Wish I could understand WHY we pay some of this city staff.
Isn't any of them capable of doing a study? Are they not aware of what is required for a Dangerous Goods Route?
Of what value is Radloff--and what is his job description??
He states the Student's study is a "good starting point," so I would hope he is capable of stating what would be a reasonable "finishing point."
I just do not know what we pay these fellows for, as it seems they are collecting a pay cheque, and contributing little to any decision making, as it appears one study after another is required at considerable expense.
Something not quite right .
If he is not capable-fire him.
Must be someone out there who is!!

It's called delegation, when you know nothing of the job you are hired to do, you hire a consultant who may know. IMO anyone with a grade six education can figure a route out. But what the heck is 60k to the tax payer?

Yeah, acid, but that 6o grand is on top of Radloff's salary.
Does that mean he can sit back on his butt in a cushy chair and let anybody and everybody do a job he SHOULD be capable of, and the taxpayers pay again.
If he is intelligent enough to know "what is lacking," then he must be capable of saying what is required?? NO??
I don't think we are actually aware of all the waste that takes place at P G City Hall.
Anybody know if hair dye clogs brain cells??
Just something that popped into my mind.

The city manager makes about $ 213,000 bucks per year (newspaper story a couple of years ago).

He may have gotten a much needed raise since then - cost of living, you know!

Apparently, he is UNDERPAID according to a comparison made with other similarly sized Canadian cities.

I like it when "old" people collect big money for doing damn little.
After all, one must take into consideration he has probably worked, (questionable), for about 50 years already, and is at present saving up for retirement. I bet he started out working for about 60 cents an hour.
Now he does not have to work and gets $213,000.00 a year.
Wow-how's that for progress????
We should all get so lucky!!!

“Both Councillors Brian Skakun and Glen Scott questioned the dollar amount for the city's study, in light of the UNBC groundwork.”

While in one way it is good for post secondary students to take on projects from the “real world”, one must remember that they are just that, students. They are constrained by several factors which include the real purpose of the course, the time constraint they have and the limited access to information. For such reasons, their “studies” of real world problems are typically limited in scope, often to such extent that when applied to the actual problem which must meet a completely different level of rigor, there is little, if any, work product which can be transferred.

In this particular case, I understand that the class was primarily interested in dealing with a problem which could be applied to a GIS (geographic information systems) environment. It is actually a classic use of the powers of GIS. However, the solution is only as good as the information which goes into it. Identifying proximity relationships of routes coupled to factors such as elevation, microclimate, road configurations and conditions, normal traffic intensities, relationships of adjacent schools, varying densities of housing, offices, hospitals, origin and destination locations, etc., requires detailed work. A single class of seven with, say, a 12 week duration, 6 hours a week per person in a learning situation means that many of the factors would likely have had to be assumed. What we do not know is whether previous classes have done work to prepare a computerized model of the city which would already contain such information with proven accuracy.

While it is interesting for the class to do such projects, and nice for the community to be made aware of it, the greatest benefit that this academic exercise gave to the community is to raise awareness about the need to define a dangerous goods route. This city has been procrastinating on this issue for some time as was evident when staff backtracked on hearing about this project and stating that it has been worked on for some time. Let us be glad that finally something will be done about it, and we have Eric Rapaport at UNBC to thank for much of that.

What should we do? As far as I am concerned, City Hall staff should simply pick a most reasonable route (it is not that we have that many to choose from), stick up some signs, develop a protocol for use, and publish the information, including on the internet. That, in itself, may cost $60,000 of staff time, signage and information packages.

To do that is not rocket science and can be shown by part of the outcome of the UNBC study. It did not really need a GIS exercise to confirm that transporting goods from Hart Hwy North to Yellowhead West should go via Tyner Blvd. to Foothills, to Chief Lake Rd, onto the Hart. Of course, I would not like to see that route turned into a truck route, however, for the occasional transport of highly dangerous goods that may be the way to go to mitigate the outcome of a potential accident. Ideally, the route should go over a new Yellowhead bypass route, then over a new Fraser river bridge in the Foreman Flats area to connect with the proposed Hart Highway connection.

A study to look at what an ideal route might look like, including city bypasses which have not been built yet, would be another matter, and may be what the current expectation of Council is. In addition, one must not forget that dangerous goods are transported by rail and by air as well. Around here we really do not have to worry much about water transport, but I will gladly do a study for the city for $60,000 to say so….

;-)

Owl! I, for one, feel you should get that job.
You have already done all the leg work, and my only fear is that Radloff might read what you have posted and lead them to believe he came up with those ideas.
Aw, no, they are not that stupid they would think he is that smart.
If it went to a vote with the posters on Opinion 250, I am certain you would be the recipient of that 60 grand.
You would be deserving.

Holly cow this is nuts these dangerous goods transport trucks are not this dangerous(60k for a big study come on now) they are going to travel by rivers and streams no matter what. Keep them to the major routes out of residences and I think we would have it.Lets face it people if this stuff spills its a bad thing no matter where it is.As for emergency personel they are close to every major route I don't see this as a problem.We have gas stations scatered around town,mills in every corner,pulp mills and a refinery these truck are going everywhere I would like to know how many are just passing through not to many I say.

I don't think Bob Radloff is city manager. I think George Paul is. Regardless, there should be someone at city hall we are paying that could do this study without putting out another $60,000.00.

You must admire the lowly little pine beetle for having the power to jog those in charge into some action regarding a dangerous goods route!

How many logging trucks traverse the city now daily and nightly compared to a couple of years ago?

Scary. As is the loamy, muddy and sticky dark soil that has been spread on slippery city streets instead of sand.

The real fun will start in the spring when all that muddy stuff will turn into huge clouds of fine dust.

That's dangerous too.

Don't think anyone said Radloff was City Manager-but he holds the office of Director of Development services-whatever that is!!!
Georgie is the city manager-getting very long in the tooth, but highly paid for his age-approaching retirement I am sure.
Wonder if he will head back to Penticton then???
I sincerely hope that Owl can get that 60 grand. He has done the research, and has the answers-and he is not even on the payroll.
Should be!!!
Fat chance tho'.

Diplomat is quite right in pointing out indirectly that while trucks transporting such materials as gasoline and diesel are transporting "dangerous goods", the fact that we do not have safe tucking routes is much more "dangerous" on a daily basis since accidents are frequent and deaths occur all too frequently.

Prince George is a crossroad of local industrial traffic, which is predominately timber and chips right now, all in a hurry to make more money. Those crossroads literally go through the middle of the city in each direction. We have no by-passes, only through-passes. These are provincial and interprovincial highways.

In a nutshell, we need big money from the province. They casn pay around with their Trucksafe games all they want, but a major part of the problem is inadequate road systems, whether it is in the city or in the forests.

When will City Hall wake up to that fact. Time for Colin to go to Victoria, bring the Deputy Minister with him, and see Campbell.

Italy and China can wait.