Councilor Wants Pothole Plan Revisited

Tuesday, April 24, 2007 04:00 AM

Councilor Brian Skakun plans to ask his Prince George Council colleagues to take another look at a budget enhancement that had been rejected. He wants Council to implement the pothole repair budget that would have added an extra $213 thousand dollars to the budget.

Skakun says he thinks approving the enhancement would enable the city to live up to its commitment to improved quality of life in Prince George by building an effective infrastructure, and growing a proud and confident community.

In his Notice of Motion, Skakun says "Leaving pothole repair for a later date is not cost effective, and is hard on vehicles and will cost the city in the long run with pothole claims." He says not only are they an eyesore, they are also a safety hazard. "As we try to attract investment and promote tourism, it is imperative we do all we can in an efficient manner to reduce the negative impact our pothole filled roads have on our community and its image."

Skakun thinks there are some funding options available that would not involve boosting municipal taxes. Those funding options will be discussed when the matter comes before Council at the next meeting which is scheduled for Monday the 30th of April.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: REALIST on April 24 2007 6:55 AM

The only people who should fight this are the car alignment businesses. Well done Brian. Keep up the good work.

Posted by: diplomat on April 24 2007 7:36 AM

Not only are potholes an eyesore, but so are streets that are a continuous quilt work of glued cracks and lumpy pot hole patches!

On some streets (I dare the mayor or just one of the councilors to have a look at Croft Road/Cook Crescent!) it has become virtually impossible to find a stretch of clean level even pavement that is more than 8 or 10 feet long.

They represent long term neglect and an unwillingness by the City to admit that 25 years without complete resurfacing in this climate is far too long for some heavily travelled streets.

New patches are being pasted over old patches, year after year!

Nobody, obviously, has ever incorporated an ongoing street surface replacement plan that really meets the needs of this community.

Whatever has been done has been completely insufficient, unsafe, destructive to the vehicles and an embarrassment to the overall appearance of this city.

Another $213 thousand is a step in the right direction but it is also only a small drop into a very large bucket.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on April 24 2007 7:43 AM

Brian loves to showboat. The rest of the councillors should come up with their own wish list. Lets all have some fun.

How about making PG the river boat capital of the world!

How about lobbying the president of the USA for funds to extend the airport runways.

How about a bylaw to ban all those blow up advertising signs around town.

How about twinning the pedestrian tunnel under road near the Hyundia dealer.

How about getting an archaeological report for the new location from anyone moving a liquor store.

How about a new shoot up hotel on George Street.

No shortage of opportunities to showboat, if you need to flap your wings and crow every other day. Lets list a few more for Councilor Brain.

Posted by: vocer on April 24 2007 8:10 AM

Must have a big one on his street

Posted by: Harbinger on April 24 2007 8:53 AM

Brian probably wouldn't like to see the potholes fixed on the street where the Black Orchid lady lives, I bet. What a maroon.

Posted by: owl on April 24 2007 9:11 AM

I love maroons ......

Posted by: metalman on April 24 2007 9:12 AM

Must be a slow news day.
metalman.

Posted by: owl on April 24 2007 9:18 AM

I do not understand why the so called "enhancement" was rejected.

Why are the same people who complain about potholes on here now complaining because of who proposed to bring it forward? Who gives a chit who brings it forward? The guy is right!!

Most on here seem to think that the City is not repairing potholes in a timely and proper manner. I certainly do. So how are we gonna fix that? Have a prayer meeting? It takes bucks and it takes the proper machinery. At the moment we have neither.

So get on with the enhancement. That means improvement over past practices. If the roads budget covers it and Brian does not realize that, so be it. But if it does not, he is right on and should be supported be everyone who drives on the streets of this city, other than those who drive Hummers and tanks.

Posted by: diplomat on April 24 2007 10:39 AM

I for one am complaining about potholes and I am not complaining about Brian Skakun.

"It takes bucks and it takes the proper machinery. At the moment we have neither."

Apparently, the city tried an automated pothole patching vehicle many years ago, when the first prototypes appeared on the market. It did not perform as expected and ever since then the city has had a negative attitude in respect to this kind of pothole repair, never mind that it is being used all over Canada in larger cities.

Needless to say, the present day equipment and materials are a vast improvement over what was available a couple of decades ago.

As for the bucks: Is it really cheaper to pour millions of dollars EVERY YEAR into manual pothole stuffing when machines can do a much longer lasting repair?

Brian is the only present councilor who will get my vote in the next election.

Posted by: thereasonableman on April 24 2007 10:49 AM

My personal opinion is that Prince George is a complete and utter embarrassment when it comes to roads, and the city council is a complete and total failure in this regard. They voted in a 4% levy to fix the roads, let's see if that brings any quantifiable action.

I plan to drive a tracked machine, the kind designed for off-highway use. If I ever find a driveable highway in this town, I'll buy a truck.

Posted by: owl on April 24 2007 1:48 PM

The city does not care about costs to drivers to fix cars. All they have to do is to go to autoshops to get some opinions about consequences of potholes. I think CKPG did that oen night.

Then there is the cost to potentila fender benders at the least when people try ot avoid a pothole and hit a car. I am sure that happens every now and then. Maybe not. But ICBC should be able to confirm that either way.

Then there is the cost which is difficult to measure, the level of bitchiness in town, the level of unhappiness with the City for not being able to accommodate the problem better than they do.

If someone were to put those kinds of factors into the decision making matrix and include them as a cost of keeping on the same path they have been following for some years, then the cost of counteracting that can go considerably higher than if they simply shut their eyes to it and remain in a state of total denial.

Perhaps we need to withold taqxes for road maintnenace and get a private quote on doing it. Enough of the City having a monopoly on this.

Posted by: Chadermando on April 24 2007 3:30 PM

I think Brian is one of the few current city councilors that I would vote for.

Sled dude writes, "How about getting an archaeological report for the new location from anyone moving a liquor store."

I'll second that one. lol

Posted by: Josey Wales on April 24 2007 5:54 PM

We're down one winter tire / rim already
and after a claim with the city we got back a dear josey letter (aka the big green weiner). This has become a safety
issue and the city is responsible or
more specifically
not being responsible, re road maintainance

Posted by: snappi on April 24 2007 8:44 PM

Aoot of these potholes are more like sink holes!! I am so tired of trying to avoid them when driving. I get really angry when you can't miss them because of oncoming traffic. I just want them fixed.

Posted by: thereasonableman on April 25 2007 12:03 PM

Let's go down to city hall and tear up the pavement in the parking lot.

We'll put drainages, washouts, potholes, the full meal deal. If that doesn't get action, we'll go to the streets they live on and do the same.

Remember: Sh!t doesn't stink unless it's in YOUR backyard.