Interesting to see some of the declared candidates coming out and yet nothing on some of the big issues of the election. Not a word on their positions for medicated water (fluoride), the PAC funding, unaccountable city administration, the selling of city parks, the failed real estate schemes like the PG Hotel fiasco, the IPG $2 million dollar sink hole to recruit for business, or the downloading of tax load from major industry to the home owners over the last 20-years.

One would think prospective candidates would come right out against the new rain water run off tax being pushed by the political interest class at city hall. Clearly this is a do around
from the failed River Road dyke system that was rejected by voters through a successful reverse petition… which city hall now hope to pay for without borrowing through a rain water run off tax.

So one wonders will this election be one with choice, or will the choice be between different flavors of vanilla and no real change on offer other than rhetorical sound bites about infrastructure?

Looking forward to the Cougars season, I really hope the club turns around into a winning team.
Good luck boys :)

Municipal elections are seldom (if ever!) won or lost on the issues; they are popularity contests at best. Whose name is the most recognized is generally the person who will win the seat.

Westjet sticks it the flying public with their $25.00 baggage fee. Does Westjet really think we believe this service was free in the past? Instead of offering a $25.00 reduction in ticket prices if one opted to not check any bags the fares stay the same and the public gets hit with a $25.00 charge plus the additional taxes the feds and province add to the baggage charge.
What’s next? Pay for the reading light, extra cost if your seat reclines, table tray fee, floor track lighting, etc.
Bad enough the seats are jammed so close together unless you are 5′ 2″ and under 120 lbs a sardine in a can is more comfortable than the average flyer.
It was bad enough before with the carry on luggage and now with the new fee it will be utter ciaos.

Not just WestJet, Resident, Air Canada has added a fee as well. It’s going to be interesting watching all the people trying to jam their full sized luggage into the overhead compartments.

It would be interesting to see/hear a debate between the candidates, where all their responses to questions would be written or voiced by a moderator. No identification of the individuals until the end of the debate. Now if we could reject hopeful candidates according to their responses throughout the debate, that would be even better.

Good morning everyone. Wow, another week has passed already! Time sure flies. Parents and kids will be happy that school will be starting sometime, Britain can heave a big sigh of relief and hopefully now, make good on their promises to Scotland. Sure was a different, civilised campaign, compared to Quebec’s referendum. Have a good safe weekend!

I know that in Nov. there is a 5.5% increase in ICBC rates (announced in August).
According to the gov’t, the increase is necessary because of increased number of claims caused by distracted driving.
5.5% in one year seems a little high, especially from this gov’t.

Then I remembered an earlier news story.

Government grabbing cash from ICBC, BC Hydro as they raise rates, NDP charges.
Budget predicts Crown corporations will send $8.9 billion to Victoria in the next three years

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Government+grabbing+cash+from+ICBC+Hydro+they+raise+rates+charges/9527548/story.html#ixzz3DloTwkmS

Running for civic office can’t be simple, and what do you say when asked about issues? Unless you have been privy to the inner circle and know what’s been said behind closed doors, you end up being Jim Carry “talking out your backside”. All an incumbent can say is that they are aware of the issues and will be looking into those issues once elected. You can’t honestly promise “anything” and if you do make promises you can’t fulfill then you’re just wasting the public’s time and your time blowing “sunshine”. Let’s face it we have all had our share of “blown sunshine” from the current counsel. So I would be interested in hearing some real honesty from those running for office for a change. A commodity I don’t think we will see from anyone… Time will tell.

Axeman, it has been proven that what you say is mostly true but also the picture on the billboard makes a huge difference. In people tested they found that just by looking at a person’s face and choosing the winner that way was almost 100% accurate over their actual platform. Sad to say but get your face out there in a nice pose with a smile and people will remember you and cast a vote your way regardless if you are a kitten killer.

Just spout the usual rhetoric…
– I stand for fiscal responsibility
– I stand for team building
– I stand for transparency
– I promise a chicken in every pot

And , if those don’t work, tell them you can save 10% in every department.

Glad to see the teachers back to work and that they got a smaller raise and used the money they didn’t take to hire more support teachers.
On a serious note the biggest thing facing teachers these days is the lack of discipline in the class.
How about a camera in the class that the teacher has sole discrepancy over who sees it (ie mom and dad) and who can email or text the parents video of the child behaving poorly so that mom and dad can’t come in defending little Johnny?
This would also allow teachers to breathe a little easier when it comes to false claims of abuse etc.

If you have bears in your nieghbourhood that have found attractants it is far too late take proactive steps, the best you can do is minimize the frequency of bear visits by removing or securing anything which attracts bears. The poor natural berry crop this year has brought in transient bears and displaced many resident bears. Behavior between these bears is aggressive and bolder, with children now back to school many trails and pathways, which have been relatively quiet for the last few weeks, will now be busy. Some bears have been using this calm to frequent the paths, if you should know a person(s) who use these routes remind them to be “noisy walkers” this will alert bears which may be in the area. From Apr 1 to Sept 1 the COS received 900 calls and had to destroy 30 bears, in the last 19 days the number of bears destroyed is in the mid 40’s. Please be mindful and consider that if steps had been taken earlier in the year to secure attractants this level of conflict may not have reached this level.

Can cameras work in reverse?

Keep Right Except To Pass!

I was driving to town down the Hart yesterday and notice 3 or 4 other drivers who actually understood the concept! That was good to see. Now if only the hundreds who don’t understand would learn traffic flow would be so much nicer.

Speaking of driver, please use your signals! It really helps the people around you if they know what your intent is. Especially in places like the roundabout, where it’s nice to know you’re exiting so that the people stopped at the entrances can enter.

Ya, I know, it’s all me! me! me!

To cupricity……that is an excellent idea….good thinking!

axman: I know, its tough but just about all we can do is be the change we want to see. I really appreciate the people who do use proper signals, yield the right of way or who are just courteous drivers. I try to give all of them an nice wave of thankyou.
I believe in reinforcing good habits so its nice to see your appreciation noted here too.

Slinky- In my mind we would never be able to convince the teachers to use the cameras against them- would you want cameras in your office? The flip side of course is if they didn’t use the cameras in a dispute it would give rise to questions about their own conduct. I honestly think that 90% of teachers are trying to do the best job they can but it isn’t easy given the lack of discipline. Cameras will clearly show disruptive, unpleasant behaviour by children and allow the teachers to communicate directly with parents without innuendo or fact skewing. Robert Djakanski or Rodney King are examples of how footage allows people to skip the colored versions told one another and make up their mind for their own.
Also when everyone knows they are on camera and their behaviours can go home to their parents in a quick click of a button you can bet that the kids will listen and smarten up. It would also greatly improve the parents awareness of school behaviours which would make for better parenting.

Keep right except to pass! How about pull over and let by. The traffic is always bunched up around a slow moving something with 10-15 cranky people trying to pass. If you get more than 3 or 4 people behind when towing your boat, or just driving slow, pull over and let them by! The life you save might just be your own.

“Keep Right Except To Pass!”

Great rule! Now, the one who is keeping to the right lane and travelling at the posted speed limit (not speeding) should be given the courtesy of not getting tailgated! Unfortunately that happens all too often if the left lane is busy! Tailgating is a kind of coercion, an attempt to force the car ahead to speed up beyond the speed limit! It is not only very annoying but totally against the law and a very regrettable bad habit! not be forced!

Axeman how true about elections. Just look at the popularity of no substance, “the budget will balance itself”, Trudeau. Hey I once saw Diane Watts in a low cut evening gown, wow, I would vote for her no matter what she said.

I followed a young girl in a white ford focus down the hart this morning. She stayed in the left lane during rush hour traffic right beside a green sierra pickup all the way from the hart wheel inn to 5th ave. By the time she was done she had 30+ vehicles backed up, changing lanes etc etc. At 5th she finally got in the right lane and then turned in to the college at 18th. Good grief girl…

Happy friday all!

Correction: I for one will “not be forced!”

Wish people would watch for pedestrians crossing at the merge lane from highway 97 to highway 16. I was there yesterday waiting for the light to turn and saw a young boy was trying to cross the street not one vehicle stopped or noticed him while he was clearly gesturing to cross. Lucky for them he never followed through with his gesture and stayed put!

P Val, we finally agree on something!

Go Cougars

I laugh at the weekly road rage whine. Stay in the right lane if you are not willing to travel above the posted limit. What a laugh! I won’t be moving over. If I decide to speed, it is all me. If I decide to do the speed limit because I’m in no-hurry? Go around or chill. I’ve seen the size of most who tail gate and road-rage is hardly a worry.
This is more about people who have to commute, needing to speed, in-order to justify living a ways from their place of employment. If they were to drive at the posted speed limit, it would take them an extra 5 minutes to reach their destination. Those 5-minutes total up over a lifetime, I suppose.

PrinceGeorge: There’s a little trick I use on tailgaters and it works. Simply take your foot off the gas and let your vehicle slow down in front of them. They will either back off or pass you. For me, it doesn’t matter which they do, it solves the problem.

I haven’t seen any posts from gus for a long time. Does anyone know why?

Posted on Friday, September 19, 2014 @ 8:49 AM by PrinceGeorge

“Keep Right Except To Pass!”

Great rule! Now, the one who is keeping to the right lane and travelling at the posted speed limit (not speeding) should be given the courtesy of not getting tailgated! Unfortunately that happens all too often if the left lane is busy! Tailgating is a kind of coercion, an attempt to force the car ahead to speed up beyond the speed limit! It is not only very annoying but totally against the law and a very regrettable bad habit! not be forced!

———

Common courtesy is -for the most part- dead nowadays.

I have to wonder if the left lane would be so busy is people followed the rules and kept right except to pass?

If you are doing the speed limit, there is no need to be in the left lane period! If there is someone doing 10 k under, go out pass and get back over.

I’m not going to be a Richard, about it. If Sparky thinks he/she is skilled enough to be a wannabe Speed-racer, go-around. Seems pretty simple to me. I’m not going to jack-around with him/her by slowing down. That would p*ss me off, if somebody was using their vehicle as a spine substitute.

Lovely wet day here in Abby and the temperature sits at +16. Just got home from George and what a surprise. Never saw so much new paving even our old home street got a new dressing . Noticed much pride in some of the older homes that have been upgraded and had a new outer finish.

Mayor green is doing a great job and your taxes are so reasonable compared to what we have to pay here in Abby..

Noticed a lot of new construction starts so guess you are all taking home a nice paycheck. You better vote for Mayor green and those councillors that support her. Forget about Zuroski who was McKinley’s lap dog.
Love you all.
Cheers

Shhh…Retired 02, just woke from a nap. No point in letting him/her know Green isn’t running for Mayor.

Wasn’t McKinley a U.S. president ? Never was PG’s mayor.

Aw shite.
Cheers

Was just down in the Abbotsford area, traffic was horrendous, eyes were watering from the stink of manure on the fields. Nice mountain views around there if they could be seen through the haze. Cheers

Just spent some time driving in the states. Down there I saw very little speeding, most people had the speed limit nailed. School zones, speed limits again nailed as the armed school police have their radar out quite often. No one hogs the right lane except BC drivers. They also seem to know what that little stick on the steering column is used for. Following the rules down there might have something with heavy traffic fines.

Yeah, cuz anecdotal evidence culled from your selective viewing, should be an accurate measure of a country of roughly 250 million.

Was just down in the Abbotsford area, traffic was horrendous, eyes were watering from the stink of manure on the fields. Nice mountain views around there if they could be seen through the haze. Cheers
=========================================================================
Don’t know where you were but what a pile of bull, seamut. Traffics may be a bit slow at Southfraserway and Sumas. The speed limit on Maclure road that takes you from east to West Abby is 60 KM’s with light traffic. Don’t know where you were to get all this “manure smell”. Maybe it was your bad breath.
Cheers

Thanks for the laugh this morning Retired 02: “Aw shite. Cheers.” Made my day!

There is a similarity between Mt McKinley and Kingsly. He started PG on a mountain of debt.
Cheers

Was just driving up 5th ave. Looks like someones truck has made Mai Thai into a drive thru. Unfotunate start to the weekend for both parties.

The driver was probably trying to move around Jimmy Hughes hogging the left lane.

The CRTC is holding hearing and the Canadian broadcasters are crying foul over Netflix as Nextflix is not regulated.

Finally there was a company providing TV entertainment at a reasonable cost and with content that spanned a wide range viewer choices at a time convenient to the viewer.

Rogers, Bell, Telus, and Shaw have a monopoly and bundle the programs so in order to get one channel there is a requirement to buy several others in order to get the one channel you want to watch. Their problem is people are cutting the cable and viewing Netflix only thus reducing the revenue of Shaw, Telus, Bell, and Rogers.

Ever watch a show Netflix. No commercials. A typical 1 hour show that would air on regular TV takes 42 – 45 minutes on Netflix. 25% of our viewing time is spent watching commercials the big four get paid to air and as well charge us for the privilege.

The CRTC should leave Netflix alone or we will all be watching re-runs of the Murdoch mysteries courtesy of the big four. Netflix has great service at a reasonable price.

Well retired a little sensitive. After a couple of days there, horse-pucky

Cheers

Driving back from Vancouver you notice the roads, and the drivers get worse the farther North you go. Once you clear Quesnel and head into Prince George you run into the worst drivers in the 500 mile stretch.

Cars dipping in and out of traffic. People speeding up and slowing down, hats on sideways, roaring motors, radios blaring, telephones stuck in ears,
squealing tires, and generally low grade pandemonium.

It says a lot about Prince George and the people who live and drive here.

Spot on Resident. 100%

My anecdotal observations of people tailgating during my daily commute are usually this…

Young men in a Dodge P/U
Women in various forms of Jeep (Chrysler theme going on here?)
Either demographic in BMWs (which we fondly call Honorary Members of the A-Hole Club)

Moron driver move of the week… outside my office, I witnessed a woman try and turn left into a parking lot exit that was clearly marked with DO NOT ENTER signs… not one sign.. two of them on either side of the exit. She got honked at, so she panicked and drove straight into the exit with cars coming at her. She then had to exit it backwards

Is this a part of Harper’s Action Plan?

Since 2012, the Fed Govt has wasted $280,000 of tax payers money on late fees from unpaid cell phone bills.

Well I am of the opinion that peopel in this town DO NOT know how to drive.
I stood at a 3 way STOP for two bouts of 5 minutes9 10 minutes total)…. 65 behicles cam thrughthat intersection 5 STOPPED.
Has the meaning of a STOP sing changed over th alast few years… from what I noticed it sure has…..
oh and for the record 4 of the 5 were seniors, or definitely appeard to be.

kolberg you ask “I haven’t seen any posts from gus for a long time. Does anyone know why?” i Haven’t seem him either…wonder if he just ran out of stuff to say or the magic search engine of his died?
Wish him well anyways.

Seamut is right , for 25 Minutes I drove in that Stink on Wednesday, I take my Place any Time at minus 30!

gus disappeared right about the same time Don Zurowski announced he was running for Mayor. Whether those two items are related is up for debate.

And don’t forget,drive left to turn left and slow down for tailgaters and Stop means Stop!

The Superstore gas station has large signs and big yellow arrows painted on the pavement indicating the correct way to enter and line up at the pump!

Today I entered as always in the direction of the arrows! However, one moron had entered against all the signs and was filling up. I was unable to fill up as I could not reach the filler spout on my vehicle which is like on most vehicles in the rear! Finally I managed to stretch the hose far enough around a yellow post and squeeze by to fill up my tank – I was not able to see the digital readout!

The attendant does not seem to care which way the vehicles enter and how they obstruct others who do not disregard the signs!
To the moron who is either oblivious to his surroundings or does not know what signs in English say: the pox on you!

The Superstore gas station is poorly laid out, oftentimes the traffic lining up for gas obstructs the general traffic flow in the parking lot. They should change two of the arrows to face the other direction to accomdate traffic coming from the other side.

What is with all the logging trucks driving through PG in the left lane with chip trucks beside them on the right?

@Retired02 the mushroom farm area (at least I assume they are mushroom farms by the long white buildings) smells pretty bad any day I have ever drove by, pretty much from Chilliwack / Yale Rd to Abbotsford has a bad odour most days along the highway, seems to get better after Langley turnoff 200th

JB:”…oftentimes the traffic lining up for gas obstructs the general traffic flow in the parking lot.”

They were not that busy and there was plenty of room to line up correctly coming from the parking lot!

The guy just did not give a damn and would ignore arrows and signs no matter in which direction they point! It happens all the time!

Speaking of driving, I was coming up the Hart this afternoon and a tanker truck (labelled “Molten Sulphur”) pulled out of the right lane and into the left lane while on the John Hart Bridge an proceeded to do 90 up the Hart in the left lane. He kept to the left all the way to Chief Lake where it ends.

@bcracer you must mean Southgate, real bad layout that 3 way, I almost miss it every time driving south, north isn’t an issue or coming down from Walmart to the tee. I think it has to do with the sign being on the lamp post and not a stand alone post.

actually slinky I was refering to Rainbow and Ahbau streets…nothing hidden there…
not much better at 7th and Ahbau also 3 way stop, peopel “forget” to stop.

Two subdivisions on Tyner which is getting busier every day. There are no turning lanes into these subdivisions. One entrance is on a curve and both entrances are on a slope.

Why are these subdivisions being built with no turning lanes? If turning lanes are ever built, who pays? The developer or the taxpayer?

how many accidents did you see with all of these reckless heathens not stopping fully at the 3 way?

oh, and can we please put a meridian in so southband traffic cannot stop in the middle of highway to turn into the hart Husky (old Mohawk)station…

Why does almost everyone with a piped motorcycle that lives around the Malaspina elementary area, ride away from their homes nice and quietly but once out of sight of said home has to crack her open and disturb everyones peace and quiet? The urine yellow harley bagger is especially obnoxious and disrespectful of those he lives around.

I too own a piped bike, but have one thing these super bikers don’t, respect for others.

Wish they’d extend Ospika to merge with 16 west, smooth out the congestion at 16 and Tyner a lot.

And who gave the transit buses permission to roll through stop signs, getting sick and tired of hearing the term Professional Driver.

Palopu, you forgot white Oakley sunglasses in your list.

Posted on Friday, September 19, 2014 @ 2:01 PM by JohnnyBelt
gus disappeared right about the same time Don Zurowski announced he was running for Mayor. Whether those two items are related is up for debate.
————————-

Gus and his claimed knowledge and expertise on every subject imaginable to the human mind leaves Zurowski off the “who is Gus” list.

There were other clues. That’s all I will say.

Piped bikes; even when they think they’re being quiet… they aren’t.

Hospital ER times reveal some ‘disturbing’ waits

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/hospital-er-times-reveal-some-disturbing-waits-1.2767867

Another set of lights on 16? Congestion on 16 going up Tyner does not seem an issue its the lack of turn lanes going into the new subdivisions.

Posted on Friday, September 19, 2014 @ 5:45 PM by charles

Hospital ER times reveal some ‘disturbing’ waits

———–

People need to do two things. First, they need to start looking after their own health and stop relying so heavily on the medical profession. Second, people need to stop using the ER like it’s a walk in clinic. You have a headache? Take an aspirin.

We also need to do something about the entire system. Like every other publicly funded program our health care system is riddled with financial mismanagement and downright abuse. Once again, there are way too many people sucking on the taxpayer teat.

Dragon, maybe I’m the urine yellow biker.

Have to agree with Dragonmaster on the bikes. Haven’t seen the no mind that rides up from Creekside Sub Div through the cut on Malaspina with ‘er WIDE open!!!
Bylaw enforcement is more concerned about my travel trailer parked in my yard, 10’ back from the curb, than any noisy bike or car with one of them fart can mufflers!! Might have to work to prove the car or bike is noisy, easier to come and measure trailer length!! Funny how they pick and choose which bylaws to enforce!!

Loud pipes = tiny man parts. The only thing worse than a slow pos harley is a slow LOUD pos Harley…
And yes, I’m a biker. I just prefer performance and reliability over poser fashion statement.

Speaking of morons on the road… this is one of the best weeks in the North to be on the road. Fantastic scenery this week as the trees turned first red and orange and now yellow. Nest time to drive of the year IMO.

Johnny, Don Zurowski is not Gus. I have not seen Gus declare as a candidate yet, but I would vote for him if he did. We don’t agree on everything, but at least he tries to learn and reason his way through an issue.

Grizzly I agree and think it should be an election issue… how do we get the feds to pay for an overpass at Ospika and Highway 16 since that is a trans Canada highway responsibility. It would be a good federal investment into Northern BC infrastructure.

Tools are out in force today.

Re: Driving etiquette,
If there is a line of traffic behind you, you are an a-hole.
If you are driving the same speed as the car directly to your right, you are a piece of subhuman garbage.

You are not the police. Speed enforcement is NOT your business. If you believe it is then you are the’aggressive’ driver.

+1 weaksauce.

Eagle: “Grizzly I agree and think it should be an election issue… how do we get the feds to pay for an overpass at Ospika and Highway 16”

They just spent millions upgrading that intersection. Now you want an overpass? Keep dreaming.

I just saw this on the news, and it had me scratching my head (no fleas, I checked).

How does Mike Tyson, a convicted rapist, get into Canada to promote a one-man show, when Martha Stewart got turned away at the border for a book signing, and she did time for a white collar crime?

Puzzling.