I think the real question is,what benefit does the city of P.G. get from having these businesses?
ROCK

People are only Pawning thinks so they can buy tickets to the Art Gallery,and all the other things taxpayers pay for REMEMBER even the rich can not afford to keep the finer things open.they need taxpayers money. So if us working people want to be refined we have to pawn things

Donald,

The Art Gallery is free to everyone on Thursdays from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm; the PGSO offers a free family concert this year on September 11 - Pops in the Park - at the Ft. George Bandshell; Cafe Voltaire offers free live music every Friday night at 8:00 pm; The Public Library is free, as are many of their excellent programs and events; UNBC has many free public lectures throughout the year; UNBC student clubs offer many free entertainment and cultural events for all members of the public; The Prince George Dance Festival and Music Festival tickets cost next to nothing; BC Rivers day is soon approaching and it's free. And on and on.

Being "refined" doesn't need to cost, but it must be valued.

Shawn Petriw

Gimme a break!!!!
Give an example by describing what new articles are being pawned daily, and value.
I can go to a garage sale and find maybe 10 new items taken fresh out of the home for sale.
They are gone forever when sold.
I know of people who live from month to month by pawning and redeeming just to make ends meet until the good old cheques arrive the end of the month.
They are not stealing anything-they are simply in a survival mode.
God willing, they are permitted to exist for a few days due to the fact they had something to pawn, temporarily.
I will be a long time buying Geelan's clean up program on this one as a revitalization process for our infamous downtown!!!
Clean up solution-get real!

KrisB,IMO if the cops ran an undercover sting operation on the pawn shops rather than hiding around corners handing out seat belt fines(don't get me started)The city would then have the ammunition to kill there business licences therefor eliminating the words "legal business".IMO we the tax payers who pay higher insurance premiums year after year should have the ability to shut these places down.They are not the type of businesses we need,they don't contribute positively in our community in any way.Sorry folks thats just the way I see it.
ROCK

As with all such matters, when one opportunity is shut down, another will be opened up.

Deal with the source of the problem. Pawnshops are not the source of the problem.

Look at the link for another system used to accomplish the same thing, which I know also goes on here. To what extent, I do not know.

http://www.vancourier.com/issues02/034102/news/034102nn1.html

When a store I was associated with moved out of a mall and into a neighbourhood mall location, we were hit about 4 times with B&E within less than a year. Each time about $4,000 to $7,000 retail value was stolen in a 2 minute grab and run. The police did absolutely nothing about it because they basically couldn't according to them. We saw what likely were the stolen products "walking" down the street at later times since they were relatively unique items for this community.

If we didn't spend all our tax dollars on a police force and instead on poverty would help the pawn shop problem. The present pawn shops are a blight on 3rd Avenue.
I remember Granville Street in Vancouver was a pleasent place to shop. When I recently saw it the shops looked like 3rd Avenue and most of them were pawn shops

Owl--good link.
We have sellers in bars in Pr. George also, and we can be relatively certain the goods are "hot."
The buyers are no better than the thieves, but guess some people like the deal and ignore a conscience.
Sure wouldn't like it much if they were ever offered their own goods-and rest assured-thieves have no conscience.
And people think you are rich if you are in business.
They little realize you probably spend half your time trying to protect what you have worked hard for!!!
Hardly seems worth the effort???
Too many claims-and no insurance company wants you. Penalty I suppose??
Same applies to the home owner who gets hit.
I would not want to be a business trying to operate downtown Prince George.
Mind you, I have been subjected to lots of employee thefts. That is really tough to take.
Actually write out pay cheques to people who are also busy stealing from you. And they all get paid before you know if you will even get a paycheque-if anything is left over!!!
Lots of risks being in business.
One of the toughest jobs I know of.
Takes a special breed!!!!

Opatcho ... there are other things which are a "blight" on third avenue, and getting worse by the day.

There are several definitions of "blight". The one I refer to is: "that which frustrates one's plans or withers one's hopes; that which impairs or destroys"

Given that, the blight on third avenue got its first boost when the CIBC bought the buildings to the west of it and tore them down without rebuilding. The trees look nice, but trees do not generate retail business.

I may have the chronological order wrong, but let's just say that next came the feds moving people out of the main floor of the "oxford" building and replacing retail with one way glass. That, by the way, is against this City's design guidelines.

Then it was the BOM's turn to tear down buildings and leave an empty space with promises to build a high rise office building. Now they have even left their building to move out of the CBD.

Sometime in there the Bay left town, and a general merchandiser was replaced with a single category "box" retailer.

Then Kresge left and a series of other retailers occupied the space which has now deteriorated into a very "nice" looking building frontage, but dead space as far as generating downtown traffic goes.

The promoters of the DBIA seem fixated on retail sprawl inot suburbia being the killer of downtown. No doubt, that is part of the equation. But there is something happening under their very noses as well which they are not doing a single thing about. In addition, it is against the OCP to allow that type of use on the ground floor of the DBIA.

The same thing is happening along fourth avenue as well. The move of the feds office on 2nd to fourth has taken up what should be valuable store frontage and created a dead space out of it.

From the OCP, page 61, clause 23
"street level facades should emphasize glazed entrances and DISPLAY windows to provide a feeling of interaction between the building and street".

and, while I am at it, clause 21:
"in the downtown area, weather protection for pedestrians is HIGLY DESIRABLE. ...... awnings must have a MINIUMUM width of 2 metres". The new call centre on third meets neither of these OCP "guideline".

Nice to have "guidelines" .... but might as well get rid of them if one is not going to imlement them. The OCP makes for intersting reading.

Just a buinch of hot air as far as I am concerned. Looks good on a shelf. Theory is one thing, practice is another.

I get a real kick out of all the bleeding hearts who believe everyone has a place in this world, and people shouldn't look down on those less fortunate in society. There are those who beat the "social drum" and then cross the street half a block up so they don't have to get near these same people. IMO this town is filled with hyprocrites who speak out both sides of their face. The problem with PG and the state of the downtown is a direct result of Social Services. The fact that we are the largest city with all the facilities any "less fortunate" could ask for, is nothing more than a magnet drawing these folks in from all over. The downtown is filled with pawn shops, money marts, and social agencies. If I was homeless, I'd be on my way to Prince too! What do you expect?? It's not rocket science, if you build it, they will come. At some point, we have to make an effort to change the look of downtown. Throwing millions of dollars at 3rd Ave only gives these people nicer sidewalks to spit on, better streetlights to smash, and more branches to pull from the trees. It frustrates me to no end to see what has become of my city. We need to take back the downtown, expropriate land from absent owners, tear down these dilapitated buildings, and spend the millions starting from scratch with the business community who want to make a difference. Right now downtown is a criminals paradise. The City of Prince George needs leadership and the courage to ruffle a few feathers in order to make a change.

one comment. How could we possibly be any worse off after burning down every pawn shop in town?

Kozmo, you said:

"Throwing millions of dollars at 3rd Ave only gives these people nicer sidewalks to spit on, better streetlights to smash, and more branches to pull from the trees."

Well, guess what. I just finished watching the news about someone taking out a whole bunch of trees on Ospika Boulevard.

Lets face it, this town is full of yahoos who are in every way the equal of those who might be spitting on the sidewalks downtown. In fact, those who damage the lights and trees downtown might just be the very same people who damage property in other parts of the city. We really do not know, do we?

So, what this town needs is a whole bunch of growing up before we can call ourselves a City and be proud of it.

Spanky, that is a new low for comments on here and I hope someone sees fit to remove it before we show that Hedi Fry was right .....

At one time I was going to tell some of my friends and family in the rest of Canada and Europe about this site so that they can experience some of the local issues.

I am now glad I did not do so because I would have been very embarrassed.

A lot of good points here. Yes, this town is full of yahoos with nothing better to do than damage public and private property for kicks. No area of town is immune, but the downtown probably gets the worst of it.

I also have to agree with Kozmo's comments about the downtown being a magnet for undesirables. Why wouldn't it be? The downtown has everything for them. There's no way I would ever locate my business down there.

Since we ar more concerned about the opinion of others on this website I may as well put in my two cents.
It seems odd that there are so many business people being able to spend hour on this site instead of minding the store. Maybe you should be checking your business plan instead of makeing irrelevant coments on the opinion of others
Have a nice day.

Opacho--maybe-just maybe--business is not so great in this city, and the best of business plans brings no results of value.
Maybe some of these business people are forced to fill their time in some manner.
I invite you to derive a business plan for those in need. Just do it in a general manner, suitable for a business to pick out options which presumably can meet their needs.
Now, make yourself useful.
I, for one, shall be more than interested in your forthcoming proposals.
I am not shy about asking for assistance. so let it happen!!!!

Opatacho, was that comment directed at me?

Just to clarify, I am not a business owner. My last sentence should have read that I would not locate my business downtown if I had one.