will get voters thinking about the more recent Vision Vancouver decisions on the village (keep the social housing, put the whole project into receivership, etc.) rather than the earlier NPA ones (commit to building a village with a private developer, accepting a bid based on the highest price rather than most experienced builder, lending money to the private developer when other financing started to fall apart).
But, oddly, apparently the city manager just issued a memo to all councillors, including Suzanne, that provides an update on many of the numbers Suzanne was asking for.
Here it is, for those wondering what’s happening. (Personally, I’d like to know how much of the mortgage is left and what we’re paying per month on it. We got those numbers a few months ago, but it would be nice to see them updated. Here is a link to the info that was presented in the spring.)
Suzanne’s news release is below.
Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2011 10:11 PM
To: Direct to Mayor and Council – DL
Cc: Honrado, Lara; Aujla, Bill; McLellan, David; Prosken, Brenda; Ballem, Penny; Welman, Mairi; Stewart, Wendy; Impey, Patrice; Flanigan, Michael; Coulson, Marg
Subject: Council Update on SEFC Project
Urban Fare: scheduled to open in June 2012 but they are attempting to open in May 2012
Three (3) other commercial spaces are still available ; lease negotiations for two (2) of these spaces are anticipated by the Receiver to be finalized shortly
“The Olympic Village at Southeast False Creek has been an ongoing financial concern for Vancouver residents,” says Anton. “And Mayor Robertson promised during the last election to be open and transparent on this. They need to report on the village by November 1.”
A receiver was appointed to oversee the development in November 2010. Anton says the last financial reporting by the city was in April 2011. She believes a report would be of great interest to voters at this point.
Anton has submitted a motion requesting staff provide a complete reporting on the Olympic Village project by 1 November 2011 including: sales month to month, the overall financial position of the project, and the social housing occupancy, including numbers of market/ non-market tenants, and numbers of police, fire and teacher occupants as directed by council motion of April 2010.