We sure spend a lot of money on places for the bums to hang out. I hope they excited about this news.

They are building them everywhere it seems.What's the point?
There is one slated for McKenzie and even one for Fort St.James!
Have you ever seen downtown Fort St.James on normal day?
Now THAT'S funny!
:-)

"Spirit Square." Before I assume anything I would be grateful for an explanation: It will be a "community square" celebrating the *spirit* of what or of whom?

I agree Diplomat!
It is a very confusing terminology.
At a time when costs of everything in general are rising,including the Olympics,it seems like a pointless waste of tax dollars.
And poorly explained and justified.
Up to 500 thousand dollars is a lot of lawn!
Money that could have been better spent!

This program has been around for almost a year and we still have not received approval for ours. For the life of me I do not understand why the RCMP building would have such a square! There are plenty of other spaces downtown which are close to filling that need now and need some tweaking in order for them to work better. Civic Plaza comes to mind immediately. The City Hall would be another location.

It seems we are scattering these places around all over the place rather than concentrating on one and doing it right. We have the park next to the RDFFG, City Hall front lawn, Court house, Civic Centre Plaza, Potentially the area on front of the downtown pool which is being refurbished, Connaught Hill park. Why are we spreading ourselves so thin rather than concentrating on quality?

I realize the RCMP building will be a public building with some importance to it. But a public square as the heritage square to celebrate the 150th anniversary of BC? I think this is just an attempt to throw some money at part of the building site development which should have happened whether this program was available or not.

Here is what it says in the program at this site: http://www.spiritsquares.gov.bc.ca

In 2008 British Columbia celebrates the 150th anniversary of its founding as a Crown Colony. Recognizing the desire to assist special community projects that honour the past and celebrate the future, the B.C. “Spirit Square” capital funding program was announced on October 27, 2006.

At the heart of every great community lies a site – a park, plaza, town square or open space – where citizens can gather for special occasions. These spaces help give towns and cities their identity and are recognized as “places to go” for community celebrations and commemorations. The “B.C. Spirit Squares” Program will support the creation or improvement of such places in communities throughout BC.”

So, PG gets its identity from the RCMP and the Court House ..... great! just great!! Welcome to law and order City.

Money can always be used somewhere else but if things were'nt been done to revitalize downtown you would be crying about that too.

Thanks for the website, owl! I like to see the final design and how it will fit into Victoria Street's present potholed and dimly lit appearance!

At least it won't be far to transport the bums to the tank.

I am also keen on seeing the design. I we knew who in this City is involved with it. This is a site of some potential importance as far as I am concerned. I do not want to see $500,000 squandered on what could be just a boost to the funding of a building which is typically not associated with public squares.

I just cannot see where the principles for successful public squares as outlined on the website are best met in front of an RCMP building.

http://www.pps.org/squares/info/squares_articles/squares_principles

I am crossing my fingers that I will be pleasantly surprised when the plan is unveiled.

Of course, the plaza will not be ready for the 150th celebration .... so they will have to be held elsewhere. :-(

"That is one of the 2010 programs which provides funding on a dollar for dollar basis up to a maximum of $500 thousand for a NEW "community square."

BTW ... the NEW in there is true, but it is also for improvement of existing squares. So, NEW is not the key criteria. The "heart" and the "gathering" are keys as far as I am concerned.

An animal has one "heart". Heart, in this context can also be referred to as "centre". A circle has one centre.

We have many, too many in the downtown of a small city from my point of view.

Our City likes to take advantage of funding that is available for other purposes to build facilities that we need for other reasons. Did we really need that tunnel for the trails program, no. We need a tunnel / over head pass for people crossing the highway near the college and down by the Spruceland mall, but there is no dollars for that. So we now have one for the trail system as there was partial funding available for that.

So same in this case. They will take a portion of the money to give the RCMP some landscaped area, instead of having to pay for it as part of the building.

If the proper space is set aside for this, give it some over head coverage and there could have been the new area for the farmer's market. Might have not been totally enclosed but easily could be covered and would help out with the other functions to go on at the square.

Owl is right on.
It is another example of lack of insight on the City of Prince George's part.
It is also an example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
Sheer incompetence on the City's part.

I understand the downtown BIA is also against this location...

If you are going to build a truly urban downtown gathering place that celebrates who we are as a city...then build a REAL SQUARE...they are found all over the world...But it just seems like the decision-makers (THE HIGHLY PAID ADMINISTRATION) at the City have never ventured past their private ivory tower offices. The VISION thing is certainly missing...

Another lost opportunity from those that have reached the Peter Principle. Too bad...it could have been a real set piece in a new downtown for us Prince Georgians that truly care about our City.

NOTE: Bureaucracy is self perpetuating and always has been.

If we're going to build a square in this town, then lets build two.

First location, bull doze the area between 3rd and 4th on George Street between the Plaza 400 building and the Court House. This is in the flood plain and is ideally situated for grevence marches on the government or courts on either side of the new square. Bonus could be that you close 3rd and 4th avenue and remove that anoying light on Queensway, as well as utilizing new space for a transportation hub serving the the downtown and local rallies. Then we could march on George to City hall and everyone could join because its only a block away lol.

Second location, in the Hart behind the Tim Hortons across from the community hall. Fill in that vacent lot with a community meeting place for the 25,000 people that live north of the Nechako.

The problem with the police station as I see it is that we would be asked as sheep to walk ourselves to a convenient location to be arrested if it is to be considered a free speech square. Also it wastes what little realestate the downtown has that is viable for underground parking.

IMHO

Maybe Spirit Square, will be where we will keept the Spirit Bear.