Mayor Peter Kelly says he met three times with Joe Ramia, the developer of the convention centre proposed for downtown, during a period when prospective developers were to be disqualified from the project if they discussed it with city officials. But none of those meetings were improper, says Kelly.
In 2008, the province and city went through the motions of looking for a prospective developer for the convention centre by issuing an “Expression of Interest”—basically, a call for developers to put forward development ideas. Those ideas were then vetted by a team consisting of reps from Trade Centre Limited and provincial and city officials.
Three firms responded to the EOI. Of the three, Ramia’s Rank Inc. was selected to move forward with the convention centre proposal.
The EOI explicitly stated that “any attempt on the part of the [developer]…to contact any of the following persons with respect to this EOI or the Project may lead to disqualification.” The no-contact list included “any member of the Provincial Government or HRM Council and any member of Provincial or HRM staff.” The disqualification period ran from April 1 to December 10, 2008.
Kelly says his three meetings with Ramia were not improper because they did not discuss the convention centre. “One meeting was about the National Portrait Gallery, because he is on the board of a group that was looking to bring that to Halifax,” says Kelly. The other two meetings involved potential Halifax developments that Ramia was involved with but, citing confidentiality concerns, Kelly declines to state what those developments were.
City officials say they will not make public City Hall or mayoral office entry logs, or the details of Kelly’s calendar, without reporters going through the lengthy Freedom of Information Act process.
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This article appears in Duly Noted Spring 2011.
So much for transparency in governments, eh? “City officials say they will not make public City Hall or mayoral office entry logs, or the details of Kelly’s calendar, without reporters going through the lengthy Freedom of Information Act process.”
From what I’ve seen they have “lengthy Act” spot on, as for Freedom and Information, far from it based on what I’ve seen from other requests.
Confidentiality concerns? Even saying that they were discussing a building in a certain area would have been OK. I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to steal property from someone to build a tower, so what’s so confidential? Probably Kelly pushing downtown development (even though vacancy is way too high) and this will get the STV and heritage folks on Ramia’s case earlier rather than when it is too late and nothing can be done…
How much is known of Joe Ramia and the Rank Group?
Unless there is a huge coincidence, the Rank Group (based historically in cinemas and UK film production), is a major international gambling company. Is that perhaps what is in mind for the view over the Citadel?
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Ramia_Joe_1…
The Rank Group Plc
6 Connaught Place
London W2 2EZ
United Kingdom
Industry: Gambling & Gaming, Recreation, Hospitality
Company Description: The Rank Group is a leading European gaming business, based in the UK and listed on the London Stock Exchange. The Group’s principal activities are: the operation of bingo clubs and casinos in the UK with complementary on-line gaming and bookmaking services. Rank’s businesses include a number of established brands in gaming and leisure. These include Mecca Bingo, Top Rank Espana, Grosvenor Casinos, and Blue Square.
http://cache.zoominfo.com/CachedPage/?arch…
Interesting too to see the view of downtown from the Citadel ! as used in the title page of the Downtown Connection, the newsletter of the Business Commission:
http://downtownconnection.ca/pages/public_…
Ian
I don’t think Joe Ramia’s Rank Inc is the same as the UK group. Good idea to google though [Rank Inc Joe Ramia]. I found this:
http://www.southshorenow.ca/archives/2008/…
building code issues with a Rank P3 development (police station) in Bridgewater.
-tania
Typical Tim….looking for stories where there are none. You really need to find something better to do with your time…it is depressing me.
Just when you started to wonder what Peter Kelly is going to work for when is isn’t re-elected…