Recreation A Plus For Prince George
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 @ 3:45 AM
This week, cooler heads prevailed and the Pine Valley Golf Club got a reprieve. We don’t know who the five were that voted to keep Pine Valley as a golf course. We also don’t know the four who were in favour of putting the "for sale" sign on Pine Valley. The discussion was held in Camera which raises the question of just what should be public and what should be private in keeping the taxpayers informed.
That isn’t however the purpose of this editorial.
What is of interest is the matter of the value of recreation in our community .
On occasion I drive by the young and old alike playing soccer on the soccer fields and I can’t help but watch in wonder at all of those people who are taking part. If anyone would question whether it is good value for the taxpayer they would have to be insane. It seems like every time I go by there, there are upwards of a thousand people taking part in the sport.
It is a sport that I never took part in, but am more than happy to see some of my tax dollars heading that way. I also support the new kin arena, it will improve the health of many.
I rarely set foot in the Northern Sports center , but I am more than happy to see some of my tax dollars going towards making our young and old alike more healthy and promoting interests that step out of the frame of the key board and TV screen.
We are fortunate enough to have facilities that are conducive to good living in our city . They come with a price and rather than heading off to China looking for a twin , I for one would much rather put my tax dollars to work locally. Watching all of the people in the fields and on the sidelines shows where the interest lies.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
Comments
Recreation opportunities in and around PG are good. Other then that, whenever I enter PG, I feel a sense of something evil over the city.. Hope this disapears so PG can become a grreat city.
If you want to make an argument about taxpayer-supported recreation opportunities and what value they bring, fine. Just don’t complain about tax increases and/or decreased services.
The fact of the matter is there is no problem in building taxpayer-supported recreation facilities. The problem comes from the citizens not using these facilities after they are built.
We have many facilities that are under utilized such as the Civic Centre, Northern Sports Centre, Swimming Pools, and of course the CN Centre when it comes to the Couger franchise.
Politicians, contractors, engineers, architects etc; all love to build these huge facilities that are usually justified by less than stellar projections. Once built these people have little or no interest in the facility, and they and many, many, people in Prince George do not support the facility.
So the problem lies with utilization after construction. Same applies to the Library, and Arts Centre, and would apply to the Performing Arts Centre. We need to get people in this city to start supporting the facilities that they have.
Seems soccer and minor/senior hockey have good support, and swimming to some extent, however overall I would say that when it comes to supporting local facilities, Prince George is not very good at it.
Drumming up support for these facilities and generating revenue should be the focus of City Hall, and many of the service clubs in Prince George, along with the press, radio, tv, etc; Increased usage means decreased costs to run these facilities, and that should be the name of the game, as opposed to selling them off.
Have a nice day.
Palopu: “Seems soccer and minor/senior hockey have good support, and swimming to some extent, however overall I would say that when it comes to supporting local facilities, Prince George is not very good at it.”
That’s one part of the problem. The other part is that the users don’t typically pay even close to the full costs of operating the facility, therefore leaving taxpayers to take up the slack.
Costs to run these facilities (labour and maintenance) have skyrocketed in the last 10-20 years and the user fees simply have not kept up.
I have visited the place a few times and the location of the place looks a bit odd. You want to do sport in a place where the quality of the air is good.
This town has too many under utilized facilities concentrated close to each other. I am thinking of this facility/CN center/unbc sport center … . Maybe they should introduce a moratorium on new sport centers in their zone and encourage in other zones.
JohnnyBelt. I don’t believe that user fee’s have ever been able to support the facilities. This is because you have a small number of people using the facilities.
If we could get the same support for these facilities, that we get for the Casino, our problem would be solved.
Under utilization is a serious problem, and we need to address it. I for one have not attended a Couger or Spruce Kings game for years. Nor have I supported the Library, or the Arts Centre, or Public Skating, or the swimming pools. I do support the Northern Sports Centre, and the Farmers Market, and the local Golf Courses, but that’s about it.
If we all made an effort to support some of these facilities, the overall impact would be to reduce costs of maintenance, etc; We would of course have to ensure that all the savings did not go to salary increases, increases in benefits, or increases in staff.
We need some civic minded people to come up with ideas to increase utilization of the facilities. Im sure that it can be done, but would take some time and effort.
A golf course in PG starts off with one major count against it, it is seasonal. So are outdoor tennis courts, baseball fields, soccer fields. Even the latter are only used part of the potential year to the full extent. The crowds are visible in the spring and the fall. In the two summer months …. forget it.
And then there is the lawn bowling area .. and the BX bike areas, and the horseshoe areas ….
I mean, we really do not even have an inventory of these places when it comes right down to it and an idea of how much they are acually used and some sort of community group and special activity group that attempts to increase interest.
Soccer fields elsewhere in the city are useless, such as behind DP Todd.
So the seasonal places that are supposed to make as much money as possible …. can’t in this community.
Hey, and then there is Massich Place Stadium … that is another story altogether.
Palopu: “If we could get the same support for these facilities, that we get for the Casino, our problem would be solved.”
I’m not sure why you have such a continual hate-on for the Casino. Like gus said, many of our recreational facilities are seasonal, which doesn’t help.
“I for one have not attended a Couger or Spruce Kings game for years. Nor have I supported the Library, or the Arts Centre, or Public Skating, or the swimming pools. I do support the Northern Sports Centre, and the Farmers Market, and the local Golf Courses, but that’s about it.”
That’s the great thing about having so many choices. People can support what they’re interested in. The bad thing is that they all require some degree of tapayer support to maintain and operate… well, the privately owned golf courses do not, but you get my drift.
Yes, we must have a twin with china, this
shows how hard Sherri Green is working with our tax dollars. This is a must have. Im joking of course. Umm I wonder if our twin city in China has caterpillars.lol.
The Civic Centre is inside, so is the Library, and the Art Centre, the Farmers Market is now inside for the winter months, and the swimming pools, and ice rinks are also enclosed. The Northern Sports Centre is enclosed and has 2 soccer fields, 3 basketball courts, weight rooms, 1/4 mile walking/running space.
All these facilities are under utilized, so to suggest that it is because of a short summer is somewhat misleading.
JohnnyBelt. I don’t have a hate on for the Casino. My position is, is that for many years it was illegal to gamble in BC except for Bingo’s and licensed poker clubs. The Government then gets into the gambling business, which in many parts of the world is run by the criminal element, and then starts to advertise that we should take up gambling. What kind of BS is that.
Gambling at the local Casino gross’s $50 Million dollars per year which is money that would be spent on other things in the community. As far as Im concerned giving your money to a Government run Casino is nothing more than a voluntary tax. Why people would give this money to a Casino owner and the BC Government is beyond me.
In any event there is no doubt that a Casino draws a lot of people and generates a lot of money, however I doubt if one could make a case for it being a **good thing**
Palopu: “JohnnyBelt. I don’t have a hate on for the Casino. My position is, is that for many years it was illegal to gamble in BC except for Bingo’s and licensed poker clubs. The Government then gets into the gambling business, which in many parts of the world is run by the criminal element, and then starts to advertise that we should take up gambling. What kind of BS is that.”
The only BS I see is coming from you. You clearly hate the Casino and what takes place in it. You’ve had many posts over the years which have said pretty much the same thing.
I don’t go to the Casino, but I sure as heck am not going to stand in judgment of those who do. Who are you to judge how people spend their time and money?
Sorry to inform you, but times change. Gambling has been, and will always be present. Given that, would you rather it be run by the criminal element or the government? Also, besides employing lots of people, gambling money goes to a lot of non-profit groups in this province.
Comments for this article are closed.