The rolling ball that is the prospective performing arts centre is starting to pick up speed with the hiring of a community relations officer by the Performing Arts Centre Society.
Although the job is only five hours a week right now, it is the next step in the plan to shove a performing arts centre down the throats of Prince George taxpayers.
The city has already spent $520,000 for the land on which to build the centre as well as somewhere in the region of $300,000 for reports, a business plan, design concept and feasibility study.
While a lot of people in the arts community seem to think it's a good idea, very few of them will actually use the centre if it is built.
The reason is cost. They can't afford to either pay the rent, or the increased costs to their performers were they to move to a bigger venue.
"We've got a gaping great hole in our provision," said Clive Keen, Prince George Regional Performing Arts Centre Society public relations committee chair.
He said the Prince George Playhouse has 300 seats and CN Centre has 4,000 to 6,000 seats but there is a massive gap in the crucial spot in the middle. Bringing in professional entertainers requires about an 800-seater in order to be economical.
Vanier Hall, a venue belonging to School District 57, has 800 seats, but Keen said it leaves people wanting noting that it lacked most of the things needed to get people out - like proper lighting, sound, adequate toilets and ambience.
"We want to be the entertainment capital of the north of the province and we're not. We're missing out on a terrific amount of activity," said Keen.
But who are these entertainers Keen and his ilk say need an 800-seat centre to make things work? It doesn't seem to have hampered CN Centre from doing a great job of bringing quality entertainers here.
No one seems to say how local organizations, dance troups, performance groups etc. will use the centre. It is like the Field Of Dreams syndrome. "If you build it, they will come."
But there is no movie magic here.
People won't come and use it and we as taxpayers will be left holding our empty wallets again as the city continues to increase taxes, utility fees, garbage collection fees, facility fees and any other fees to subsidize this huge white elephant.
Has the Performing Arts Centre Society approached SD 57 to see if they could get together on the project?
Surely $2 million-$3 million in renovations to lighting, toilets, sound and maybe even a $100,000 upgrade to the all important ambience factor would be a much better solution than the $50 million cost for the - not yet approved - performing arts centre.
Mike Davis, manager of communications and citizen engagement for the city, said the performing arts centre has been identified in council's strategic plan as a priority project, but council has not made a decision to proceed with the project, but through the work of the society, they are evaluating the feasibility.
What sort of rubbish is that?
If you came home one day to find your spouse had just put you into more debt by purchasing the house next door for $520,000 because he wants to build an outdoor swimming pool, and then told you he was spending another $300,000 to do a feasibility study to see if building the swimming pool was a good idea, one of you would be filing for a divorce on the double, and the other would be politely escorted by men in white coats to the fourth floor of the hospital.
So why then is it OK for our city to spend almost $1 million of taxpayer money to evaluate the feasibility of the performing arts centre?
If it has been identified in council's strategic plan as a priority project, and city has bought the land and provided $300,000 or so for studies, it would seem that the city has indeed made a decision on the project.
The other thing that begs mentioning here is, why would the city provide $300,000 to an organization that wants a performing arts centre just so they can conduct studies to see if our city should build a performing arts centre?
It boggles the mind.
How can you expect them to come up with any other answer than "the results of the feasibility study on behalf of the Performing Arts Centre Society to determine if our city needs a performing arts centre has concluded that we do indeed need a performing arts centre."
