happy weekend everyone

As we enter a new year I predict the monetary ponzi scheme by the bankster class becomes widely seen for what it is, and the trickle down economic theory gets seriously challenged. I think 2014 will see the 30-year trend of regressive taxation policy come to an end as the working middle class start to assert their political will.

When one looks at the so called ‘quantitative easing’ by the US Federal Reserve (as well as the Bank of Canada). The US Federal Reserve prints $85 billion a month to invest in financial paper… that is over $1 Trillion dollars per year in paper fiat money since 2008 when the monopoly bankster capitalists sabotaged the economy with their greed. So the stock market during this time had nowhere to go but up (stocks doubled despite the continued gutting of main street) with the US Federal Reserve banking families holding interest rates down so capital had nowhere else to go but the stock markets, and the US Federal Reserve printing a trillion dollars a year to help out with the stock market bubble, so as to make the appearance of economic growth. But if the ‘stimulus’ for the banks amounts to one third of the US GDP, then how many years will it take to absorb the ‘stimulus’ at 2-3% growth rates per year. The facts are this Trillion dollar a year ‘stimulus’ will never be paid back and will be absorbed through the devaluation of the dollar (another form of tax on your savings that are already underwater due to zero interest rate policies).

So if it is alright to bail out monopoly capitalists and globalist banksters simply by printing money, then why can’t this be done to ensure the working poor and middle class can share in the fiat currency economic growth theory? Why can’t money be printed to monetize social credit to eliminate welfare and set a minimum standard of income for all Canadians? The Bank of Canada is ‘quantitative easing’ at a rate above $300 per citizen of Canada every month to prop up the financial markets, and yet as if this corporate welfare for bankers wasn’t enough, we are also told regressive taxation is good for the economy.

When one looks at CEO’s like Hunter Harrison of CP Rail (formerly CEO of CN Rail) making $50 million a year, more than every railroad worker in the central interior of BC… and yet they justify this as trickle down theory… then we know we have a problem with the theory. Why hasn’t any CEO or manager from the corporations and banks involved in the 2008 financial collapse been charged for their crimes… why do the regulators choose instead to go for consent decrees from corporations, rather than charge the agents for those corporations responsible for fraudulent activities?

So in a round about way what I am getting at is the economic injustice of our times. We move further and further towards a regressive taxation policy, we allow banksters and globalists to sell out our economy to China with each irritation of their trade policies to bail out their financial Ponzi scheme for another year, so they can reward themselves with ever higher salaries, and shirk their taxation responsibility through ever more flat taxes and user fees that hit hardest on the working poor and middle class.

Maybe a solution should be a sliding scale where the more we move to a regressive flat tax, then the more we would also shore up the poor and middle class with social credit checks from government on a per capita basis (trickle up theory where monetized dollars are actually spent and circulating in the economy), thereby making the regressive flat tax a wash for those under a certain threshold, and for those over that income threshold they would pay equally without the tax loopholes that allow them to hide their financial income wealth.

I think 2014 will see the tide turn against regressive taxation policies and yet I don’t yet see anyone with a viable plan on how to turn the tide of the growing income divide and reigning in the financial plutocracy that has grown up around banking deregulation regressive taxation.

One hopes 2014 will see political leaders addressing these issues anyways.

Hunter Harrison took pride in ruling CN Rail with “fear and intimidation”. Not surprising that greed was in the mix as well.

Good ole Harper Government, making sure oil is delivered door to door from Canada to China, yet making our senior citizens walk to communal mail box banks in the winter time, risking their brittle bones on slippery ice.

1528655_10152133827891151_1769645131_n.jpg

Hey #1 at least he isn’t putting them on ice flows.

That’s because Harper’s environmental policy won’t leave many ice floes available.

My apology, this is the link that will give you a visual to my above comment:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qzSUPGc1DzpkCi5L2bZj3dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0

To “the” comment above, not “my” above comment.

Posted by: People#1 on January 3 2014 12:55 AM
Good ole Harper Government, making sure oil is delivered door to door from Canada to China, yet making our senior citizens walk to communal mail box banks in the winter time, risking their brittle bones on slippery ice.

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We’ve had communal mailboxes long before Harper came along. My first of many such boxes appeared over 40 years ago. Heck, I had a communal mailbox when I lived in the Lower Mainland suburbs 10 years ago.

Eagleone:-“I think 2014 will see the tide turn against regressive taxation policies and yet I don’t yet see anyone with a viable plan on how to turn the tide of the growing income divide and reigning in the financial plutocracy that has grown up around banking deregulation regressive taxation.
One hopes 2014 will see political leaders addressing these issues anyways.”

——————————————
Lets hope NOT. The ‘political leader’ we have in this country currently will do nothing that will cure any of the problems you allude to.

And BOTH the current contenders to replace him would only make things worse if they were in his place.

They cannot be cured by ‘re-regulation’ and ‘progressive taxation’. If they could be, we would not have de-regulated (banks) and the tax system would have remained as it was.

Those things are merely pitiful attempts to deal with the pernicious ‘effects’ of a much larger problem. While the underlying ’cause’ of that problem remains untouched. And will only be still further hidden from public view due to the smokescreen both those things will create around it if we went back to them as the supposed great cure-all.

But don’t take my word for it. Put the little pot head in, or chia-face, and find out for yourselves.

To the 4 joggers with the dog who run on Ospika. Please dont jog on the road. Its very dangerous with these conditions and you will not come out very well if you get hit and/or run over. The sidewalks are cleared so please run on them, Or at least find a safer place to run until summer. Sidewalks are for pedestrians or joggers. Roads are for vehicle traffic. Just think what would happen if people driving used the same mentality as you and drove on the sidewalks……

If you cannot solve the local taxation, and tax and spend policies of Prince George, which basically is 1 Mayor 8 Councillors, and perhaps 25 City Managers, then how the hell do you expect to solve the world problems.

Its easy enough to blame Harper, however I’m sure that if the other two also rans, were in power they would be getting the blame.

And that’s what we are into. The Blame Game. If people got off their collective asses, and actually did something besides complaining, we could probably make some inroads to some of these problems.

With all our so called intelligence, our huge taxation systems, our so called state of the art Universities and Colleges, and all the brainiacs (a lot who post on this site) we still have a 5 hour wait at emergency at the Regional Hospital.

Hmmmm. Can’t solve local problems, certainly won’t be able to solve Provincial, Federal, or World problems.

The problem lies at the top of the pyramid however, the real power lies at the base, however the base is to lazy to do anything other than bitch.

A thaw is better than the weather east of us. Just crazy back there.

Have a good safe weekend everyone in spite of the attitudes displayed here. Don’t let anyone else determine your attitude. Set it yourself and then stick to it!

+1 Give more

Palopu: “And that’s what we are into. The Blame Game. If people got off their collective asses, and actually did something besides complaining, we could probably make some inroads to some of these problems.”

Combine the blame game with the entitlement-gimme-gimme-gimme attitude and you have a recipe for nothing changing.

“we still have a 5 hour wait at emergency at the Regional Hospital.”

Not if one has a heart attack, diabetic coma, asthma attack, etc.

They use a triage system …. most critical first.

Emergency should be for exactly that. emergency, not clinic visits.

There are new clinics popping up in PG. There is a new one at Superstore which is staffed at all times that the store is open. It is located in the pharmacy area.

In Washington State there are clinics associated with such grocery stores as well. They are staffed by nurse practitioners, something which I suspect we will be progressing to as well.

Mail, eh? Did any one think to take a toll on how many seniors, shut ins and disabled folks died when milk was discontinued being delivered door to door many many years ago? Tsk. Given our North American weather patterns and occurrences now, could any one out there in the ether region tell me where Al Gore is at this present time? With his money and access to a personal jet, I bet it is somewhere warmer. Define irony.

Seeing as it is Friday another thing I wonder about is the switchover to mercury laden light bulbs from incandescent bulbs. Methinks the Criminal Code of Canada will have another entry soon re: the potential dangerousness (a word?) of those new bulbs. Could they be classified as a “chemical weapon”? You know, with potentially poisonous mercury in them? A light bulb registry just like handguns. You will only be able to possess mercury bulbs to or from a store or home to a recycling depot, where purchased? Having a box full in your trunk or basement will have the haz-mat team in your house sooner than expected. Smash them here, smash them there. A deadly weapon in some minds? If you already think the world is stupid, just wait for some, maybe many mercury poisoned minds. Most interesting. You heard it here first.

Speaking about taxes … we have to remember that there are many levels of taxation. Locally we have:

1. The Feds
2. The Province
3. The Regional District
4. The City
5. The School District
6. Northern Health

Based on what is happening in other jurisdictions, we may get another addition shortly – Social Housing. The province already has a foot in the door with the facility on 6th which we paid $900,000 for and are the proud owners of, as I understand it. Something I see very little, if any, reporting on.

The tendency has been to download service costs from higher level governments to lower levels as the higher levels have sought a lowering of taxes policy. One can call it moving to a user pay system. The two senior governments have, themselves, moved to increase the user pay system with the addition of sales taxes.

The effect has been to burden those with properties, whether corporations or residents, with more and more taxes. Those who do not own residences pay indirectly via the rent they pay.

The cities are caught between a rock and a hard place. No one seems to have approached this in a coordinated fashion. FCM, the Canadian organization which tries to speak with one voice has seen this as an issue for decades. And, for decades, the matter has gotten worse, as I see it.

Solutions? Allow cities to introduce a sales tax, as is common in the USA. Or, provide a rebate for a portion of the sales taxes collected, in a similar fashion to what is being done with gasoline tax.

I really do not care how it is done. I do care, the same as Palopu, that the people we elect need to get off their asses to deal with the matter because the old system is no longer working properly. Too much tip toeing around by all elected people. Too much complacency from people who we elect to do a job.

http://www.gizmag.com/led-bulbs-found-to-contain-toxic-metals/17876

Torches, Candles, Gas lamps, Incandescent, fluorescent, Light Emitting Diodes ….

Which are safer?

From soot, to accidental fires, to particulates, to mercury, lead and other metals ….. none are 100% safe.

As the linked article states after explain why LED lights need to be disposed of properly it ends with the following statement:

“Incandescent bulbs, incidentally, contain very high levels of lead and mercury, while compact fluorescents are also high in mercury.”

So there we have it. Now what? How about a 5cents per bulb returned refund at the local recycling depot?

Oh, I forgot, then we will send them all to that great recycling area in Asia where the metals will be removed and the plastic and glass recycled.

Like that sign on HWY97 which thanks the people of Vancouver for their enlightened solution to garbage – sending it to a Cache Creek Landfill which is getting close to capacity, I believe.

Time we took care of our own local chit and made better use of the so called “landfill”.

What a euphemism!!

They used to be called garbage dumps. It is exactly what they were and still are.

You are in fine form today GUS

It is a sunny day for the first time in a week or so. Gives one a brighter outlook on life …. LOL

The residential roads around the City show quite clearly the contempt that this City has for taxpayers.

These roads are atrocious, there is absolutely no excuse for this kind of service to hard working, citizens who pay millions, and millions for road repair, snow removal, etc;

Once the Winter Games get here, they will be clearing the roads, etc; for all the people who come to town for the games, and once they are gone it will be back to s..t roads for those who pay for it all.

If those at the City cannot solve the infrastructure problems in this City to the satisfaction of the taxpayers, then they better seriously consider a change in vocation. Raising taxes in not a solution. Getting the job done in an efficient and timely manner is.

They should take some pictures of our roads, and our snow clearing attempts with them the next time they go to China, so that they can impress the Chinese with our inability to do the basic requirements of a City.

A thaw is better than the weather east of us. Just crazy back there.

================================================

Yeah, it’s a wee bit chilly at the moment, LOL.

Take a drive on south ogilvie, where commercial property owners pay huge tax. It is a disgusting experience, and close to the city yard.

The World Health Org. has announced a new plan to help/make smokers quit their habit. Higher taxes….Duh..

And with all of this new legalization of pot in North America, I wonder what alot more ppl will be smoking in the future.

We are doomed as a society…..Just saying.

“And that’s what we are into. The Blame Game. If people got off their collective asses, and actually did something besides complaining, we could probably make some inroads to some of these problems.”

“These roads are atrocious, there is absolutely no excuse for this kind of service to hard working, citizens who pay millions, and millions for road repair, snow removal, etc;”

“The problem lies at the top of the pyramid however, the real power lies at the base, however the base is to lazy to do anything other than bitch.”….That is whats called IRONY Palopu lol NO ONE bitches more than you about the City. At least you are a credit to your philosophy in that you spend ALOT of time bitching….but your still sitting at a computer so technically your not off YOUR ass yet!

Ya sound like the Bitch across my drive…It was concerned bout the street lite on for long periods…and I did not /would not have put sCarY sHeeRRy in the seat…come back Dan..
willyj….go find yer Prozac…take 2..then STFU..

Anybody know if they are having Xmas tree pick up or are they holding it at cn centre again

Here is a good one. A woman back in Dartmouth NS rented a car from Enterprise. She returned it on a Sunday parked the car and dropped the key in the slot as directed. No one working on Sunday. Car gets stolen, Enterprise says its the renters fault and they want 47,000 for the car.

Note to self never rent from Enterprise again.

zyblxteu…..Maybe you should cut your pot consumption and go back to school to learn how to spell…..sheeesh,,,grumpy much

Did santa not bring you a speak and spell for Christmas. Keep your rude comments to yourself.

Could we possibly get one of those vote type of things on here that puts the following suggestions to a vote:

In light of some people being unhappy with how the City is dealing with issues, would it be more reasonable for:

1. the Mayor to leave the city, or

2. the complainers about the Mayor’s handling of City affairs to leave the city for greener pastures.

BTW, welcome to the service industry, Mayor Green.

What works in a gift shop does not necessarily work in the Civil Service.

I thought I would take up Palopu’s suggestion about trying to do something about our roads other than bitching on Opinion 250 so I phoned the city to bitch to them and I got the answering machine which said “City of Prince George” but city really sounded like a word that rhymes with city but starts with sh. lol (of course it might just be my bad hearing playing tricks on me)

To solve your Muncipal problems move to Abby. No snow no rain +8 and the sun is shining. Got my assement topday and I think the City will be paying me to live here. They love new arrivals.
Cheers

In regards to bad roads – there are several people on my street with snowblowers. They’ve now taken it upon themselves to each snowblow about 3-4 houses worth of street which results in almost the entire street being cleared of snow the same day it falls. It’s great for the residents, but at the same time a little ridiculous that they feel the need to do this. But if they don’t, the city doesn’t get to it in time to prevent all the horrible frozen ruts from forming.
A big thank you to my neighbours!!

willyj – I think there are some new anti-drug PSAs coming out. Its just a bunch of zyblxt’s posts cut and pasted… That oughta scare anyone straight.

So has anyone got any vehicle damage to report from our roads? I see enough car parts on the side of the road.

Not sure what all the bitching is about people. At 7:45am this morning, I drove from the north end of Tabor to 15th. All of Tabor was plowed and the sidewalks were also cleared of gutter snow. 5th was plowed and the snow in the gutter was also gone. 15th as well. Foothills, and University and Tyner to Hwy 16. Considering that was at 7:45am in the morning, I think the streets looked fantastic along with the sidewalks. Not sure what else they got done overnight, and not sure where they went to today during the day, but it looks great !!
To he city workers that have to work the night shift, (and the day shift) our household thanks you for the thankless work you do.

Hey … sounds just like me during summer … drive down all those streets and now snow in sight … a few weeds between the rubs and pavement and sidewalk maybe … but hey …..

The question is when was the snow fall and when was the snow removed? The time difference should not be more than 24 hours on arterials like that and not more than 48 hours on residential streets …. that gives them more time than most cities in eastern Canada ….

So, that is what the bitchin’ is about …..

Speaking of bitchin’… When are they going to remove that huge snowpile in the middle of Massey which makes it go from 2 lanes to one and a half lanes at various points?

“To solve your Muncipal problems move to Abby”

==================================

Don’t let Mayor Green hear you saying that, LOL ;)

“The question is when was the snow fall and when was the snow removed? The time difference should not be more than 24 hours on arterials like that and not more than 48 hours on residential streets …. that gives them more time than most cities in eastern Canada ….”

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Yeah well that’s because (insert poor excuse here) . . .

I find it interesting to see all the bitching about snow removal. Have you all been asleep since mid December and didn’t notice the weird weather patterns we have been experiencing? I’m sure that there are times when priorities could be better, but if the City has 100% of it’s own equipment, and as much rental equipment as is available to them working 3 shifts, I can’t see how it could get done faster! For some of you, the only way that you would be satisfied is if the City stationed a grader and loader at every corner so that the snow could be cleared continuously as it falls! Wake up people…every extra dollar spent on snow removal is an extra dollar that has to come out of our pockets!

Here is how you can clear downtown streets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqD7tyhWRvo

Here is what they were doing today (watch the snow banks completely disappear)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scVqOJxK-WE

Here is how you can make sure that a major highway is clear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Pd5Y__Z64

There are about 10,000 other videos on Youtube from Canada and the US that the City of PG could look at if they want ideas, LOL :)

Remember, some of us have lived in real winter cities, not lotusland cities that happen to be 800km north and rain more often as snow in the winter.

Out time shift channels are from Boston. Watching the news from there is like being in a different world, especially when they get winter storms known as blizzards (not the ice cream treat) when they get really bad. We do not get blizzards here. The closest we get to that is the experience of driving down the highway at 50km/hour or more during a heavy snowfall.

We also do not get the experience of driving down the 401 between Toronto and Montreal during the winter at night when the sky is perfectly clear as is the highway …….. until a car or truck in front of you hits a snow drift across the road resulting in an immediate whiteout. At least when there is no one in front of you, you get to see the snow drift and get time to take a solid grip on the wheel, look behind you to see whether there is someone there, as you take the foot off the accelerator.

That’s great. To clean the windrow took one minute per block. And it looked like there was enough room in the truck to go for at least one more block.

Nice video, NMG … now for the other two … ;-)

gus; you of all people who do the most posting ….. should be well aware of just how much equipment the city does (or doesn’t) have.
I cannot recall if it was you, but just a couple of weeks ago, during our RECORD breaking snow fall, people were commenting that it typically takes 4-6 days to clear the ‘entire’ city.
gus, or anyone please explain to all of us here, how 5 graders and 4 loaders are supposed to clear and I quote from the city’s web site: 580km of paved roads and 184km of sidewalks in 24-48hrs.
Perhaps I’m looking at all these complainers the wrong way. Maybe they aren’t complaining at all!! Maybe that’s actually a compliment to the city workers if the ‘complainers’ think the workers can get the job done in 24-48 hours.
It doesn’t give a break-down of how much of the 580km of paved road is main roads and how much is residential; but the way gus is going on and on about this, its irrelevant – gus thinks all of it can get done with 4 loaders and 5 graders in 24-48 hours.
You have College Heights, Foothills and the Hart including both the pulp mill roads, the bowl, and out by the airport.
‘splain to me how you’d wake up and its all magically done.
That’s the clue…. ‘wake up’.
NyteHawwk; I agree with your comments. Maybe rather than a city grader and loader on every corner, these ‘complainers’ should call the city the night before and give them the route they’ll be travelling the next day… then have a grader & plow in front of them…. just for them.
Maybe that’s the ‘greener pastures’ the mayor was referring to in her comment the other day.

NMG POSTED: on January 3 2014 4:47 PM
Here is how you can clear downtown streets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqD7tyhWRvo
Here is what they were doing today (watch the snow banks completely disappear)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scVqOJxK-WE
NMG: are you kidding me !!! You are the funniest person that’s ever posted here. LMAO. If you would care to take time our of YOUR sleep – god forbid!! and go downtown on night shift and watch the crews as they do exactly and I mean exactly what your first two youtube’s are showing. The city has the blower, they use it all the time.
The sidewalk machines do EXACTLY what your youtube shows, then the grader and loaders come along and clean up.
How do I know? I’ve taken the time to actually watch them do it – that way I don’t make comments that are hilarious like yours.
Call the City on Monday and ask where they will be working that night and go watch them. Ya might learn somethin’.

Still two ships caught in Antarctica globle warming ice while the climate scientist, LOL, are on their merry way..

No I’m not kidding Hello?.

Some people were on here during that large dump that PG got a couple weeks back saying it was almost impossible to clear the downtown streets in an expedient manner, so I put up video #1. I know that PG does EVENTUALLY get around to doing it . . .

As for video #2, I never saw that type of clearing EVER where I grew up in College Heights. That’s basically a residential area what that is getting done.

As for video #3, if you think that the crews around PG use the same procedures for keeping major highways clear as they do around here, you are out of your mind.

“but the way gus is going on and on about this, its irrelevant – gus thinks all of it can get done with 4 loaders and 5 graders in 24-48 hours.”

Hello? …. is anyone home upstairs in your place? Does not appear to be.

What on earth ever possessed you to reach the conclusion that I restricted the method of snow removal to 9 lousy pieces of heavy equipment. In any quality endeavor, one sets the standard, then develops the method, prices it out and sets the budget. Let us start with 4 times as much plus the right equipment and the people to operate it.

You know, of course, that there are businesses that actually would sell the City more equipment. We are not stuck with what we have. They may actually sell us better equipment.

So, set the standard, as other cities have done, to say 24 hours on arterial roads and 36 on collectors and 48 on residential. That would be a vast improvement.

We are told that the city needs $6million to clear the snow better. I do not know what that means. I do not know what the standard is. Do you know what the standard is? ASAP is not a standard.

I do know this, $6million is in the ballpark for clearing the streets, using the right equipment and enough of it BUT, not clearing the driveways and getting cars removed from streets prior to plowing.

Other cities the size of PG with similar snowfalls seem to manage it. Why not us?

Oh and before someone comes on and states “well obviously the snow clearing is better where the politicians live”, there are loads of videos on there from Quebec, other places in Ontario, the Maritimes and the northeastern US showing similar things.

Why does PG seem to be the exception? Different snow or just different snow removal standards?

They had a nice video on the Boston news last night with 6 or so gang plows going along the highway. The reporter’s car was driving right behind and to the left of the last plow and was commenting while video was taken.

I was driving behind plows south of Quesnel using the same technique last winter. That is the first time I had seen that here. Safest and quickest way to do it. Slows down traffic for a while, but they move out of formation when the traffic gets too congested.

“but the way gus is going on and on about this, its irrelevant – gus thinks all of it can get done with 4 loaders and 5 graders in 24-48 hours.”

Hello? …. is anyone home upstairs? Does not appear to be.

In any quality endeavor, one sets the standard, then develops the method, prices it out and sets the budget.

You know, of course, that there are businesses that actually would sell the City more equipment

oops … computers do the craziest things …. well … sometimes it is not the computers’ fault … :-)

In Prince George some moron would have tried to put his pick-up between the two plow trucks. (video #3)

From Peterborpough Ontario’s web site …. Picked that because it is similar in size to PG and has similar snowfall.

Winter Parking Restrictions

To assist snow-clearing operations, winter parking restrictions are now in effect in the City of Peterborough. To avoid tickets and/or your vehicle being towed, observe the following:

1.From December 1- April 1, parking is prohibited on all City streets from 2:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. This allows better snow clearing of city streets and at a lower cost because equipment will not have to return to clear areas where vehicles were parked. The fine for a violation is $15.

2.During a snowstorm, when snow-clearing operations are underway, no stopping of a vehicle is permitted on any city street. Snow-clearing operations typically take place between midnight and 8 a.m. The fine is $80 for this violation and your vehicle will be towed. All vehicles north of Parkhill road will be toed to Milroy Park located at 242 Milroy Drive, with all other vehicles being towed to Morrow Park located at 171 Lansdwne St. W. After 24 hours, all unclaimed vehicles will be towed to an impound yard at the owners expense.
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I parked downtown a couple of weeks ago on Brunswick and there were several spots were the machinery obviously worked their way around parked cars ….. there are signs up re no parking after 1am ….

ENFORCE IT!!!!!!!!

middle finger ….. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED in the case I mentioned ….. first one, then another!

There are signs on the highways to not pass snowplows on the right …. what sort of idiot would do that? Nothing about not passing a snowplow or tandem plows on the left.

City of Peterborough has 15 plow trucks, 2 graders, 6 sidewalk plows and several loaders.

The secret is right there in the mix of equipment – 8 times as many plows as graders.

The budget? $2.5 million
http://www.peterborough.ca/Business/Finance/Operating_and_Capital_Budget.htm

population 78,698

150cm snow versus 205 for PG

This is part of the City of Yorkton, Saskatchewan’s Ice Control and Snow Removal Policy;

“Plowing on First Priority routes will commence after five centimeters (two inches) of snow has accumulated or when drifting impedes traffic movement. First Priority routes should be cleared within 36 hours (downtown snow hauling included) of the abatement of the storm event depending on the severity of the event and equipment reliability.”

WOW! So they start snow removal after 5 centimetres (two inches) of snow accumulation!!! PG is up to 12.5 centimetres of snow accumulation before snow removal commences. So why shouldn’t we complain about the much poorer, and lower standard, of snow removal service?

from the same city

Category 3 weather
This is a storm with greater than 5 cm. of snow either occurring or forecasted.
Under this Category, Class 2, 3 and 4 roads are plowed, sanded and salted with
an average duration of 12 hours.

[url]http://www.peterborough.ca/Assets/City+Assets/Council/Committee+of+the+Whole+Reports/2008/2008-11-10+-+November+10$!2c+2008/USPW08-013+Winter+Services+Opereations+Policy.pdf[url]

This is only one, picked semi-randomly because of similar size and snow fall.

Folks, the core services was supposed to look at efficiency/effectiveness ….. it failed to do so in some of the key areas. Snow removal is certainly one of them.

Why, is the question I keep having to ask. The only reasonable answer I can come up with is that the committee of four looking after it was incompetent to do so, and the people KPMG had working on the project were incompetent.

I am sorry, that is the only credible conclusion I can reach. Pleas, someone, give me more faith in the people we have selected to represent us.

http://www.peterborough.ca/Assets/City+Assets/Council/Committee+of+the+Whole+Reports/2008/2008-11-10+-+November+10$!2c+2008/USPW08-013+Winter+Services+Opereations+Policy.pdf

“So why shouldn’t we complain about the much poorer, and lower standard, of snow removal service?”

The only reason some do not complain is because they have never experienced good snow removal standards.

Even the Russians must be better than this.

City has a dilemma, buy so called greeny trendy vehicles or something actually useful like snow removal equipment.

As for the snow removal. 4 major snowfalls this year. Plows down our street once. I can barely make it down the road in the car, its so rutted and bumpy. Its even worse now that its getting colder and freezing.

I’d like to also thank the jerk who keeps putting their garbage in my garbage can. This is the 3rd week I’ve gone to put garbage in the can only to find it filled with bags from someone else. This is also the 3rd week I’ve had to go to the dump to pay to get rid of my garbage instead of putting it in the can.

What’s with stickers on every piece of fruit and vegetables, enough already.

http://www.nationalfinder.com/fruitlabels/index.htm#ALPHA

I am eating a 4017 right now. :-)

Does anyone know what goes on at the old gravel pit at the end of Groveburn Rd./east end of Tabor Lake? As a resident of the general area, I’m used to the thunder across the lake from people sighting in their hunting rifles every fall, but over the past few weeks, it sounds like a war going on over there – the gunfire has been frequent and at 10 – 15 rounds per minute can’t be someone sighting in his rifle unless he’s a terrible shot and has a bottomless ammo bucket.

If some Gun Club wants a service project, that pit looks like a third world country. Littered with thousands of shotgun shell casings, remnants of pallets and rubbish burned for bonfires, and carcasses of old appliances riddled with bullet holes. If this is an example of the behaviour of the gun enthusiast crowd, I have little respect for them.

And while I’m on the rant, some months ago I reported this mess and another illegal dump site in the area complete with photos to the Regional District and received a reply that the information “had forwarded to the appropriate department”, but nothing was done.

Lets look a little further into the comparison between Prince George BC and Peterborough Ont.

Prince George has a land base of 122.8 Sq Miles.
Peterborough’s land and urban base is 51.97 Sq Miles.

Peterborough has 348 kilometers of sidewalk $312,000.00 in snow maintenance.

Prince George has 177 kilometers of sidewalk, cost of maintenance unknown.

Peterborough has 804 lane kms for road plowing and spreading. Annual estimated cost of approx. $1.3 Million.

Prince George has 1485 lane kms for road plowing and spreading. Annual estimated cost of approx. 5 Million. Less say $312,000.00 for sidewalks.

Soooo. Cost per lane km for Peterborough Ont. is $1618.00. $1.3M divided by 804

Cost per lane km for Prince George BC is $3030.00 $4.5M divided by 1485.

Significant difference between the two. Why are our costs so much higher. Is it because of the large land base for Prince George, with those areas requiring snow removal being spread out over this huge land base??

Prince George land base is more than double that of Peterborough, however our population is about the same. So taxpayers in Prince George have to pay more than twice what they pay in Peterborough for the same service.

There are huge costs attached to having a City with a huge land base, and a small population. Its time that the City seriously considered downsizing (going back to pre amalgamation days) or approaching the Province for help on a per capita basis to provide all the services required for outlying areas.

These are issues that require some serious work by City Administration, and Councilors, rather than trying to build a Performing Art Centre, or sprucing up the Civic Centre.

Thanks for the calculations Palopu. That was a good start.

Some opinions to add to that.

large land bases with nothing on them do not cost too much money to plow. Land bases with rural developments on them, say 5 acre plus lots, with fewer laneways, no curbs, just ditches, likely no vehicles parked on the side of the roads are simply plowed by plows, not graders, that can go 30km to 40km/hour. Am not sure if the lane windrows are cleared in those cases.

The expensive parts are the small urban lots of 50, 60, 70, foot widths IF the lanes have to be cleared. Having configurations with curved roads, cul-de-sacs, etc, slows things down some more. The straighter the roads, the better it is.

For those who need the driveways cleared due to health and limited incomes, cities normally provide services free of charge or at low rates.

One more major item. It takes time to leave the windrow in the center of roads, especially two lane roads with multiple accesses. For each normal across the center of the road access, they come with front end loaders and open up the windrow and pile the ends high with the removed snow. That is left for several days, normally, and is a real hazard for people who have to use it because oncoming traffic is typically hard to see.

So, the way it should be done is that a snow blower with dump trucks follows within a half hour or so at the most after the snow has been plowed to pick up the windrow. You can see from one of the videos posted how fast that goes. In order to allow that to happen city wide one would obviously need more than just one machine. Say 3 for PG might do it since not all streets are windrowed to the center.

Finally, one would have to look at how to deploy the manpower. I do not know how many are full time and how many are temps now or might do two separate jobs. I am sure one would need to have more part time or temps to operate the machinery. Again, other cities do it, so find out how it is done.

I know one thing is for sure, the more one looks into it, the more KPMG did not look at a major annual operating expense to see how effectively and efficiently it operates. Has anyone looked into this in the past and what was the outcome if they did? I want to see that study. Get an FOI and let’s take a look at it.

If it does not exist, then why not.

tarnfeather wrote: ” ….. received a reply that the information “had forwarded to the appropriate department”….

People have lost the ability to do the simplest of tasks. Even those need to be taught by an in-house communications person. WHY????

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The letter should have been passed on to the right department and a letter come very quickly from that department …..

Dear ……

I have been provided with your correspondence of ……
Can you please give me a call at …….. so that I can get some more information from you which will allow me to ………

Simplest thing in the world ……. a direct contact by letter or phone or even e-mail if info provided in the original complaint from the person actually responsible for looking after the matter.

So, I wonder how Commonwealth is doing with IPG, the City and whoever else might be involved in the disputes about who owes what to whom.

Strange that we do not hear a thing about that … or did I miss it?

OOOPs … forgot NDIT …. how could I have … ;-)