Recently I attended the council session on the return of pay parking to downtown. They seemed to be bedazzled by the technology. Aparc gave an impressive presentational all cloud computing and license plate recognition, tracking of vehicles, advertising promotion and validation from merchants. Beam me up Scotty. Cameron Stoltz was eager, lets make a decision tonight, why wait. Dave Wilbur denied that it was a revenue grab. What are we discussing here. I believe downtown consists of seven streets bordered by Victoria and Queensway. This technology is used in Vancouver, Richmond, Victoria and very well in Sausilito. Are there that many cars in downtown Prince George. The DBIA and Chamber of Commerce presented the less glamorous, hey we are just a little downtown trying to survive approach. We don't have a parking problem, but an enforcement problem they stated.People who work downtown are parking on the street. Why are they not parking in the parkades. Could it be that the majority of people who work downtown are women who do not want to go into a dark scary parkade on a winter night. There seems to be a determined effort to kill any spark that is downtown now. There have been flickering signs of hope. Witness all the people walking to and from the market on George street, or walking along Fourth to the Butler's Pantry and various shops, or over to Groop Gallery, perhaps going into a caf on the way. A far cry from the days of the downtown rally when George street was a gong show. Slowly we have witnessed the rise of small business downtown, the brave young entrepreneurs that make a place interesting. This past summer I visited several small communities, Gibsons, Powell River, Qualicum Beach and yes West Vancouver. All vibrant, and what did they have in common, no pay parking downtown. It would be great to see some vision and direction return in regards to the downtown. We had it for a while. When I walked out of council chambers I looked straight at a photo of Anne Martin. Now there was a lady with some vision.
Jennifer Ferries
Prince George
