Have these guys ever heard of a Hiab or small truck mounted crane? Why the hell do they have an excavator out there. Steet pads or not still going to screw up the already screwed up pavement.

Wait for the snows before cheering for this removal.

Since 2007 (+/-) a crane requires a operator with special certifications, showing their competency with the style of crane they are operating (I think there are 3 classes). The cranes also require regular independent inspections to ensure they are in good working conditions.

This is because cranes are used to lift load in proximity to people, power lines, buildings etc, so safety is a major consideration.

Whereas excavators, are basically use for digging holes and trenches, and therefore do not require the same degree of certification as generally dropping a bucket of dirt would not have as great of a chance of injury to people etc.

Generally speaking the more certification you need to maintain the more money you are going to have to pay per hour, so lifting with a backhoe is cheaper than lifting with a crane.

So I believe that is your answer acrider54.

Good-bye see you back in a few years.

The "canopy of the future" will, if they ever take down the "canopy of the past", be the one across the street from this provided by the Ramada. Canopies like that are very much part of the downtown Vancouver scene. Problem is, you have to avoid the rain in between if they are a little far apart, such as at laneways ... :-)

The old Bay store, HSBC building, the Northern, and a few others have canopies that the City will not be taking down. So, good corporate citizens will build canopies as part of their larger building. However, it will be some time before we get anymore larger buildings.

The City will not touch canopies for at least 20 more years.

Re: the scars left on the building by the removal of these canopies. Methinks it will take along time to get these "eyesore strips" on the buildings removed probably due to the fact that a lot of absentee owners will not, in most probability get a letter from hizzoner asking them to come to PG and kinda paint, wall paper, wood panel, tile, carpet, camoflauge or anyway else make their stores more attractive by covering these eye catching shortcomings.

And if they do you can be sure there will be an appraiser from city hall readily taking notes on the improvement factor thereby justifying hizzoner and the gang to raise the store owners property tax . Call it an "improvement tax".

Can't you see it: 2020 recommendations to council: " We feel that if their was some sort of infrastructure to keep the snow off the sidewalks there would be a substantial increase in foot traffic for the downtown core."

That one is for certain Porter. Much agreed!

The mrecent upgrade at Spruceland Mall they did the work and then billed the tenants.

Will this be the case downtown or will the tax payer get the bill? And they already have decrative lighting why are we paying for more lighting? Oh well its just tax dollars.
Cheers

Good point! Who is paying for the facelift on the storefront facia? Who decides what the facia will look like? Who decides the color schemes? Is there a theme planned?

Why aren't all the canopy's being removed?

What a serious mistake this was. I cannot believe they went through with this. This is a HUGE mistake and an even greater advantage to Pine Centre mall...

Dumb... really dumb... OMG...

I went to Edmonton a few years back and in one area of town I got soaked walking the downtown area because there were no canopies. I've never been back to shop in that area again... and I never will. I go to the BIG mall now when I'm there.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY DID THIS.

What a bad baaaaaad mistake.

Like a lot of things in PG, things were done either cheaply, or with absolutely no taste, and most certainly nothing was ever maintained.

There are tons of canopies and arcaded sidewalks all over the world that provide cover from whatever elements are common in those communities, whether sun in Arizona and New Mexico, or rain in England, or snow at Sun Peaks, BC.

Here is a nice old canopy in Britain.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11665506@N00/1814166602

It adds the kind of charm to the community that makes people proud of their community and provides a practical purpose at the same time. That is something we have yet to learn in Prince George, combine utility with beauty with economy.

If the City does not provide some guidelines for private canopies, then our streets might look something like this shortly.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/3658845945

:-)

hahaha I thought the city wanted to revitalize the down town core.....i thought they wanted people to shop down there!
the city already has problems clearing snow downtown....
so what now....do we get a new sidewalk snow clearing tax

A lot of business owners are really going to hate this next winter!
Makes no sense.

The pawnshops in our downtown core will have snowblowers on their premises. More so if the economy doesn't pick up. Maybe the pawnshops can rent out these snowblowers to other merchants without canopies this coming winter. It would be a neighbourly thing to do, I guess.