Monday 10 December 2012

Onni #5 Onni's Empire Strikes Back

The Onni official statement that they made in a letter to Council was a lie.  They stated they were pulling out in 48 - 72 hours over six days ago.  Instead Onni launched a full out offensive on Councillor Clark claiming a conflict of interest as Clark works for a cement company which is contracted on another Onni site since May 2012.

Ignoring the absurdity of the concept that Clark strongly opposed the Onni project was motivated as he could financially gain from Onni.  From the work on a building he voted not to occur?  When our citizens pointed this out on Twitter, websites, letters to the editor and many other ways, Onni came out with another story. Clark might have had a negative incident while working on a Onni site and became so bitter that he opposed Onni in a fit of revenge.

I think I saw this on an episode of South Park where Cartman makes outrageous statements in the form of a question as to avoid any legal action.  Onni, are you still beating your wife?  Pathetic. 

Onni makes public noises that their public reputation is important to them and are quite distraught that people are questioning their honesty and conduct.  How do people who read all the articles where Onni made a strong definitive promise one day and breaking it shortly after, think of Onni now?

The motion to hold a second public hearing is in force unless Councillor Bell again folds to the heavy pressure that the Mayor is bring down on him. Citizens will give their opinion of whether Onni should be trusted during this public hearing.  It will be more negative then last time. I hope Onni's gentle demeanor can handle it, their reps may run out the room crying this time.

Really, this is the first blows of the next election where Clark and Mussatto will go head to head for the Mayor's chair. I wonder if Onni is smart enough to realize that their election donations actually diminish the chance of their projects being approved?

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By going to http://www.cknw.com/news/audiovault/index.aspx and putting in the time indicated for the one story you want you will get the actual broadcast.

CKNW Story  Dec 10th  1pm 0.28

Mayor Mussatto 10 Dec 1pm 6.03  Mussatto lies says vote went against Onni when Council just passed a motion to have another public hearing in January.  This motion is still active and if the applicaton

Onni VP Beau Jarvis 10 Dec 1pm 19:30 Jarvis surmises that Clark might of had a negative incident on Onni site that causes him to seek revenge on Onni



Wednesday 5 December 2012

Onni #4 A New Hope (Onni states application is withdrawn)

For those who are unclear on how Council has worked for years to rig the development approval game for developers when they bring their monster projects to Council, the below Twitter exchange exchange clarifies it.


 Check how NV Omni proposal wanted to change official community plan.
  the only OCP changes were for height. All other changes are part of OCP
  Better tell the North Shore News that as I believe they reported there would be big change in density.

Image will appear as a link
  yes - but within the guidelines for density bonus in OCP. OCP amendment bylaw only for height




Since Council has made a density bonus part of the OCP it's unlimited use is not part of the OCP limits on density.  So you can a have a project density 2 or 3 times what is allowed by the OCP since most of it doesn't get officially counted.  The developer can slide projects out the public view if they can stick to the height limits.  We are lucky that Onni needed the extra profits so badly that the 18 story limit wasn't good enough for them or we'd be in Extra Foods situation.

This is like putting a tall building on a platform on a six story platform but only counting the floors above the platform as the height of the tall building.  Next we will see a rule that every floor over 12 is not officially counted so every 50 floor building is actually only counted as 12.

This whole zone (Lonsdale downtown) should be limited to 12 floors which counts all floors.

During the current OCP review, rules on density bonusing and transfers have to put in place to prevent games like this.  Councillors have every right to vote against or amend sections of the proposed new OCP and if a Councillor votes to ratify the new OCP, they should be held accountable for what they are approving.  A former Council let this through and it could be amended with four votes.

Ron Polly has a letter in the North Shore which calls for rules to put in place which would increase the return the City gets for increased density.  It's a good starting point for discussion but there has a be a line drawn that cannot be crossed.

Sunday 2 December 2012

Court forced CNV out of Federal jurisdiction

It's Toronto for the moment but an Ontario court has struck down a bylaw of Toronto banning shark sin soup.

As the article points out,  North Van has this bylaw as well. While we don't have the extent of the problem of the big cities, far too many Councillors in Canada want to do the job of their MLA or MP usually when they are of a different party than that person.  


The media spotlight that politicians crave doesn't shine on the job of fixing our roads and sewers and the grandstand awaits.  When you have a Councillor who is running to abandon his Council seat, grandstanding becomes a regular occurrence at the expense of the City.

Of course, since the way they have encroached federal jurisdiction and the Council has put the City at risk as businesses may sue.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1296372--toronto-councillors-outraged-after-shark-fin-ban-struck-down

A column by Trevor Lautens in July just after the passage of the bylaw.

http://www.nsnews.com/news/soup+regime+puts+democracy+shame/6963034/story.html

Kudos to Councillors Bookham and Heywood for voting against this.

Personally, I think it is wrong if the whole shark is not being used for food but the cutting off of fins and tossing a body overboard is wrong.  I did notice in the Star article that they had a picture from San Francisco and one from Dubai so I doubt there is a big problem in Canada. But of course, Councillor Keating got he wanted, his name in the papers and a few TV clips.