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It may have seemed that we defeated the mega-casino back in april, but it’s not over. A rezoning was passed allowing pavco to build a 2.6 acre casino for its fewer slots. Why? We’re watching the BC Place and casino situations closely.
Please read our report containing our ongoing objections to this casino.
Our report includes arguments from the perspective of public health and addiction, urban planning, polling & public opinion, financial & economic development considerations, and more. It also contains our long list of endorsers.
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UPDATE November 29: Despite our legal challenge in BC Supreme Court, in its very first post-election meeting, one of the last meetings of the 2008-11 Council, Council has passed the rezoning application that includes a clause allowing Edgewater Casino to relocate to BC Place. The only councillor who voted against was Ellen Woodsworth. What does this mean? It means that Council did not demand of PavCo that it reduce the massive building size of its original mega-casino proposal, thus leaving the door wide open to future expansion. It’s a clear go-ahead signal to PavCo and Paragon.
Casino expansion is inevitable down the road in the approved massive floor plate, and what’s worse, it’s possible WITHOUT technical gaming expansion. The 600 slots from failing Hastings Park could likely be added to the existing 600 at Edgewater Casino, for a total of 1200 slots at BC Place Stadium. We’d end up with a mega-casino in downtown Vancouver, even without “gaming expansion.” This means Vancouver can go the route of Atlantic City (major casinos downtown, rare in N. America) even without Vision breaking its election promises. It was a mistake (or deliberate folly) for Council not to stipulate that the proponent must submit a new, smaller plan for the relocated casino.
We will see what the BC Supreme Court has to say on this topic. Our contention is that this permission to relocate without a new application is a contravention of BC Gaming law. There are also other legal options. There is also the Development Permit process, but that tends to a rubber stamp process involving City Manager Penny Ballem and Director of Planning Brent Toderian, both of whom have been squarely behind this casino project.
We will your help and loud voices to remind Vision that it was partly elected because Vancouver believed it was stopping this mega-casino. If its language during the election was deceptive, that will be a betrayal Vancouver will not forget.
For press stories on the Nov 29 passing of the original rezoning application, click here.
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We are now being asked by City Council why we did not oppose simple relocation. Simple relocation was never presented to us as an option. Read on.
Above is the top U.S. expert on the gambling industry and impacts of gambling on communities, Professor Robert Goodman, who has been hired by both Democrat and Republican administrations.
During our fight against the mega-casino in Vancouver, we made frequent reference to Dr. Goodman and his studies on proximity of casinos to residential areas. It is lately being implied by Vancouver City Council that Vancouver Not Vegas only fought expansion, not relocation.
Firstly, the proponents (PavCo & Paragon Gaming) claimed they were only interested in this project if they were granted the right to nearly triple their operation. Therefore, we chose to oppose that plan. However, secondly, we and many of our supporters described at length the problems with putting gambling in proximity to residential areas, especially dense neighbourhoods. Throughout the hearings many Vancouverites cited studies and stats showing that proximity increases rates of problem gambling and crime etc. When it is now said that no one objected to relocation, we must remind Council to stick to the facts. A majority of Vancouverites don’t want gambling in our downtown or our neighbourhoods, and this is a widespread view. Most cities put gambling on the outskirts of town for a reason, if they allow it at all. Let it not be said we did not oppose the BC Place stadium location. That’s just patently untrue. _____________________________________________________
Note: TO REACH THE Citizens’ GROUP FIGHTING THE JUMBO BILLBOARDS that have been installed around BC PLACE by pavco, CLICK HERE. (They’re a separate initiative.)
Above, Jumbotron advertising behind bronze Terry Fox
sculpture at Terry Fox Plaza. Below, video showing Min. Pat Bell claiming that PavCo has dealt with the problem and conferred with the City, neither of which is true.
Bulletin: vancouver not vegas says new casino plan should go to public hearing
November 28, 2011
Vancouver Not Vegas group calls on Vancouver City Council to delay approving the casino relocation bylaw pending a court ruling on the bylaw validity and full public disclosure of the relocated casino plans.
[See Council agenda for Tuesday November 29 - http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20111129/regu20111129ag.htm]
Sandy Garossino says “Paragon Gaming made it clear from the outset that the relocation and expansion application was an all-or-nothing deal and there was no business case for a relocation alone. Under the Gaming Control Act, a relocation alone is effectively a new application which requires public consultation of the new plan”.
Lindsay Brown says “The public has been told we will not have a mega-casino in the downtown residential core, but Council has effectively left the door wide open for the developer to build one by approving a relocation without requiring an amended plan to be submitted. We still have an approval in principle of 2 NFL football fields of casino floor, and tens of millions of dollars in public subsidy with no public disclosure and public hearing.”
“Council consistently treated this application as a re-zoning matter, and has not recognized the requirements of provincial legislation governing decisions around gaming licenses,” adds retired justice Ian Pitfield, a coalition supporter and retired BC Supreme Court judge. “The community was not provided with any particulars of the relocation proposal. It was only told about an expansion.”
Please see our previous press release regarding our legal petition to quash the relocation clause:
http://vancouvernotvegas.ca/2011/11/vancouver-not-vegas-petition-to-quash-casino-relocation-motion/
Hyperlink to this media release is here.
Media contacts:
Sandy Garossino 778-231-5230
Lindsay Brown 604-313-7744
Ian Pitfield 604-828-5494
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November 24, 2011
They’re back. Ignoring our legal challenge at BC Supreme Court, City Hall appears to be going ahead with a relocation plan whose details are completely unknown to the public. From Council’s Agenda for November 29:
“Staff advise that BC Pavilion Corporation is now ready to proceed with enactment of the by-law for the project at 777 Pacific Boulevard, which allows for the relocation but not expansion of the Edgewater Casino on site. This enables Concord Pacific to proceed with enactment of the By-law for their application at 10 Terry Fox Way (Concord Area 5B East).
The following is therefore put forward for consideration by Council:
THAT the application to amend the False Creek North Official Development Plan, By-law No. 6650, generally as presented in Appendix B of the Policy Report dated January 10, 2011, entitled “Amendments to the False Creek North Official Development Plan”, be approved;
FURTHER THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to bring forward the amending by-law, generally in accordance with Appendix B.”
This is unacceptable. We demand City Hall wait until courts decide whether Council’s relocation clause contravenes BC Gaming Law.
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November 14, 2011
Vancouver Not Vegas! Co-founder Launches Petition to Halt Casino Move to BC Place
See post here.
Vancouver Not Vegas (VNV) Co-Founder Lindsay Brown has filled a petition in BC Supreme Court seeking to overturn the decision by Vancouver City Council approving the relocation of Edgewater Casino to BC Place Stadium.
“To this day the people of Vancouver still have no idea of what is being planned for the casino development on the BC Place Stadium site, yet Council has essentially written Paragon and PavCo a blank cheque by approving the relocation,” says Vancouver Not Vegas co-founder Lindsay Brown.” Once again plans are being made behind closed doors at City Hall, apparently to be dropped on the public when it’s too late for us to have a voice, but this time Council has granted its approval in advance. The BC Place site is a Vancouver landmark affecting thousands of residents, and we don’t know what’s happening there. We need to be part of the discussion this time around – if there is a “this time around.” ”
“Council consistently treated this application as a re-zoning matter, and has not recognized the requirements of provincial legislation governing decisions around gaming licenses,” adds retired justice Ian Pitfield, a coalition supporter. “The community was not provided with any particulars of the relocation proposal. It was only told about an expansion.”
During the public hearings in the spring of 2011, Paragon Gaming, the owners of Edgewater Casino, strongly stated that relocation without an expansion of their license was not an acceptable solution, and offered no amended plan for the public or Council to review. Council voted to approve only the relocation of the Edgewater Casino against the applicant’s wishes and without public consultation respecting any revisions. The City has not complied with the Gaming Control Act and Regulations.
Note:
Letters sent from VNV member Ian Pitfield to City Hall and to the Minister responsible for Gaming beginning in late May 2011 either remained unanswered or elicited only uninformative replies.
Vancouver Not Vegas now awaits a response from City Council regarding our petition. We are very pleased by Vision Vancouver/COPE’s promise of a moratorium on gaming expansion in Vancouver, however the question of PavCo’s intentions for the BC Place Stadium site remains an urgent one.
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october 2011:
Vancouver Not Vegas Calls For a Review of the Financing of the BC Place Stadium Upgrade and Roof Construction
Photo of BC Place model, by Dustin Sacks from the Flickr Creative Commons
Vancouver Not Vegas calls for a review of the financing of the BC Place Stadium upgrade and roof construction.
“We don’t know the reason the provincial government departed from the normal practice of securing substantial private sector funding for a project of this nature, and chose to under-write all costs,” says Sandy Garossino, co-founder of Vancouver Not Vegas. “But the timeline of events strongly suggests that the government found the necessary capital for the retractable roof option by instituting devastating cuts to charities and non-profits.”
Major urban stadiums are normally funded primarily through private sector contributions.
• Toronto’s SkyDome was 16% publicly funded, 31 corporations funded the balance;
• Cowboy Stadium in Dallas was 28% publicly funded following a public referendum, with the teams and corporate sponsors providing the balance.
• BC Place Stadium is 100% publicly funded. There has been no disclosure of the business plan supporting this level of public investment.
In the summer of 2009 the provincial cabinet was struggling with cost containment on the stadium roof, because estimates had nearly tripled from when the project was first proposed only one year earlier.
Liberal donor, former BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) chair and Edgewater representative Richard Turner threatened to withdraw Edgewater’s participation if cabinet did not approve the retractable roof.
In this same period Rich Coleman was minister responsible for BCLC and for gaming grant distribution. He moved in the summer of 2009 to seize $36 million in budgeted and committed gaming grants, and institute long-term cuts that would provide another $200 million over 6 years to the government.
“The public needs to know that financing of the roof construction was conducted in a responsible manner that best serves the interests of all British Columbians province-wide. Until these questions are answered, it seems that financing decisions were driven by the interests of Liberal donors and the Edgewater Casino,” says Lindsay Brown, co-founder of Vancouver Not Vegas.
For more information on the stadium roof, its history and financing, please see our stadium roof post and a detailed timeline.
“One of these things is not like the other!” Spot the difference between PavCo’s two different positions re: stadium roof and BC Place site, only three weeks apart. Compare Feb 25, Global TV with statements in Frances Bula’s March 15 column, Globe.
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The TED video above, both funny and brilliant, demonstrates that citizens aren’t actually apathetic, they’re just victims of “constructed apathy”—intentional exclusion from political processes. Dave Meslin reveals our misunderstanding of what “heroism” is—that in actual fact, heroes aren’t chosen. Heroism is voluntary, messy, imperfect, and born of collective need not isolated individual action. His description of how City Halls hide development plan notices in the back of publications is quite comic.
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We won! Thanks to the thousands of Vancouverites who helped us defeat the mega-casino in April, 2011.
For a summary of our reasons for opposing the casino, click here (pdf).
Report on final casino hearing & pavco’s last minute manoeuvres
At the close, after all citizens had spoken, PavCo and David Podmore attempted an 11th-hour change of their proposal, asking for 1200 slots rather than 1500. (With option to expand later… to 1500. Within 2 years. Apparently this was a “compromise.”
this is unacceptable. Memo to PavCo, Paragon, and BCLC:
This is not a game. A good faith public consultation process lies at the heart of all gambling expansion applications in the province. It dishonours the people of British Columbia when Crown corporations try to game the public in such a cynical way. See our media release here.
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Position Statement of the Vancouver Not Vegas! Coalition
Vancouver Not Vegas opposes the proposed expansion of Edgewater Casino and calls for a moratorium on all expansion of gambling in Vancouver.
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Most Vancouverites don’t like gambling or gambling expansion.
A majority of Vancouverites strongly opposed the casino plan, just as they opposed a similar plan (also spearheaded by David Podmore) in 1996. Over two decades, the proportion of Vancouverites who oppose gambling expansion has never really changed. Even when pollsters ask leading questions in polls paid for by casino proponents, those who oppose expansion significantly outnumber those in favour. By all means, go ahead and conduct new surveys, but the results are unlikely to ever change. Vancouverites don’t want more casinos. We defeated a mega-casino in the 90s, we defeated this casino in 2011, and it’s fair to predict that any future casino plans will be defeated too.
To read about the first 3 nights of casino hearings, click here.
Cartoon by Olson in the Vancouver Courier, March 18, 2011, on the proposed money laundering machine
Above: a “before” photo, without casino (and before stadium roof was removed). Below: proposed casino location and design.
In the drawing above, the white building at the right indicates the condo hi-rise you see in the photo below (with vertical yellow stripe).
