What Makes Sense- $45 Grand On Downtown Parking Or More than $1 Million?
Monday, April 15, 2013 @ 3:45 AM
Would common sense suggest that if you have an opportunity to spend 40-45 thousand dollars versus , $1.2 million that you would settle on the idea of, at the very least, trying the 40-50 thousand idea first.
Well no when it comes to Prince George City Hall.
The City is moving ahead with a new plan that will see $1.2 million spent in purchasing 100 parking meters for the downtown area. In addition there is the matter of maintaining these new machines.
The DBIA (Downtown Business Improvement Area) who pay into a downtown fund administered by the City have come up with a plan that they believe could do away with the over million dollar expenditure , in favour of a much cheaper route. Problem is , the City is not buying into the idea.
The DBIA is saying the problem with downtown parking is enforcement, and they have a plan to eliminate that problem and thereby reduce the problem of office workers parking on downtown streets and moving their vehicles around as a means of avoiding fines.
The DBIA says the enforcement has been terrible and is the reason why people flaunt the parking restrictions. The merchants are opposed to paid parking in the downtown core, when a viable solution is available close at hand.
Now here is where the impasses comes into play. They have approached the city, Mayor Green included, but no one seems to want to listen.
Now surely the members of the DBIA who work in the downtown core should have their voices heard more than in a causal manner , especially when the city is poised to spend over a million dollars for a program that those same members say is simply not needed.
It is a classic case of the Mayor and Council saying that we know what is best for the people of this city, and every day we are seeing cases where that simply is not the case. It is time that the city council, and in particular the mayor, listened to some of the ideas coming from the people who pay the taxes.
This kind of expenditure is another example of a council plowing blindly ahead without regard of costs.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
Comments
10k per meter? Isn’t that a bit over the top? Since the citizens of this town are paying the bill, shouldn’t we get free use of them? I know, save the money and have free parking instead. That solves all the problems and doesn’t cost anything.
That is ridiculous. People don’t go downtown enough to begin with. Now they want to make us pay to go downtown. Wake up Mrs Green. Unreal
Maybe people that are planning to park downtown can take their “extra bag of garbage” and tie it to a parking meter and have it taken away for an included fee. Sorta. Double whammy!
Not listening to people seems to be the order of the day at City Hall.
The Mayor wants to be seen as a tough fiscally responsible person, however its not coming off very well.
You will see some more of this attitude as we go forward. Then just before the next election they will all be full of smiles and handshakes. Listening will be the order of the day.
Keep in mind that they all want to be around for the Winter Games, and bask is the glory??. Personally I think if we don’t get a change of attitude from the Mayor and Council very soon, we should be seriously considering showing them the door.
Can we have a referendum on this? I sure know that I would vote for the lesser amount.
Expensive arrogance.:/
Mayor and council listening, not likely. Look at Stolz and his pet dike where he tried to put the taxpayer on the hook for 10 million dollars.
If any one of the present members of council are returned in the next civic election it will be a day of mourning.
Business downtown know what will happen if parking meters are installed. Just what we need more boarded up building in an already dilapidated downtown core. Maybe this is council’s way to purchase even more downtown property for their ever growing inventory.
Who can afford to live in this city and pay the taxes for this kind of policy? As a business this is a huge red flag when it comes to future property taxes. With huge tax and spend policies like this no one is a property owner, bur rather just glorified renters.
Just think what $1.2 million could do to fixing up our parks and trails systems, cleaning up our boulevards, providing garbage cans throughout the parks and bus stops of the city, or fixing our streets and side walks.
As a side note anyone notice the huge piles of garbage at the bus stops in the city… blowing all over to adjacent areas… I don’t know of any other city where it is standard practice to remove all garbage bins to cut costs.
flout, flaunt – Flout means “defy, ignore” and flaunt means “show off.”
I’m not sure which is more difficult to comprehend:
1) That PG City Council is going to spend $1.2 million dollars on downtown parking control or
2) That PG thinks it has a downtown parking problem.
When’s the next election?
I agree the parking in the city is generally a problem – not just downtown, but this isn’t a cost effective solution.
We need an effective user-pay system that doesn’t actually cost the taxpayer most than what the user pays.
Failing that, They City could also install 100 new bike racks at about $150-$300 a pop with no maintenance required. They could also add additional transit routes to that downtown that properly service key residential areas, like the heritage area and otherwise.
WHY NOT HAVE A RECALL OF THE MAYOR, IF THE CITY IS OVER TAXED, AND THINGS ARE NOT DONE LIKE POT HOLES, SNOW REMOVAL, ETC. GIVE THE MAYOR ONE YEAR TO DO AS THE TAXPAYERS WANTS, AND OUT SHE GOES.
Where is the financial discipline? Mayor and council should not be spending 1 million (of borrowed money)on a new parking metered system for downtown, instead they should work with the DBIA to come up with a more cost effective and efficient system.
The tax and spend behavior of our current Mayor and Council runs contrary to what Mayor Green promised during the 2011 campaign which was to tie spending to revenue generation and growth and to make sure our City lives within its means,just as our Citizens do. Really! where is there any evidence that this is happening?
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