Mayor Gregor Robertson and his seven Vision Vancouver city councillors call a British Columbia Supreme Court petition aimed at removing them from office before the November 15 civic election “reprehensible and deserving of rebuke.”
They responded March 28 to the petition filed March 7 by Cedar Party leader Glen Chernen and nine others who allege Vision members failed to declare a conflict of interest over the Oakridge Centre redevelopment.
The reply, filed by lawyer Joseph Arvay, said, “What the petitioners’ case boils down to, once the true facts are considered, is the assertion that Mayor Robertson and the Vision councillors could not vote impartially with respect to the proposed Oakridge Mall rezoning because the president of the public planning consultant for the proponent [Gary Pooni] happens to own a minority interest in an Internet media company [Vancouver Is Awesome] which has published a few blogs complimentary of the petition respondents and promoted a couple of Vision Vancouver networking events —despite the fact he actually exercises no editorial control.”
Robertson and the Vision councillors deny having a direct or indirect interest in Oakridge owner Ivanhoe Cambridge, which they claim has not donated to the party.
The response said Arvay will be asking a judge to both deny the petition and award special costs. Arvay is also defending Robertson against Chernen’s February 14 petition that alleges Vision gave HootSuite a non-tendered lease of a civic building in 2012 because the social media company helped the party win re-election in 2011.
The March 28 reply called Cedar a party with “an anti-development and anti-densification agenda.” It said Pooni owns 25% of VIA, with the rest held by editor Bob Kronbauer. Pooni’s affidavit said he became the website’s business development executive and Kronbauer got a year’s free rent in Pooni’s office after they incorporated Awesome Media Network in November 2012. Pooni and Kronbauer became friends after the latter spoke at a February 2012 city council meeting in favour of The Rize development in Mount Pleasant, a project on which Pooni was a consultant.
Pooni denied the Cedar allegation that he is a lobbyist and claimed he adheres to an industry code of conduct as a Registered Professional Planner. Pooni’s consultancy donated $6,425 to Vision in 2011, but the reply denies Pooni has ever offered or been promised a favour by a municipal politician or party in exchange for supporting a party.
The response also claims VIA has no particular party allegiance, even though it promoted two Vision events where campaign funds were raised. In an affidavit, the party’s executive director said it paid $2,352 for a half-page ad in VIA’s annual print magazine and that he modeled sportswear in the same issue as a personal favour.
“That blog has a fairly substantial readership which includes a demographic that I believe should be targeted for support of Vision Vancouver,” according to Stepan Vdovine’s affidavit. “The same may be said about other similar blogs, such as Vancity Buzz. The readers of these blogs are often not reached by traditional media outlets like the Vancouver Sun or Vancouver Courier. Part of my job is to maintain contact with these types of media outlets in an effort to connect with their audiences.”
Vdovine estimated 5% of attendees to the events were attracted through VIA promotional coverage. In turn, Vdovine allowed VIA to promote its Vancouver Was Awesome book on stage at one of the events.
“These are designed as networking events rather than traditional political fundraisers,” according to Vdovine.
However, the ad that ran on VIA for Vision:Next at the Waterfall Building on October 17, 2013 said 150 tickets were being sold at $40 each, under the heading of Vision’s “Campaign Victory Fund.”
Vdovine mentioned in the affidavit that the party’s last filed disclosure was in 2012 and its next is due in 2015, after this fall’s election.
