Cedar Party mayoral candidate Glen Chernen is persisting with a petition that aims to have Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson turfed from office for allegedly providing an undue benefit to social media venture Hootsuite because that company provided what Chernen believes was "unspecified gifts" during the 2011 civic election campaign.
"While we are dismayed that Mr. Robertson is not taking responsibility for his actions, we are nonetheless not surprised," Chernen said in a statement March 14.
Robertson described the petition as "entirely without merit" in his March 10 legal response filed in British Columbia Supreme Court.
His response then inferred that the case was so "obviously devoid of any legal merit that the only reasonable inference the court should draw is that this proceeding was commenced for an improper collateral purpose, namely to damage Mayor Robertson politically."
Chernen told Business in Vancouver in January that he believes the city gave a sweetheart real estate deal to Hootsuite that was substantially below market rents and included an option to buy at a preferential rate.
"It doesn't have to be a huge spread between what they're paying and what the market rate is. If you're talking $10 to $15 difference per square foot per month then the discounts start adding up rapidly."
The 33,000-square-foot building at 5 East 8th Avenue, which HootSuite occupies, is considered Class C office space.Avison Young statistics show that Class C office space in the Vancouver Broadway neighbourhood leases for between $27 and $33 per square foot.
The city gave HootSuite a lease at $17 per square foot in the first year with the rate rising to $22 per square foot in the company's fifth year of occupancy, according to the lease agreement obtained by Business in Vancouver.
"The evidence we submitted to the court suggests at the very least an apprehension of bias in Mr. Robertson's voting on the city property to HootSuite [and its CEO Ryan] Holmes," Chernen said in his March 14 statement.
Robertson has hired prominent lawyer Joe Arvay of Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP to represent him in this matter.
