A million here for a roundabout to nowhere, a million there for a new sound-system at CN Centre, now another $4 million for the downtown Knight’s Inn motel?
A few days ago, Mayor Simon Yu went over the plan. We will tear it down and add it to the collection of vacant land for a yet-to-be-determined mega-project that will include a wish list that makes my head spin: a new arena, a performing arts centre, a convention centre, and possibly a five-star hotel.
It’s all part of the downtown “Civic Core District Plan” whose goal is to “strengthen the local economy” and “enhance the vibrancy of downtown.”
I could be convinced the city could use a new or upgraded convention centre and performing arts centre, but I’m less sure of this location or whether they need to be part of a mega-plan like this one.
The warning sign is the lack of vision. We don’t know what it will cost, how we are going to pay for it, or what kind of buildings we even need. And yet here we are spending a significant chunk of change buying property with no civic debate, let alone a referendum?
The biggest delusion is thinking we can fix downtown by tearing down the low-income housing. Apparently, the Knight’s Inn is housing folks that formerly lived in homeless camps. It is being leased by BC Housing in partnership with the Native Friendship Centre and provides 44 rooms.
How much will it cost to replace 44 rooms?
Who cares?
If there’s one thing we are good at it’s tearing down perfectly good units. We did that to the Simon Fraser Inn, which was recently renovated when we bought it and tore it down for our new over-budget pool. And prior to that we purchased and levelled the historic PG Hotel for an unneeded government building.
Say what you will about the PG Hotel, but it had accessible public restrooms downtown. It certainly had cheap rooms that people in troubling circumstances could turn to.
When you take away cheap rooms, hotels and dive bars, we take away dignity for those who depend on them. They are forced to move out onto the sidewalks and the homeless camps.
Maybe one day we will figure that out, but that day is not today. Instead, we carry on, enlisting the power of public finance to buy up and tear down low-income housing units to create fancy civic structures of supposed high culture to gloss over our underlying lack of culture.
If we think that’s going to improve the resiliency and vibrancy of our downtown and rebuild our economy, let alone assist with reconciliation and showcase our First Nations heritage, which in my opinion should be our priority as far as cultural enhancement is concerned, I’m afraid to say we are sadly mistaken.
James Steidle is a Prince George writer.
