DBIA Doing a Re-Think on Budget

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 03:59 AM

Prince George, B.C.- The business plan for a Downtown Business Improvement Association will be under the microscope at the next meeting of the Board of Downtown Prince George.

President Kirk Gable says while the two open houses held recently to gain feedback on the idea of a special tax to fund projects weren’t well attended, the message sent to Downtown Prince George was clear “People don’t want to spend more money right now, and most want to spend less.” The failed plan of last fall called for a special tax of $1.70 per thousand dollars of assessed value. The revamped plan presented last month proposed a levy of $2.23 per thousand of assessment to help cover the $583 thousand dollar budget.

Gable says the next Board meeting will review the plan to see if some items can be dropped from the budget. “The need for downtown ambassadors doesn’t seem to be as urgent today as it was 6 months ago, the RCMP presence in downtown has increased substantially, so maybe that ( the ambassador) program can be dropped.” That ambassador program carried a price tag of a quarter of a million dollars.

There is plenty of attention being paid to the downtown right now with one group working to address homelessness, the recent Smart Growth on the Ground project, and the on going mayor’s task force on downtown.

There are some projects in the works which will benefit the downtown including:

Clean and Safe Program, which targets picking up garbage and removing graffiti and
Business blockwatch, which is similar to the neighbourhood watch program, it won’t cost participants a dime.

When the revamped plan was unveiled last month, Gable said he wanted to bring a proposed new bylaw to Prince George City Council in July, but he's changed his mind. “I think we can hold off until we see the other things to be proposed and the other partnerships that may be developed.”

Gable says the Downtown Prince George Association has until next February to submit a request to Council to create a new bylaw that would tax the C1 properties in the downtown, so there is time to explore other options.

Does that mean there is no need for a DBIA and its special tax? “That is a very good question” says Gable “But I believe there is always a need for a strong business association that will represent the business and property owners in the downtown.”

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Posted on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 03:59 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: lmorge on June 23 2009 5:23 AM

He has answered his own question: No, there is no need for a DBIA according to the majority of negative response or lack thereof,to their proposed feedbacks. The only rethink needed is to nix the association alltogether.

Posted by: He spoke on June 23 2009 9:29 AM

funny, the more money the raise in taxes, the less the property becomes. You'd figure a bunch of business people put there heads together will realize that the revitalization program is not helping them out.

Simple, Get rid of the pawn shops downtown. if they get caught selling hot goods, they loose their liscence. boom, there out of there with in 6 months.

Get rid of the social housing element from the downtown. Get it to the otherside of Queensway. move Saint Vincent to the other side of Queensway.
Needle exchange, put that on the other side of Queensway. Get all this social responsibility items coralled in a six block area. Stop being a sissy about it, ruffle some feathers and it will fix your downtown issues. Too many people worry about how they might hurt their feelings, well, there no different than any one of us typing in, all they want is a warm place to sleep, a meal to eat, and place to hang out with their comrads. You don't need a fancy building like the one on Queensway and 17th. 8 million dollars on a homeless shelter, come on give your head a shake. give it to private industry, we could of built it for under a two million.

The only way you will get the average suburbanite to come out to downtown after 5 pm, is if you get rid of the rifrafs and the drunken natives off of the downtown sidewalks.

Sure its one thing for the association to raise money to pay for some of the revitalization, but maybe the rest of the city residence don't want to participate in paying for the rest of it.

Posted by: Loki on June 23 2009 12:12 PM

actually move the social housing somewhere between the hospital and the new RCMP building.

Same with St Vincent.

Do not encourage low lifers on the other side of Queensway as that would put a lot of risk onto the many industrial businesses in that area and the very nice neighborhood around South Fort George.

Have the needle exchange managed and operated from the hospital or some medical environment. That way when they O.D. they are closer to A) medical intervention or B) the morgue.

If you want the average suburbanite to frequent an area, give them a reason. The downtown was a vibrant experience when third had numerous cabarets. Now it is a waste of time to try and go have a good time after 5 pm because the only places open are the Croft and its ilk except for Coaches corner. Who wants to take friends or a date to the Roadhouse to party with that crowd?

A pet peeve of mine is when some bonehead mandated the removal of all awnings along third avenue. It is not very inviting to go downtown in the winter if patrons are unduly exposed to the elements. This is a winter city not Vancouver. Cover the sidewalks. Otherwise ALL your customers will go to the malls, just like downtown merchants are experiencing. Make it clean, make it free parking (I know that is done), and convert some of the closed stores to mini malls with little specialty shops that only require a few square feet to operate and also repeal the bylaw prohibiting store owners from residing above or in the same building as their business.

Posted by: Loki on June 23 2009 12:21 PM

Hey Kirk G:
Instead of making stuff up, you need to ask a few questions of the stake holders you are purporting to help.

Ask the business owners what THEY want in the way of services.

Ask existing and potential patrons what would draw them back downtown. There are somewhere between 70 and 100 thousand potential customers here and more in outlying areas and other communities.

Line up those two different viewpoints into an affordable (no tax increase) solution to satisfy those responses.

If you just kick back with a fatty and fantasize how to run your fiefdom, you will get resistance, have you noticed any?

Posted by: thereasonableman on June 23 2009 1:07 PM

Proposals and partnerships....babblespeak for "I don't have a clue what to do, but I want to keep this job anyway".

Posted by: foxtrapper on June 23 2009 8:06 PM

It should be a 'Downtown Improvement Association' and the City of PG should be totally responsible for it. Make those critters work for their keep and there won't be so many of them coming here. Who were the idiots that instigated this form of welfare? I know they still live here and some of them are on council. Dummys!
Make a downtown look like a dump for 400 homeless people! All of you who think we owe something to these bottom feeders should be forced to billet them at your residence and you can feed them. Final answer.