The group who came to The Citizen coffee hour Friday could smell winter closing in.
So the talk soon turned to thoughts of snow, street clearing, and talk of cutting costs in this area to help balance the city's operations budget.
"Council needs to realize we're becoming an aging city with a higher population of seniors," said long-time resident Stan Wheeldon.
"That's the wrong place to start cutting costs. Our snow removal costs may be a little high, but Prince George can kick butt with any city in Canada when it comes to the quality of snow clearing.
"And when it comes to clearing the drive way entrances? Well, that can be a life and death matter in more ways than one. Trying to remove a foot or three of heavy ice and snow can be too much for older people, and when vehicles can't get in or out of driveways, somebody having chest pains inside the house may not be able to get to hospital in time to save their life," said Wheeldon.
Resident Don Lamoureux agreed, saying "Our demographics are changing, and there are issues that need looking at for older residents, like lack of ground-level housing and easy access to medical facilities, but I agree the city has done a real good job with snow clearing."
Both said they'd like to know more of the snow budget details such as why we have shortfalls in the budget in the early stage of winter and how our costs compare with that of other cities our size.
"I think it would be a good idea for city hall to hold public meeting to explain it all," said Lamoureux.
Sharon Ledderhof came to tell about the annual Canadian Mental Health's annual Gift of Hope campaign.
She said drop-boxes to place new, unwrapped gifts for adults with mental disabilities will be placed at sites throughout the city during the third week of November.
The gifts are needed to ensure CMHA clients all receive a gift at the Dec. 19 Christmas party.
Each year the association needs more than 450 gifts for adults, but also a few for the clients' children. Gifts can range from warm clothing, household items and games to bath and shaving items to candy, nuts and Christmas decorations.
"For the majority of our clients, this is their only Christmas," said Ledderhof.
The five people who showed up for coffee agreed that The Citizen coffee hour at the Ramada Hotel is a good thing for everybody and could possible be improved.
"We may not have a call-in radio show any more, but we do have this weekly hour where we can all air our beefs or bouquets," said Wheeldon.
"Everyone needs to know we can meet at 10 a.m. and I think it would be good to have weekly theme, so those interested in a particular subject can make a special effort to come," Lamoureux said.
