Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Casino Royale Reconnected....When Did Discussions With The City of Vancouver Actually Begin?

WhichCityManagerIs
WhichVille

Yesterday, Bob Mackin, writing in 24 Hours, had an interesting little tidbit that was culled from current city manager Penny Ballem's recent appointment book schedule that he gained access to by FOI:

Vancouver’s city manager spent three hours gabbing about gambling on Feb. 25 (2010).

According to Penny Ballem’s calendar, obtained via Freedom of Information, she met with Housing and Social Development minister Rich Coleman about Hastings Racecourse before discussing the racino’s operating agreement with unnamed Great Canadian Gaming officials. She also had a conference call with Edgewater Casino president Scott Menke.....


Interesting that, no?

Especially when you recall that the good Mr. Menke is also the man from Las Vegas' Paragon Gaming Inc. that was present when Gordon Campbell and the fine folks from PavCo made the big announcement about the Casino Industrial Complex that will be built next to the BC Place Stadium and will ultimately use Edgewater's gaming license to operate.

But, given that the Casino Industrial Complex deal was essentially done by February of this year, one can only wonder if there were any discussions or contacts between the fine folks from Paragon and even finer folks from the City earlier than that?

After all, some pretty interesting, and important, decisions regarding where and how any and all Casino Industrial Complexes could be built next to the marshmallow were made a long time ago - well before Dr. Ballem became the City Manager.

OK?

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