L E T   'E R   R I P !!!

Lots of worrisome news coming out of everywhere, makes me wonder if it's time for a change of scenery?

Naaahhhh, think I'll stay right here in PG. Things here are about as great as they can get.

I'd love to hear from some of you the council you would like to vote in, and those you'd rather show to the exit door.....
Come on folks........educate me....
WHO SHOULD I VOTE FOR?

Oh, by the way, I have some favorites, and a few that impressed me the other day at CNC. I was just hoping for some intellectual banter (and humor) about the candidates. I don't think the states should have all the fun!

IAM I don't think anyone knows much about the candidates.

My suggestion would be if we had all the candidates running fill out an on-line form letter with lots of questions (50 minimum) that give us an idea of their position on key issues... then we could compare them, all things being equal in one location (here on Opinion250?), and then make an informed vote? Not everyone goes to the all candidates meetings, so posting it on a site like 250 and even in the papers as well would be a good thing to 'get the information out'.

People should only vote IMO for a candidate who's position is known on all the major issues... even if you only vote for one or two or no people. Its PG though and we will in all likelihood vote for as many names as can be recognize at first glance of the ballot.... time will tell

Good points about the municipal candidates -- we haven't seen a whole lot of substance so far, unless you count "Vote for xxx - common sense, responsible, etc."

Come on candidates, take a stand.

I have a hard time to believe the many promises that are made during an election campaign - what if once elected they are not kept or the very opposite is done?

Since it is already known how all the incumbents have performed in the past (or how they have failed to perform...) it wouldn't be too difficult to endorse the good ones and send the not so good ones packing by replacing them with new candidates because they don't deserve to be given another opportunity at being just mediocre.

I want to vote for people who are realistic and are going to provide the basic services and amenities first of all - while staying within the budget. No more relentless borrowing and off-loading of the borrowing costs onto the defenseless home owner.

Circle the wagons. Make an inventory of what we already have, what we most definitely need and what we can afford without borrowing.

My property taxes have gone through the roof and I don't think that this is fair when I have not received an equivalent improvement in infrastructure and services.

I am just wondering about the cycling infrastructure - lacck of consistent routes through PG to be able to get through the city safely by bike. . . wondering why more has not been done by the city to come up with an overall plan to make the community more cyclable as this is one of the flavours of the day of the BC gov't and all sorts of funding available for improving same at the community level. Here are some examples of funding sources (available civic grants) for improving cycling routes found at a BC gov't website:

Active Communities Initiative - BC Recreation and Parks Association

BC Healthy Communities Seed Grants - BC Healthy Communities

Union of British Columbia Municipalities

Cycling Infrastructure and Planning Program (CIPP) - Government of BC

Green City Awards - Government of BC

Green Municipal Fund - Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Infrastructure Planning Grant Program - Government of BC

Local Motion - Government of BC

Towns for Tomorrow - Government of BC

What is needed in this city goes beyond putting a cycling path on the Cameron Street Bridge . . . I have heard the argument that enhancing bike routes is something the city cannot afford but if someone had a vision and put together the proposals for funding it could be an altogether different ball game. . . we just need someone in planning and/or our new city council to show this initiative.

Here is one for you...I was smoking salmon a few weekends ago. I had sockeye salmon and farmed salmon that I had gotten at a discount. The sockeye salmon took 8 hours to smoke like always after a day of brining. The farmed salmon was in the smoker for 2 days and 2 nights and I still had to put it into a dehydrater for another day. It was so full of fat that it remained soft and goooooey.

My opinion on this is that the farmed salmon is NOT SALMON!! It is fish that do not get any excercise and are forced fed growth hormones. All it is is fat! Even after I packaged it leaked oil to the bottom of the bag. GROSSSSSS! It should not be called salmon!!

Humans should not create living things for they fall wayyyy short!! People should not eat this fish EVER!!

Why can't people turn their car lights on when they're driving around at 7:30 in the morning? It's really difficult to see the ass end of a compact in the morning "light" if the car's lights aren't on. Pulling a switch or turning a knob is not rocket science.

If City hall really wants to clean up crime in this city. We all know crime stoppers do not pay a huge amount.
They need to offer a reward Program. Lets say ever 6 months they offer up a reward for the best crime tip that’s phoned in 1st place gets you five thousand dollars, second place, three thousand dollars, third place a thousand dollars. The tip line gives you a number when you phone in a tip. Take it one step further. Give them 2 numbers; the second number is what they watch for being published in the local newspaper. This way it can still be anon amiss.
For that amount of cash they will turn on each other.

WHY ARE WE PAYING SO MUCH FOR GASOLINE AND DIESEL??? CRUDE BY THE BARREL IS LESS THAN 50% OF WHAT IT WAS LAST SPRING. VANCOUVER, SEVERAL WEEKS AGE WAS PAYING 12 CENTS PER LITRE THAN WE ARE.

The lack of diesel is starting to get crazy. With the way they are limiting the buying and amounts your allowed to pump is ridiculous. I haven't been able to use my card lock in 3 weeks. We went to fill up our truck at Shell and the diesel at that pump was crap. We lost just about 5 miles to the gallon on the highway. Get real! If it weren't for the fact that diesel prices do seem to be going down, I would think that it was just a scam that all 3 refineries had to go down at the same time. Is it just pure chance Imperial, Suncor, and Petro-Canada all went down at the same time? Right around federal elections, hmmm I wonder?

diplomat said:
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"My property taxes have gone through the roof and I don't think that this is fair when I have not received an equivalent improvement in infrastructure and services."
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So I checked my budget for the last 9 years and looked at what I paid for property taxes.
2001= increase of 6 % wrt 2000
2002= decrease of 1% wrt 2001
2003= icrease of 3.74 % wrt 2002
2004= decresase of 2.02 % wrt 2003
2005= 2 %increase wrt 2004
2006 =no change unless an increase of 54 cents is important
2007 = 12 % increase wrt 2006
2008 =2% increase wrt 2007

Not as sure as diplomat that my property taxes have gone through the roof.

wrt means "with respect to"

I have a modest home....the same one over the nine years.

Here is a website for one candidate. Do any others have web sites?

http://www.trentderrick.com/

Norm1... you do realize that those tax increases are compounded, don't you ??

V.

Sometimes taxes increase to allow for added programs and sometimes taxes increase to reflect an increase in the costs of programs. Take a look around and you will see that the cost of everything has gone up. We arent paying more tax to get more services, we are paying more tax to get the same services. As much as it sucks its probably not the cities fault that all costs are increasing.

Shellshadow
I recently read an article that provided examples of food that we never used to eat that we now consume. The only specific example I remember is imitation crab, which used to be made of pollock, is now made of some kind of imitation pollock! Its a fish that used to be considered a garbage fish. The quality of our food is diminishing. We might have bigger tvs and the internet, but the last generation was the peak of food for mankind. Its likely all downhill from here (re:food anyway).

This is a comparison from the City of PG comparing taxes. I came across it while searching for something else.

http://www.city.pg.bc.ca/cityhall/committees/financeaudit/powerpoint2005.pdf

It would be interesting to know why the Contractor on the Simon Fraser Bridge or in fact the Ministry of Transportation have put the steel structure in place unprimed or unpainted over open water. In fact now, all the grinding and/or sandblasting as well as the primer and paint application could have been done on dry land. As it now stands, all that work has to be done over open water causing contamination to the river, air pollution etc., when it could have been done in confined areas.
And if the idea is to hoard off the work while it is done, would that not add a tremendous cost to the project.
Keeping in mind that most PG winds come out of the south, any residue escapage will drift northward to the the South fort area, and then settle in the river.

You can google websites for the other candidates. I am leaning towards Anne Marie Arcand; seems available to people.

Trackster... you want the bridge to be painted ???

Oh dear.... that'll be an extra... lemme see... uhhmmmmm....

Brushes... $ 12.81
Paint... $ 244,000.00
Labour... $ 961,000.00
Artistic results.... priceless !!


:-)

V.

Norm1, I,thnk that you missed an increase in taxes for your property or perhaps you dont live in the City. The increase in taxes for 2008 like 2007 includes a 4% levy plus an increase as well which is a lot more then the 2% that you quote.

cheers

God point Rabbit--Hop to it.
It hasto be painted none the less!

zoopdingle, here is one for you. Last friday on free for all all we got was a lot of guff about bad drivers. So I dont want to distract everyone now that we are on such a hallowed subect like the up coming civic election. I know thatmthere are some that there is still a lingering feeling in that those bad drivers need a revival.

I’m going north on Ospika in the outside lane the other day when I catch up to this rig it’s a sleigh that some guy has put wheels under as there is no snow yet. He is wearing a red coat with this peaked hat that has a tassel on the end. And you wont believe this but its being pulled by eight tiny reign deers. He’s on the Cell phone making a left turn at Ospika and 15th. He’s on the center line using both turn slots. People are flashing their lights and blowing their horns.

He cut off the guy behind him making a right turn into Timmy’s. The guy is blowing his horn and shaking his fist but the old guy just keeps on trucking. He’s at the order board still on his phone. The person at the desk doesn’t know if they are being talked to or what’s happening. When he gets to the takeout window the old girl almost hawks up her faults teeth. She hands him his donut and coffee that was finally ordered. He gives her twenty bucks and says keep the change. He mutters something about these Prince George drivers are the mos t stupid in the world all they ever do is whine about my driving habits.

He tweaks his nose and he’s off towards the horse in the sky. He is last seen in the Casino Hotel parking lot with a fist full of money heading for the entrance

Cheers

Norm1, not everyone's taxes went up by the same amount, it depends on the assessment. My taxes went up 400 dollars just last year, everything being the same.

Thanks to ammonra for the City website which compares taxes.

I don't mind paying more taxes for improved services, but the streets around me are still as potholed, cracked and patched up as ever, some even worse.

Curbstones are chewed up by the snow removal front end loaders end never repaired, never.

The one and only Sidewalk is narrow, deteriorated and unfit for anybody with a shopping cart, wheelchair or baby stroller.

I think that if taxes are increased above the rate of inflation that at least maintenance of basic infrastructure should be given some attention to.

I am glad to see that BC does not want to be a 'have not' province. Can you tell me if we will be after the 2010 Olympics? Given the economic turmoil of the world, have they considered, oh my gosh, cancelling it? Are the other broke countries going to still participate?

http://magturbine.com/

Let's get our mentality out of the 1880's and into the 21st century... please!

One wind turbine can produce up to 2 gigawatts and the estimated cost is $54 million per unit. Estimated cost on this stupid Dam proposal? $5 BILLION! That 5 billion would build over 90 of these wind turbines. One wind turbine could produce enough juice to supply 750,000 homes which in theory would supply nearly every home in BC (not sure exactly how many homes there are in the province). The other 89 turbines could be used to supply industry, export power to the US and most exciting of all produce Hydrogen to run our cars, etc.

There are no longer any excuses for why we cannot live a sustainable life style while at the same time protecting our environment. The only thing standing in the way is a cultural mentality that is still firmly rooted in the past.

Bridge said
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I,thnk that you missed an increase in taxes for your property or perhaps you dont live in the City. The increase in taxes for 2008 like 2007 includes a 4% levy plus an increase as well which is a lot more then the 2% that you quote.
---------------------------
The point of the property tax figures that I provided is that it is easy to generalize that "tax increases went through the roof" but is not necessarily true if you look at what you actually paid.

I do live in the city. The tax changes I presented reflect entirely on what I paid annually for city taxes. The actual tax paid to the city is cash out of pocket, on one home, with the basic homeowner's grant applied.

The percentage changes indicated were calculated on the year to year, out of pocket, tax differences.

Therefore life is not as hard as some people may tend to believe regarding city property taxes.

On this basis, it is easy to compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges.

There are massive issues with the dependability of the power generated by wind turbines. Are you okay with not being able to use electricity when there is no wind or when the wind is to strong (turbines must be shut down in high wind)? When one spends 12 minutes researching something they tend to miss alot of key issues.

Well... not to mention that the wind turbines, as wonderful as they may be, seem to have a deathly effect on our bats... and I wont even mention what they do to our squadrons of flying rabbits... very messy !!

V.

Born in BC.... I've spent weeks researching this....please! This wind turbine is a whole new kettle of fish. Instead of being the resident naysayer why don't you get on line and research this concept a little more before you take a dump on other people's ideas, eh?

Just to go over your couple points and RRrabbitt's......

They don't have to be shut down in high winds, unlike the current crop of wind turbines. They can operate in extremely light winds as well. You are also making the assumption (bad idea, to assume) that you would utilize the juice directly. No, you may want instead to use the juice to produce hydrogen, which in turn would be used to power a fuel cell located in your house. Where do you get hydrogen? Is there a shortage of water in BC? Be it the ocean or fresh water there is no shortage of water to distill hydrogen from. Hydrogen tech. has been advancing in great strides in just the last few years, so it should not be too much longer before it becomes possible to produce fuel cells run by water derived hydrogen on an economical scale.

Instead of putting oil rigs off the BC coast there could instead be platforms of these wind turbines producing hydrogen, which is then shipped to market, just as oil is now. Offshore there are very steady winds that would keep producing most of the time, with little down time. As well they could be located far enough off shore that they would not be visable from shore, thus avoiding the eye sore of rigs.

RRrabbitt: The experts seem to agree that this type of wind turbine would not be nearly as dangerous to both birds and bats. Makes sense to me, just look at how it operates. There is no blade coming out of nowhere to impact. It's just a big building rotating on a vertical axis with no surprises for our flying friends. Birds that impact buildings now do so because of the buildings windows... something this structure does not have. Then there is the issue of how much damage the oil industry does now to wildlife, including birds. Oil spills alone kill too many birds to list, not to mention the damage to ecosystems by oil drilling. One must weigh the damage done by new tech. against the damage done by the old and this tech. will do far less damage in the big picture.

No, the only thing stopping us from being a sustainable species are those that still think with old ideas and negativity... the majority of humans, sad to say. The tech. has surpassed the naysayers and now is the time to wake up the population before we make more mistakes, such as drilling for more oil or building more dams. Canada can continue to be stuck in the past with our current hillbilly attitudes or we can help lead humanity into a whole new world.

The choice is yours.

2006=1,399.69
2007=1,470.86
2008=1,878.45

This is after the two grants have been deducted.

Obviously, Norm1, as you can see I was referring to the last enormous increase ("my taxes went through the roof") and of course this was mainly due to Mr. Zurowski's idea of applying a new road maintenance levy to my taxes.

Trackster,

I'm pretty sure they are not going the paint the steel girders, they are using a atmospheric corrosion resistant weldable steel. Here is a section taking form CISC:

Painting can be avoided by using steels conforming to: CAN/CSA G40.21 M Type A - Atmospheric Corrosion Resistant Weldable Steel; or, Type AT - Atmospheric Corrosion Resistant Weldable Notch Tough Steel (for bridges). Weathering Steel has become standard for bridges in most provinces and has performed satisfactorily throughout Canada, many bridges having been in service over twenty-five years. Weathering Steel used on the exterior of buildings has also been successful, especially where careful attention has been paid to detailing joints to avoid wet spots or pockets where water can collect. Noteworthy in this regard is the Stelco Tower, an office building in Hamilton, Ontario.

Born in BC ;
Are you happy with the idea of relying on water flow to get your power currrently? It would seem that the winds may be more reliable on a long term basis, and will likely have a much smaller footprint of impact than our hydroelectric damns do. What's 5 billion dollars anyway? It's got to be a more worthy investment thansomething like the gun registry was!

Kevin1006, I am with you all the way! How about the practically inexaustible supply of geothermal power? The very worst thing we can do is to continue to burn the finite supply of fossil fuels - it doesn't matter whether there is any truth to man made global warming or not! Burning fossil fuels pollutes the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil we grow our food in!

The fossil fuel industry is throwing up a smoke screen to ridicule those who are concerned about global warming just like the tobacco industry first disputed and then finally admitted that smoking DOES cause lung cancer and that they knew it all along.

qwaszxter You can vote for one, two, or whatever, your ballot will not be spoiled. It helps elect the candidate(s) that you would like to see elected.

Property taxes have gone up 23% in 7yrs!! Wow, that is on top of the base rate! I guess if you received a wage increase to match that the tax increase over the last 7yrs will be neutral to you.
Talk about squeezing your disposable income and lowering your standard of living while skyrocketing the cost of living!

Roads that still require attention CUPE and city engineering dept:
Ospika, Lyon, 2nd Ave, 15th Ave, 18th Ave, all bus routes, Tabor Blvd....oh, overfilling holes is just as bad!

Hey would this stupid (imo) proposed bylaw banning backyard burns include smokers? My Grandma's knickers are in a knot! I say scrap it and enforce what you have on the bylaw books already! What is missing is the industrial emmission enforcement.
What happened to the good neighbour principle? You know, where you live and let live? If someone is abusing a priviledge by all means take up the cause. But seriously, I agree with Ben regarding the burning issue...ridiculous! Find a cooperative solution if your neighbour is driving you bananas...don't threaten my choices to live my life the way I choose...that includes how I heat my home or bbq!

Good post Kevin1006 ...

Good post Kroesch ...

V.

No more off loading on the taxpayer is what I see some saying.

Mr. Wilbur. On the airport board. They raise the user fee for passengers. Use that money to improve the airport. Did not think about passengers who need to access planes in cold, snow, rain so have no skyways. Instead got a pretty building that costs a lot to heat and cool.

Is that the type of wisdom he will bring to Council? I say we need a different approach.

I won't be voting for Zurowski & Basserman to much of the same old Kinsley thing for me. I honestly think too many consecutive terms in municipal politics is a bad thing.

Arcand and Rodgers are top of my list. The reason I mention them together is that I think they would work very well togther. Rodgers has a balanced aproach and a great background of municipal experience. Arcand gets things done and is not afraid to make a decision if she has consulted the parties envolved. My other replacement favorites so far are Frizzel, Wilbur and Green. My favorite icumbants are Debora & Brian.

I have been to both debates and some candidates really don't have much to offer. Too many people are talking like they can save us from all our problems by getting in council.

Fair Wilbur comment Gus. He's one of the guys I have been on then off on.

Sorry Rogers not Rodgers I can't write worth a dam

What decisions have Councillors made that changed the face of the City?

The main one in my mind is to keep on allowing developers to develop as they wish. Is that a decision or simply laissez faire? Is that what got us into sprawlsville with a hole in the middle? Is that what sucked the downtown dry of most of the businesses?

We have found out that we cannot trust money lenders to run financial institutes without tougher regulations. Why would we trust developers to plan a city on the back of napkins without regulations? In one case we get financial meltdown. In the other we get a sprawliing city with expensive infrastructure to serve the lots the carve the landscape into.

When someone says they can do, has anyone followed up whether they actually have done? Can any single Councillor actually do anything to move Council? Does it matter? Who on Council champions anything in the community and brings that to Council and convinces the others to vote key issues - air quality, clean streets, repaired streets, safer downtown, vibrant downtown, urban sprawl, river access for people, moving CN yards over time.

My view is vote for whomever you wish. They are all the same.

What a sad outlook, but hey that's fair. The reason I don't share that outlook is that some will screw up at some point but some seem to screw up even understanding the basic concept of differing levels of government responsibility. Unless each understands what the job entails why the heck would we hire(Vote for)them. We need to hire the best team we can.

Gus I think it can matter. One can bring forward the issue,if it is one and the rest of the Council doesn't go for it then it simply dies; if you have two or three then there's some hope the press will pick it up and run with it.

When you say
"air quality, clean streets, repaired streets, safer downtown, vibrant downtown, urban sprawl, river access for people, moving CN yards over time."

This is the vision we want-give us our rivers back that will revitalize downtown and air quality etc will follow. I am planning to ask two of the candidates about that. The general public don't realize they can make direct contact and also they can get involved after the Council is elected.

Most of the forums have pre-selected questions and the press as well so the candidates are limited in their responses.

I sure wish the public would get more involved in shaping the political will of Council.

I've decided to vote for anybody who isn't currently on council especially Basserman,Krause, and Gratton who have been sliding along with the same old blah,blah for years.This city needs new faces,younger blood and a kick start!!!

I sure wish the public would get more involved in shaping the political will of Council.

I bet lots of people are. I think some of the candidates are using that as well, but have not heard anyone say how they will ensure it is done. One wants a ward system. I think we should try it to see whether it will work. If two of the 8 were in a ward from Central to the Fraser and the Nechako to 15th, do you think we would have a dying city centre? The downtown is not the only part of the core of the city that is going no place fast. I think very few people realize that. I think very few people understand what real infill on an urban scale is.

Do any of the canidates talk about that? Nope. They all follow the leader, whoever that is. There are really no independent thinkers who can grasp the picture and can find the solutions they have the authority to enact and get others to back them up.

I posted the following on this web site on Jan. 29, 2008.

A recent article on the Canada.com web site states the salary of our Mayor is approximately 83K a year, and the salary of a City Councilor is approximately 21K a year.

I think the salary for Mayor is reasonable, but I think we should consider raising the salary of a City Councilor to 50K a year. Our City Government is making decisions on matters that affect our lives, and the lives of future generations, so I think it is incumbent on us to attract the best candidates possible to these positions.

In recent years (and decades) with the way our financial system works (having the ability to create money out of thin air and letting our financial institutions loan out this newly created money), money has literally been flowing like water in this country (according to Statistics Canada our M3 money supply has expanded by 48.7% in the last 5 years) and being in government has been a fairly easy job. It now appears that our credit/debt bubble is finally bursting and this bodes for some tough economic times in our future. Governing in tough economic time is much harder than governing in (supposedly) good economic times, and we cannot expect the best slate of candidates possible to run for City Council if they only get paid 21K a year.

If anyone wishes to read an article which describes the process on how we got ourselves into this deep financial doo doo that we now find ourselves in (debt/credit bubble) I strongly recommend people read the following article titled "Keynesian Chickens Coming Home". Please ignore the minor references to gold at the very end of the article. I am not posting this to give anyone investment advice."

http://news.goldseek.com/NelsonHultberg/1201542600.php




I am voting for a mostly "new slate" in the upcoming civic election, and only for the candidates who have fiscal responsibility as a main part of their platforms. The debt fueled party we have been enjoying for the last few decades is finally over, and the hangover (the deleveraging process) is beginning, and it is not going to be very pretty. I am also voting for Deborah Munoz because (as I recall) she stood up against the rest of the city council against the proposed community energy system in downtown Prince George, and I see she is also for fiscal responsibility. (By the way, does anyone know what the current status of the community energy system project is?)

I cannot vote for either Dan Rogers or Don Zurowski for Mayor because I think both of them could have done a much better job of "respecting for taxpayers' dollars" in the past.

I have a suggestion for Dane Greenwell who is running for Mayor of Prince George. I think you could get yourself a lot of votes in this upcoming civic election if you say you support starting a process that goes through each and every dollar the city of Prince George spends and ask the following question, "Do we absolutely have to spend this money, and if we do, is there any way we can accomplish the same goal by doing things differently and thereby spending less in the process.

This city is already running on volunteers. How many more people do you think, at a time like this, can afford to spend their time volunteering when they themselves have to start thinking about making ends meet?

"Do we absolutely have to spend this money, and if we do, is there any way we can accomplish the same goal by doing things differently and thereby spending less in the process."

Run that past your Councillor raise suggestion. Be very carefull!!!!!! The wrong answer will mean you fail at being a good Councillor.

A ward system could be interesting. The numbers in each ward would have to be equalized. Perhaps this would inspire some neighbourhood cohesion. Millar Addition is doing very well, great organizers there and also North Nechako against the asphalt plant. Each area of the City is important and should not be allowed to fall into slum like conditions.

So basically no one care that we are being hosed on the fuel prices. Interesting. So we deserve what we get, even if we don't. Remember that.

Down to 109.9 and 110.9 now. Will likely go down lower. C$ is 80 cents US. Price per barrel is quoted in US$. If C$ had not tanked in the last few weeks because everyone is propping up the US$, the price would be more like 90 cents.