I had to laugh at the paint ball incident. Nice throw !

Downtown is safe. Seems all the action is taking place elsewhere.

And dont forget have your conventions on other then fullmoon nights.

Love my City.

Cheers

I just hope he ran away fast after throwing that bottle.
The yearning to move keeps getting stronger and stronger...somewhere south...less snow and with an aging population would be nice. A little more peace never hurt anyone.

Anyone who thinks downtown is safe should get another think.It isn't even safe for the police anymore!

Downtown is relatively safe during the day. These are all typical cause and effect of PG residents drinking. Anyone been in downtown Edmonton or Calgary lately when bars are closing down? Things arent much different.

I feel safer in downtown Vancouver or
Calgary than PG day or night . The problem
is not many people want to go downtown
after dark (strength in numbers). Vancouver's strategy of attracting people
to both live & work in the city core has
paid off in spades, becoming a world class
model that PG could certainly learn from.
Our city needs to develop a strategy to
reclaim the downtown core, attract living
development & longterm business interests.
As it stands now downtown PG is mostly an
eyesore, with a few bright spots.

Our city needs to develop a strategy to
reclaim the downtown core, attract living
development & longterm business interests.

Even if it were a getto someone would always have to pay the taxes on the propery and thats all the City is interested in. There will never be "saftey in numbers" when the population is decreasing and the City peremiter is expanding.

The City planners just dont care about where our City is going . All they know is more taxes and to hell with where our City . In the 70's when our retail community was grouped down town and along Victoria St there was hope. But that has all but been destroyed with expanding up Highway 16 in the Westgate area.

Just very recently Basserman refered to Universty Heigths development as "infill". with brains like that how can we ever expect much else from what is happening downtown.

It used to be an event for the family to shop on Friday night on third ave with stores like the Bay, Northern Hardware, WD west, Banks and many others. It is hard to imagine how they still survive today.

Maybe we could do a class action on the City for destroying the downtown area.

Cheers

The problem with the downtown is that it isn't big enough for large scale developments like the stuff out at Westgate, however, it's too big to effectively fill up with niche and smaller scale businesses.

I think we killed all chance of an effective revitalization when stuff like the Multiplex and Aquatic Center were buit where they were. We should have made efforts to accomodate those downtown at the very least. The casino is another one that should have stayed in the downtown core. It would have taken some considerable planning and work to see it all happen, but the downtown would be miles ahead of where it is now. Those 3 things alone would've brought a few more thousand people into the downtown core on a weekend. All of a sudden you need coffee shops, more hotels, restaurants, etc. People would be parking all over the place downtown, which would increase foot traffic and opportunities for smaller niche businesses to attract people into their shops as people walk by and notice them. Who knows, maybe people would even want to live down there if all of the services developed.

Instead, we have massive parking lots, facilities on busy streets and no spin off benefits. Yipee.

The downtown is a dump, pure and simple.
Second hand stores all over the place, hangers on, on every corner, a collecting place for drunks, and druggies, and hookers. If you sit in your car for 10 minutes you will be approached by a hooker to see if your looking for company. Store windows are boarded up, and it looks like they are expecting to be attacked.

If the City cannot do anything about the problems except to plant trees, then maybe the solution is to not support the area at all and let it die a natural death.

The casino when it was downtown only attracted more unsavoury characters to the area, and the new gaming centre on 7th was put their to get the money from those who cannot get to the casino. We will have more unsavoury characters and panhandlers hanging around the swimming pool, art centre, civic centre, and City Hall.

What a wonderful City. We always think of the needs and wants of our Citizens first.

Ah c'mon Palopu, you don't think "Casino 2" will revitalize the downtown and spark a mini development of adjacent condo's :)

Hey don't forget about the non polluting central heating plant the wiseones are planning for downtown. Isn't that part of the revitalization? Let us face it folks, the time to 'fix downtown' has come and gone. I do not have any suggestions on what we should be doing, but it is obvious that this problem will not be solved anytime soon. Perhaps if the city started buying up parcels of land and then developed them for retail/residential?
The land on which the new police station is to be located could be a start..
metalman.

I think the city would love to spend all our tax dollars under the 200 year flood plane with 'economic development' capital projects.

The problem is the private sector does not want to jump off that bridge with the city. The private sector wants to invest in low risk sites with good upside potential. The only private investment talking about flood plain investment in downtown PG is 'Casino 2' for a major pick pocket of any lose dollars any potential downtown shopper may have had left. The rest of the potential projects are home tax funded projects.

And we can't forget its an election year so the six town houses will be an on again project to keep the revitalization momentum going.

Facts are the city would be better to get with the private investor program and create a viable urban area with future upside potential. I say take advantage of natural settings like Cranbrook Hill crest, or natural infrastructure like the highway16 Pine Centre area. Eventually the rest of the cities growth with pull the downtown along for the ride as a commercial and government services center.

AIMHO

Downtown should be safe during the day, cause when I am down there there is no one else about. Upcoming election? Let us take a moment to get ready to imagine who is going to speak out about "downtown revitalization" first this summer. Oh yes, don't forget that other apple of PGs eye and that would be tourism. With still no public campground in this town, the whole topic is to laugh. I think the denizens on city council who got voted in last time will be busy being on the defensive this next time around trying to justify their past screw ups rather than inspiring us with their future leadership plans. Again, I would laugh, if it wasn't so sad.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish." Please tell me if anyone in leadership at city hall has a clear vision for our downtown core? If there is, I don't know about it.

Currently, businesses downtown support the downtown businesses. From my perspective, the focus for downtown development has been pawnshops, needle exchanges, low cost housing, soup kitchens, biker bars and other bars that do not cater to the type of folks we are trying to bring downtown. Sorry, but the bleeding hearts on our city council are responsible for the condition and the situation of our downtown. You need to decide if this is the direction you want our city core to continue to go? Come election time, better know what is important to your and vote accordingly. Same old, same old is not my idea of moving ahead and cleaning up the downtown. Chester

Nothing will change in the management of the City of Prince George without courageous acts by individuals who are in a position to effect change. These persons, and indeed their positions, are rarely found in captivity, since their very nature defies categorization. They would not ordinarily allow themselves to be caged in by bureacracy, chained to the sensibilities and ideals of those who preceded them. Bold strokes are needed, but will not be undertaken, simply because the would be instigators do not relish the potential for unpopularity. This is why they typically move slowly, and only in packs. Further complicating the issue for plain thinking blue collar folk is the fact that the bureaucrat, in his natural environment, will not break out of the group, unless it is to allow the entry of 'the expert' who is only welcome if he comes from away, for that is the only type that can help the bureaucrat on his home turf. The bureaucrat has evolved to the point where he has recognized it is far simpler and often more profitable,in times of turmoil, to chastize one who is not within his normal sphere of operations, should everything go sideways on him. On the other hand, if all goes as he has plotted, he knows he will be lauded as a hero, carried on the shoulders of the masses, and hailed as the great white* hope. Behold: The Bureaucrat.
metalman.
*could not resist.