Good morning. I was out watching the northern lights. Just got to love those solar flares.

Frank

Hoping that this nice spring like weather continues for the forseeable future!

Sure does bring out the pot-holes though eh! Man 15th is bad…..Tyner is no better….

Time for council to loosen up the purse strings and do some roadworks this year.

Roads are crap everywhere, disgusting!

Well if P.G. is the pot-hole capital and the crime capital, I think we have an answer where to put the criminals.

Looking at the weather forecast I’m guessing I can kiss the backyard rink good bye. It was not a very good rink building winter.

Shari Green, during her campaign for Mayor, said that she would do things right in caring for the roads? Wrong! The roads are falling apart! Anyone make the right hand turn off Domano onto O’Grady road by the Chevron gas station lately? The road has fallen apart, there are craters that would seriously damage any car. Can’t anyone at the City at least put some road base or gravel in the holes so that we don’t wreck our cars? Mayor Green may think she is saving us taxes, but her ways will only cause a massive tax increase in the future and any savings to us tax payers of Prince George will four fold go into repairing our cars! It’s truly amazing that in a few short months as Mayor, Green has sadly taken the fine City of Prince George back to a one horse town! Yikes how did we elect such an inept Mayor? Green has to go!!!

I think we are the pot hole capital because we have road cracks that have opened right up from the frost heaving over the winter and we don’t maintenance them right, so water gets in there and busts up the base for the pavement.

A few dollars in preventive maintenance at this time would save the city huge dollars in pot hole repairs later in the spring IMO.

I also think if the province (in cahoots with city council) is trying to stick home owners with the cost of of building a dike of the CN industrial park… then I think we should make demands on the provincial government to provide some lighting on the Hart from Chief Lake road into town. Its ridiculous in that the road needs so much sand that one can not see the road lines anymore and people are driving all over the place.

The hart Highway is provincial and its provincial responsibility to have it up to par. When you come into PG from the North its just a black hole of a goat road… you’d never see the main road into Kelowna or Kamloops in that kind of shape.

Why aren’t our representatives asking for higher quality roads from the provincial government as well?

120k golden handshake for quitting your job for a better paying one, with better opportunity. Does the PG in IPG represent Pigs Gorge?

Cheetos: “Shari Green, during her campaign for Mayor, said that she would do things right in caring for the roads? Wrong!”

Ok, I realize you were a big Dan Rogers supporter during the election, but Shari Green has been in office what, maybe 3-4 months? Let’s give her a little time.

Are you one of these people that believes all roads should be cleared within 12 hours of a snowfall too?

Have to agree with Eagleone! Check out the mainroads leading into Kamloops, Kelowna and Vernon! The Department of Highways spent tens of millions on center strips planted with decorative shrubs and trees, proper length left and right turn lanes, proper lighting, proper shoulders, landscaping of banks and so forth!

Do we have any of these amenities in Prince George? Very, very few! Whose fault is it? It’s the City’s fault, not the Department of Highways!

For instance: The City does not complain about right turn lanes at intersections which are too short – one is only two car lengths!

If the City keeps accepting the substandard (compared to other cities) treatment we get – nothing will ever change!

I see on on of the banner ads on this site one of the local credit unions is offering a product called a “Youth Independance Loan” targetted to those 13-18 years old.

According to the site: “The benefits of a Youth Independence Loan: GAIN FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY & INDEPENDENCE! DEVELOP YOUR OWN CREDIT SCORE & A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT!”

I don’t know about everyone else, but I got a sense of accomplishment when I saved my allowance and bought something rather than getting a loan for it. Maybe I’m too old school…

Mr JohnnyBelt, “Shari Green, during her campaign for Mayor, said that she would do things right in caring for the roads? Wrong!”

Seems the first thing she did to help roads was cut the budget and that was within 3-4 months. Do you see things getting better with time?

JohnnyBelt wrote: “Shari Green has been in office what, maybe 3-4 months? Let’s give her a little time.”

True. But during that time she has 3 budgets to preside over and send a message to the rest of Council. There is limited time to accomplish what any new mayor wishes to accomplish. First indicators of direction are the initial budget. It identifies priorities.

So, this article on Opinion 250 from just 3 weeks ago gives us that direction regarding roads.

[url]
http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/23367%5B/url%5D

“The money to be spent on road rehabilitation this year, will remain the same as last, $3.5 million dollars.”

“That is off the plan the previous Council had set, which would have seen the road rehabilitation expenditures increase to $3.75 million this year.”

“Superintendent of Operations for the City of Prince George, Bill Gaal, says the City should be spending $7 million a year to keep up with the regular rates of deterioration”

“City Manager Derek Bates says the reality is, if the price of a needed item goes up, it means the City will have to adjust by doing less paving.”

So in the final analysis, we will not only have less money than was intended to rehabilitate roads this year, but by spending the same as last year, we will likely get less road done since the price of asphalt will likely be increasing.

That covers 1/3 of the current Council’s opportunity to deal with roads.

And your rebuttal is what, JohnnyBelt?

Oh, and please do not go to the newbie thing. She and others on Council, with the exeption of two, have had three years leading up to this moment. This is not a new problem.

http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/23367

Tidal wave from space…it`s on its way

On its way to what?

Nice to hear the : thank you Canada: from the Japanese ambasador to Canada for the Canadian help after the tsunami a year ago

Just think if the River road dike went away and the money to be borrowed, plus the reserve fund money and the usual budgeted paving budget were all spent on paving the roads. It would sure be a step in the right direction.
To bad actually bringing roads to the forefront of council’s agenda is nothing more than a dream. It is far more important for city council to have photo-op projects no matter what the cost to taxpayer in PG or the wants of the general public.

Johnny Belt I agree with you on the credit Unions ad,you can get a good credit rating by getting a credit card and paying it of every month, and everything is cheaper if it is payed for, instead of paying with borrowed money.

Solar wave from the sun, gus. 2012 is prediucted to be the most active the sun has been in hundreds of years, and thier is a direct correlation between solar activity and weather on earth. A vast majority of the scientists who initially thought CO2 was the culprit for global warming have since changed thier opinion when they looked closer at the science, and the most scientifically proven theory out there is that the earths temperature and weather is influenced more by sun spots and solar flares that by the meager .006% carbon emissions put out by humans.

I noticed that ad just yesterday on the CU site as well and thought it wasn’t a good idea to start out 13 years olds thinking the way to future prosperity is starting to borrow at that age.

I was also appalled at seeing mcewen getting not only 6 months full salary for QUITTING a job, but also getting 20k just for a relocation allowance. That is absurd. A lot of people raising young children in this town don’t make 20k a year. The pigs at the trough who don’t see things like that as wrong are the same pigs who have put the world in the economic turmoil a lot of it is in.

I see that the MOE in it’s infinite wisdom has granted the PG Air roundtable a $40k grant to educate wood stove users to season their wood and to supply wood storage boxes.

A couple of points, a vast majority of people who use wood as their primary heat source are well versed on how to season the wood so it burn efficiently and they do not have to clean the chimney so often.

Secondly,exactly how big are these wooden storage boxes? Most people get the yearly supply in the fall, often to use it the following winter. Green wood will not dry properly in a box, properly stacked it will dry, rain and snow have minimum effects. I guess they figure that the wood comes in nice little packs with plastic strapping like I have seen in gas stations in Vancouver.

OH Oh..seems solar flares aren’t our only worry…
Blast it or paint it: Asteroid to threaten Earth in 2013
To avert a possible catastrophe – this time set for February 2013 – scientists suggest confronting asteroid 2012 DA14 with either paint or big guns. The stickler is that time has long run out to build a spaceship to carry out the operation.

­NASA’s data shows the 60-meter asteroid, spotted by Spanish stargazers in February, will whistle by Earth in 11 months. Its trajectory will bring it within a hair’s breadth of our planet, raising fears of a possible collision.

The asteroid, known as DA14, will pass by our planet in February 2013 at a distance of under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is closer than the geosynchronous orbit of some satellites.

There is a possibility the asteroid will collide with Earth, but further calculation is required to estimate the potential threat and work out how to avert possible disaster, NASA expert Dr. David Dunham told students at Moscow’s University of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM).

“The Earth’s gravitational field will alter the asteroid’s path significantly. Further scrupulous calculation is required to estimate the threat of collision,” said Dr. Dunham, as transcribed by Russia’s Izvestia. “The asteroid may break into dozens of small pieces, or several large lumps may split from it and burn up in the atmosphere. The type of the asteroid and its mineral structure can be determined by spectral analysis. This will help predict its behavior in the atmosphere and what should be done to prevent the potential threat,” said Dr. Dunham.

In the event of a collision, scientists have calculated that the energy released would equate to the destructive power of a thermo-nuclear bomb.

In response to the threat, scientists have come up with some ingenious methods to avert a potential disaster.

­Fireworks and watercolors
With the asteroid zooming that low, it will be too late to do anything with it besides trying to predict its final destination and the consequences of impact.

A spaceship is needed, experts agree. It could shoot the rock down or just crash into it, either breaking the asteroid into debris or throwing it off course.

“We could paint it,” says NASA expert David Dunham.

Paint would affect the asteroid’s ability to reflect sunlight, changing its temperature and altering its spin. The asteroid would stalk off its current course, but this could also make the boulder even more dangerous when it comes back in 2056, Aleksandr Devaytkin, the head of the observatory in Russia’s Pulkovo, told Izvestia.

Spaceship impossible?
Whatever the mission, building a spaceship to deal with 2012 DA14 will take two years – at least.

The asteroid has proven a bitter discovery. It has been circling in orbit for three years already, crossing Earth’s path several times, says space analyst Sergey Naroenkov from the Russian Academy of Sciences. It seems that spotting danger from outer space is still the area where mere chance reigns, while asteroid defense systems exist only in drafts.

Still, prospects of meeting 2012 DA14 are not all doom and gloom.

“The asteroid may split into pieces entering the atmosphere. In this case, most part of it will never reach the planet’s surface,” remarks Dunham.

But if the entire asteroid is to crash into the planet, the impact will be as hard as in the Tunguska blast, which in 1908 knocked down trees over a total area of 2,150 sq km (830 sq miles) in Siberia. This is almost the size of Luxembourg. In today’s case, the destination of the asteroid is yet to be determined.

Is it not normal practice for the party offering a job to pay the relocation costs? Maybe Tim is double dipping there too.

Maybe the asteroid will land in the pothole at the top of Ospika, as that puppy could swallow it whole.

Did McEwan quit his job or did someone force him out so their friend could take over and make some significant money?

Just speculation.

I’ll help move him out of town for a lot less than $20,000.

lol lonesome

The drivers coming off the Cameron street bridge onto thr roundabout seem to think that as long as they are speeding they get the right of way, can anyone explain this to me ?

Interesting program going on right now on the community radio station. Thank you Ben Meisner for bringing up the whole Medical Clinic/Commonwealth (McLaren et al)/Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation (Don McGowan-good friend of McLaren et al) situation.

The saga of Ms. Green and her campaign contributors/supporters (McLaren et al) continues. Hope y’all are getting so rich, it won’t matter what happens with the reputations.

Rounder, I have had the same thought about Mr. McEwan and his successor. She’s tied in with McWalter, McLaren, Green et al.

I conclude by reiterating my concluding statement on my last post.

I understand it’s pot hole season thanks to the weather in the North however, I’m confused as to why they only paved part of Domano last year. The intersection of Domano and Gladstone was bad last year so why wasn’t it done at the same time? It is so bad there you can’t avoid any of the holes. Then I noticed that the part they paved, has a hole already. Does the city not check the contractors work? It’s pathetic and the taxes in CH are higher than other areas and yet the roads are insane. Are our taxes higher so we can have pot holes? Sure hope the city starts to do the repairs properly instead of just filling holes that don’t last longer than two days. Simon Fraser is just as bad. Last year I saw a boy riding his bike and tried to avoid a pot hole and couldn’t. He crashed and me and another lady helped him and his bike home. Thankfully he was wearing a helmet. People are dodging these holes and I see an accident coming due to this.

I understand it’s pot hole season thanks to the weather in the North however, I’m confused as to why they only paved part of Domano last year. The intersection of Domano and Gladstone was bad last year so why wasn’t it done at the same time? It is so bad there you can’t avoid any of the holes. Then I noticed that the part they paved, has a hole already. Does the city not check the contractors work? It’s pathetic and the taxes in CH are higher than other areas and yet the roads are insane. Are our taxes higher so we can have pot holes? Sure hope the city starts to do the repairs properly instead of just filling holes that don’t last longer than two days. Simon Fraser is just as bad. Last year I saw a boy riding his bike and tried to avoid a pot hole and couldn’t. He crashed and me and another lady helped him and his bike home. Thankfully he was wearing a helmet. People are dodging these holes and I see an accident coming due to this.

I do not agree with the McEwan payout at taxpayers expence, I think there is a lot more to this story. I think IPG should be disolved and the money saved put into our roads the chamber of commerce could do the job or one of the offices in City Hall.”We have a problem” and we need to deal with it.

“And your rebuttal is what, JohnnyBelt?

Oh, and please do not go to the newbie thing. She and others on Council, with the exeption of two, have had three years leading up to this moment. This is not a new problem.”

You guys have convinced me. Let’s get a posse together to throw her out of office. Who’s with me?

btw, I didn’t vote for Shari Green in the municipal election, just in case you were wondering.

As some have noted, it sure is nice that Timmy McEwan made out like a bandit courtesy of the taxpayer.

At least $120K + expenses severance. And he was paid $170K at IPG according to his employment contract.

Can the City just step up and shut down this joke of an organization? I would love to see that.

I agree with Bitter. We do not need IPG, we never did. They have done very little for the City of Prince George at a huge cost.

The money spent by IPG could be spent on more important things, like roads, water, sewage, snow removal, etc; We also need to reduce our taxes and spending.

We have a huge budget, and huge debt, and no one minding the store.

Going to meetings, writing letters, nodding your head, winking, nudging, and saying ahem once in a while does not warrant the money we spend on IPG.

If a business cannot locate in Prince George without the help of IPG, I suggest that it is already doomed to fail.

Question: How did we ever manage without IPG ?
Answer. We managed quite will thank you.

One more Time “All Vehicles in the Roundabout have the Right of Way” All Vehicles entering the Roundabout or Traffic Circle must Yield , why some don’t get it, I don’t know.

According to NASA’s calculations, the closest that the 150-foot-wide asteroid could pass by Earth is roughly 12,680 miles. While that amounts to a very close shave in cosmic terms, scientists remain convinced that the probability of asteroid 2012 Da14 impacting Earth in 2013 is essentially zero.
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/202739/asteroid-2012-da14-wont-hit-earth-nasa-says/#ryXpIY52a3fG4hDB.99

NASA the same outfit that predicts we are going to burn up from C02, its astronauts have to hitchhike into space and the best for last, Barack Obama: Nasa must try to make Muslims ‘feel good’

The head of the Nasa has said Barack Obama told him to make “reaching out to the Muslim world” one of the space agency’s top priorities.

What does Muslim’s have to do with NASA?

O-250’s competitor (HQ Prince George) is reporting:

‘IPG Vice President Heather Oland will remain on as Acting CEO until her performance in the role is reviewed with the potential for her to take the title permanently.’

That’s crap – IPG already rolled out the ‘new’ Tim McEwan at an invite-only meeting earlier this week.

Hey IPG and Supply Services – was the juicy $175k a year position advertised and won competitively, or was it a ‘direct award’ to an insider?

Come on Core Review!

“I’ll help move him out of town for a lot less than $20,000.”

Let me see ….. moving out of town.

Sell a condo/house in old place …. say $500,000. 3.5% commission to realtor? $17,500. … $2,500 left to move furniture, stay somewhere for a week or so while hunting for new house, travel costs.

So, nice offer there, Rounder.

Guess you do not move from one upper management/CEO job to another too often …. ;-)

I actually found and bought something that was *Made in Canada* yesterday. I couldn’t find a made in China sticker anywhere on it.

So you think taxpayers should be responsible to pay some CEOs realtor fees on their 1/2 million dollar home, gus? Incredible.

Lets be done with IPG.

Good riddance to Tim McEwan. He got paid a boat load of cash, quit and sucked up more cash and left town. I hope he chokes on all the tax payers hard earned money he’s gotten!

When the latest IPG matter broke, Glenn Wonders was the Chair of the Board. He still is, according to the IPG web site.

However, in an article posted on the Citizen web site today, Mark Feldinger is being quoted as the Board Chair.

Was that in error, or has there been a shift at the top?

Paying realtor fees is a fairly common in relocation deals. I have even seen a person compensated because the value of their home went down since they bought it. All depends how bad they want you and how well you can negotiate.

Lets be done with IPG.

Good riddance to Tim McEwan. He got paid a boat load of cash, quit and sucked up more cash and left town. I hope he chokes on all the tax payers hard earned money he’s gotten!

The quote from the article is as follows:

“The agreement was reached with McEwan, Feldinger said during a press conference at the IPG offices, with advice from independent legal counsel and at an cost that added up to “significantly less than the 28 months remaining on his contract.”

So, lawyers had a look at the facts of the case which caused McCewan to leave and based on that the chair of the Board felt that a good deal was had.

The thing we do not know is what the cause for leaving was. The eway this is being reported most certainly looks like a relatively good case for constructive dismissal was made.

The deal was apparently signed January 27. Deals like that are not typically reached overnight, so the constructive dismissal incident(s), if that is what it was, was intitated sometime before the end of January.

So, put that into your thinking caps and consider what could possibly have been the cause of the contructive dismissal.

“Paying realtor fees is a fairly common in relocation deals.” .. He wasn’t being relocated by IPG, he was hired by Victoria, and this isn’t a private business. This is taxpayers money and the split was supposedly a mutual agreement. Just saving face for actually firing him, but if they fired him they would be admitting his tenure wasn’t exactly as they say. Quote: 4 years of outstanding contribution. I say call a spade a spade, he was fired and they had to pay him to shut him up.

A child, who in most circumstances is not legally able to enter into a contract, is now eligible to borrow $200 to $500 with only a signed “acknowledgement” from a parent or guardian. What is the interest rate, payment schedule and consequences if the payments are not made in a timely manner?

The site has a link to a Budget work sheet that mainly consists of want categories. If this program is truly geared to establishing good credit early, it appears to be missing the mark. Independance is about taking responsibility for yourself, paying your own way, planning for the future and putting a strategy in place to achieve your goals.

Credit is a tool and like any tool it can hurt you if you make a mistake while using it. (Hammer comes to mind) With all the bankruptcies and foreclosures proving that as a group we cannot handle credit responsibly, where is the safety manual?

Max out your credit card but make those minimum payments regularly and on time and they will offer you a higher limit. Good job, here’s your reward! Pay late a few times and they increase your interest rate, but rarely lower your credit limit.

I would love to see a mandatory comprehensive course on basic finance for teenagers. Teach them about work, gross pay versus net pay. How to file a basic tax return and apply for medical coverage. How to budget for needs like rent, food, electricity and heat. Talk about cable, internet, cell phones and cars and other extras based on what they can afford rather than what they want. Show the good and bad points of credit cards, lines of credit, leases and mortgages. Give them the skills to cope with sudden job loss, illness or major changes in life.

Now that I think about maybe the course should be mandatory for everyone.

A child, who in most circumstances is not legally able to enter into a contract, is now eligible to borrow $200 to $500 with only a signed “acknowledgement” from a parent or guardian. What is the interest rate, payment schedule and consequences if the payments are not made in a timely manner?

The site has a link to a Budget work sheet that mainly consists of want categories. If this program is truly geared to establishing good credit early, it appears to be missing the mark. Independance is about taking responsibility for yourself, paying your own way, planning for the future and putting a strategy in place to achieve your goals.

Credit is a tool and like any tool it can hurt you if you make a mistake while using it. (Hammer comes to mind) With all the bankruptcies and foreclosures proving that as a group we cannot handle credit responsibly, where is the safety manual?

Max out your credit card but make those minimum payments regularly and on time and they will offer you a higher limit. Good job, here’s your reward! Pay late a few times and they increase your interest rate, but rarely lower your credit limit.

I would love to see a mandatory comprehensive course on basic finance for teenagers. Teach them about work, gross pay versus net pay. How to file a basic tax return and apply for medical coverage. How to budget for needs like rent, food, electricity and heat. Talk about cable, internet, cell phones and cars and other extras based on what they can afford rather than what they want. Show the good and bad points of credit cards, lines of credit, leases and mortgages. Give them the skills to cope with sudden job loss, illness or major changes in life.

Now that I think about maybe the course should be mandatory for everyone.

Moving expenses are tax deductible. Bye Tim.

Gas down a penny at Esso on the by-pass. $127.9

When I consider the Tim McEwan vs. Mayor Green saga, I have to say bravo to Tim McEwan. He was under contract, right? Maybe Mayor Green doesn’t understand what a contract is. So Mr. McEwan resigned, did he really or was it a case of constructive dismissal via Green and company? What ever she did, it cost us the taxpayers a whole lot of cash. The person to blame is Mayor Green! Again I say, how did we elect such an inept Mayor? Since taking office almost 4 months ago she has done nothing but waste tax payer’s money and returned us to a one horse town! Yikes who would want to invest here?

“Politics is like roller skating. You go partly where you want to go, and partly where the damned things take you.”

Henry Ashurst

I suspect Tim hit a pot hole in the road and missed the Green light.

Hey…I like this response…this kind of spending sound familiar???
******************************************************************
In Canada and BC some time soon??? Fiberals listen up!!!!!!!!

Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming , Co-Chair of Obama’s deficit commission,calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared “Social Security” to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats.
Here’s a response in a letter from PATTY MYERS in Montana … I think she is a little ticked off! She also tells it like it is!

“Hey Alan , let’s get a few things straight..

1. As a career politician, you have been on the public teat for FIFTY YEARS.

2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).

3. My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud..

4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown , you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. NOW, you and your shill commission are proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.

6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you incompetent bastards spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.
To add insult to injury, you label us “greedy” for calling “bullshit” on your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU.

1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?

2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?

3. How much do you pay for YOUR government-provided health insurance?

4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?

It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called Congress who are the “greedy” ones. It is you and your fellow nutcases who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what? Votes. That’s right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it. Like the President, you self serving dollar suckers should be limited to two full terms; that is if you get thru the first one to the satisfaction of the voters.

And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch .

If you like the way things are in America and Canada , delete this. If you agree with what a Montana citizen Patty Myers says, PASS IT ON!!!

I would say she sure told him off

The City of Prince George is a microcosm of the above.

Politicians, High paid Civil Servants, and others causing us to go bankrupt through their inability to be honest and to look after the interests of all citizens in the City. What a bloody farce. I certainly agree with the article.

A quick look at the Alternative Approval Process. (Reverse onus petition) and you get my drift.

In order to successfully force a money borrowing initiative to a referendum we need to get 10% of the eligible voters. Eligible voters were determined by the City to be 53,251, so 5,325 signatures are needed. Now comes the absolute BS.

If you do not sign the petition opposing the borrowing you are considered to be in favour of it. How can people be in favour of a petition, if they do not know anything about it,ie; people in hospitals, jails, retirement homes, etc; etc;.

Further why would you compel opponents to get 10% of the eligible voters, when only 50% of the eligible voters actually vote in Municipal elections. At best the total number of votes cast in Prince George in the past 10/15 years would be 18000. Wouldnt you think that 10% of the votes cast based on the average number of people who voted in the preceding 10 years, would be more fair?? So 10% of 18000 would be 1800 signatures. This at least would give some credibility to the process. However its not about credibility, its about borrowing.

Why would you give the citizens of a Municipality the option of a referendum, or an alternative approval process in the Community Charter, and then allow the Municipality to opt for the AAP on every occasion???

Its pretty obvious that the process pays lip service to being fair, and in fact allows the Government to borrow at will.

And that my friends is why we are in debt over $100 Million dollars, and paying $12 Million per year to service our debt. The City being fully aware of the above, has now asked us to approve further borrowing of $3.75 Million for the dike on River Road. Once again the AAP option is chosen. Interest on the loan would be approx $268,000.00 per year for 20 years.

This time hopefully everyone will get involved, and get a petition signed, and force this issue to a referendum.

Here is some interesting reading

http://fairquestions.typepad.com/rethink_campaigns/david-suzuki-foundation-70-million.html

http://fairquestions.typepad.com/rethink_campaigns/2012/03/far-less-transparency.html

Ya and after this one get ready for the next AAP. Coming sooner then later. Just what we all need. The PAC. We need to get an army of volunteers and be ready to do this every single time they pull this BS. If we had people from each area of town that would make sure people got the petitions to thier doors it could just become a routine for the people and could become an easy win every time. It was done with the HST in fact that canvassing got more signatures the were required by a longshot. Hopefully Ben will keep this on the agenda here on O250 and keep the people informed. According to Eric Allen on meisner the other day he said volunteers can go door to door with petitions and have tax payers sign them. The petitions could then be delivered to the city after the required number is completed. WE THE PEOPLE can not tolerate this any longer. This is only going to continue if we do not get out and do this. And Don’t forget the next AAP. The PAC. Please everyone sign the petition or call Eric Allen and get volunteer to get involved.