So now that the City of PR owns the old mill what are your thoughts. Is this a huge waste of money? Or will something good come of it?
I think that it was a big waste of money the first time around and at this stage of the game I think it is really a stupid move on behalf of this bunch of clowns we put in the hall. They continue to remain silent and not wanting to deal with stuff that is affecting so much of this community and forgetting their so call call campaign promise of being transparent. I this we should all feel misguided with our ballots.
Well, before the last election I recall Jacko listing off a long list of potential opportunities at the mill site. The list struck me as a bit too long to be credible, suggesting lack of focus or serious proposals, but I voted for him anyway on the strength of his presentation on that and a couple of other issues. A man of ideas and action, I thought. Seems to me that it is walk the talk time for him and the other civic leaders at 421 3rd Ave W. I look forward to hearing what is in the contingency plan, assuming that one has been prepared.
The Northern View article says: “While the City will own the majority of the land, there are some portions of the island that will remain under the ownership of Sun Wave as they did pay taxes on certain parcels of the land.”
Apparently what Sun Wave stills owns includes the dock. Could be a bit of a problem enticing someone to talk over the rest of the property.
Lets ceremoniously burn the damn buildings, and forget it was ever there. There still isnt a CanadaDisney…maybe we can give the land to Mickey Mouse and get a theme park??? 
Great Idea…!! We already have the Seven Dwarfs… Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy and so on but don’t forget the best for last, DOPEY… 
how many are on council is it 7 ? they can be the dwarves maybe?
sheila gordon payne is a nurse so she can be doc 
Maybe they can put there heads together and maybe come up with a brain, that brain can explain the stupid move to the humble tax payers. That is if Jacko will allow one of them to maybe speak and take their muzzles off.
So what would you have done?
my question here is, when did we get a new mill?
Take the ornamentals to court.
Im not sure how sunwave not paying their taxes, and as a result, the city becoming the owners of the pulp mill, can constitute a stupid move on the part of city council. Its not like they could have forced Sunwave to pay the their tax bill- especially since they are an international company. If they had the power to make them pay, Im sure they would have done so. It seems they have done the only thing they could do, force the issue- in other words, Sunwave pays (which they obviously did not do) or the city takes the property. Its no different than if a person doesn`t pay their mortgage to the bank- if they default on their payments, the bank takes their property back, and sells it to make back their money. More often than not, this results in the bank losing money on the deal. Whether this will happen with the city remains to be seen, although it certainly has been that way up until this point.
As for taking them to court, Im not sure that really was a viable option. This would have cost potentially 10s of thousands of dollars and perhaps even hundreds of thousands , considering it would be dealing with international law, and in the end the lawyers just would have gotten a bunch of money, and the city probably wouldnt be any better off than they are now. In fact, it would most likely be worse since legal matters like this can takes years to resolve. Throwing good money after bad surely isnt the best way to deal with this issue.
At least now the city is in a position to do something with the property- like selling it or some other alternative, and they didn`t just give them another extension.
This whole thing is frustrating to everyone, and understandably so, but when you look at everything it seems the city is making the best they can out of a bad situation.
International company and international laws, what ever you have to say regarding this bullshit is how many times do citizens of Rupert have to be put up against the ropes with another sale of this sore on this empty lot? The city council would nail your ass to your own fence if you did not pay your tax then they will make you either lose your house or get deeper in debt. I look forard to this council being sold off with the sore on the empty lot, they have not done shit since their shaking babies and kissing hands during their campaign. Transparent my ass is what they are and it all cost us one way or another. But you keep your chin up while you watch another Dog and Pony show direct from City Hall its been nothing more then a Gong show.
I don’t see international law as being pertinent. The term usually refers to the law binding between nations. From what I understand, although ultimately owned by China Paper, Sun Wave is a BC company that owns the former Carnaby Mill forest licence around Hazelton as well as some industrial properties.
I am not sure what the City could have done differently. Perhaps when they negotiated the ‘partnership’ a few years ago, which included tax relief, they could have had Sun Wave put some money in trust or in a performance bond in case their plans to re-start the mill fell through. All water under the bridge at this point, although podunkian citizens might want to keep in mind who was at the table representing civic interests when that deal was negotiated.
I think that there are valid concerns about lack of transparency. Nice to know that stewardship of the property will cost $100K a month, which must be a bit of a hit to already burdened taxpayers. I wonder when someone at City Hall got out their calculator and crunched those numbers? Perhaps those issues could have been addressed in the contingency plan that the Mayor decided not to prepare as a cost saving measure. Maybe he will provide an update when he returns from his latest trip.
Something else that perhaps could have been addressed in a plan is the Sept 21 order by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to remove 37 radiation devices from Watson Island. Will that responsibility now default to the City? Here are some details:
nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/pdfs … rder_e.pdf
A/Mayor Kathy Bedard is quoted in the Northern View as saying “For the first time in 12 or 13 years we are in charge of our destiny with that property."
Well, unfortunately that “destiny” seems to include the part of the property that will require environmental remediation, while Sun Wave continues to control the dock, which must have considerable value, one would think. Sometimes, less uplifting words seem more appropriate to the occasion.
Further information about who owns what should become available at: e-princerupert.com/Prince_Ru … lpmill.htm
And the City’s media release yesterday says “As of 4:30pm today, the City will now own the property and it is expected that the outstanding property tax revenues, as well as other revenues, will be received.”
Now let me get this straight, the City now owns the property because outstanding property taxes were not paid, but now that the City owns the property those taxes will be paid? I’m not sure that I follow the logic.
What should the City do? That’s hard to answer. After all, only half of the meetings are open to the podunkian citizenry and the press corps. We do not know what information is discussed in the inner sanctum, when the door is bolted shut.
I think for starters, though, the civic leaders should stop trying to play spin doctor; because they’re really not very good at it.