There might be a lot of people behind the motion. However, I do not see UNBC mentioned among them.

Why press the province for information when an open and honest discussion with UNBC should do the trick? As far as I can see, they will be the prime users of the facility and any others that might eventually be associated with it.

So the city spends all this money on the anticipation of a tennant. In the private world, that would be considered a idiotic investment.

Have a memorandum of understanding in place, then proceed with the verification and commitment. Then make the deal on the property.

Idiots.

I think the City should build a new multi-use building on that property with a private partner and move some of their City Hall departments there.

Makes as much sense as moving a component of UNBC there. A quick way to become dysfunctional, physically separate operations that need to be close to each other or some connecting central function(s).

Mayor Rogers and most of the city council are way off base about tough times and taxes ,and have been for 10 years running. It is with this kind of thinking that has got this city to where it is now..and it is obvious we need some new thinking in City hall to get some new ideas. If Mayor Rogers and the City keep buying up the downtown at the rate he has been , then soon only he will need to know what the Government is going to do. Maybe they are going to heat them gardens and close them in so they can grow food all year long...

How about some federal dollars. A department for getting professionals to live in PG. We overpay for everything. Stagnant population for how long now. No immigrants seem to want to live here when comparing it to other centers of similar size. Quality of life really sucks. This building was supposed to be a big positive for the city.

We have a new development taking shape right now. There is a new two story medical office building which should be finished for occupancy in a few months. That will likely generate us much office space and likely more people coming and going for appointments than a wood innovation centre ever will.

Let us all wait and see how many new restaurants, drug stores, coffee shops, etc. will be generated as a result of that building .... and wait .... and wait ... and wait ..... :-)

It takes considerably more than an office space with a few scientist types to generate activity. It is no exactly going to have the workforce size we see in Plaza 400, for instance.

Even if there were going to be some advanced engineering classes to be held there should that idea become true, they might amount to 3 or 4 classes with say an average of 20 students in each of them and not all at the same time.

Don't forget about timelines in the 5+ year range for any of these sort of projects.

Hood rich ... the probelm with these sort of nebulous projects is that they start off with little detail, even in the minds of the proponent. Everyone then builds up their own reality about the project. In fact, when people talk about the project, they are talking about 5, 10, 15 projects. Some of them are pretty well on target, others are maybe less of a project than the proponent has in mind, others are way off in left field.

That is why the longer these projects stay secret because of some idea that one can save a few dollars here or there due to speculation, the worse the magnitude errors and ensuing expectations become.

Put that into the expectations of a city that has been going nowhere in terms of downtown development for almost 3 decades, and you have a condition that you would not find in a Kelowna, Surrey, Vancouver, etc.

But those in charge rarely think in those terms, nor do they have any good solutions as to how to do it with the least amount of community turmoil if they did think about it.

And, of course, blogs like this make it seem as if everyone in town were all talking about these things, when in reality they likely aren't. Most people simply go on with their lives and when it comes it comes, when it doesn't it doesn't.

I honestly think if this goes ahead in the downtown, then it will be a strong signal that UNBC has seen its best years already. It will set not only wood innovation up for failure, but the university as well.

Worst case scenario is it develops mold being located on a known flood plain (George Street), and kills the university by dividing its potential and anchoring it to the downtown.

Best case scenario has it is tied in directly to the university for localized synergies and is able to partner with forward thinking private partners that genuinely want to create value out of the forest and forestry 'bi-products'.

With all the special interest represented on city council I have no doubt they will produce a plan based around their own special interests and not on the best possible plan. If the plan comes from city hall it will no doubt fail, and if it come from the university working for the interests of the university then it has a chance at success IMO....

WalMart just expanded their store to add a full grocery section. The City should have been negotiating with them to put the grocery part of WalMart downtown.

That would have made as much sense as putting a part of what appears to be slated to become a UNBC operated facility downtown.

But hey, it is public money that is taking the risk, not private, so it is okay.

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