The Katz Group has declined a request by Mayor Stephen Mandel, to appear before City Council to discuss the proposed downtown arena.
The Katz Group issued the following statement, Thursday afternoon by John D. Karvellas, the Executive Vice President and General Counsel.
“While we appreciate the Mayor’s invitation, we do not think such a meeting can be productive until we have reduced the outstanding issues. As we have said previously, we remain committed to working constructively with City Administration to reach an agreement and would be pleased to go before Council with Administration to present a comprehensive and mutually supported proposal, or even a proposal with one or two significant issues still to be resolved. Then, Council can review the proposal and either approve or reject it as it sees fit.”
Last week, following a private council meeting, Mandel told local media the Katz Group had requested more public funding for the downtown arena project. City council rejected that request, saying it was committed to the original funding agreement.
On Tuesday, Mandel requested that Katz come to council, to clarify his position on the deal.
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“He needs to come to council to tell councillors – who thought we had a deal – what the differences are and what the problems are,” said Mayor Stephen Mandel, “so that once and for all, you as the media, me as the mayor, councillors and everybody else can actually understand what he’s asking for.”
Thursday afternoon, the Mayor and City Councillors weighed in on the response from the Katz Group.
“At the end of the day, Mr. Katz needs to come to the council and the public, for a decision on what’s going to happen. Between now and then, there might be some due diligence to be done but, the fact of the matter is, at the end of the day, council has to make this decision in public and that’s really what the issue is and time is of the essence. I think this has been going on way too long,” said Mayor Mandel.
“It is very disappointing that the invitation from the Mayor has been rejected by the Katz Group, to come before council and make their case. There has been so much back and forth information and a lot of misinformation, I would say, out in the public, as well. So, I think the invitation was to come to council and clear the air,” said City Councillor Amarjeet Sohi.
“I read the response and it’s pretty confusing. I think that they mayor’s point, though, is that the Katz Group needs to meet with city council and city administration. We need to resolve this. We had an agreement from October 26th,” said City Councillor Kim Krushell.
What comes next is uncertain at this point in time. Both sides agree that costs are a big issue, and time is ticking.
With files from Vinesh Pratap.
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