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Retractable roof was a must-have for Paragon

April 2nd, 2010 · 25 Comments

This interesting story unfolding in Victoria, news that Paragon Gaming told the B.C. government quite some time ago that it would be a “deal breaker” for any new development built by them if BC Place didn’t have a retractable roof. Sean Holman at publiceyeonline reporting on this here.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • RossK

    The Dean, Vaughn Palmer, has finally waded in also which may give the story some legs.

    However.

    In my opinion it is a weak effort in the extreme……My comments on it, fueled by alleged rumours from young punks who are also apparently rumoured to be big fans of ibogaine, can be found here.

    .

  • jimmy olson

    well “Nora ” did indeed leave a fair amount unsaid of Mr Turner .

    You know after reading the Globe and Mail’s story this morning on the unravelling of the Sponsorship scandal … i can’t help but suspect that the current Victoria Clan of something similar: RailGate, CasinoGate, etc etc etc…

  • Shane

    I don’t know if this is normal, but I think this Paragon deal has been in the works for a long time. The timing of the lease renewal for the Edgewater casino, the Concord Pacific development for this site that was withdrawn.

  • RossK

    Shane…..

    Here is an interesting timeline for you….The Chair of the BC Lottery Corporation, Mr. T. Richard Turner, steps down in Dec. 2005….Seven months later the very same, now former, overseer of Casinos in British Columbia joins Paragon….A few weeks later Paragon buys the financially distressed Edgewater….And a few weeks after that Paragon gets together with a numbered company and seals the deal in the fall of 2006….

    Now, fast forward to sometime after June, but sometime before ‘winter’ of last year when the Minister currently responsible for BC Place, Mr. Kevin Krueger, receives a call from the good Mr. T. Richard Turner, who is now the Chair of ICBC and still on the board of Paragon with a financial interest in it, to tell him, the Minister, that the loss of the stadium roof, especially the loss of the cost-inflated retractable version, would be a ‘deal breaker’……

    I think you might be on to something.

    ____
    (the details of this timeline are ALL available at Sean Holman’s place that Frances linked to in the post above.

    .

  • Glissando Remmy

    Ross,

    I’ve just finished reading your Casino Royal piece, and I have to say that your rational on the story it’s outstanding. It’s like looking at a police line-up of usual suspects, through a one way mirror.
    Number Five, the one with the bloody ICBC logo-ed jacket apparently sticks out …in my opinion. Great post.

  • RossK

    Thanks Glissano–

    It’s important to remember, however, that I did not do the investigating….I just followed Mr. Holman’s reporting, in almost real time, as he broke the story…It’s an amazing body of work – and I’m sure he’s still digging.

    .

  • RossK

    My latest, with more on the timeline and some background of the Vegas group involved, is now up here.

    .

  • Shane

    Have any journalists researched the social impact of our casino-spree yet?Talked with insurance companies/EAP providers about compulsive gambling stats? Got some stats from the gov’s gambling help line?

    We certainly have a tonne more tables/slot machines per capita than any city in Canada, and probably any city in North America outside of Nevada. And, this has all happened very quickly.

    Winnipeg doesn’t allow ATMs in casinos, meanwhile ours have some machines that dispense $100 bills exclusively.

    In most North American cities I searched on, the casinos are a long trip out of town to First Nations reserves making it a day trip to go. In MetroVan, every municipality seems to have one or two (except for the North Shore for now). We even call some gambling halls the harmless name, “Community Gaming Centres”. How sad.

    If you ever go into the casinos here you can see they all have this pathetic little booth set up (probably a requirement) to educate people about compulsive gambling. They have these lonely attendants/counsellors in black suits patiently waiting – as if anyone with a problem would just walk right up for some casual help in the middle of a casino.

    The whole thing just feels dirty.

  • Urbanismo

    THU BIG LIE

    http://www.theyorkshirelad.ca/6urbandesign/2010.pdf

  • Booge

    I am perplexed about Beasley’s endorsement of the Bunker that is the new Casino. .

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought of The Day

    “Old Trafford, Manchester, England…The Theatre of Dreams. BC Place, Vancouver, Canada…The Theatre of Cruelty.”

    Just the other day. Manchester lost 2-1 to Chelsea. Big offside, Drogba. A hand ball for the other side in there, too. That’s life. It’s only a game… So is soccer.
    In attendance: 75, 213 people. Lovely day, you could see the sky. A bit cloudy but still, ok. No retractable roof, no need for that, Manchester puts its money into making the game affordable and popular. The game is above any crooked usury.

    Half a globe away in Stupiderville, however…

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • Sean Bickerton

    During the last election, Peter Ladner, the NPA’s Mayoral candidate, refused all donations from gambling interests. Vision took whatever they offered. Now we’re getting a massive Las Vegas-owned casino downtown with no community amenities, and no additional park land or recreational facilities to compensate.

    Where is the social benefit when gambling proceeds are no longer dedicated to sports, education and the arts?

  • Hoarse Whisperer

    Here, here, Glissy and Sean…

  • mary

    @Booge, the explanation for Beasley’s endorsement of casino architecture comes from his upbringing in Las Vegas. He loves that stuff.

  • spartikus

    During the last election, Peter Ladner, the NPA’s Mayoral candidate, refused all donations from gambling interests.

    Really? I see the Suzanne Anton campaign accepted a donation from Edgewater Casino, and the Suzanne Anton campaign in turn donated to Ladner’s.

  • Sean Bickerton

    The NPA accepted no donations to the party from Casino interests at the insistence of Peter Ladner – it was a big issue for him and I know because I was in the room at the time. It makes sense given that it was the NPA that stood against the casino the last time it was proposed.

    Now we have Vision in power, who accepted all donations from the Casino interests and is closely allied with the BC Liberals and Premier Campbell in wanting to steamroll this proposal through.

    I bring it up because those who backed Vision didn’t expect to be backing a massive, Vegas casino downtown, or watching as the Park Board is weakened, or seeing the erosion of Vancouver’s long-standing 2.75 acres of new parkland per 1000 residents for all new developments.

    These contradictions are what has cause COPE’s Councillor Ellen Woodsworth concern of late, questioning why $170,000 was spent on tickets for guests of the city to attend the Olympics when city services and library hours are being cut.

    Governing a city this diverse is challenging, but it seems to me that the priorities of this administration aren’t consistent with their campaign promises, and the cognitive dissonance is causing concern among their own followers.

  • Glissando Remmy

    “Governing a city this diverse is challenging, but it seems to me that the priorities of this administration aren’t consistent with their campaign promises, and the cognitive dissonance is causing concern among their own followers.”

    Well said, Sean!
    You are “Blog Bookmarked ” amigo.
    Glissando

  • spartikus

    The NPA accepted no donations to the party from Casino interests at the insistence of Peter Ladner

    I don’t mean to harp on what is to me a minor point, but I just linked to Suzanne Anton’s Campaign Financing Disclosure statement and it shows – on pg. 8 – a donation of $200 from Edgewater Casino Limited Partnership. Her campaign then contributed $15,000 to Ladner’s.

    If I was to do my best City Caucus impersonation, I might frame the above as the “Anton campaign laundered gambling money to Ladner”.

    But that would be unfair, not to mention ridiculous. Nevertheless, your statement is incorrect. Please look for yourself.

    Perhaps Suzanne wasn’t in that room.

    And because you’ve made me do all this work I went ahead and looked at all the Vision candidates disclosure forms – and I didn’t find anything from Edgewater or Paragon. I’m not familiar with local gambling companies, so another might have made a donation. But not the one that will operate our brand new palace of sin and vice.

    I bring it up because those who backed Vision didn’t expect to be backing a massive, Vegas casino downtown

    I don’t think Vision did either – this is 100% Gordo and the BC Liberals, er, “gambit”. Trying to frame this strictly within civic politics is a real stretch.

    The scandal here is a senior level of government running roughshod over a local one. That’s something that should concern and hopefully unite all 3 civic parties.

  • RossK

    For Shane way upthread, and anyone else in the know….

    When, exactly, did Concord drop-out of the running on this thing?

    And when they did, were they still thinking about the new, smaller, more affordable BC Place Stadium idea (see BMO Field, Toronto, for example) with more residential in the surrounding environs?

    .

  • A. G. Tsakumis

    OMG, Sean Bickerton actually took a an appropriate, legitimate, well-timed (if not entirely accurate) shot at Vision Vancouver.

    Wonders will never cease.

    I’ll have to lie down for awhile…

  • A. G. Tsakumis

    spartikus comes in, once again, to show us why he is dispatched by the charlatans and rubes over in the Mayor’s bunker: No lie like a good lie.

    This is all Gordo, is it spartikus? You are indeed pathetic.

    Mike Harcourt, Philip Owen and Jack Volrich, just to name three off the top of my head, ALL spoke against any casino activity in the city during their tenures.

    If Gregor got out of the Hollyhock haze, he could easily argue against this most offensive project. The Premier should be ashamed of himself, but so should the Mayor, too.

    Vegas-style casinos will only bring with them Vegas style problems: Ceaseless prostitution, endless loan-sharking, increased crime…it’s inevitable.

    Gambling is a tax of the stupid, yes, but preying on the poor is just the limit.

    Shame!

  • spartikus

    LOL – oh Alex, no one sent me, I fact-check for fun. And you are inspiring me to fact-check you more!

    If Gregor got out of the Hollyhock haze, he could easily argue against this most offensive project.

    He could. He could argue publically against Canadian involvement in Afghanistan or the price of gas in the Lower Mainland. There’s not much the City of Vancouver can do about it, though.

    The City had more influence over past proposed casinos. As you well know but will never admit.

    For the record I think the whole idea is hare-brained too. Common ground!

  • A. G. Tsakumis

    spartikus:

    Your contention that Gregor could grandstand on the war, gas prices, etc. is not a like comparison to complaining about the looming problems with the casino.

    With respect, the casino is a Vancouver-centric issue and the war and gas prices are clearly global and outside the Mayor’s bailiwick. Besides, over the years, we’ve had enough local politicians making inane statements about war, nukes, global warming and other associated fraudulent wastes of time.

    On the specific issue of the casino, Gregor could EASILY point out the ills that will inevitably come and that will plague both poor and rich–and addicted. That is part of his job as Mayor–to protect us.

    I point of fact, it’s his obligation.

    But then, that would interfere with the radiant, incessant ass-smooching the Mayor’s been providing to the Premier.

    I apologize for the imagery…

  • Hi, My Name Is Gregor

    Alex, Alex, Alex.

    For a while there I thought you’d look good rotating in a slot machine swivel chair, rolling that prop cigar around between clenched teeth, pulling the lever with very rotation, mugging for the hi def cameras, maybe even wearing a black cowboy hat with silver tipped alligator skin boots.

    But that would require you to laugh. You know, from the belly.

    I have a notion you’d be lousy at poker.

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought of The Day

    “Solomon is the man behind Gregor. Gregor is the man behind Campbell. Campbell is the man behind the HST. Then, who the hell is driving the BC Province Truck?”

    Alex, thank you so much for bringing that imagery notion up. Being a very visual person and in all honesty, I have to say, I could not stop thinking about that. I have to know, before I retire for the night… Is this what you had in mind? 🙂

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wbcmdmbE5M

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.