Yes people might want to move out of the big cities but they need a employment when they get here.It makes no sense to fly to Fort Mac after you get here to find employment.

Bend over everyone!

The only perception gap that needs explaining is the one where PG residents are shown where IPG provides value for the taxpayer dollars invested.

“Initiatives Prince George is already working on trying to bridge that perception gap. “We are in the early stages of designing a wide spread marketing campaign”

Seriously? This is what they come up with. How is this different from the many marketing campaigns that have been conducted in the past?

I am still trying to figure out why all these northern BC projects that are on the drawing boards, and may or may not happen, has anything to do with people wanting to come to PG for work? Where exactly are these big projects in PG? Seems to me most of them are miles away, north, west and northeast of here. This looks more like a job security for IPG employees report more than anything.

Well, great spin! Already 50% of the deficiency has been shifted to the employers, of all people! The rest consists of waiting another year for the Winter Games to cure all the ills?

I would like to hear from both IPG and DBIA the answer to the following question in plain language so all us simple pg folk can understand.

What is your mandate, your mission statement, and vision statement?

I know I could look to their web site, but I am interested in hearing from the big kahuna of each organization.

I can think of four ways to address the negative image that so many apply to our community:
1. Improve air quality — not just particulate matter but the stinky emissions.
2. Build a performing arts centre to show that we are at least as forward thinking as Dawson Creek and Prince Rupert.
3. Advertise PG as one of the few communities that offers the therapeutic advantage of fluoridation for our children.
4. Advertise PG as a community that, in the balance, may benefit from the changes that are the inevitable result of global climate change (incorrectly called “Global Warming” by the deniers).
I’ll stop this list at four to leave lots of time for the replies!
;-)

Anyone have any idea what this woman gets paid for all the gusts of wonderful news this woman comes up with? Who pays her? ….call me stupid….but I gotta ask!

To IPG these are myths and perceptions. To other people they are realities. Who is right?

I’d suggest every dollar that goes to IPG for this silly stuff should instead be re-allocated to plant some grass, hang some flowers, clean up garbage and apply fresh paint to cross walks and public buildings.

Most people are not going to decide to move to a city based on what is in some glossy brochure. That may get them interested, but they are still likely to fly out and spend some time in the place before making a decision. They may even make a couple of trips to bring their spouse out, show them around, explore a bit, etc.

When the job fair ends and the people show up in PG to check the city out first hand, that’s when the place has to shine. Everything up to that point won’t matter. It will be put up or shut up time. Marketing won’t mean a damn thing when the boots hit the ground.

When I first arrived in Prince George in 1965 it had shinny new streets , malls and King street, wood area all the way over to 15th ave. Had some pulpmill smell but it was great place to live. But over the years it has lost all its gloss and just appears to be another Mill town.

And keep your eye on Heather she is a real butterfly.
Cheers

NMG is right

One could make a garbage dump,nuclear reactor, tar sands and Kabul Afganastan look good in a glossy brochure.

Speaking of myths ….

From the IPG site comes this statement under the “about Initiatives Prince George”
page:

“Prince George is the largest city in one of the fastest growing regions in Canada”

Have they looked at the 2011 census results? Even if it takes in Kitimat and Fort St. John they would be wrong based on the last 20 years.

In 5 to 10 years, it might be true, but it might also not be true, especially if growth is counted by population growth rather than growth of resources transported through the region rather than from the region.

what myths and perceptions are people in Prince George wanting to take on?

If you want to see successful recruitment into this region talk to the people on the Clean Energy consulting/Conifex Power project in Mackenzie. They put together a brilliant straight forward campaign to attract Power Engineers to fill the 14 Power Engineering positions in this new facility. Over 200 working people applied from across Canada. Hello Prince George, this is not complex rocket science!

A good business strategy and some talented people to manage it and you are on your way.

Vancouver is the Problem

Victoria is the Problem

Affordable housing? In relation to Vancouver and Kelowna maybe, but they are marketing to Ontario where house prices there are right around the norm for PG and in a lot of places even less.

Housing affordability in PG is about our huge stock of soviet style housing complexes with no originality and few and far between wood structures less than 40-years old.

One looks at the cities that are on the growth curve and they all have new modern condo’s, apartment complexes, and multi unit housing developments… in addition to affordable housing.

Anyone coming to PG to work in resource industries first point of contact is not likely to jump right into a $500,000 new home, but rather some kind of low maintenance transitional housing. When is the last time PG has seen anything other then $500,000 homes built in this city? Not in my generation that I can think of.

I agree that the IPG budget would be better allocated to beautification projects around the city and would get better results for all involved including the PG tax payers.

So… if you can’t change the city of Prince George, try to change other people’s perceptions of it? Wow… fly IPIG fly!

Some of us looked at all the good things about living in PG and chose to come — we looked past all the bad publicity, violence warnings, steep insurance rates due to crime, and actually enjoy living here – coming from bigger centers or other depressed BC cities hoping for quality of life and those so called “job opportunities”. But a lot of us have partners or spouses living outside of PG, working in Alberta because of a real lack of quality opportunities in town. Just ask for the real stories of what’s it like to be a skilled or professional worker trying to bridge into this community and the perception has nothing to do with air quality, violence or a lack of knowledge about where PG is located on a map. It’s more than promotion – there’s a lack of cohesive understanding of who actually can find quality employment here if they relocate. It’s not tradespeople or professionals as far as a lot of us can tell.

Perception Gap don’t need no stinking bridge, it’ll only bring more people to the holler. Leave Perception Gap pristine!
metalman.

The survey no one seems to be doing is following up those people AND businesses (including expansions to local businesses)who have arrived in town in the last 5 and even 10 years, discreetly tracking them by year of arrival with a minimum stay of 2 years to find out why they came and the knowledge of the community they had when they came and how that knowledge may have changed over time.

Then do exit surveys of why they left. What was it that PG did not offer, what was it that it did offer when they came, and ask them what it would have taken for them not to make the move.

THAT report would likely generate some data of the perception gap those people who are trying to increase the growth of PG have.

Outsiders are not the only one who have a perception gap.

Once we have the internal perception gap of those who market the community and live in a bit of a bubble in this community reoriented, then they may be able to understand that just trying to tell the emperor that he has beautiful clothes, when in reality he is standing there in rags, they will accomplish nothing for both the newcomers and those who may wish to leave.

Such sleazy used car salesman tactics leave a bad taste in my mouth.

From what I have read in this article & the previous on the same subject & the posts that accompany them, the perception of what PG is & has to offer comes from within. It’s not very flattering. So I pose a question to all those who live here & have such a negative perspective of PG; What keeps you here? I don’t pose this in a derogatory manner as “If you don’t like it here, leave”, rather in an honest attempt to understand why a person would live somewhere that they appear to despise so much.
Posters like NMG can honestly answer as he did leave & on his own terms, for his own reasons. I can respect that. The other posters from PG; Is it employment, family or fear of change that keeps you here? I am curious.
The other related subject that I am curious about is; What have you personally done to make your community a better place to live? Again, not finger pointing, I know that quite a few volunteer & help out in their own ways to make living here better for their fellow citizens.
For myself, I have been to other places both as a visitor & citizen, yet have always migrated back here.There are things about PG that I really don’t like but really, overall for me & the lifestyle that I live, it has been great to me & for me. Will I spend the rest of my life here? Probably not. Have I enjoyed living here? Absolutely. I guess it is all perspective. I don’t expect others will share mine, but that’s what makes the world interesting, shared & differing perspectives.

There is a huge difference between The city of Prince George as compared to the area around Prince George. Me I despise the city because of the stink, the garbage that is constantly blowing around, the old run down buildings etc (you get the picture), BUT I really enjoy the area for it’s outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, camping, sledding, etc. (Again you get the picture). So I have no desire to “do” anything for my community since my community isn’t why I am here. We will be moving further away from the city when a few ducks fall in place, but PG has no identity except as a mill town stopover for most people. I came here in 1983 for two weeks and here I still am, but it sure wasn’t because I liked the “city”, most of my time here has been spent living on the outskirts.

1. Why I came here: moved from Ottawa to Toronto to PG in order to get away from large city living. Applied for a job, was flown out for a personal interview, stayed for 3 days to drive around the city and region and decided to accept the job.

2. The City was growing quickly, the job gave me opportunities at an age that I would not get those in Ontario in a smaller community and even in Toronto, that is to work on projects which could improve the service quality and built environment. I enjoyed winter, would get the same skiing opportunities close to town as I did in Ottawa. I grew up with snow.

3. After moving here we found it was easy to make friends. Many were new comers from the rest of Canada, Hong Kong, UK, and continental Europe. As people say over and over again, the friends here as well as the acquaintances is what keeps people here. Those who we know and have left to the south as well as the province next door, say this has been the friendliest place.

4. The jobs I have had have all included the requirement to travel to Vancouver as well as the larger urban centres in BC, as well as all over the entire northern half of the province and Yukon for the job, and attend conferences and conventions across the country and parts of the USA. The airport has allowed me to do much of that relatively easily. My first job even provided the perk/bonus of paying for part of a 5 week trip to Europe. One of the benefits possible when working for private enterprise.

5. I like being part of a community. In fact, it is why I chose an isolated community as opposed to a bedroom community of an urban agglomeration. The community did not end up where I thought it would by this time, but we did get a university and more than that, we got a medical program here, something I never thought a small community such as PG would get.

6. Just 5 years after I arrived, there was a design competition for the library and the surrounding cultural centre. That is why I came to PG. People had vision, people were trying to build a heart of a city which had taken a bit of a hit with the coming of Pine Centre. Library, Theatre, Art Gallery, Civic Centre, Retail, Parking. That was the makeup of the plan.

7. Then 1981 hit and virtually everything to do with city improvement became a struggle. The house I had built took a nosedive in appraised value which would take 10 to 20 years to build back up.

8. I came here to help the community and to help myself in the process. I still have some of those interests and have continued to contribute to this day in working on those things which I feel could make improvements. In Toronto, in Vancouver, in Ottawa, that would be impossible at this stage in my life.

As the lyrics of a Bette Middler song go: “through thick and through thin, all out or all in and whether it’s win, place or show.”

Too many people have no staying power. To me that is part of life experience. It is what makes life interesting and worth living. I do not come from the “me” generation.

Thanks Gus & Huh. Do you think some of that community spirit is returning? It’s interesting,’81 seems to be the time that quite a few people pinpoint as the beginning of the decline. As with Gus, I hold out hope for PG. Like Huh, the surrounding area is one of BC’s best kept secrets. I have skied all over & hands down this area has some of the best backcountry skiing in the world, not to mention all the other activities in a stones throw from most of our back yards’.
I do see some upsurge in Community involvement in some sectors, others are left wanting. From what I hear from friends & family in other areas of the world, that type of behavior is not all that uncommon.