heaven forbid that the 2015 Games Arena Study or money for the Winter games be reduced, afterall they are only significant for a couple of weeks and the train will draw people for years. Good thinking council.

Spend lavishly on the big tens of millions of dollars items and nickel and dime the little train to death?

Yes, of course.

Is it for sale?

Like the Olympics,as soon as they were a done deal and planning was in process,money for everything else dried up.
The same thing will happen with the 2015 games, and that shouldn't come as a suprise to anyone.
Odean't matter what it is...if they come looking for money,forget it.
Hey...maybe when council borrows the dough for the new cop shop they could get some extra?

Surely Councilor Skakun as a 3rd class Steam Engineer, could volunteer some hours to train & operate as part of his civic duties? :-)

It is a crime that this train was off the track this long. WHile the history will bring a bit of a drawing card, the kids really do not care. For them it is the ride and for tourists it is something to do in PG if they stay here for 3 hours. Get a fe more things like that, and they might even stay overnight.

We have so little. We have no FIrst Nations "village" which was proposed several times in the last 3 decades and never went anywhere. We have no hotel on the riverfront in the Fort George area near the highway crossing the bridge, we have no qulity river walk since it too has been out of commission for a couple or more years. We have no 5 year plan followed by a 10 year plan to deal with improving infrastructure from a tourist's point of view which would also go a long way to improve recreation facilities for locals.

So much planning, so little action. In this case, not even planning.

Does Council have a vision at all? Does the City Manager share that vision at all?

BTW, why do we never hear from the City Manager? He is, after all, the fellow on whose desk the implementation buck stops.

I doubt it. Where is the Railway and Forestry Museum in all of this if the engine is that famous. BTW, how is that facility doing as far as funding goes?

There is tremendous value in maintaining this steam engine. It provides an invaluable connection to the past for our children. In addition, the fact that it is now so rare generates interest. Has the city considered publicizing the engine and trains existence? Perhaps put up a blurb and video on the new improved ;) website?
Get it running, keep it running, find people who are INTERESTED in helping to keep it running, not for the paycheque (wrong approach) but to benefit the community. 12G for "training" what guarantee is there that the people trained will stick around to provide the service they have been paid to learn? none of course. And for Petes sake, a study for a games arena? 35G? There are enough people already on the payroll with the city, put some of them to work! Heres how it could work; City council decides which department has the best hope of producing a coherent study, based on internet research, discussions with townfolk, long distance calls to other games cities officials, and just maybe, input from tha actual taxpayers. The designated supervisor stands up at the morning meeting points to the most likely candidates who are within his purview, and says; You, you and you, are the committee to study what we need for a new arena. Get busy. Do it during normal working hours, give them lots of time, and hey, they are already on the payroll, it is not like business income will be lost if they are handed additional duties. My gosh another 'study' what this small town is most famous for, next to shitty roads of course.
metalman.
metalman.

Millions spent on all kinds of projects, that have little if any value to this City, and then short change something that provides value to the park and to kids.

They should have forced IPG to pay for it out of their budget. Most of that money is wasted. Or better yet pay for it out of the Tourism Hotel tax, that is nothing more than a cash cow for the Tourist Bureau.

No shortage of money in this town. Just an acute shortage of brains.

Here is an idea for Council. The next time you have to make a decision, make it and stick by it. Do not send it back for further study by a committee or a consultant. The money saved from doing this just one time would probably pay for twice as much training for the steam engine than that which is currently budgeted for.

I can't believe that these people that voted against this even had the gall to vote the way they did. How many countless dollars have they spent on stupid things like studies for a PAC centre, the symphony, IPG, etc. We definitely have to get rid of Basserman this time. He is past his expiry date by a couple of decades as far as I am concerned.

I'm glad council approved this. As Gus said, this is the kind of expenditure that brings in tourism and has educational value. I'd much rather see money spent on this than on grandiose construction projects of questionable public value.

Members of city council with little minds. Here is an example of how little minds work. Years ago the province got rid of the Princes Magarite,the last of the coastal steamers because "IT" was not making money. What was ignored was its tourist draw from around the the world. The Royal Hudson steam train was also almost deep sixed because again"IT" was not making money but also has a huge tourist draw. These tourists spend money.

Now council, being famous for studies, why not do a study that if the train was promoted in tourist literature what its potential tourist spin off could be.

Councillors Basserman, Green, Stolz and Wilbur voted against, open your eyes and look at the bigger picture.

Is that smoke I see billowing from that engine? This thing is a wood burner! How are those poor people living down there going to breath with all that smoke in the air?

I can't wait to hear the train whistle blowing!

Have to agree with the general consensus here. I find it funny that the people that voted against this are generally thought of as the "business people" on council. One would think that they would understand a cost benefit analysis and realize that this is a no-brainer when it comes to the overall benefits for the rather immaterial amount being spent. I guess "business sense" doesn't always translate into common sense.

It's actually ridiculous to consider the money approved for ridiculous things in this town and then have them almost reject this application. Completely goofy.

Betcha this trifling little kerfuffle and like minded larger issues will be forgotten by around the end of October. The voters will get a temporary short term case of amnesia. (Maybe city hall puts an amnesia inducing chemical in the city's water around then) and then when voting time comes around every single one of these ineffective ninnys are re-elected based on name recognition. It's happened before. Why not again?