Council Needs To Start Listening
Thursday, December 20, 2012 @ 3:46 AM
Mayor Green and some members of Prince George city council are, once again, causing unnecessary divisions in the city with their refusal to listen to and act upon the concerns of Haldi Road residents regarding the establishment of a Northern Supportive Recovery Centre (a rehabilitation centre for women) in their neighborhood. By not heeding the concerns of Haldi Road residents and abiding by the Official Community Plan (OCP), the mayor and council are behaving in such a highhanded way that residents of outlying neighborhoods are considering leaving the municipality and joining the regional district.
It is the same kind of highhanded style that characterized the attempt to ram through the River Road dike last Spring, as well as the current attempt to sell off the Pine Valley Golf Course. And there are many other examples.
Such a highhanded and dictatorial style is inconsistent with the desires of increasing number of residents, whether in Prince George or other municipalities, to have more of a say in decisions that affect their communities, and to have better democratic mechanisms in place that can facilitate this participation.
Indeed, there is nothing wrong with residents of a neighborhood objecting to a rehabilitation centre when it contradicts the OCP. Citizens have every right to oppose such a project, whether it is a rehab centre, a bottle depot, a business or any other project that is not part of the OCP for a neighborhood.
But there is something very wrong with the proponents of the Recovery Centre and with city council itself not doing their due diligence by investigating, before they proceeded, whether or not Haldi Road was an appropriate site for the Centre. In that regard, Haldi Road residents have been backed up and vindicated by a recent court decision.
However, for the mayor and some members of council to persist in pushing for the Recovery Centre in the Haldi Road neighborhood (under the guise of “following the process”), despite residents’ opposition and the court decision, is the height of arrogance and suggests an agenda has been in place from the beginning.
In recent interviews, the mayor has implied that she and council now have no choice but to consider the proponent’s new application to establish the Recovery Centre on the Haldi road site. But, in fact, they do have a choice – they could simply indicate their unwillingness to vary the OCP or rezone the property, given the concerns expressed by residents. They could also pledge to work with the proponents of the Recovery Centre to secure a more suitable location.
To divert attention away from the mayor and council’s dictatorial behavior, one editorialist in the local media has even attempted to make the outrageous allegation that the attitudes of Haldi Road residents are somehow linked to the attitudes that allowed the murder of dozens of women in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. Such an allegation amounts to slander against residents of the city, and is unbecoming of responsible journalism.
Yes, Prince George needs a Recovery Centre for women – about that there is little or no doubt. But why not establish one that fits the OCP? The fact is before the Haldi Road project was put forward, plans were already in the works by another non-profit group to establish a rehab centre for women, possibly at Hutda Lake. Why were these plans discarded and the Haldi Road project fast-tracked instead? And what about the rehab centre for women that was established next to the hospital and then closed down a few years ago? Why not consider these locations or others? Is it because close supporters of the mayor are or have been involved with the Haldi Road project from the beginning?
The mayor and some councillors need to re-think their attitudes and start listening to the electorate more. But ultimately we need better processes. It is unacceptable that the majority of residents of a neighborhood have to spend a great deal of time and money going to court to oppose the botched, misguided and legally wrong decisions of a city council. For example, one suggestion – why can’t there be user-friendly democratic mechanisms in place that allow citizens of a neighborhood to challenge violations of the OCP and force city council to hold a referendum if necessary?
The answer to hidden agendas and highhanded behavior on the part of mayors and councils is more power for the citizenry and more transparency. We need reform and renewal at the municipal level in this province.
Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca
Comments
Bam on Peter.
A message needs to be sent to all citizens of Prince George and this seems to be a bit of confusion to posters and the public as a whole. Mayor Green made it public that there is going to be a public consultation on January 9th or 10th 2013 for the OCP amendment. She forgot to invite all the citizens of PG but rather is hoping to elude this becoming a big deal.This amendment to the OCP affects all home and property owners. Someone needs to have city advertise that all citizens are invited. Thank you
I am in total agreement Peter. Thank you
for your article. The citizens of Prince George need to get involved in the direction the city is going. To complain and do nothing is a waist of time. Lets work with and stand in agreement with the Haldi Road residents. The next oppressed area may be yours.
I guess if this amendment goes through any neighborhood in PG could wake up one morning and find a drug rehab center next door?
Wouldn’t that seriously erode your home values?
“I am in total agreement Peter. Thank you
for your article. The citizens of Prince George need to get involved in the direction the city is going. To complain and do nothing is a waist of time. Lets work with and stand in agreement with the Haldi Road residents. The next oppressed area may be yours.”
That is a huge statement considering that you can’t get people here to turn out on election day.
“Prince George is an example of low voter turnout in the last municipal election; of approximately 53,000 eligible voters for 2011âs municipal election, only 15,000, or about 29%, headed to the polls. That compares to 16,800 voters, or 32%, in the last municipal election (it is noted the weather was worse during this election). In the federal election earlier this year, the two Prince George ridings saw a voter turnout of 58% and 54% respectively.”
It is a sure sign that the Mayan Apocalypse is true and the world will end tomorrow….I actually agree with something written by Peter Ewart:)
This is essentially the same group that committed to building a new arena after receiving a few hundred e-mails, so if chambers will not hold the crowd that shows up for the public hearings and they are forced to set up some overflow rooms it might sink in their thick skulls that there is dissatisfaction with their antics and not just in the Haldi area.
On a related topic I see that it did not take long for a local publication to be rewarded for the hack-job of an editorial- 4 full color pages of advertising in today’s rag from a certain group of car companies.
I see there is a special meeting tonight for the final reading and adoption of the “digging deeper into your pockets for fees and services” bylaw. Only item on the agenda.
Still don’t understand the process.
The city will have made the changes to amend the OCP which have been put in by the applicants acting on behalf of the many people attached to this property, and after almost two years we are still waiting to hear from anyone directly involved. Seems backwards no?
Yes, that last note of yours, lonesome sparrow, is because administration found an error in the original 2 readings (one would have thought that reading it twice, with that many people, someone would have caught the error prior to the second readig … LOL) so they had two new readings the last time and they needed to set aside a time for the third reading before year’s end.
And yres, I feel the same way as you do regarding Peter’s article. I think it is one of the few which is non-political as far as left and right goes.
This is a simple matter of right and wrong, not right and left …. ;-)
BTW, I find that there are very few on Council who have ever listened. They tell you their story ….. that is not what they are there for.
They are there to hear our story, no matter how poor or how rich, how left or how right, how aware or unaware.
Who knew the city had to be accurate in what they bring forward at Council! I guess that means that the first reading of the OCP amendment is null and void as it gives the CURRENT use of the Leslie Road property as Unoccupied elementary school which is incorrect; it should read Unoccupied rural residential property.
I don’t remember exactly when the property was sold by the school district and converted to a private residence, but it must be a decade or more.
Mayor and Council need to look at the Organizational Chart on the city website and remind themselves who is on the very top.
But if you go to the 2011 Annual Report the Citizens have mysteriously disappeared from the chart;mayor and council rule the roost. Oversight? or how they really feel?
The 2012 B.C. Assesmenment roll reports that 5877 Leslie Rd actual use is Multi-Family (Apartment Block)
News is getting out
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/12/20/bc-prince-george-haldi-road.html?cmp=rss
HappyInMyWorld
There you go, more proof the document presented before council is incorrect, making passage of first reading null and void.
CBC story paints mayor and council as petty and vindictive…..in other words they nailed it:)
I feel for the Haldi Rd. residents ,been there done that. In my view the OCP means nothing,they don’t go by it.
Seems mayor and council need to cut the puppet strings and come to grips with reality. Is there anything “vacant” in their neighbor hood????
“petty and vindictive” … I could not have picked better words myself …. so CBC still has some literate people on staff …. and people who are willing to take a shot … guess local advertisers do not pay towards their cost of doing business …. ;-)
Don’t get me wrong here I am not defending the mayor or the council members but I also remember a time when we voted NO to Sunday shopping but we have it, I remember a time we voted NO to the Civic Centre but we have it.
To me all level of gov’ts or leaders however you want to put it do exactly as they please and they please whoever best fits their needs
Recall is a term that comes to mind….why not recall them?
Does anyone know what these two of 9 articals of the amendment mean?
3. THAT Council CONSIDER the City of Prince George Official Community Plan Amendment
Bylaw No. 8474, in conjunction with the City of Prince George 2012-2016 Provisional
Financial Plan;?
4. THAT Council CONSIDER the City of Prince George Official Community Plan Amendment
Bylaw No. 8474, in conjunction with the Regional District of Fraser Fort-George Solid Waste
Management Plan;?
Lonesome Sparrow are you posting as a local concerned resident or as a current US resident?
How do we know (generally) what is discussed at “in camera” meetings? Who oversees that process? Are minutes kept? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_camera
Thank you Mr.Ewart for a terrific summary…you hit the nail on the head on so many points and have such good suggestions. From the way you have summed it up, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out something is very wrong and that the Haldi residents are getting shafted. It’s criminal that the city can get away with this action against a neighbourhood –no wonder Haldi community is considering leaving the city to join the Regional District — I hope a lot of other’s do the same — seems there is no other way to get justice in the City of Prince George. The City Council has their own agenda and unless you’ve got big bucks and want to force your way into a neighborhood to make more big bucks, you’re nobody. It’s WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.
Citizens of Prince George have to wake up to what’s going on….this OCP amendment will affect ALL homeowners so they should attend the OCP meeting on Jan. 10th to let the City know they are fed up with being dictated to and want to not only be listened to but have their concerns addressed.
“ImFrank”
Is that your middle name, Councillor?
(>_
John Grogan – It is not the “in camera” meetings you need to really worry about it is the “Closed meetings” also are you aware that all of the email addresses the councillors have are not public when an FOI is requested? It is because they are the councillor’s private email addresses and not attached to the city. Does not matter anyways because there are to many “Private” meetings with council. It is a sad day when a councillor admits one of their responsibilities is to listen to the mayor and follow the suggestions of the mayor as much as possible.
gus…im sure that you can give us the answer to the question too!!
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