Meanwhile - Who's Minding The Store?

Nelson Commons (NC) is the only condo-development with parking-variances granted by Nelson City Hall long before even applied for and continuing newsletters with nothing useful reported to Kootenay Co-op member/owners (M/O) because NC is attempting to sell a non-existent product to a non-existent market. With motivation for this project not based in a need for co-op and/or social housing - but making as much money as possible as quickly as possible to pay-off a property too large and too expensive bought too hastily. Tacky! You don't see the connection between NC and the Co-op? Therein lies the rub!

Much newsletter-worthy explaining is owed M/Os - seeing they were not asked for approval of the NC spin-off itself and use of M/O-generated funds to finance preparation for it. 
But - nothing!

Explanations such as: 
1.
How many units have been sold thus far.
2.
What the deadline is for calling it all off when not enough units are sold to kick-start the big money from banks.
3.
Why the M/Os were not consulted, asked to vote on approval for the NC-project and its preparation-funding.
4.
How much of the Co-op M/O-generated funds has been spent on preparing for the NC-development.
5.
Who/what this NC-entity is, and who is in charge of it.
6.
How much those in charge are getting paid with M/O-generated funds for their unauthorized work, and who determined the amounts.
7.
What exactly connects/separates the Co-op and NC.
8.
How unauthorized spending of large amounts of M/O-generated funds will be justified to M/Os if/when NC very likely folds.
9.
Who will be responsible for that loss and how.


And -most important:
10.
Why the Co-op has - engaged to whatever extent in all the above - done so with an almost complete lack of transparency - thus accountability.

 

Reading some of these newsletters while abroad for a while - with a bit of distance on several levels - I realize how bizarre they actually are.

Plenty of good units left for sale is very poor marketing - even though the truth.

Nelson Commons Open House for Members - in June, with free food (usually getting them out of the house)! - may hold  appeal for the cultish Co-op's large segment of guru-junkie M/Os - but even those have made it clear to all (except NC!) that whoever wanted to buy - has already bought!

Then there are the CVs of the main-players in the anticipated construction-process. These main-players - aside from their total professional wonderfulness - actually the ones to profit most financially if the project should ever get off the ground - thus surely ready to wait somewhat longer, because there's more money to be made in a multi-unit/storey building than a basic single-storey box - the store. 

Remember the store? 

What store?

Happy Canada Day, Summer Hours, Deirdrie and Russell supposedly is a paean to them both for having so tirelessly worked on the NC-project, but seeing that they seemingly are in charge of (and getting paid for) it -including the newsletter - this is self-congratulatory twaddle at best.

So I write to the Co-op Board of Directors and after a reminder necessary later that I would appreciate a reply - being an M/O and all - receive one from Deirdrie Lang, Co-op General Manager, for the Board. I essentially ask for clarification on financial issues in connection with NC preparations thus far. She does not address any of that but lets me know that the accounting-books will be produced in the Sep. AGM. Which accounting-books? And what's happening between now and then?
I also write to Russell Precious, Project Manager, asking for the source of preparation-funding, seeing that M/Os had allowed more of the general reserves to be used for construction of a new store - but not a block of condos not even on the table at the time of voting. This aside from the fact that the store is not-for-profit - while NC clearly is for profit-to-be.

No reply! - while as M/O I should be entitled to full transparency. With the Co-op Mission proclaiming that every M/O's voice has equal value, running the democracy-thing. Yet if this is democracy - it's of the Stephen Harper variety: only info tailor-made for general consumption is released.

Meanwhile - back at the store - they're wingeing over not having enough space to showcase more varieties of Cheerios by any other name, so they discontinue products - though selling - with a lesser profit-margin. How democratic is that! Or co-oppy! One may wonder how many employees there think: why don't they just get on with it and build the bloody store already this was all about way back when - before condomania!

While many M/Os actually do wonder what the real reason is behind all this diddling, procrastinating, because banks must become concerned with NC's financial future viability, and the public must shrink ever further from the project - the longer diddling and procrastinating goes on. Themselves feeling diddled with as member/owners. I do!

 

What with little transparency/accountability at the top of this very unco-op(erative) Co-op.