PEP Says Province Didn't Ask City To Keep River Rd. Berm In Place

Monday, March 24, 2008 04:00 AM

Prince George, B.C. - Agriculture Minister Pat Bell says the Province has not asked the City of Prince George to keep the River Road berm in place until the spring melt is over.

Bell was responding to a question put to him by Opinion250.

“We have no role in dealing whether the road berm stays or goes “he said. Bell adds, the only post flood request had to do with maintenance "The only request we have had from the City was a request for the Province to cover the costs of the grading and that has been the only request to the Provincial Emergency Program."

Bell adds, "It is strictly up to the City whether it wants the berm to remain in place or not, our jurisdiction does not cover that."

The City's Bob Radloff , General Manager of Operations, said on Thursday that he personally was not told by the Province to keep the berm in place but he would check on the matter and get back to us.

Radloff said, "We had authority under the order issued by the city but now that order is no longer in place." He said maybe it was a "recommendation from the province that the berm remain in place. I will check and get back to you." This is contrary to what Radloff told City Council at the March 17^th regular meeting when he said:

“The Provincial Emergency Program has requested the raised River Road stay in place until after the spring freshet “

The PEP says they have no record of such a request nor would they have made such a request.

At the same time Pat Bell was able to obtain some information concerning the warm water release into the Nechako River after Opinion250 had placed 27 calls to various officials without receiving a response.

The warm water treatment says Bell was removed from the Nechako River,”several weeks ago”.

Bob Radloff says that the city engineering staff are viewing the warm treatment as a success. The Ampibex he said could not have broken the ice jam down had it not been for the water being released into the river at the old Cameron St Bridge.

While the Ampibex did open a channel into the Fraser it later froze over and the warm water entering the river did not open a channel into the Fraser. Radloff says it did however serve to "soften the ice".

Asked whether the City will use the warm water treatment again next year he said, "The City is awaiting a study of the possible mitigation to prevent flooding and the warm water will be a part of that study."

John Brink Co-Chair of the Nechako River Industry Group says we were told several times at the meeting we had with Bob Radloff and city officials that the province had requested that the berm remain in place. We were certainly left with the impression at the meeting that the province was making the decision as to the berm remaining in place and all of our notes say that.

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Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: michael on March 24 2008 7:16 AM

Busted!!!!!!

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on March 24 2008 7:32 AM

That city is a stubborn bunch when they want something. This is just another example of bullheadedness.

Posted by: heidi1555 on March 24 2008 8:10 AM

He said/she said. Just fix it! Fix it before next winter but call in people who really want to make a change to the well being of the river/residents and not just their wallets! I'll get out there with my shovel if I have to and do some volunteering. :)
Speaking of I took kids to Cottonwood last week and could only walk a few steps down the path towards Fort George because of all the doggy surprises....I love my van too much so we ended our walk and went home. I'd love to volunteer and help in any way and i'm sure there are many others out there who love the area enough to see it bounce back from this disaster. Is volunteering possible here? How is the hatchery building doing? Did they get all the funding they needed?

Posted by: diplomat on March 24 2008 8:56 AM

"The Ampibex he said could not have broken the ice jam down had it not been for the water being released into the river at the old Cameron St Bridge."

That city is a stubborn bunch when they make statements. This is just another example of refusing to give credit where credit is due.

Next year they will rely entirely on a hot water dribble addition - NO amphibex - just to make a point.

Posted by: Tom Masich on March 24 2008 10:51 AM

How could the warm water treatment have helped the Amphibex when the machine wwas loaded out in the a.m. of January 29, and the warm water started in the p.m. of January 29.
Retroactive response I guess!

Posted by: giterdun on March 24 2008 11:15 AM

It seems that no body is at the controls of this bus..Just another example of incompetance at city admin.

Posted by: Dozer on March 24 2008 12:20 PM

It seems to me that it is about time that somebody should take the city manager to task and fire him for lying and incompitence and it should be done now before the city management screw something else up

Posted by: Harbinger on March 24 2008 4:13 PM

Maybe the ninnies at city hall can put the berm up fer auction. Lowest bidder takes it.

Posted by: detoe43 on March 24 2008 4:51 PM

Just another in a long list of B.S. stories
to come out of City Hall. Does Kinsley
realize how bad his managers are making him look? Does he care?
Curious; with all the talk about clean air
& particulate control, how do the citizens
of P.G. feel about a gravel road in the bowl that will put alot of dust in the air once everything dries out?

Posted by: owl on March 24 2008 5:40 PM

"How could the warm water treatment have helped the Amphibex when the machine wwas loaded out in the a.m. of January 29, and the warm water started in the p.m. of January 29."

I think that the idea the City engineer has that the warm water helped the amphibex and that the machine could not have done it without that is a bit of a stretch.

However, one has to keep up with the story. The fact is that there were two sources of "warm" water. The first was from the City well at the south end of the Cameron street bridge. That is the reference.

For those who did not know, or already forgot, here is the story.
http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/8255/3/warm+water+system+takes+over+from+amphibex

Posted by: thereasonableman on March 24 2008 6:37 PM

Whatever the case, it is prudent to leave the berm until after the spring high water flow is done. It would look incredibly stupid to remove the berm and then have another flood.

After this year's learning curve, we should all be better prepared next year.

Posted by: diplomat on March 24 2008 7:41 PM

After the Amphibex cleared a channel all the way close to the bridge the level fell immediately by 5 or 6 feet and stayed low after that.

The city and Mr. Bell seem to be at odds with two different stories.

Past experience prompts me to believe Mr. Bell and not the city.

The city does not seem to communicate well with the Province, which explains the continuing lack of proper right and left turn lanes on the Bypass. They are still way too short and hamper the proper flow of traffic.

Also, the traffic lights along the Bypass are completely uncoordinated and operate at random, without the wired interconnections which would facilitate a better continuous flow of traffic and reduce idling.

Also, the Bypass with all the garbage piled up in the ditches and bushes along its entire length is a complete disgrace!

Isn't anybody ever going to clean up this unsightly mess?

What impression are visitors and people simply passing through getting? They must think that the whole city looks likes this, like a filthy garbage dump!

Anybody in charge? Apparently not. Time to change the guards.

Posted by: thereasonableman on March 24 2008 11:42 PM

Topic changer !

Friday Free for All does not occur on a Monday, oddly enough ?

Why do you even bother to comment on the story at hand, why not just get right to saying what you want us to hear and monopolizing the forum for your political slandering ?

Posted by: owl on March 25 2008 12:14 AM

I thought the topic at hand was how the city and province have different stories about the same event. One says they were told to keep the berm on top of a road, and the other says they were not told that ands they can remove anytime.

So, who is telling the truth? Maybe neither. How will we find out the real story? Should we find out the real story?

Should we find out which of the two governments who report to us is responsible for leaving a mess and for not doing anything to prevent the flooding caused by ice jambs ever since PG first existed?

How long will it take to fix it and which government will fix it? Is this a reasonable question, or should we simply close the door on this and "move foreward"?

Posted by: owl on March 25 2008 12:16 AM

I think Diplomat was simply pointing out that the City and the province do not get along very well. The air quality and lack of coordination with respect to that is another example of it.

Posted by: heidi1555 on March 25 2008 8:14 AM

Actually the garbage drives me nuts too...all the way up the Hart...almost like nobody bags their garbages properly and the garbage truck picks it up from the curb then blows it around town until it reaches the dump. But we can't blame it on not bagging properly. :) The drunk drivers should be put on garbage duty.

If we were to go back through all the articles where someone was quoted we'd find who was telling the truth. Who's up for the read?

Posted by: Harbinger on March 25 2008 11:11 AM

Political slandering? Yup. Open season on hizzoner and his gang. Try that in China, pal. Count yer blessings you can bad mouth anyone in Canada as long as you are polite. Works fer me.

Posted by: diplomat on March 25 2008 11:56 AM

Stating verifiable obvious facts is not slandering.

If my previous post (according to thereasonableman's opinion) had been slanderous (and it wasn't) the moderator would have removed it.

When are they going to communicate to get the province to correct the obvious traffic hindrances on the Bypass and when are they going to do a garbage clean-up?

Posted by: lostfaith on March 25 2008 11:57 AM

One reason there is so much garbage all over town is because of our new garbage can system we have. People are not putting all of thier trash in bags and then putting it in the can.
When the truck lifts the can and tips it , the lid opens and the garbage blows down the street before it has a chance to get into the truck. Perhaps the wizzards at the mechanical shop could install a vacuum system on the trucks to prevent it.

So people please put all your garbage into bags before putting it into the can, cause I am sick of your garbage blowing down the street and into my yard.
I believe thats what Heidi was meaning in her post.