Xtra News Community 2
March 30, 2024, 12:37:29 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Welcome to Xtra News Community 2 — please also join our XNC2-BACKUP-GROUP.
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links BITEBACK! XNC2-BACKUP-GROUP Staff List Login Register  

Sky City new pokies, convention centre and all that's smelly?

Pages: 1 ... 4 5 6 7 8 [9]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Sky City new pokies, convention centre and all that's smelly?  (Read 5947 times)
0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #200 on: February 11, 2015, 08:15:42 am »


Fuck the corrupt Nats with their cronyism & bullshit (they promised us a FREE convention centre) and their corporate welfare.

Go to the Electoral Commission website and take a look at the total number of party votes for the Nats to determine the total number of STUPID PEOPLE in NZ.
Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Crusader
Guest
« Reply #201 on: February 11, 2015, 09:00:05 am »

There are planes leaving NZ everyday if you don't like it here

Here is the link for those departing from Wellington. Look for the phrase INTL in the second column for international departures.
https://www.wellingtonairport.co.nz/flights/departures/
Report Spam   Logged
reality
Guest
« Reply #202 on: February 11, 2015, 09:33:56 am »

AhhhhHaha......here's  $10  towards your ticket, and don't say I never give you anything😳

But I hope you will continue to post here from which ever country you choose to live in......nice to have a good laugh at your posts when you act like you are intellectually challenged😳
Report Spam   Logged
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #203 on: February 11, 2015, 01:31:14 pm »


What part of John Key telling us Sky City are “going to build us a national convention centre in Auckland without any financial input from taxpayers and ratepayers in exchange for being allowed to increase the number of pokie machines and gaining a huge extension to their gaming licence” are you too dumbfucks TOO STUPID to understand?

It came right out of your beloved Prime Minister's mouth and was repeated by Steven Joyce....

Are you now admitting that both John Key AND Steven Joyce were LIARS when they made that statement?

Or are you both merely stupid, gullible idiots who will believe anything you are told, then make excuses for it when your stupidity in believing bullshit is shown up by later events?

Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
reality
Guest
« Reply #204 on: February 11, 2015, 03:34:39 pm »

Ktj............."too dumbfucks"

I know you often correct folks on their English......you may want to alter your post in order to not look like such a dumbarse😄

Just saying😜...and good luck with keeping your ego under control😳
Report Spam   Logged
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #205 on: February 11, 2015, 06:18:13 pm »


I take note of the fact that you don't deny that both John Key and Steven Joyce told us that Sky City are “going to build us a national convention centre in Auckland without any financial input from taxpayers and ratepayers in exchange for being allowed to increase the number of pokie machines and gaining a huge extension to their gaming licence”.

I guess this means that you accept that John Key and Steven Joyce were lying to us, and also that you accept that you are a gullible, simpleton idiot who will believe anything your hero John Key says, even when he is very obviously full-of-shit!
Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Crusader
Guest
« Reply #206 on: February 11, 2015, 07:09:52 pm »

Face it, your beloved Greens will never get in and should you decide to stay in NZ you are likely to die a sad old bitter man. You are best to piss off and live out your life somewhere you will find pleasant.  Greece seems to be your cup of tea these days
Report Spam   Logged
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #207 on: February 12, 2015, 07:53:46 am »


If the Nats want the convention centre so much, then the Nats can pay for it out of their political party funds and they can then reap the profits (or cover the losses).




                                                                                         (click on the cartoon)
Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
nitpicker1
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 11886


Nothing sexceeds like sexcess


« Reply #208 on: February 16, 2015, 03:18:21 pm »

 

Smaller SkyCity won't be an eyesore: Key

NZ Newswire

Updated February 16, 2015,

Prime Minister John Key's reassuring Aucklanders that the SkyCity convention centre won't be an eyesore even though the government won't be stumping up any cash.

SkyCity Entertainment Group will need to go back to the drawing board after it was told it needed to stick to an agreed cost of $402 million.

Last week, Mr Key wouldn't rule out putting money into the centre, saying: "I'd hate to see some sort of eyesore constructed."

But on Monday, Mr Key told TVNZ's Breakfast the convention centre might be "slightly smaller" but disagreed with the suggestion that it would be unattractive.

SkyCity had changed the plans from what was initially talked about to make it "more grandiose" and larger, pushing out the cost by as much as $130m.

"In the end the message is pretty strong: go and build a convention centre, live within your means," Mr Key said.

SkyCity chief executive Nigel Morrison said the company respected and accepted the Crown's decision and will review the design.

SkyCity agreed to build the International Convention Centre two years ago in return for gambling concessions and the government argued New Zealand was getting a new convention centre at no cost to taxpayers.

Labour leader Andrew Little believes a key issue in the cost escalation was the number of pillars in the building.

The "holy grail" of convention centre design is to have as few pillars as possible so people attending conventions don't have to peer around them.

"That requires more expensive engineering. One way of reducing the cost is to fill it up with pillars," Mr Little told NZ Newswire.

"I think the risk now is that they just do a cheap and dirty construction job."

The Greens said it was great that the government had backed down on a handout but remained opposed to the deal.

"The government should walk away from it, before we end up with their proposed eyesore that is built on the misery of problem gambling," said spokeswoman Denise Roche.

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/26299591/smaller-skycity-wont-be-an-eyesore-key/



~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Casino boss has played his cards toxically wrong this time

HAMISH RUTHERFORD

Last updated 06:59, February 16 2015

OPINION:

No-one should know better than SkyCity chief executive Nigel Morrison that the trick in the gambling business is knowing when to walk away.

In the case of the convention centre negotiations, Morrison should clearly have quit while he was ahead, rather than bait the public as he has in recent months.

Instead, the board of SkyCity must now ask whether the Australian who has headed the company since 2008 will be able to negotiate effectively with the Government again.

READ MORE: No public money for SkyCity centre

The original convention centre deal announced by Prime Minister John Key in May 2013, in which SkyCity was given major gambling concessions, was a good one for the casino group.

Most importantly, it received a lengthy extension to its contract to be the exclusive casino operator in Auckland, as well as hundreds more pokie machines, more tables and new conditions to allow punters to part with their money faster than before.

Why was the Government willing to give such benefits to such a politically difficult industry? Because SkyCity would, in return, build an "international" convention centre, costing more than $400 million and which, according to Key, would not cost the taxpayer a cent.

Treasury papers would later show that the way the Crown approached the negotiations - giving SkyCity special insights and entering into exclusive negotiations early - meant the Crown was unable work out what the casino operator's bottom line was. In short, the odds were stacked in the casino's favour.

That should have been enough.

But it appears Morrison went for more, publishing details of a significantly more expensive centre at the end of last year, knowing full well that the added costs would fall on the Crown

In short, he breathed new life into a controversial issue for the Government, undermining the central defence that somehow National was delivering something for nothing.

SkyCity must now go back to the original deal on the original terms, offsetting higher costs by building a slightly smaller convention centre.

But its act of brinkmanship has humiliated the Government, which is already sensitive to claims that it engages in corporate welfare.

Worse still, it has made it seem as if Key and Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce were outsmarted in commercial negotiations.

SkyCity has a business only because the Government allows it to.

Even before the convention centre deal, SkyCity was a political hot potato.

 Morrison's most recent push has turned it toxic. He will regret this the next time he needs a favour

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/66227573/casino-boss-has-played-his-cards-toxically-wrong-this-time



Report Spam   Logged

"Life might not be the party you were expecting, but you're here now, so you may as well get up and dance"
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #209 on: February 16, 2015, 03:32:21 pm »


ROFLMAO....the “Nats' arse-lickers” have gone mysteriously quiet since their hero Jonkey furiously back-pedalled and performed a gigantic flipflop over the SkyCity/Convention-Centre issue.

Funny, that.... 
Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
nitpicker1
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 11886


Nothing sexceeds like sexcess


« Reply #210 on: February 16, 2015, 04:08:25 pm »



reprint of the first message in this thread


SkyCity deal was PM's own offer

10:20 AM Wednesday Apr 18, 2012

Prime Minister John Key has confirmed he offered a deal to Sky City allowing the casino to have more pokie machines in return for building a multimillion-dollar convention centre.

Mr Key, speaking from Indonesia, confirmed he made the offer to Sky City in his capacity as Minister of Tourism, Newstalk ZB reported.

Earlier this week, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said Mr Key's diary showed no scheduled meetings with Sky City representatives since July last year.

"Having said that, the Prime Minister attends numerous functions and is quite likely to have come across Sky City representatives at some stage."

Mr Key was asked last July in a question for written answer from Green MP Sue Kedgley whether he or any of his ministers had met representatives from the casino to discuss changes to the Gambling Act.

He replied: "I attended a dinner with the Sky City board 4 November 2009 where we discussed a possible national convention centre and they raised issues relating to the Gambling Act 2003".

Mr Key said he was unable to speak for other ministers as to whether they had met casino representatives.

Mr Key's spokesman today refused to say what date Mr Key's offer to make a deal with Sky City was made.

Labour leader David Shearer said he was appalled.

"The fact that John Key approached SkyCity to say, 'look, if you do this for us we'll allow you to have more pokie machines, and don't worry I'll pass a law through parliament allowing you to have more pokie machines." That frankly is shonky, and it smells," Mr Shearer told Newstalk ZB.

"What he's done with this deal is increase the amount of pokie machines and gambling and therefore the social harm to Auckland. I just think that's a price that we're not prepared to pay."

Mr Shearer said Mr Key was effectively selling the law that controlled pokies.

The Government is still negotiating the deal for the $350 million convention centre in downtown Auckland which Mr Key has said will create 900 jobs during the construction phase and 900 jobs when it begins operating.

However, with reports that the Government may amend the Gaming Act to allow SkyCity to operate up to 500 more gaming machines, the Problem Gambling Foundation fears the expansion will drive an upsurge in gambling addiction.

Mr Key has dismissing reports of up to 500 more machines as speculation but refused to indicate what the number may be other than to say it was "a small adjustment up".

Mr Key has previously said the Auckland Council's "sinking lid" policy on gaming machines in pubs and clubs means fewer gaming machines overall.

Meanwhile, should the deal reach fruition, any changes to the Gambling Act that would be required would not be conscience vote for National MPs.

That was because Mr Key regarded the issue as primarily an economic one.

"It's largely the issue of a piece of infrastructure for tourism and it's an important part of building that tourism model."


- NZ Herald


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10799699




Report Spam   Logged

"Life might not be the party you were expecting, but you're here now, so you may as well get up and dance"
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #211 on: February 16, 2015, 08:18:24 pm »


from The Dominion Post....

Odds stacked against SkyCity

By DAVE ARMSTRONG | 6:10AM - Monday, 16 February 2015



AFTER National's third election win in a row, many commentators said that inequality would be the biggest issue over the next few years — and they were right.

Last week inequality reared its ugly head as SkyCity pleaded for a Government top-up as its convention centre construction costs had skyrocketed.

I'm talking, of course, about corporate inequality. While big multinationals make huge profits and pay little tax, poor SkyCity who, as its recent television ad shows, only want to help people, is struggling to make ends meet.

The announcement yesterday that SkyCity has agreed to change its plans — and stick to the original budget — was the right one.

But the fact the request for a Government top-up is now apparently dead doesn't spell the end of questions about this process.

It's hard to believe that neither the casino, nor Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce, nor the hundreds of MBIE employees who worked on the contract, were to know that over a long consent and construction process, contractors would up their prices to keep pace with inflation and the rising cost of materials.

The odds seem to be stacked against those, like SkyCity, at the bottom of the corporate heap.




I've heard that children of SkyCity executives are turning up at their Auckland private schools without having had a decent cafe breakfast. At playtime the kids have to fill their bottles with tap water.

Even worse, Auckland's rising housing market has forced out some executives from Remuera and Herne Bay into nearby ghetto suburbs such as Meadowbank and Westmere, forcing their children to attend decile 9 schools.

The pain is not just being felt in Auckland.

I hear one or two large-scale dairy farmers have actually been forced to pay a bit of tax this year. The worst thing about corporate inequality is the social stigma that the “have nots” like SkyCity must endure.

When SkyCity politely asked the taxpayer for a top-up they were met with a FeroCity of criticism from Kiwis who couldn't believe the AudaCity of a massively wealthy corporation asking for a government SubCity.

But SkyCity is not just a business. As their television PubliCity shows, it is a community, charity and a business — employing people of different EthniCity — rolled into one.

SkyCity simply uses money it makes from gambling and bars to fund charities to help combat social evils like gambling addiction and alcoholism.

And Prime Minister John Key was dead right to warn New Zealanders that without the state top-up, the convention centre would be an eyesore, which will be rebranded as SkySore.

That's a pity because as any architect knows, some of the world's most beautiful buildings are convention centres.

That's why tourists flock to Guangzhou, Ottawa and Houston just to see them. Imagine Wellington without the gorgeous Winter Show Buildings, Queens Wharf Events Centre or Renouf Foyer in the Michael Fowler Centre.




Sadly, journalist Mike Hosking, who freely admits his previous commercial links with SkyCity in a disclaimer on his column, was the lone voice to demonstrate the public benefits of SkySore.

But the shrill tones of problem gambling foundations, public health experts and extremist Left-wing organisations like the Salvation Army drowned him out.

No doubt the Government is breathing a big sigh of relief that SkyCity blinked first and ditched their request for cash from the taxpayer.

The saga was playing out extremely untidily — and politicians cannot play roulette with the people of this country.

Though if you are in Auckland looking to fritter away your wages on roulette, I can recommend an extremely good venue.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/66223955/Odds-stacked-against-SkyCity
Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #212 on: February 16, 2015, 10:13:06 pm »



Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #213 on: February 17, 2015, 12:52:10 pm »


Click on the cartoon to read the BRILLIANT editorial published in today's Dominion Post newspaper....



Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #214 on: February 17, 2015, 01:00:19 pm »



Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #215 on: February 17, 2015, 02:26:19 pm »






Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32233


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #216 on: February 17, 2015, 02:42:01 pm »





Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
nitpicker1
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 11886


Nothing sexceeds like sexcess


« Reply #217 on: February 18, 2015, 07:16:00 am »


for those who get a bit tired of cartoons:


SkyCity convention centre deal goes sour

NZ Newswire
Fri, Feb 13, 2015 11:31 AM NZDT

https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/skycity-convention-centre-deal-goes-223125328.html

gotta love the final paragraph   Shocked

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile -


with my bolded and underlined emphasis

Buyer: Revel says it has 'many purchasers' for the shuttered Atlantic City casino
Associated Press
By Wayne Parry, Associated Press | Associated Press – 17 hours ago
..


ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- A Florida developer trying to salvage a deal to buy Atlantic City's former Revel casino says the casino's owner told him it has "many" buyers for it.

In a Sunday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy court, a lawyer for developer Glenn Straub asserts that Revel AC has told him it has other buyers for the casino hotel.

Both sides are due in court Tuesday, when a bankruptcy judge will decide whether to approve Revel's termination of the $95.4 million sale to Straub's Polo North Country Club. But that hearing is in doubt due to a significant snowstorm approaching the region, and at least one high-profile federal criminal trial due to begin on Tuesday had already been postponed.

Polo North attorney Stuart Moskovitz wrote: "Debtors' counsel has indicated many times that there are many purchasers for the debtors' assets. That statement is seen in the auction transcript and has been made to counsel for Polo North and in open court. The debtors' motive in seeking to abruptly terminate the Polo North (sale) certainly is in question as a result of those statements. As Polo North has brought to the court's attention previously, the debtors appear to want to manipulate the sale process, whether it be to raise the sale price or collect additional deposit forfeitures. Such behavior calls the debtors' motive directly in question."

A Revel attorney declined to comment Monday.

Judge Gloria Burns is scheduled to rule Tuesday on Revel AC's move to cancel the sale to Straub and to pocket his $10 million deposit. Revel AC also kept an $11 million deposit when a $110 million sale to Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management fell through in November.

Revel said it moved to terminate the sale because Polo North had not met the Feb. 9 deadline called for under the sale contract, and it indicated it would seek to identify a new buyer. The judge has denied Straub's bid to extend the deadline to complete the sale.

Also over the weekend, a company that owns two nightclubs and an outdoor pool club at the former casino and Revel's committee of unsecured creditors lent their support to Revel's move to scrap the Polo North sale and try again with someone new. IDEA Boardwalk wrote that it supports terminating the sale to Straub "based on the fact that Polo North is unwilling to close on a sale of the debtors' assets in a timely fashion."

The power plant that is Revel's sole utility supplier also supported scrapping the sale, but it wants the $10 million held in escrow to possibly pay its unpaid bills.

The Hard Rock franchise owned by Florida's Seminole Indians has expressed interest in Revel on several occasions, and Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment CEO Jim Allen said his company had held discussions with Straub about a potential involvement in a re-opened casino there.

On Jan. 29, New Jersey casino regulators granted Hard Rock preliminary authority to own a casino in Atlantic City, where four casinos, including Revel, closed last year.
https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/buyer-revel-says-many-buyers-213608507.html

gotta love that final paragraph too

Report Spam   Logged

"Life might not be the party you were expecting, but you're here now, so you may as well get up and dance"

Pages: 1 ... 4 5 6 7 8 [9]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Open XNC2 Smileys
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum


Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy
Page created in 0.056 seconds with 13 queries.