Today I listened to an interview with Mayor Dan Rogers on the province-wide CBC radio morning broadcast. When questioned on our acquisition of a prime spot on Maclean's crime ranking and Michael Palin's characterization of our city as "smelling like drains," Rogers response was that we need to change public perceptions.
Now, my wife and I live on the northern border of town, well out of the Bowl, and we have neither been mugged nor shot at, so I don't know about our crime rate. But out here we often suffer from the outflow of air pollution from town and this holiday season has seen us breathing foul air almost daily.
It is a sad reality that there is a limit to what we can do about the effluent from our pulp mills and refinery, as we are held hostage by their threats to leave town, shedding the last of the well-paid union jobs, which are a backbone of the economy.
The city has taken small steps in this direction by subsidizing the replacement of inefficient wood-burning appliances with new ones. And they have made a symbolic attempt to reduce automobile engine idling.
And symbolic it was, by imploring patrons of the Foothills landfill and other public areas to shut down their motors. They have, however, ignored major offenders which promote prolonged engine idling. I refer to the numerous drive-through fast food outlets in town.
On any given day we see long lines of cars awaiting service at these windows, their motors fouling the air.
If the city of Prince George is sincerely concerned by air pollution from idling vehicles, it should find means of forcing patrons to park their vehicles and queue up inside these establishments for service.
Allowance could be made for the physically handicapped by restoring the occupation of "car hops" who could take orders and deliver products to their cars.
Until such steps are taken to eliminate, or at least limit, the use of drive-through windows I take council's professed concern for our air quality to be merely eyewash in lieu of real action.
James Loughery
Ferguson Lake
Prince George
