The Gateway has become not just a business district on the southern channel into downtown, but also a cultural channel as well.
When considerations are made about how aesthetics can affect public safety, business prosperity, property values, etc. the Gateway Business Improvement Area has consistently been the front edge of the plough in Prince George - a plough that has dug more than $2 million deep.
A collection of shopkeepers and landowners has hung together for these 15 years, despite being business competitors in some cases, and turned a dilapidated sector of the city into a pleasant mercantile neighbourhood.
Surface proof of this fact is the name itself. Fifteen years ago, there was no place in Prince George known as The Gateway. Now most people know that The Gateway is the commercial area radiating out from 17th Avenue and Victoria Street to the intersection of Highway 16 and Highway 97, with most of the business action along 20th Avenue.
The merchants in that zone all use the term "The Gateway" as a reference point in their ads, there are large signs telling people where it is, and it has entered the public consciousness.
These merchants tore out the broken old sidewalks and put in new brick ones, they eradicated the old nondescript light poles and put in decorative ones. They upgraded their signage and facades. They planted gardens and placed benches. They installed public art, the latest of which is under construction now at the intersection of 20th and Victoria, a steel sculpture called 'Commotion' that depicts human forms holding hands in an exuberant tumbling formation.
"It is meant to embody the diversity and co-operative spirit of the people living in the surrounding neighbourhoods, and indeed the entire city," said a joint statement from the merchants of the GBIA.
It was a spot where one of the Gateway signs had been installed 12 years ago, but it was removed and reset to a different art site (a giant mural on the wall of the Connaught Youth Centre) to make way for this one.
"The sign was deteriorating and the garden wasn't up to our standards anymore, so we were looking for something new," said Harvey's Carline Muffler boss John Enemark, one of the longtime leaders of the all-volunteer GBIA movement. "In 2008 we came up with the idea of a waterfall or artwork or something, and with that we need the approval of the provincial government because it is on a provincial highway (Victoria Street is superimposed over Highway 16) and the municipality because it is within the city, so there are a lot of standards to meet. We came up with this idea for a sculpture."
Artist Roman Muntener and his colleagues at Concept Design were approached to lead the project, made of half-inch raw plate steel sheets that will oxidize over time to result in an earthy rust colour.
Having intentionally chosen to undertake this project during a slow economic time, the Gateway merchants who commissioned the work are proud to have kept it entirely local, from design to production.
So how much did it cost?
"It's a gift. You don't ask the price of a gift. This was from us to the citizens of Prince George," Enemark said. But he does dispel one money myth he has heard since 'Commotion' was started.
"People assume all the work done in the Gateway was paid for by the government, but it was our own money. We have spent $2.2 million so far, none of it from the government, all by the merchants but put on city property."
It has been money well spent, he said. In an area people would once fear to walk, where the public avoided doing business, now there are running groups jogging through and nearby homeowners investing in the upkeep of their residential property, and merchants investing in their own buildings to keep up with the good looks of the city-owned areas.
"And yes, it has helped our businesses. People do come here to shop because of our improvements," Enemark said.
'Commotion' is not yet complete. Some detailing still has to be installed and is expected to be ready for a grand celebration sometime in late spring or early summer.
The GBIA is not complete, either. Enemark said the ideas are still rolling among The Gateway's business owners so the public can expect to see more from them in the near future.
