DBIA Expansion Up for Discussion Again

Monday, November 10, 2008 10:14 AM

Prince George, B.C.- Downtown Business Association Director Kirk Gable, admits, when it came to deciding the boundary for the expansion of the Downtown Business Association, Parkwood Mall should have been included “At some point you have to say what should be included and you have to draw the line somewhere.”

Gable was speaking on the Meisner program this morning on CFIS FM and on live streaming audio on Opinion250.com.

There are questions about how the expansion boundary was drawn, for instance, the Native Friendship Centre on the north is within the new expansion area , buy Parkwood, to the south, is not.

Gable says if there is significant opposition to the expansion (which will add 1.7% to the property owners tax bill) his organization will have to take another look at the issue “We want people engaged in this process who want to be there.”

According to Gable, the reverse petition method, which requires 51 % of the property owners and 51% of the assessed property values in order to be defeated, was preferred because it was too difficult for his organization to find all the property owners and ask them if they wanted to come on board. He says many live out of town, or the properties are held by numbered companies. He agreed those who oppose the expansion, are now burdened with trying to find those property owners.

The only way the process can be reversed is if Council opts to rescind the bylaw. The next Council meeting is on the 17^th, the reverse petition is in effect until the 18^thso the results of the petition will not be known in time for that Council session. The agenda for Monday’s meeting has not yet been set, but as of the time of this writing, there is no indication staff, or anyone from the Downtown Business Association will make a request to have Council rescind the bylaw. It would appear the new Council will have to deal with it.

The DBIA is holding a private meeting later today with the rate payers impacted by the expansion proposal.

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Posted on Monday, November 10, 2008 10:14 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Bridge on November 10 2008 10:40 AM

Here is another layer of a governing body to further confuse the effort of revitlaizing the down town. Why dosent council deal with the issues. We are letting them off the hook for what they have screwed up. Why dosent the downtown do like the people in the miller addition did, all of them appear at city hall and demand a solution.

Its time they learned to speak for themselves . They are after all business people and should be able to face a challenge. A mouth piece appearing at city hall is still only one person. Get serious people and back them to the wall.

Cheers

Posted by: lmorg on November 10 2008 10:46 AM

A reverse petition. No doubt the DBIA sent out correspondence to all the business owners but got no replys. To me that says I'm not interested. This reverse petition is a scam...just another way to force membership down small businesses throats.

Posted by: thereasonableman on November 10 2008 11:06 AM

I agree with lmorg.
The kinds of things that need to change about downtown to revitalize it, are beyond the reach or control of the DBIA. They do not have the capacity to change the things that need to be changed. Window dressing does not help. Semi-free parking does not help. Expensive parking tickets for getting back to your vehicle a few minutes too late does not help (yes, the parking patrollers are VERY efficient in this town).

In a time when small businesses downtown are going to be struggling already, they do not need yet another cost forced upon them for no benefit to their business whatsoever. An increase in taxes will not equate to more revenue for their business, it will only be another cost to bear and make it even harder for them to get by.

I fear there is already a serious risk of numerous empty storefronts in the near future. If you want to turn the downtown into Main and Hastings, you're on the right track.

Posted by: NMG on November 10 2008 7:06 PM

The downtown will be never be revitalized until people CHOOSE to spend time down there. There are three main reasons why people would choose to spend time downtown:

1) Shopping
2) Entertainment
3) Living

Right now the worthwhile shopping is limited, the entertainment options are virtually non-existent (unless you want to hang out at seedy bars with thugs) and the air is so poor that you'd have to have lungs of iron to put up with it 24/7. We haven't even touched on the social issues that plague the area.

The solutions to many of these problems aren't rocket science, but they do require leadership and an extreme amount of stubbornness in regards to not deviating from the plan to make it work. We've had neither from the City for decades and the result is what we have now.