Wilburs got it right. This is a no growth town, and has been for years.

Population in 1981 was 67000 and change, population in 2006 was 70,000 and change. (Federal Census Figures)

This means an increase in population of roughly 3400 in 25 years, or approx 136 people per year.

Static would be an understatement.

If it wasnt for the outlying areas like Mackenzie, Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, Fraser Lake, Houston, Quesnel, etc; we would be in serious trouble.

Frizzells statement that we are diversified and holding our own is a bogus statement. The only diversification in this town is an increase in Government employees, ie; Municipal, Regional, Provincial, Federal, and of course the College, and University. These people may provide some diversification to the City, however because they are all funded with taxpayers dollars, they are in fact a huge drain on the average working joe.

I echo palopu's remarks. It will get worse too when the HST goes on stream. (hope it does not - and yes I signed the petition)

"If it wasnt for the outlying areas like Mackenzie, Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, Fraser Lake, Houston, Quesnel, etc; we would be in serious trouble."

Most of the time you are reasaonable with your arguments Palopou. But this is one of the instances where your argument makes little sense on the face of it.

The entire area you speak of has shrunk in population as much as PG has, if not more.

The only way one may argue that the shrinkage in population has not affected PG as much is if one had some similar commercial space figures for those other communities and that showed that the space has reduced due to the local smaller operation no longer being able to be supported by the local population and the PG businesses have picked up some of that business.

Until we have that info, your opinion cannot be supported with facts.

I wonder if anyone noticed that the columns in the upper table and the lower table are arranged in a different order. One has to wonder how logical those who put the figures together in that fashion are.

Anyway, it probably confused Wilbur big time. I mean, anyone who is not good with figures would have those problems. That is why someone like Frizzell, who is much more analytical, takes those figures and sees them more as I do.

There is one important component that is not shown at all. It shows the available space and it shows the vacant space. I am really interested in the OCCUPIED space. I think everyone else should also be interested in that information.

The OCCUPIED space in the downtown has increased by 1,138 m2 or 0.68% over the year.
The OCCUPIED space in the “majors” has increased by 13,083 m2 or 7.46% over the year.
THE TOTAL OCCUPIED SPACE HAS INCREASED BY 14,221 m2 OR 4.15% OVER THE YEAR.
Councillor Wilbur should get an eye examination if he cannot see any growth in 4.15% for the year.

That is a one year figure. That is not statistically significant to show any sort of trend. Where are the 5 year figures? In fact, I would like to see the 10 year figures. Those would show the change due to the box stores at Domano being built.

Some other interesting things. Sprawl from the CBD to the outer ring of the donut. The CBD moved from having 48.8% of the retail/service/office space to having 47.2%. The sucking of business from downtown and increasing the suburban commercial spaces is continuing as a percentage, even though the occupied space has had a slight increase.

It never ceases to amaze me how few people can read statistical information. Just shows one more time that there should be a test for people running for council.

Gus. These outlying areas were all supplied from Wholesale Distributors in Prince George over the years. These distributors have for the most part gone out of business, mainly because of the arrival of the Big Box Stores. As a result outlying areas now have to come to Prince George to purchase goods. Some of the business's that are no longer with us are;

WH Malkins, Slade and Stewart, Kelly Douglas. (Grocery and produce wholesalers)
WM Tire Service, Prince George Bakery, Timbermart on the Hart, Home Hardware colledge heights, Mcinnis Building Supplies, Safeco, Kresges, Woodwards grocery and department store, T Eaton co., Thunderbird Electric, Safeway, Extra Foods, Super Value food store. Columbus Hotel, Astoria Hotel, Yellowhead Hotel, Canada Hotel, Macdonald Hotel, Europe Hotel, WM Tire Service, McCleods, Woolworths. Princess Theatre, Strand Theatre. The list goes on.

What we have going on in Prince George is whats called CHURNING. Ie:

Canadian Tire moves to Westgate
College moves to Cdn Tire

Hudson Bay moves to Parkwood Mall
The Brick moves to Hudson Bay

Brick moves to 16 and Ferry
City Furniture moves to Brick
City Furniture now empty.

Inland Diesel and Peterbilt move to Hiway 97 South and College moves into Peterbilt, and someone else moves into Inland Diesel

This is just a small sample of **churning** which gives the impression that the City is growing, when in fact it is remaining static.

Your statistics do not pick up on any of this information and only report the available square footage, which has no bearing on anything, but is a quick way to give out useless information.

As an example the Reginal RCMP used to be located on top of the Post Office on 5th Avenue, they then moved to their brand new building at 5th and Ospika. I beleive that the space they leased above the Post Office has been empty ever since. Does this space show up in your statistics???

The CN Building on 1st Avenue used to have 80 or more employees working there. They now have maybe 6 at Via Rail. In the meantime the building was sold to IPG and they probably have 10 people working in an area that used to have 40 people. This is a huge waste of space. How would this waste of space by taxpayer funded entities show up on your statistics.

The City owns property at 4th and Victoria for the Police Station, plus numerous other buildings in Prince George that they are holding for some great event. One example is the old Williams Moving and Storage building on East 3rd Avenue which they bought. Williams relocated to the BC Rail Industrial Park. How do these types of holdings show on your statistics???

At the end of the day Wilbur is right. Prince George growth is static.

what about type of office space - ie class A building, class B building etc?