The park isn't the problem, it's the people.
That's the one thing both the supporters and the opponents of building a small park behind the new Wood Innovation and Design Centre building on George Street agree on. Nobody seems to be against the idea of planting grass and trees and putting in some nice walkways and benches in the central space between Fourth and Fifth Avenues and George and Dominion Streets, where a parking lot sits now.
Nobody seems to be against the idea of blocking the alley to traffic and devoting that space to a one-way downtown transit bus exchange.
It's the location and the likely use of that space that has raised the concern of city councillors, the ire of downtown merchants and some harsh comments from local citizens. Many of those comments have been made online and some of them were made to representatives from van der Zalm and Associates, the designers of the park who held a community information session on the plan Wednesday afternoon at the Ramada.
"What will the park be after dark?" asked one woman while examining the maps and layout plans of the site.
"Well, it'll still be a park," answered the van der Zalm spokesman as patiently and politely as he could muster.
"No, it will not be a park," she answered, shaking her head before going on to state the location will simply be a convenient spot to get drunk, use drugs, have sex and God only knows what else.
Those fears are justified.
Last fall, the park down the street at First Avenue and George Street, right next door to the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George headquarters, was all but demolished, the bank flattened and the trees removed, because that's what that well-meaning park and downtown green space had become.
The year before that, the Prince George Public Library and the Prince George Civic Centre took back that small pie-shaped piece of empty green space between their two buildings, fenced it off and transformed it into the Knowledge Garden. The garden is a great place to have a wedding, host outdoor story events for kids, take pictures after graduation ceremonies and other formal events, even announce candidacy for political office, all uses it has seen since it opened.
Before it was the Knowledge Garden, however, it was used as an outhouse, a drug house, a brothel, a camp site, a bar and more.
And who can forget that beautiful fountain that used to be next to the Four Seasons Pool at the corner of Dominion and Seventh Avenue? A well-meaning water feature erected to mark Canada's centennial, the fountain was more commonly used as an oversized public toilet.
This is the future many residents foresee for this proposed downtown park. They worry the cost to build the park doesn't reflect the true ongoing cost for police to properly monitor the area and keep it safe or the cost to surrounding businesses of it becoming just another haven for problem activity.
For the park to go ahead, it should either be fenced and closed by city staff at a certain time each day, the suggestion made by the woman at Wednesday's forum, or it needs to be the opening salvo in a long-term commitment to the overall improvement of downtown. That would involve increased long-term spending and staff time from the city and RCMP, working with downtown business and property owners, as well as social and health agencies, to clean up the city core and address both the people and the problems.
There's no point in putting lipstick on a pig unless you're planning a whole makeover for the hog. The start has to begin somewhere and that downtown park could be it but it's going to take participation from everyone to make it work.
One last note.
If it goes ahead, the park should be - with the blessing of her family - named the Natasha Montgomery Memorial Park. Montgomery is the only victim of Cody Legebokoff whose body has not been recovered. The 23-year-old Quesnel woman was last seen in August of 2010 around Third Avenue and Queensway, just a few blocks from the proposed park.
The park would serve as a reminder that this community hasn't forgotten the victims of Legebokoff's horrible crimes and it would also be a pledge to one another as residents that we should all always work together to make our streets - and parks - safe for all.
