Just What Has The DBIA ( Downtown Prince George ) Been Doing?

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 03:45 AM

The DBIA, Downtown Prince George, or whatever label you wish to give it, has a new president according to a letter submitted to the Regional District and the City Of Prince George.

According to the letter, Gordon Langer is the new President of the group. One can only assume that an election must have been held sometime in the past few months and Hugh Nicholson, Publisher of the Citizen and former President was replaced.

Did Nicholson step down, or did Langer a real estate agent in the city also run for the position?

In spite of the fact that one of the two makes their living in the media, we at least haven’t been informed.

It would be nice to know who is now leading the DBIA and what programs have been put in place to change the shape of the down town. Is the same Board of Directors in place which last year included Dan McLaren of the Commonwealth group of companies?

City Hall will no doubt get to look at the money that has been spent over the past year by the DBIA and for what? As of this date and again assuming that the news releases have not been coming to Opinion250, the program that was set to turn the down town on its side has not come to fruition.

Just where has the money gone that was collected all be it reluctantly from many business owners in the core?

The down town merchants were led to believe that under a new watch, big things were about to happen in the core. To date unless they have missed the releases to them, that is anything but the case.

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

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Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 03:45 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: gus on February 23 2011 6:08 AM

At one time the web page for "downtownpg" did not appear to be available anymore. However, it is alive and not quite running on all cylinders. Obvoiusly do not spend any money on updating information.

Under events ...
Run for the Cure Block Party 2010!
July 9th, 11am - 3pm

Hmm ...

The Business Directory is not updated either.

Angeliques on George Street? ... I see.

What kind of service are they to the businesses. Oh wait ... it is an association of building owners, not tenants ....

http://downtownpg.com/Default.aspx?tabid=12

The Board shows up under the "about" link.

Posted by: gus on February 23 2011 6:18 AM

The last newsletter on the site is from 2008.

I think the Heritage Commission should recommend that the City put the web page on the Heritage Register. :-)

They could have the announcement at Temptations, which is listed with a George Street address that is now a vacant property.

Of course, that would need a plaque to be put up somewhere downtown to commemorate the web site.

Such easy picking .... but it's fun, eh?

Posted by: HeGottaGo on February 23 2011 6:26 AM

It's about as up-to-date as Hugh's joke of a paper! When will Glacier wake up to what he's done to what used to be a pretty good paper and what hes done to damage things in this city. Glaciers move slow I guess.

Posted by: gus on February 23 2011 6:30 AM

Okay, Gus is going to allow himself one more kick at this just because it is there for the kicking .... sorry folks ...

Looking at the Board, we have David McWalter listed twice .... once as a one year term and another timne as a two year term .... Does he have tow votes?

And, of course, Heather Oland is also a director who is the only director not listed with an affiliation, but we all know she works at L&M Engineering as well.

Does L&M Engineering have two votes or three votes?

Would it be prudent if the bylaws of the association would not allow two individuals from the same organization to be members of the Board?

Posted by: gus on February 23 2011 6:37 AM

I think Hugh is a believer in the notion that controversy sells papers. I agree with that, but I think he is taking that notion a bit far and a lot of people I know feel the same way. His paper is more opinion than informed fact. I feel sorry for some of the better writers there.

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on February 23 2011 8:08 AM

"The down town merchants were led to believe that under a new watch, big things were about to happen in the core."

The Big Thing is the planned cosmetic facelift of the Farmers Market building, don't you guys read the news?

(...intentional bit of sarcasm...).

Posted by: Icicle on February 23 2011 10:58 AM

The DBIA must have had their annual general meeting, but they didn't send out any notice to me this year. Did anyone else get one?

It makes it hard to show up for it and even harder to vote someone else in if you can't go... Surely elections have not been suspended?

Posted by: lmorge on February 23 2011 12:21 PM

Hey Ben, Mr. Langer's real estate business is located downtown....I am wondering if He paid the dues to the DBIA or was he "exempted" for some nebulous reason?? Might be good to find out!

Posted by: metalman on February 23 2011 2:07 PM

Hey Gus, that newspaper (The once venerable Citizen) serves several valuable valuable purposes today:
-lighting wood furnace kindling
-handy in the out house for you know what
-bird cage bottom liner, another way to deal with B.S.
-good for putting wet boots on
-roll it up, and the dog has a chew toy
I have not subscribed (aka wasted money) to The Citizen for years, the tabloid style is not for me.
metalman.

Posted by: bohemian on February 25 2011 9:42 PM

The problem with Downtown Prince George is after much planning in 2009, and a renewal of the Business Improvement Association based on a thought out plan with input from the stakeholders, there was a Coup d'état.

Gable, Moffat and other key players left, and a new guard, with all the answers, stepped in.

Too bad. But the Association members (land owners) should have a special meeting and get their association back, and back to the plan that they voted for.