Lots of talk... why not just create zones and work those clusters... ie an entertainment zone, a nightclub zone, a small retail zone, a commercial zone, a legal and administrative zone, and a social services zone. Group them together so they can feed off each other creating a synergy of service hot spots for people that are going downtown for a specific need.

Everything is everywhere right now blocks apart and the downtown is a complicated mess even for those that lived here their entire life when it comes to ease of locating the services offered. Its a drive around downtown without parking spaces for a convenient visit. People blame the lousy downtown on the misfits, but really it all comes down to planing on the part of the city, as well as the service providers that occupy the downtown.

If I was the dictator for a day I would first create an all new nightclub zone armed with seating rights to any new developments within that zone. Who really cares how many drinking seats we have in this city... people will still drink the same, it comes down to breaking the entertainment monopolies that exist if they have nothing to offer. The entertainment subsidization through liquor licenses should end. Locate this zone near things like the library, museums, hotels and restaurants... next work on a retail cluster.

I attended some of the Smart Growth presentations. Downtown access to public Transit was one of the topics.

Although the city says it is all for public transit, some "powerful??? downtown business stakeholders apppear to have control of public access.

One small example:

On August 27, 2009.... a new bus stop was placed in the 1200 block of 4th Avenue just west of Dominion street. It logically provided convenient downtown access for passengers travelling on route 1, 11 and 5. Location of this stop has long been opposed by some downtown businesses.

Recommendations for this stop go back to a major transit study in 2003 followed by a downtown transit study in 2007.

Many transit passengers have expressed a need for this stop.

My interest began in 2006 when I noticed the excessive distance, between bus stops, on routes travelling down 4th Avenue and turning right on Dominion.

The bus stop was in place for only 14 calendar days before being removed due to opposition from business interests.

Downtown will never improve if businesses are allowed to keep people out.

Eagleone, you will never be invited to become a member of the mayors task force if you keep on promoting common sense.
I have just discussed this "EXCITING NEW INITIATIVE" with my significant other, and she asked me the 64 dollar question:
what are they doing about the street people? She says if the street life is still as "vibrant" after the vision as it is now, then she will continue to avoid the downtown. The brilliant minds and their vision statements have apparently not considered the implications of having the same street people, or their descendants in 2035, populating the "animated green trails" (what in hell is an animated green trail?) Oh, I guess I have no vision for the statements.
Much ado about nothing.
metalman.

For a start Up-hold the vagrancy law. That is if we have one? Get tough on aggressive panhandlers. Force all those needle addicts to pick their own dirty needles. Just stand on the corner of 5th, by the chinese store down there for about 2 hours and anyone will see what I mean about aggressive homeless, male,female, young, old. I'm going to bring a cattle prod with me next time I venture down there! I generally don't have a problem with beggars, but when I'm approached by a blank looking toothless wonder, whom proceeds to gob on my truck because I didn't have a toonie. ( must be inflation ) I'll never go down there alone.

As eagleone so often says "time will tell".

When one is reasonably well rooted in knowing the history of a community, one does not have to wait for time to tell since for many things, "time has told".

In this instance we have a modern version of a previous "vision" of what exactly the same study area, the Central Business District, was imagined to look like in four phases based on population increase.

1966 - the year the plan was developed

1975 - the year that would see an estimated 60,000 people in the "trading area" (Census metro area - greater PG)(that was actually an underestimate - PG was called the fastest growing community in CANADA at that time)

1985 - the CMA population projected to be 95,000 (we were starting to lose ground)

by 2016 (a 50 year threshold is referred to) - 140,000 population for the CMA

So now we have another "vision". Is there anything we can take away from the past "vision" which did not come about?

What have we learned about long range "visions"?

What should have been in place over that period of time that would have gotten us closer to the "vision" of 1966?

What should be put in place now to make sure that we get closer to the 2035 "vision"?

Here is the front page of the Citizen from Jan 1967
http://content.lib.sfu.ca/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/pgpl&CISOPTR=116913&DMWIDTH=1500&DMHEIGHT=2000&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=%20centrum&REC=1&DMTHUMB=1&DMROTATE=0&DMSCALE=100

Then we have the more detailed report from page 4 of the paper.
http://content.lib.sfu.ca/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/pgpl&CISOPTR=116916&DMWIDTH=1500&DMHEIGHT=1600&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=%20centrum&REC=1&DMTHUMB=1&DMROTATE=0&DMSCALE=100

Look closely at this and you will notice that the high rise/density buildings, whether office or residential or hotels, were to be in the Quebec street 7th Avenue precinct, not where they ended up, in the 3rd Avenue/Victoria precinct. Why did they end up there? Error in the Centrum plan? Lack of commitment by putting in zoning? If zoning was in place to reflect Centrum, lack of commitment by changing zoning at the request of developers? Remember, this was a plan commissioned by the downtown business/property owners and supported by them.

Had Centrum principles been followed, we would have a much more concentrated City centre in a business centre which is far too large area wise.

Guess what "smart" growth is trying to do - have a concentrated centre in exactly the same location that Centrum proposed it. In fact, they are doing that to the detriment of the office buildings that now find themselves on Victoria St. They are not even mentioned in the SGOG plan. The existing buildings in that area are not even depicted properly in the sketches.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. And the keeper of the “vision” is supposed to the people of the city? So, if Council makes a wrong decision, the Citizens are supposed to show up at City Hall and remind them?

What are these people smoking?

Facinating story from the Citizen in 1967. I think City Councelors of the past have missed the boat, and now we are trying to do it all over again. the idea in 1967 sounded great, what went wrong. We had just moved to Prince George in the summer 1966. Still here. Still waiting. What happened to all these people that were to have moved here, as you said 1985 projected 95,000 I don't think we have ever had that many people, did we?

Nope, we never got up that high.

Prince George Census Agglomeration (CA) - City plus immediate rural area (not the Regionmal District)
2006 - 83,225
2001 - 85,035
1996 - 87,731 (first year CA was used)

City of Prince George
2006 - 70,981
2001 - 72,406
1996 - 75,150
1991 - 69,653

It is the "now we are trying to do it all over again" part that concerns me. A plan is a plan. One can argue whether the one from 1966 is "smarter" than the one from 2009.

What everyone is talking about, though, is implementation. This City has, in my being here since 1973, not had much stick-to-it-iveness. Planners have come and gone. Councillors and mayors have come and gone. Those, in my view, are the people responsible for staying the course set. Irrespective of the population increase or decrease, there are some basic principles which were compromised over time.

It has been my experience, other than in the case of downtown Vancouver and the Vancouver transportation system, that many smaller cities find it hard to resist the lure of the development dollar.

People complain that it is difficult to develop something here because of the red tape. One thing I have observed. Eventually the developers get their way in this community. The result is money wasted on planning exercises and reports.

I hate to be the one to point fingers but my wife says I'm really good at it. I go downtown every morning for my timmys. Usually I park in the lot by the White Spot and street folks approach me for some cash. I always ask them where they are from. No one says Prince George. They are 99.9% First Nations and 50% of them are drunk at 10 AM. I have given some of them money and probably will continue to do so in the future because I have compassion for people; especially the homeless. When I give them money and they rush down to the PG Hotel(I follow them) and buy a bottle of wine, I am disturbed because I would like to take people at their word and believe they might be hungry.
When we say street people we are making a mistake,because I truly believe that our problem is natives and not all street people. The only way to stop this crap is to SHUT DOWN THE BARS in the downtown area. It is happenning--just not fast enough. The PG is next on the list and will soon be a parkling lot for the Ramada. The real problems are the hotel owners who enable this to happen. Run them out of town! Just because you're a business owner, doesn't mean you're a nice guy or an asset to the city.

Maybe one day you will give a First Nations individual a donation. He will be so thankful he will remember you when it comes time for his land claim settlement or his parents residential school settlement money and then he will share with you many times over. Can't take a chance, ya know. Karma has a chance of either rewarding you or coming back to bite you.

I won't live long enough to see the reward.....

Don't give cash to "street people".

Buy them a meal or sandwich and leave it at that. No opportunity for them to "rush down to the PG Hotel"

"I go downtown every morning for my timmys."
"(I follow them)"
I have concerns about those statements.

This plan is awesome! Great ideas, and I think that they will actually be implemented. The Smart Growth team did a great job.