Hey everyone, have a nice week end.

Please watch out for motorcycles whilst performing the PG ballet (dodging potholes)

metalman.

Send a message to City Council about the atrocious conditions of our city streets.

The ELECTOR RESPONSE FORM – ALTERNATIVE APPROVAL PROCESS (River Road Dike Construction Project) can be printed out at the following link:

http://www.princegeorge.ca/cityhall/legislativeservices/councilmeetings/Documents/BL8409%20Elector_Response_Form.pdf

“The municipal Council may therefore proceed with the adoption of Bylaw No. 8409 unless at least 5,351 electors submit a completed copy of an Elector Response Form to the City of Prince George by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, 2012.”

http://www.princegeorge.ca/cityhall/legislativeservices/councilmeetings/Documents/BL8409_Public_Notice_No_1.pdf

Let me try that post again. Hopefully the web site won’t put the big space in it this time.

Send a message to City Council about the atrocious conditions of our city streets.

The ELECTOR RESPONSE FORM – ALTERNATIVE APPROVAL PROCESS (River Road Dike Construction Project) can be printed out at the following link:

http://www.princegeorge.ca/cityhall/legislativeservices/councilmeetings/Documents/BL8409%20Elector_Response_Form.pdf

“The municipal Council may therefore proceed with the adoption of Bylaw No. 8409 unless at least 5,351 electors submit a completed copy of an Elector Response Form to the City of Prince George by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, 2012.”

http://www.princegeorge.ca/cityhall/legislativeservices/councilmeetings/Documents/BL8409_Public_Notice_No_1.pdf

Seen a crow this week taking apart a burlap bag to use the string building his nest. A lot more intelligence there than we give them credit for.

The Canadian geese however… notice up in the area known as Johnson Farm up north of town just north of Wright Creek road… must be a thousand geese out in the field feasting on worms… makes one wonder if that was the field that was treated with the human waste sludge a few years back… the geese seem to be picky about the field they use… neat to see so many birds in one place anyways. A pair of hawks looking over the whole lot too….

I hope the city can get some garbage cans out for the parks soon. Was out last weekend… the long weekend… and started picking up garbage as we walked through Rainbow park only to find out the park had no garbage cans to put the garbage in… I guess that is part of the reason why the parks look so run down… it would be nice if the city could at least be on top of having garbage cans available in the spring for spring clean up….

One of the most consistent complaints I read about the provincial NDP, is that people say they’re in the back pocket of Unions. Elections BC recently released 2011 Party Contribution numbers, and they paint an interesting picture.

The NDP received a total of $4,412,786 in donations. Just over $3.3 million came from individuals, $835,025 came from Unions and $230,000 from corporations.

The Liberals on the other hand, collected $8,935,516. Of that, $4,950,443 came from corporate donations, $3 million from individuals and Unions donated $5000.

Breaking that down, the NDP’s largest contributor is the people of BC with 74.7% of their contribution total, and Unions only making up 18.9%.

The Liberals’ largest contributor (corporations) donated 55.4% while the people of BC donated 33.5%.

Who is really in the back pocket of whom?

If we can get everyone to dig into the kids toy box and send the silly putty to city hall(along with the AAP form) the roads will be in drivable condition in no time.

http://gizmodo.com/5901419/the-future-of-pothole-repair-is-silly-putty

Speaking of roads, did anyone notice that the government announced some $700 million of road and rail building to come? When that happened I checked up on the Cariboo Connector-this year, there will be 3.5 kms of work on that road. Not a penny of that $700 is going into improvements on Higway 97. Where are our MLAs on this issue?

PP: “Who is really in the ‘back pocket’ of whom?”

So the NDP is in the “back pockets” of the unions because the unions contributed officially just about 20%.

So you are saying that every party is in the “back pocket” of somebody to a certain degree!

What else is new? The money has to come from somewhere.

Im not a big fan of a huge multi million dollar PAC. Nor do I support a huge 10 story $75 Million dollar Wood Innovation Building, that is being proposed with little idea who would use the facility.

However, I could be convinced that a Wood Structure building that used the concept of cross laminated beams, built to say 6 stories, that included the Performing Arts Centre, and a huge area for local business, and the Farmers Market, paid for with the same $75 Million proposed to be spent by the Provincial Government.

This would make a hell of a lot more sense than having a behemoth of a building rising up in the smog, and serving no useful purpose.

I think that the PAC, the Province, the Farmers Market, the DBIA, and all others should start a discussion on this concept.

So I guess the real question is who creates value? Unions or business. That is really the philosophical difference between the left and right.

A business needs an opportunity to create value by producing something and selling it for more than it costs or buy buying something and selling it for more. To do this they invariably need to employ someone. So this creates jobs. If taxes are too high then the business doesnt exist, doesnt create jobs and doesnt pay any taxes.

A unions objective is to drive costs for all businesses to the breaking point by increasing the cost of labor. The best example is manufacturing in Ontario where they pushed the costs up and then when the economy faltered all the jobs disappeared. No more jobs. No more taxes.

It is hard to debate that without business we all suffer. When a business leaves people loose jobs, plain and simple.

So in the end I believe that what is good for business is good for people. Thats the argument from the ‘pro business camp.’ So lets hear from the pro union camp.

With Dix having to resign a position for forging documents and recently caught on the sky train without paying the fare it does not reflect very well on the moral fiber of the man. I bet he will wear out his welcome in under one term.

How does it cost so many millions to build something for the city when a new hotel/condo 12 stories can be built for a mere 40 mil. Any answers will be ludicrous –I was just making a point.

Brian Skakun got the thumbs up in Readers Digest this month for whistle blowing. Good on ya Brian!

My point in my comment has more to do with my personal weariness of people jumping all over the NDP that they are so pro-Union. Maybe they are in some of their mandate, but they sure don’t get supported like a party that’s rubbing the belly of the Union Buddha. Almost all of their financial support comes from regular folks.

The Liberals, on the other hand, have their noses so deep in the corporate trough, they forget to come up for air.

btw… I’m not supporting one party over the other. I’ve still got a year to decide who to distrust the least.

( :-D )

Soon the HST will be extinquished and the LIE berals will be completely WIPED OUT. The time is coming SOON when corporations are going to pay what they owe. In other words there fair share of the tax needed to run this place. The NDP is going to win a landslide in my opinion if these policies are implemented. Bye Bye crusty.

Choooo….Chooooo

This is a message to Nothern Health, How would you like to send someone over to pick up the PINK CONDOM that is in my back alley, you know the ones Needles on Wheels pass out.I live very close to a school, some child could pick this up. Neigbours, we have to start phoning the police again as the HOOKER problem the City sent us is starting to get bad again. How do we get rid of the Needles on Wheels Van driving around our area?? Not only are they passing out their wares to drug houses they park in our area and sit and wait for people from other areas in vehicles to come and get their supplies. Nothern Health is bringing more problems into our Neighbourhood. When five teenagers are out robbing people you can see what is starting to happen. We are the taxpayers. We don’t want this sicko Van in our area, it might not be so bad if it was in every area of the City ,but its focused in our area, “THATS NOT FAIR”,and it needs to be stopped.I can’t be the only one concerned about this. The money wasted on this Van should be going into to our Hospital, its looks like it needs a lot of HELP.

-Any reviews on the Keg ?
-Heard The Cariboo Rest. has gone downhill since New Management or New Owners.
-Pick Up Your Dog Poo.
-Why the Periods in the Phone numbers ?
Should it not be dashes ? 000.000.0000
just looks wrong-should be 000-000-0000.

“Soon the HST will be extinquished and the LIE berals will be completely WIPED OUT. The time is coming SOON when corporations are going to pay what they owe. In other words there fair share of the tax needed to run this place. The NDP is going to win a landslide in my opinion if these policies are implemented. Bye Bye crusty.”

You seem to have a really bizarre idea of what a “corporation” is. Do you honestly think people are going to stay in business or set up new business if you tax them to death? Do you actually think that anyone is going to invest in a business whose profits all go to taxes?

The answer is no.

The NDP is no different from the Liberals; they are both there to line their pockets and the pockets of their friends.

Message received , we lock up all the Heroin Addicts until they are clean, Problem solved, to bad it can’t be done , why do we make it so complicated?

I am following the Tori Stafford trial (through online news) and just have to say that I wish they wouldn’t give so many details as to what happened to that beautiful little girl. I hope that man rots in jail and then hell after that. He and his female friend have admitted to the rape and murder of Tori; he is denying that he killed her. What a waste of human flesh that man and woman are.

Bitter, no neighbourhood should have to endure what has been dumped on your area. It is sheer insanity in my opinion for our health authority to be delivering free needles & condoms without following through and providing a way to deal with the waste. In no way do I condone the program, but they are going to do it anyway in the name of “Harm Reduction”
so why can’t the vaunted “Authority” come up with a solution for harm reduction for honest, ordinary, clean living and clear thinking citizens?
The diseased and sick minds that would carelessly discard either of those items where a child could find them are not worthy of living amoung the rest of us.
That goes for the junkies, hookers and the johns.
metalman.

Eagleone the city wants you to pick up the garbage. There will only be three workers maintaining the parks this year.

What a myopic idea? In one breath talk of beautification, then in the other breath drastic cutbacks in maintaining the parks. This is a perfect example of a myopic business person running the city, unable to see the big picture. Hello, we only have what is it, 80 frost free days of the year and now those days will go down the tubes with poorly maintained parks. Ya a super way to show off the city.

Here is a thought, community groups and civic minded individuals go out and clean up the road sides every spring, great. Now why don’t civic minded dog groups and owners go out and clean up all the dog sh.. out there.

Bitter maybe you and your neighbors can get together and videotape the van in action with all it’s customers,as people in that situation generally don’t like that kind of attention.Then send it in to the cops or media and it might help your situation out.You should check with the authorities about any legal ramifications before you try this.Just a thought towards trying to help you out.

Is anyone else having any issues with the speed at which this site has been loading the past few days? It’s been rather slow loading for me.

Eric Allen is really doing all of us a big favour by concentrating a lot of focus and information into a public meeting.
I now wonder who would be willing to organise a big downtown protest at city hall to show them our displeasure at the state of our roads? Maybe have vehicles with signs drive round and round city hall doing lots of honking along the way.

Oh, and by the way, we the citizens would like to thank you Eric Allen, for all the effort and expense you have put into this. It looks very good on you. THANK YOU!!

Supertech wrote:

“How does it cost so many millions to build something for the city when a new hotel/condo 12 stories can be built for a mere 40 mil.”

Because it is very obvious we are not comparing apples to apples once again. That is so often the problem.

Government PROJECTS these days are typically quoted as total costs – land, construction, design, construction period interim financing, property costs, development cost charges, permits, fixtures and fittings, etc. If government offices aree in the projects, then all the tenant improvements are in.

With the case of the $40million, I assume those to be raw construction costs. The figure is possible in that case. The way I picture it is that the hotel will then come in to do tenant improvements to suit its needs. If the prospective tenants come in early in the process, which I would think they will, otherwise the projecct is unlikely to move ahead, then they will be able to cahnge some of the configuration of exterior walls, fenestration, etc. The developer will then be able to negotiate a more detailed exterior envelope to either meet his estimate or at a cost to the hotel operator.

We really do not even know the deal structure. The developer may retain the ownership and a hotel operator may act as a tenant on a long term lease in a similar fashion to anchor tenants in a mall. By the same token, a hotel chain may buy the strata and the developer will be able to move on to a new project once most of the development stratas as sold.

In my view, that may be the best for this community since this developer is willing to take a risk for the betterment of not only his financial status, but also the community’s well being.

We need more people willing to invest for longer terms than just quick turnaround small projects. Those are needed as well, but it has been a long time coming to have a proivate development of this size in a downtown location.

Congratulations! I wish all those involved you a succesful venture for the sake of this city.

Yes, I have been having problems as well faxman. I always test against other sites that have to refresh on my computer and time and time again I get an error message. It was particularly bad yesterday.

Skakuns suggestion for a gas tax in Prince George needs to be stopped in its tracks.

We do not need anymore taxes that allow Governments easy access to our dollars.

If you look at last years tax bill you will see a one line item that reads.

**Road Rehabilitation Reserve** $51.58**

So we already have a tax specific to roads, and in addition a portion of our taxes have always been for roads, however it seems the money was spent in other areas over the years.

There is not a case that can be made for additional taxes. Here are some points to ponder.

1. A gas tax would add more cost to low income people who are already up against the wall because of the huge taxes being assessed by the different levels of Government and their co-horts in the Government entity business like Hydro, ICBC, Transit, etc;

2. Anyone who thinks that you would only pay the two cents a litre at the pump is just fooling themselves. All transportation companies, taxis etc; would just increase their Fuel Surcharge to cover the increased cost of the fuel, and we the consumers would end up paying more for all the commodities we consume.

3. People who come to Prince George to shop, would start to buy their gas at out of town service stations to avoid the extra cost by buying it in Prince George. So the local service stations would take a hit.

4. Once you have a tax attached to gas, then it is relatively easy for the City to raise it a few points when they want additional revenue.

5. We need the City to solve our problems within the confines of the present tax structure. This will mean some creative thinking in terms of the Core Reveiw etc;, however its time they took the responsibility for being in Government and quit wasting our money on non-essential spending.

6. The gas tax in my opinion is a non starter, and the mere suggestion of one will certainly get people hopping mad.

7. Maybe the City should borrow $25 Million for the Northern Initiative Trust at a very low or no interest rate, and do a complete upgrade on our roads. The money could be paid back through our present road rehabilatation fund, and over time we would get the upgrades without any serious interest costs, or increases in taxes, and it would be done right away, as opposed to over many years.

8. We might also want to look at what the hell is available to us in the Terasen Gas deal. If we have money available in that fund, we could use it to pay off Northern Initiative Trust.

9. The money from the sale of BC Rail belongs to the taxpayers. Lets use it for some of the basics.

10. Come on Brian. Lets put our thinking hats on and do something besides increasing taxes.

“Lets put our thinking hats on and do something besides increasing taxes.”

That’s the only tune they know how to play. One trick pony if you will.

Another reason that the RCMP building will cost more is that all government funded building now have to have Gold Seal Certification. That adds a huge cost, especially up here in Prince George.

I have a neighbour who does’t own a dog walks in Cottonwood Island and she takes a bag and picks up the dog droppings. Why should she have to do and the dog owners won’t. It is part responsibility of owning a dog.

Thanks jakeadoo. The police do not agree with the Needles on Wheels program either but they can’t do anything about it. It”s the Giant Norhern Health Dept. that has 10 different depts. all doing the same thing so this is probably a make work project for somebody. I think the whole Northern Health Dept. should be revamped. Harm Reduction for some is Harm Enhancement for others. There is no use contacting a Councilor as their hands are tied, so looks a bit like a dictatorship going on when you ignore the people that are paying the bills.

>>3. People who come to Prince George to shop, would start to buy their gas at out of town service stations to avoid the extra cost by buying it in Prince George. So the local service stations would take a hit.

Really? We have a consistently higher gas price than anyone else, a savvy traveller already fills up before hitting PG

I was in Vancouver last year and they had just added their gas tax. We were like 10 cents lower. It took the conspiracy about 2 months to raise the prices here to the same as Vancouver. You blew it this time Brian — no gas tax — can you hear us? Don’t even go there because you will lose a multitude of support.