Aug 18, 2014Mayoral candidate, Glen Chernen holding press conference on Wednesday Aug 20th: For Immediate Release Bidding has ended - Final Recommendation in 13 days UPDATE: Granville Loop Sales offering & Aquatic centre public works contract ● The process ended with virtually no marketing. ● Planners that have examined the offering, agree it appears as though a predetermined buyer may have been chosen through a non arms length process. ● This very significant public works contract worth tens of millions of dollars was conducted without much evidence of an open public tender process. ● Unknown individuals at the City of Vancouver are directing this complex contract and land sale while providing only limited relevant specifications. ● Nobody at City hall will take responsibility for initiating this process. ● Neither the Mayor, NPA leader Kirk Lapointe, or any elected officials seem to have any knowledge on this serious issue. Specifics of the offer include: 1) Sale of City owned land. 2) Aquatic Centre public works construction contract. 3) Mandatory supply for Heating system from locally owned heating monopoly. Email Update received last week from The City of Vancouver: UPDATE:Invitation to Offer-1390 Granville Street/625 Pacific Street-East Granville Loop ● “Proposals will be evaluated by a staff team and a recommendation made to senior staff and, in turn, to Council.” ● “We are asking for 8 copies of any drawings. If possible, 8 copies of the Development Proposal”. ● “We are targeting an approximate 2 week period for the staff evaluation with senior management and Council discussion.” ● “Given the short turn around, we are not intending to cash the Deposits provided as part of the submission. Instead, we will collect and store the Deposits in our safe and return the submitted bank draft to unsuccessful Offerors once a selection has been made.” ● “Accordingly, we hope to be able to advise further as to the status of your submission by the end of September.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Details of this offering are troubling for the following reasons: ● Councillors & Park Commissioners claim not to have been informed. It is very odd that such a project could be so far along and so complicated without their input. Aug 18, 2014 Mayoral candidate, Glen Chernen holding press conference on Wednesday Aug 20th: For Immediate Release Bidding has ended - Final Recommendation in 13 days ● Final staff recommendation is due in 2 weeks, making a mockery of any future public engagement. ● The Aquatic Centre was never mentioned on any promotional material online. ● 6 to 12 months are required to properly prepare for this very complicated bid. ● Qualified bidders in Western Canada and Washington have not been notified. ● The quiet arrangement of this large contract was made without competitively advertising, which could allow select bidders advance preparation time. ● This development package is very weak on details for the highly complex Aquatic Centre component since the city has made it a high priority. Questions for the Real Estate Department: ● Has retaining ownership of the property been considered? ● Has not building more condos been considered? ● Which public official authorized this process to begin & which are involved? ● Who decided on the quick 2-3 week final recommendation to council? ● Who decided the Aquatic Centre redevelopment was to be included in the sale? ● How did the “qualified” bidders find out about this exclusive process? ● Why can only vague 1 page details of this offering be found on the internet? ● How could any bidders meet requirements to have a development proposal and copies of any drawings unless they were notified well in advance of this very complicated offering becoming public? ● Which local and foreign developers initiated this process as CoV has indicated? ● The ½ % deposit is grossly inadequate. Will it be increased to a typical non refundable option rate of 7-10% per annum equaling over $3.5 million for every year payment is delayed? ● Will the city allow this valuable asset be tied up for speculation without compensation, contrary to generally accepted “arms length” transaction terms? Lack of competition and independent oversight results in: ● Very low return on city owned assets / investments which costs everyone. ● Not achieving highest rezoning fees by neglecting to obtain several independent appraisals of current value and post zoning value. These determine the land rezoning benefit to the developer. (This costs us millions in lost revenues.) ● The cancellation or reduction for many essential community services, higher taxes, and loss of valuable assets. What do I recommend be done about this for Vancouver? ● Any significant Aquatic Centre renovation should include extensive public input at an early stage as was done for the Library Square. Aug 18, 2014 Mayoral candidate, Glen Chernen holding press conference on Wednesday Aug 20th: For Immediate Release Bidding has ended - Final Recommendation in 13 days ● The public should demand to know how this was created without any public consultation. ● This sale process should be stopped immediately. ● All the bids should be made public immediately. ● Law enforcement should take a close inspection of this deal and others. ● City owned land should cease being sold. ● We must stop the City of Vancouver practice of selling assets and awarding public works contracts in exclusive transactions. ● Vancouver must demand immediate restrictions of funding from developers to politicians with full transparency put into action. The City of Vancouver has been quietly selling our City owned assets for no valid reason, without oversight, while accumulating hundreds of millions in debt. It is disturbing to allow developers to provide community amenity projects themselves without any competition or serious verification for possibly inflated or padded contracts. Contracts and deals by the city are being conducted under a veil of secrecy with layers of intentionally complicated arrangements which makes it virtually impossible for anyone but someone trained in examining financial transactions to identify for sleight of hand. I have the training to identify financial irregularities and have spent two years reading and researching city of vancouver documents. In this time, I have been working with professional planners, appraisers, and investigators, and the findings are alarming. Our city owned assets are not being responsibly safeguarded, and the lack of oversight has created too much temptation for asset value to go missing. We must apply best practices to ensure we are all protected. This particular deal is just one of many in Vancouver that shows transactions need closer examination and better procedures. While investigating I have come up with many ideas to prevent possible losses to our city and best care for all of our residents well being. Written and researched by Glen Chernen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESS CONFERENCE AT CEDAR PARTY OFFICE: 3128 WEST BROADWAY - CONTACT Glen will be running for Vancouver Mayor in the next election with the Cedar Party against Vision and NPA along with their developer financed campaigns. Please make a comment/contact Glen on Cedarparty.ca, Facebook or by sending an email to
[email protected] OR CONTACT: David - 604 440 6593 at Cedar or follow & contact Glen or Nicholas Chernen / Cedar via Twitter