Its good to see these people are being helped and not just tossed out on the street. This might be one of the biggest thing government will ever do for those people.

unfortunatly the goverment doesnt do this kind of thing much....wish they did! I hope the people missing are found...and dont call me cold hearted when I say gey rid of the columbus because of the eye sore! i am willing to even help rip it down! we need to go and get rid of the ugly buildings downtown in order to revitalize...unfortunatly it takes being on city council to not know that while for everyone else it is common knowledge!

"we need to go and get rid of the ugly buildings downtown in order to revitalize"


Sum42, Have you ever had a good look at these buildings. Sure they are now run down with a rougher clientele but building like the Columbus, the Croft and especially the PG Hotel are actually beautifull buildings. The front brick and awnings on the Columbus was awesome. The wood beams thoughout the PG Hotel are beautiful. Revitalisation doesnt have to mean tearing down old buildings in fact revitalization would benefit from these classic old buildings if the owners were interested in renovating them. Take a closer look.

"we need to go and get rid of the ugly buildings downtown in order to revitalize"


Sum42, Have you ever had a good look at these buildings. Sure they are now run down with a rougher clientele but building like the Columbus, the Croft and especially the PG Hotel are actually beautifull buildings. The front brick and awnings on the Columbus was awesome. The wood beams thoughout the PG Hotel are beautiful. Revitalisation doesnt have to mean tearing down old buildings in fact revitalization would benefit from these classic old buildings if the owners were interested in renovating them. Take a closer look.

I wasn't aware that people were living in the Columbus. It was probably "home" to them but I would like to see us do better when it comes to housing for the disenfranchised.

Also vocer, I agree with you. The heritage buildings need to be brought up to a level we could appreciate and be proud of.

Revitalize downtown?not going to happen folks, if you want a vibrant downtown you need people down there.And no not people that are living on welfare.This town has had it's chances, Cadilac fairview and the muiltiplex to name a few.The people that are downtown are there because all the goverment agencies that support them are there.Give me a reason to go downtown and I will.Pine center was the only game in town and then along came Parkwood which is now getting overun by the riff raff so the tennants are now moving up the hill to westgate where there are no social service agencies for miles.Just my opinion folks.

I think thats it. Our old buildings are not being treated as assets. All we see as citizens is the not so pleasent day to day operations. Like strip clubs & lower end watering holes.

Really some of these building do have somthing to offer, but unfortunately our current state of economic activity and dirrection is not condusive to downtown building retrofits,redevelopment and reuse.

The columbus would have been a great example where BC housing could have redeveloped it on the upper floors for safe low income/transitional housing and put street level retail space. Not saying it would work 100% but it was never considered. Really this type of project would never hold water business wise but neither does the backpacker project. These type of projects need some non private funding to fly.

These days many decision makers choose to ignore us and do what they believe is good for us. Nothing pisses me off more than that. Not all of us know what we are talking about all the time but somtimes we do and they should at least hear us and filter out some good ideas.

I'm so sad to heard JJ has not turned up yet.

I enjoyed the sarcasm. He is one of the decision makers I was possibly thinking of when I wrote my comment.

I do however agree with BCRacer. Tank you sound like you do have some real wisdom but the way you say things sometime it gets lost and people lose focus of your point.