Just How Much Authority Does DBIA President Have?

Thursday, June 10, 2010 03:45 AM

Earlier this week the local paper ran a story which carried the headline, “We’ll Take It” in which the President of the Downtown Business Association, Hugh Nicholson said he had sent an e-mail to the Aboriginal Corporation about the Corporation’s plan for a railway tie gasification plant. Kamloops rejected the proposal, but Nicholson says he told the Aboriginal Corp, “If Kamloops doesn’t want it, we’ll take you in Prince George”.

The plant would take CP rail ties coated with creosote and gasify them.

Nicholson is the President of the Down Town Business Association as well as publisher of the local paper. Unless he proposes to put the new gasification plant in the new DBIA area, (which is the only area that his mandate covers ), then where does his authority come from to negotiate with a Kamloops company for any development unless of course he is hoping to get a zoning change which would permit the facility to operate in the Citizen building or in the downtown?

Perhaps Nicholson envisions a rail tie gasification plant attached to the new wood innovation center proposed for the downtown. That proposal may raise the ire of those people who have contributed a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year for development in the down town core and there is that pesky problem of zoning, over which he has no authority.

If, on the other hand, Nicholson is operating outside of his mandate as President of the Down town Business Association, then could someone point me in the direction of where the publisher of the local paper was given the authority to decide where and how our city should develop?

Such a facility might do well say out in the BCR Industrial site( providing there is no increase in air pollution) but the BCR site is several miles away from President Nicholson’s realm.

Nicholson is further quoted in his paper (and it would be hard to argue that the reporter didn’t get the facts straight) that as publisher of the paper “The city wants the 25 jobs the railway gasification plant would bring”.

I wasn’t aware that if you are the publisher of the local paper you also, by some here to for unknown reason, also have the right to decide where and how the city should operate.

It’s about time that the directors of the DBIA began to reign in their newly elected President, unless of course they also agree that perhaps a railway tie gasification plant would make a nice fit in the down town say for instance on the old CKPG building site, might look good with a few flower baskets dangling from it. What the heck, why not push to give this plant the other carrot the new DBIA is pushing, namely a 40 year break on taxes?

If the President of the DBIA feels that he must increase his authority over development of the city, there is a simple way to do it, run for political office and then, if elected, he will be able to make his thoughts known to the other eight people who also will have a say in the matter rather than taking the approach that he alone will decide what is good or bad for Prince George.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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Posted on Thursday, June 10, 2010 03:45 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: giterdun on June 10 2010 6:53 AM

Right On Ben. I M O. There is a self centered group rearing it's ugly head in the downtown. Their mandate-- They develop the downtown at the taxpayers expense and reap the profits. Nice plan--Only one problem--I don't like to pay for someone elses BMW and steak dinner.

Posted by: gus on June 10 2010 8:42 AM

"a rail tie gasification plant attached to the new wood innovation center proposed for the downtown" is an interesting notion that points to a keay reason why such a centre in the downtown of PG does not make much sense.

It limits the types of things that the centre can actually do when it comes to applying science to creating a marketable product and process.

The Aboriginal Cogeneration Corporation's project is actually being developed by one of the University of North Dakota's research arms that looks to commercializing processes. I would assume that the work of the wood innovation centre would also be looking to commercialize processes rather than staying in the stratified clouds of an ivory tower.

http://www.undeerc.org/news/pdfs/EERCNewsletter2009MarchApril.pdf

So, who said what to whom is an interesting aspect to this story. I think there are many facets to the story which we can look at.

The other one, of course, being that Kamloops has rejected the proposal after the MoE has accepted it, the local Health Unit has accepted it and the governments are funding it.

Would the same have occurred here? In other words, would this community accept such a plant irrespective of what the president of the DBIA thinks. Is he out of whack with the thinking of IPG, the City, the Chamber of Commerce? Would our local MP have taken the same action the Kamloops MP has taken?

http://www.bcsea.org/learn/news/2010/01/21/local-mp-will-not-back-kamloops-gasification-plant

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/15/bc-kamloops-gasification-plant-opposition.html

An interesting story all around.

Posted by: metalman on June 10 2010 1:26 PM

Aside from all of the rhetoric, how much poison will we be releasing into our air or water or landfill, by "gasifying" creosote impregnated railway ties? There has to be some waste product from the process, and I'll bet it is concentrated and toxic.
metalman.

Posted by: Palopu on June 10 2010 1:45 PM

I suspect that this is nothing more than a run of the mouth story, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is.

CP Rail is not located in Prince George, they are located in Kamloops and so is the CN. Therefore it would make sense to locate in an area where both railways operate.

Are we to beleive that CP Rail would ship their old creosoted ties to Prince George via CN Rail. Certainly CN Rail would expect to get paid for hauling them.

The fact that this is a CP Rail operation, and no CP Rail in Prince George shuld give you some indication of the level of thought that has bone into this.

Posted by: Harbinger on June 10 2010 4:20 PM

If Hughy Nicholson will volunteer to unload a flat car load of creosoted railroad ties with his bare hands, I will endorse his request. He even has my permission to wear a yellow BP hard hat while working at this. If not, forget his idea.

Posted by: Eagleone on June 11 2010 12:22 AM

What a joke this must be... the guy doesn't even own a house in this town much less a house in the downtown where he wants others to live... he wants 40-year tax exemptions to locate a creosote incineration unit downtown among the tax payer funded revitalization of swamp land to show his plan has progress and his investment buddies are making money? It takes a lot to conjure up a story line like that much less read it as happening for real.... Who owns his newspaper company again... should we expect as much from them?

Posted by: LONGWORTH on June 12 2010 10:31 AM

I agree Ben. The fellow can advocate, but official comment should be coming from the mayor or from the economic development side.

This guy needs to remember which hat he is wearing. Is he really speaking on behalf of the DBIA, or on behalf of the paper? He certainly does not speak for me.

Posted by: LONGWORTH on June 12 2010 10:58 AM

Just curious... There is now talk of a district heating system downtown. From what I can tell, the City thinks this is a slam-dunk. Will proceed unless there is a successful counter-petition.

While I am not necessarily opposed to this, I think there are many more questions that need to be asked and answered before any local dollars are spent. Was reading some comments in the Free Press that seem to be half-baked.

Have seen these proposals before. Common approach is to leave out the true costs of digging up public infrastructure (roads, sidewalks, etc.) to install the distribution system. Remember, our roads and other infrastructure are already overdue for replacement. Once they start digging this stuff up, they will come back to us hat-in-hand telling us they may as well replace it (at extra cost of course). They know this full well. If they were to tell us the real costs, no one would could support it.

Also, before jumping on the bandwagon, landowners might want to ask who pays for cut-and-cover costs on private property. These costs are enormous. Might also want to find out what would be required to tap into this new heat source. Buildings that are heated with boiler systems might be able to tie-in cost effectively, but I do not believe that will be possible with any structures heated with roof-top units (vast majority of small and medium-sized commercial buildings).