Performing Arts Centre: Guest Opinion

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    submitted by:  Eric Allen          

It probably cannot be billed as a battle of the Titans, however you might be able to make a case for a David and Goliath scenario.   David being the taxpayers of Prince George, and Goliath being the well heeled vested interest groups.

On the Goliath side we have:

Gerry Offet, President of Initiatives, Prince George, who I believe set up the first meeting which led to the forming of a Performing Arts Society.  In addition we have City Center Ventures, the downtown business arm of Initiatives, Prince George.  These entities are funded by the City.

We also have the City Councillors and the Mayor who are in favour of the project.

The PAC Society is made up of  (to the best of my knowledge) people who are in favour of the project., and the Chairman of the Society is Cliff Dezell, a past Councillor, who knows the ins and outs of City Hall.

On the David side we have:

A large percentage of taxpayers from the City of Prince George who do not support this project, which was why it was relegated to the last on the list in (1989).  These people would like to see the present facilities utilized as in the past, and the money saved spent on more mundane things, such as road repairs, or God forbid a reduction in taxes.

The David people will be able to write letters to the Editor of the local papers, some of which are restricted to one letter every three weeks, or they can complain to their elected representatives at City Hall, however because the Councillors support the project this would appear to be a waste of time.  They could also obtain signatures on a petition and present it to City Hall, however other than that, they have limited options.  I doubt very much if they could set up their own Society, say a Society against the building of a PAC Centre, and get $150,000.00 from the City so that they could do an independent study to show that a PAC Center is not required.

So the stage is set, vested interest groups, with  funding doing a feasibility study to determine whether or not their pet project is viable.

I will predict right now that the result of the study will say that the City needs a PAC and it will then move on to the next phase, which will be funding etc;

Before this is over this little group of people will cost taxpayers in Prince George in excess of $25 Million dollars, so that they can sit back in cushioned seats and watch the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.   Will the taxpayers have any actual say in this matter?  That remains to be seen.  At present it looks like an end run.

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