Pantsnake said:
I'm not familiar with what you guys are talking about but we see the same shit out here in Winnipeg.
This is part of the story ... the other part is that the Crystal Gardens used
to be a great 'garden' and conservatory with birds and other rare animals
and really a nice place to visit ...
BC Experience in financial trouble
Wed Sep 20, 2:50 PM
VANCOUVER (CBC) - Victoria's newest tourist attraction, the controversial BC Experience, filed for creditor protection Tuesday, just three months after opening in the city's historic Crystal Garden.
The private attraction, which offers interactive programs highlighting the province's natural history and personalities, was hit hard by the soft tourist market this summer, says the company's executive director, John Thomson.
However, he won't say how low the visitor numbers were. There had been projections that BC Experience would attract 360,000 visitors a year.
The business owes $2.5 million to 180 unsecured creditors, and owes the Royal Bank, a secured creditor, $5.5 million. It has 10 days to come up with a new financial proposal.
Thomson says he believes BC Experience can still be a viable operation and that it will be business as usual at the site until further notice.
Critics fought development
The high-tech tourist attraction had been heralded at its grand opening by Premier Gordon Campbell as being good for the city and the province.
However, it had also provoked a bitter battle with a group of citizens opposed to the eviction of a rare plant and animal conservatory that had occupied the Crystal Garden since 1980.
Friends of Crystal Garden spokeswoman Susan Creviston is not surprised by the company's financial problems, saying its visitor projections were unrealistic.
She blames the Provincial Capital Commission, which owns the Crystal Garden building, for a lack of due diligence.
"It really is a testament to political interference and really arrogance that a group of appointed people knew better than the public."
Creviston is calling for the resignation of commission chair Bill Welburn. He was not available for comment, but Ray Park, the PCC's executive director, defends his organization's actions.
"We've renovated the building and received good value for that, so that part of it, I think, is money well spent."
The provincial government and the commission spent more than $3 million to prepare the Crystal Garden for BC Experience.