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Madly off in all directions

When I think of what is taking place at city hall in regards to the parkade, Haggith Creek Bridge, Winnipeg and Carney Street sinkhole etc.
eric allen
eric allen column header

When I think of what is taking place at city hall in regards to the parkade, Haggith Creek Bridge, Winnipeg and Carney Street sinkhole etc., I can't help but think of what the Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock says about a fellow who "flung himself upon his horse, and rode madly off in all directions."  

Seems to me the city has any number of projects on the go in various stages at any given moment and the best they can do is run madly in all directions and hope something comes out OK.  

What's the chance of that happening?

The dust has not even settled on the projects noted above and we are off in another direction. Millions of dollars required for our storm water system, problems with the steel beams for the new swimming pool that will affect the cost, and perhaps delay the finish date.  

I noted on Good Friday they were back working on the site, however working on a statutory holiday does not come cheap. Seems the beams have to be recoated.  

Although the city mentioned the recoating, there was no mention (to my knowledge) about what went wrong, who was responsible, how much it will cost, and who will pay or what the anticipated delay will be. So once more we are getting the mushroom treatment. In addition we still have the problem with the west wall of the Playhouse. 

Has anyone noticed that the city has a tendency to make a very negative picture of anything that they wish to get rid of and build new? Case in point, the old swimming pool was getting too old to repair, the chlorine system would have to be replaced at some point, the underground piping was getting old and leaking. It would make more sense to build new than repair.  

The old police station no longer met the requirements of the police and, in addition, it was falling apart, there were instances of excrement flowing down the walls and it too needed to be replaced rather than repaired.  

Then of course the downtown fire hall that served us well for fifty years more or less no longer met the needs of the fire department and we would have to build a new one. There were a litany of reasons why this old hall had to go.

So it seems that the denigrating of the facility is the first step in the process of getting rid of it. We now have the Playhouse, which has major problems in the west wall and there is some concern that there might be mold in the building. When will we hear that it would be cheaper to build new than repair?  

When the city talked about our need for an upgraded storm water system, it was with a backdrop of the sinkhole on Winnipeg and Carney and water rushing down Victoria and other city streets. The message being that if we don't solve this problem we run the risk of drowning. They even go so far as to suggest we are having wetter weather because of global warming and they have to make adjustments for the future. Seems like they will be looking for some more tax dollars fairly quickly.

Council put out an update on the review of the parkade project on March 31 and stated that we should get the results of this review by the end of April. We will have to wait until then to see just how coherent the review actually is.  

If it does not meet the smell test, then I strongly recommend that the mayor and council approach the Office of the Inspector of Municipalities to hold a full-scale inquiry into the conduct of Prince George municipal business over the past 10-15 years. This inquiry would go a long way to getting the city back on track and would also be very useful to other municipalities having similar problems.

It's going to take the leadership of the mayor and this council to get this inquiry off the ground. The time of running off in all directions needs to come to an end. Having only one solution to all problems -- throwing money at it -- needs to come to an end.  

Taxpayers in Prince George have been very patient over the years with the city and now have come to the end of the line. We need real, as opposed to imaginary, solutions to problems. We need actual work for money paid. We need to put the concerns of the taxpayers in the number one position. We need to quit mollycoddling contractors and developers.

I am predicting today that the major issue in the next election in Prince George will be tax reductions, cost reductions, productivity, and responsible spending. Any politician who wishes to be elected to council or the mayor's position should start their campaigning now. The eyes of the citizens of Prince George will be on the mayor, council and city administration until the next election. 

Let’s see if they can rise to the occasion.