While the anger towards the current city council is understood, it is in many ways being directed in the wrong direction. Prince George City Hall has a number of bloated salaries being paid to people who are in upper management, people who couldn't manage a beer-league hockey team to a losing season.
I understand the concept of cost-overuns, and simple mistakes, I understand construction delays and unforeseen issues with complex construction. What I do not understand is how local governance and city management continue to build capital projects that adhere to some illusion of local resource-centric, architectural design instead of functionality.
Over the last few years, we have seen buildings, such as the new fire hall and RCMP detachment, built as an homage to modern, northern art galleries, akin to something you might see in a Swedish Netflix production. I don't begrudge either of these two buildings, they're needed, but the form definitely took an even stride with function, and in the case of the RCMP detachment, the interior design, something from the Bauhaus school, could have been discarded in favour of actual police spending.
The parking lot is another debacle that requires no further mention other than to say this. Before the City of Prince George decides to slash spending in local policing, or hit us with another tax hike over and above the one coming from artificially increased property taxes, maybe they should start being a bit more thrifty on capital expenditures. Build structures that perform function, instead of building to honour the various artistic influences that are already overdone.
Make PG safer, make the downtown a haven of retail, residential, and entertainment, not a home for glass shops, government and band offices, or union halls, that belong elsewhere. Successful cities have zoning, and sequester specific services within their respective areas; a needle exchange shop would never be found next to a sporting goods store or restaurant, except in P.G.
By the way, as much as the homeless need to be respected and solutions need to be found, showing respect to and working for the local businesses who are failing because they have been forgotten by the local government is required, and now.
Have you all forgotten the basic concepts behind successful business and public harmony? It's time to start getting tough on vagrancy, drugs, and public loitering. Or many of us just may move elsewhere.
Michael Maslen
Prince George
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