Summer in PG!The whine of RV park owners about campers in parking lots.Did we not hear about this last yr?Do you not remember being told "there was nothing City Hall could do".There have been RV/trucks parking in these lots for yrs!I don't see extension cords running across the lots for power,using BBQ's or campfires..basically they're parked in a well lit,level surface,close to amenities and the Highway.What these retailers allow on their property is none of your business.

I understand loss of revenue is a hardship for the RV Parks, but maybe think about the travelers as well. Traveling in the U.S.it is understood that you can park in the big retail lots overnight. (We did it when I was a child)I'm not saying for two or more nights just overnight. Maybe these travelers are doing what they have known for years. Maybe they can't afford to pay RV Parks for each night they travel but still want to take their family on vacation. Maybe they have money hardships as well? Just a thought..

I have plans of opening up a campground of my own. I can't get into details until I have secured all the land needed, but IMO it will be PG's first real campground. I have no sympathy for the current campground operators in this city.

If build it and they will come is the rule, then it is no wonder everyone parks in the well lit parking lots of our major retail outlets and not the local so called campgrounds.

Our local campgrounds offer nothing but hook-ups, and none are conveniently located to anything. I myself would never pay to park in a gravel parking lot 6 feet from the next RV if there are other options. People heading up this way are looking for a unique experience in nature, and PG although well suited for this is not accommodating the tourists.

If I'm passing through in my travels I always park in the local retail parking lot to save time, cash, and for the convinience.

If I feel the place offers a destination for me I will spend the money and take in the experience.

Our city campgrounds offer nothing of interest and nothing for the experience. All of them or simple gravel pits on the side of the highway.

Our city should not get into the business of legislating peoples choices so that certain interests can get a free ride.

They are already here, build it and they will come. I mean what does Alaska have to offer as a destination that PG does not have?

Time Will Tell

KB I disagree. Most of these Alaska tourists are retired and live on a fixed income. Their RV is their home in a lot of cases. Is your home worth more then a $100,000 and could you afford to pay $25 dollars a night for rent for your home just to park it in a gravel dump when you have other choices.

Choices like bi-passing this city completely and telling all the other travels that this city is unfriendly to tourists. How does that benefit this city and it reputaion as well as its other business interests?

My grandparents have a $200,000 motorhome and they use Wal-mart parking lots when they spend their winters traveling in the States. That's what the retired people do. This way they have money to spend to stay at destination locations when they are available.

We would be a closed police state unfriendly to outsiders if we started down this silly arguement of restricting tourists to our city.

I see them stoping in our city as an opportunity to try and win their business with services, and experiences that are unique to PG.

We have the same problem in Whitehorse with the Rv in the walmart parking lot. City council passed a bylaw allowing only 20 rvs a night in a designated spot, but even that is hard to enforce and is rarely enforced. We have all the same arguments from the RV park owners and we know how you feel there

After paying $49.00 US (sixty bucks CDN) in a Seattle KOA a month ago, for a little strip of pavement barely long enough for my rig, so tightly squeezed I couldn't even open the awning, I too decided to stay the next night at Walmart to average out the costs. Yes, I got sewer, water, and power for my sixty bucks, all of which I didn't really need, since I came fully self contained, and paid big, big bucks to do so, when I bought the rig in the first place. So what did I take away with me when I left the place? Well, for one, a determination never, ever to return! Two -- a comittment to warn my RV friends not to head for that park when they go through Seattle, and to warn them to phone ahead for rates before they choose any park to stay in, and three, a committment to spend my travel dollars at places such as Walmart, for my groceries, camping supplies and tools, etc., and to have breakfast there once in awhile, because you know what, --- they made me feel WELCOME there, and not like some theif in the night, stealing money from the area campgrounds. If the police came pounding on my door during the night, scaring both me, my wife and my kids, I'd leave all right, never to return again. Nobody likes to feel they're only welcome until the money runs out. Walmart extends a welcome even if you don't spend a cent there, and don't even get out of your rig before moving on. This means a great deal to some of us, including me. Hospitality can still leave a huge impression these days, and Walmart hasn't forgotten this! At least that's my impression.