that's what i found out too!! i spent hours and hours last friday trying to dig out the 2005 document but couldn't find it! angry  

I received a binder of these documents in December 2002 and spent two months of my life trying to get someone to listen including a new councillor at the time, Raymond Louie, who despite a legal opinion I offered him regarding the City's obligation to finance the Olympic Village, continued to believe that the BC Gov't would bail out the city if the you know what hit the fan.

This transparecy charade led by Mayor Robertson and Councillor Meggs was a remarkable exercise to witness at last council meeting and has almost hoodwinked an entire population and the media.

Imagine passing a motion to bypass one of the most important checks and balances of the Vancouver Charter, the requirement to go to the people in a referendum when borrowing large sums of money for capital projects. After all, the residents property is being used as collateral. In addition, the motion came forward to council without allowing public delegations to speak to the motion, something I haven't seen in decades.

Is there no time for democracy? If the banks or other financial institutions will not go near the Olympic Village project for good reason, then why should the citizens of Vancouver? It was the Province of BC and Vancouver's Real Estate elite that pushed hard for these Games, let those bastards pay for it!  

PLG...The Georgia Straight listened. We were the only media outlet to publish a story about these documents. Here's an article that I wrote and was published on January 30, 2003 -- shortly before the February plebiscite:

An opponent of the city's 2010 Olympic bid has claimed that Vancouver taxpayers—and not the provincial and federal governments—could be liable for cost overruns on some of the facilities.

Last year, the city signed four separate contracts with the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation concerning the construction of an athletes' village on city land at southeast False Creek, a curling facility at Hillcrest Park, an ice-hockey practice facility at either the Killarney or Trout Lake arenas, and figure-skating and short-track speed-skating venues at Hastings Park.

The four agreements each acknowledge that “BidCorp” is not an agent of any of its partners, including the federal and provincial governments.

Phil Le Good, a spokesperson for the No Games 2010 Coalition, alleged that this clause means city taxpayers, and not other levels of government, will be liable for all risks except where BidCorp states otherwise.

The city has also agreed to forgo any rent for Vancouver-owned facilities, as well as parking revenues for Vancouver's parking lots and streets. “Vancouverites were led to believe they wouldn't have to pay a cent, that the province would cover all the costs,” Le Good said.

He added that citizens should worry about a clause granting the International Olympic Committee the right to order any changes to meet its regulations and requirements.

Trevor Miller, a spokesperson for the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, told the Georgia Straight that the Olympic Games Organizing Committee—which is identified as BidCorp in the legal agreements—won't exceed its $30-million capital contribution for the village.

“The developer would be liable for any cost overruns with regards to the athletes' village,” he said.

Miller added that the provincial government's guarantee would cover any cost overruns on curling and skating facilities. He said those would be financed from the federal and provincial governments' $620-million capital contribution to the bid.

“The idea, obviously, is to work in partnership with the planning people to ensure that there won't be any cost overruns on those because we're working with a fixed amount here,” Miller said. “Basically, the official line is there is going to be opportunities for program enhancement and cost- sharing, and those will continue to be explored with the city and the two levels of government.”

Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell and Coun. Tim Louis, chair of the city services and budgets committee, were unavailable for comment.

In the Vancouver Athletes Village agreement, BidCorp has agreed to cover the costs of all “temporary facilities”, which include tents, trailers, signage, building modifications, temporary partitioning within residential or commercial units, and temporary parking lots and infrastructure.

Apart from BidCorp's $30-million capital contribution to the “permanent facilities”, the city is responsible for everything else, including: 612,000 square feet of residential accommodation, not less than 30,000 square feet of commercial space, internal roadways, pedestrian walkways, underground parking, lighting, and site servicing for power, water, sewer, and other utilities.

The overall budget is $167.3 million: $16.3 million for environmental remediation, $31 million for infrastructure, $15 million in financing charges, and $105 million for building construction. Approximately 250 of the 564 housing units will be converted into subsidized housing after the Olympic Games.

The city is also responsible for site remediation and site preparation. Le Good has demanded a full cost-benefit analysis, including an examination of City of Vancouver staff time that has gone into the bid.

“There is some deliberate stuff going on to hide the costs that are going to be borne by the residents of Vancouver,” Le Good alleged. “Where are they getting the money to pay for this?”

BidCorp has agreed to contribute $28 million for the curling facility at Hillcrest Park. The city has agreed that the city manager will ask council by February 2006 to provide a maximum of $5 million. According to the legal agreement, this may be in the form of “in-kind” contributions, such as waiving city fees, development-cost charges, or levies.

BidCorp has also agreed to spend $23 million to refurbish the Hastings Park Coliseum, Agrodome, and Rollerland for figure skating and short-track speed skating. BidCorp will reimburse the city for relocating or evicting any tenants.

The city will be responsible for all capital and operating costs after the Games. In addition, BidCorp has agreed to contribute $2.5 million for the ice-hockey practice facility. According to this agreement, the city will “construct, install, refurbish, operate, commission and decommission all fixtures, improvements and equipment”.

In 2000, the City of Vancouver contributed $300,000 to the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation. In July, 2002, council approved another $450,000 for security planning, cultural initiatives, staffing, and administration to support the bid process.
 

My apologies for not acknowledging the Straight's excellent coverage of the Olympic bid in those early days of distasteful boosterism and so-called progressives attempt to leverage 'benefits' in exchange for their support of the Games.

In regards to the Multiparty Agreement that was signed just a few days before the Vancouver Civic Election of November 16, 2002 which contained an agreement specifying the City of Vancouver's responsibility to finance the Athlete's Village...

A News Release from the Province of BC on November 14, 2002 titled "Vancouver 2010 Bid Corp Announces An Olympic First" contained the following statements which I find interesting in terms of the speed in which the agreement was finalized, well before any other potential Game host bidders, and just a few days before the civic election in which the ruling party of the day, the NPA, was well aware that the outcome of the upcoming election would not be too kind to them.

Excerpts from the BC Government News Release...

"Partners involved in Vancouver's bid to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games have signed a comprehensive multi-party agreement that spells out how each will contribute to a successful Winter Games. This marks the first time such an accord has been finalized as part of an Olympic bid."

"In the past, such agreements have been worked out after the candidate city has been awarded an Olympic and Paralympic Games. In previous Games, these negotiations have taken months-sometimes years-to complete..."

So why the rush to commit a future council and residents, taxpayers, to millions of dollars without having a simple business plan in hand to show its residents? And why were these agreements signed behind closed doors without any notice given to Vancouver residents regarding the council's intentions?

A few years prior to this News Release by the BC Gov't, a newspaper article in Vancouver on June 17, 1999 titled, "Keeping the Bid Ethical is a High Priority", had some very telling details that indicated that those who were involved in the early days of the Bid Corporation were so widely optimistic it bordered on fanaticism.

From the article:

"Ian Waddell, BC's minister responsible for sports and tourism, acknowledged future Olympic boards will be scrutinized."

"I want to see this bid ethical," Waddell said. " We want to be open."

(Ian Waddell was representing the Olympic bid on behalf of the NDP Provincial Gov't which was led by Glen Clark who had Geoff Meggs at his side as his communications director. Meggs later went on, after the defeat of the NDP gov't to Gordon Campbell's right wing coalition, to be Mayor Larry Campbell's chief of staff and is now an elected councillor in the City of Vancouver and is responsible for the City's 2010 Olympic Games portfolio).

In the 1999 newspaper article it was noted that if Vancouver was successful in hosting the 2010 Games the projected costs for the Games would be $971 million. This figure included the cost of operating the Games as well as the cost for all venues and associated infrastructure.

The cost of operating the Games, VANOC's budget, is now estimated at $1.63 billion.

In the article it spelled out the projected costs for the venues which included the 3,000 person athlete's village.

"The Vancouver-Whistler bid team has suggested spending $242 million on new facilities, including a 10,160-seat speed skating and curling oval, a 3,000-person athlete's village a the University of BC, a bobsled-luge track on Grouse Mountain, a 6,000-seat hockey arena and renovations at Pacific Coliseum."

If one were to tally up all the costs associated with ALL of the venues, including the Vancouver Athlete's Village on SE False Creek, it would be in the range of $2 billion.

I realize labour and construction costs have risen since 1999 but not by 1000%!

It can all be neatly condensed to a few words written by Frank O'Brien, who as editor for the Western Investor in June 2002 wrote,

"The real purpose of the 2010 Olympics bid is to seduce the provincial and federal governments and long-suffering taxpayers into footing a billion-dollar bill to pave the path for future real estate sales. Whether the bid is successful or not is actually immaterial."

O'Brien goes on to write,

"It is hard to imagine any fantasy that fits better than the Olympics bid if you are into real estate development."

Vancouverites should be contacting their MLA's not to vote for an amendment to the Vancouver Charter and they should demand that Vancouver councillors reconsider their recent motion to ask for an amendment to the Vancouver Charter without first allowing the citizens to have their say before council.