Great to try and motivate citizens to participate in their city but I hope Mayor Rogers has more up his sleeve this year. The odd bicycle trail just isn`t going to cut it. Another tax for Downtown Merchants will be his demise!

The Mayor and Council should lead by example. Every taxpayer, Industrial, Commercial, and Residential, has been saying for years that we DO NOT want anymore tax increases. So we could in effect say that 30,000 taxpayers have clearly stated their position on this issue.

Why is it that One (1) Mayor, Eight (8) Councillors, One (1) City Manager, and a few other Managers chose to completely ignore 30,000 Citizens, and carry on spending money and increasing taxes. This is unbelievable. What the hell do we have to do to get their attention.

This City refuses to deal with the truth, it deals mainly with pomp and circumstance, refuses to give the citizens of Prince George the truth on any matters of any consequence.

Some examples::

The new police Superintendent is a good addition to the City, however the Mayor forget to mention that the previous Superintendent caused some issues with the City.

The New President of the University is a good addition, however lets not forget that the previous President left under yet to be explained conditions at a cost to the University of approx $400,000.00 in severance.

The landing of the 747 at the Airport has never been clearly explained. Why did it come to Prince George??? Does anyone really know? Will anyone ever tell us the truth?? I suspect this was nothing more than a PR Stunt.

The Manager of the Airport Authority left under circumstances that have never been explained, along with a severance in the area of $300,000.00. We have never been given any explanation as to why he left. The Airport Authority, which is owned by the taxpayers, states that it is run along the lines of a private business, and therefore they do not have to give out this type of information. Is this true?? I dont know, but it would seem to me if we own it, then we are entitled to know how it is run.

UNBC has completed its fall semester. Has anyone seen any figures to indicate what the enrolments were for 2009. Usually when enrolments are up, it is front page news, so can we assume that they are down significantly. When can we expect this information to be published.

The Cougers average attendence per game for 2009 is around 2000 fans per game. This means that this franchise and the City are losing money, and have been for some time. Is it the intention of the City to continue to support this franchise with tax dollars regardless of the number of people who attend the games. At what point do we say enough is enough.

To suggest that IPG will be our saviour and somehow pull us out of this recession is beyond beleive.

The forecast for population growth for the North Central BC in the next twenty years is approx 10%. When this number is extrapolated over the area it would probably be an increase in Prince George in the area of 5% or roughly 3500 people over 20 years. This is hardly any growth at all. The areas of growth are projected to be around 40% for the Peace River District, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, Greater Vancouver, and the Southern Okanogan, and the Kamloops area.

These are Provincial Government numbers, and therefore we have a situation where the Governments left hand is talking jobs and growth, while its right hand is stating negative jobs and growth.

How can we support a University without any students. Where will they come from??

We need our politicians to start to get serious about some of these problems, and to quit trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

The first thing they can do is reduce taxes, and costs, to prove that they are serious. Failing to do that, means that they intend to carry on the same as usual. Ie; tax and spend.

Mayor Rodgers needs to take his own advice and start to run this City in a sane and fiscally responsibile manner. Thats why we pay him the big bucks.

WOW, well said palopu, I had a similar rant brewing, but now I can save the energy.

I agree Mayor Dan and his crew need to cut up the credit cards and realize the folks in PG are suffering a great deal and can't afford all the extra bells and whistles he has planned... asking for more from the already overtaxed masses is insane.

GET A GRIP, Mayor Dan and your incompetent colleagues....

I agree. Reduce the tax and start with City Hall wages.

How come Brinks is blocked everytime he tries to reopen a shutdown mill in the BCR site. He just might shut down altogether and move to Alberta. They seem to want him and his jobs.

"We need our politicians to start to get serious about some of these problems, and to quit trying to pull the wool over our eyes. The first thing they can do is reduce taxes, and costs, to prove that they are serious"

How exactly will reducing taxes fix the problems you have identified?

If the City wishes people to participate, it would be a good start if the City is forthcoming with some information about its plans for the next 5 years. Once we know what those might be, some may be able to help. Or, better still, if the City wishes us to become involved, then let us become involved in the planning process in a meaningful way.

Here is the Kelowna page that links anyone on the internet to their financial plan:

http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page952.aspx

It is there for the world to see.

Where is there a similar page on PG's City site that provides us with access to similar information? Can't find it on the home page. Can'd find it with the site's search engine. Maybe someone can find the information for me.

Here is what I was able to find when I put "2009 financial plan" into the search.

http://www.city.pg.bc.ca/pages/news/2009/capitalfinancialplan.pdf

Don't know if that is the approved capital financial plan or not. For those worried about a perfroming arts centre, for instance, you will not find one there for the next 5 years - police station, Boundary Road, and Energy Plant. That's it for the new big ticket items.

Communications is a two way street. The Web Site of this community show how interested the City is in making information we should have access to available to us.

We are not fighting a war here. This is not a John Kennedy like statement of "Ask not what your city can do for you, but what you can do for your city".

This is a simple matter of running a City well. If those who we elect cannot take care of that for us, then let them step down and let others try it.

The state of the city is denial. Palopo said it well. We can thank the pulp gods that we even have an economy left in this city. IMO the city has overhead costs (taxes, planning, strategic outlook, HR & competence) that suck the life out of the entrepreneurial spirit in this city before it even gets started. Lots of walls built up between self serving government empires based on denial of reality that services need to have value and tax payers need to be healthy in order for government employment to exist long term.

For PG to grow people need to want to live in PG and people need to feel they get value for their investments into the community... thus becoming more willing to return more to the community. The outside 'experts' that leave with their 6-figure compensation are an overhead cost to high on their own. A lot could be done just by hiring locals to fill the position of so called experts to do local work for local wages.

All too often a good idea in this town gets twisted and warped by city hall into a Frankenstein it was never meant to be. Look at the ring road for industry, so that we could get industrial traffic on the periphery serving industry outside the local airshed... instead we got a 'Boundary Road' to serve the needs of the positioned land owners, but not a ring road that will serve the future of PG's industrial traffic needs. Look at the Nechako River Road works goings on... tourism 'sponsorship', IPG and the list goes on…. I’ll bet the new city communications manager will be sharing his desk if not already with the city property manager… looking for ‘idea’s’ they can use to justify and sell their own agenda’s.

IMHO

The website says we have 77,000 people here, yet you look in other places and it’s just over 70,000. I would like to know exactly what the population is of this small city with big city plans. If anyone else can find an accurate number please fill us all in.

At least they aren't making regual trips to China....YET!
Boundry Road..oh right to get access to all those planes we have landing on our new extended airport. Could that be why the sky is so dark, all those planes circling, awaiting landing cleance and blocking out the light.
Environmental cleanup...well they know where it is coming from and will probably continue to ignore it. But I see they managed to use all the cutsie buzz words.
Even if they clean up the air poluters in Prince George, it is only going to blow in from those places not so concerned...yeah that will make it okay...

Quite a range of interesting comments, and I agree with most of the positions stated. But I just have to ask; Is it me eyes, or does Mayor Dan really look kind of small in the picture above? Like the desk, chair, and crest (and the title) are much larger than he is? Should'nt he tower above the rest, in a double breasted suit with shoulder pads? Would he not look more authoritive if he appeared larger than life? Maybe a bushy moustache would help. Did he not learn those basic principles during his time in the local yokel media?
I have so many questions, so little time.
metalman.

how many athletes training for olympics at the new sports centre? i thought that was the big hype when it was built.

Prince George, B.C.- The Mayor of Prince George, Dan Rogers has opened the first meeting of the New Year with an address on the “State of the City”.

My first thought when I read this was, does he think he's the American President with a State of the Union Address?

LOL

WWZD?

What would Zurowski do?

WWZD? I too would like to know. The Kinsley clone is starting to look better all the time.

WWZD? I don't know either, but at least Donnie was once a self made rich guy, or maybe he still is. Point is, he had years of business experience before defecting to the FBDB or whatever. I don't think Mr. Rogers can match that. Business experience might not be everything, who knows, but I think things ran better with Mr. Harold Moffat (businessman) after that we got a librarian then a gasfitter. Maybe the radio guy will prove out in the end. Let's hope.
metalman.

"Business experience might not be everything, who knows, but I think things ran better with Mr. Harold Moffat (businessman)"

Based on the bio's on the City of PG website, one third of our current council are business people. These would be Garth Frizzell, Shari Green and Cameron Stolz. How has their business contributed to a fully funtioning and effective council?

Ironically enough, the guy who constantly seems to receive a high level of support (Brian Skakun) has no business experience, at least based on what is on his bio.

My conclusion? Business experience doesn't mean a thing when it comes to being an effective politician.

Do my part says hizzoner? Just pay yer taxes then STFU. Then it would be a perfect world. Right?