It came to my attention last week that the City of Prince George will be making a request for proposals regarding a grand plan for our belle ville. As a citizen of B.C.'s northern capital, it would be unpatriotic of me to not give my two cents for free, especially seeing that whomever wins the bid is almost sure to be a consultant who resides far away from here.
My suggestions for improving our town are as follows:
Step one: double the starting pay of councilors and give the mayor a 30 per cent raise. Lots of qualified people don't get involved with municipal politics because it just doesn't pay enough.
For those who think this will break the bank, I invite you to put a better price on experienced leaders.
Step two: cut all property taxes and move to sales taxes, either in the form of a universal merchant tax throughout the city, or even a heightened gas tax.
Property taxes are obsolete and feed the speculative system of real estate.
Consumptive taxes are the only good taxes.
Step three: implement a grand infrastructure strategy. It ought to comprise of a 20 year cycle for road maintenance, a 10 year cycle for facades and a 50 year cycle for building updates or demolition. The last point is key, as the local arsonist seems to be beating city hall to the punch.
Step four: help concentrate demographics in this city, if not by wards then by incentives that appeal to particular groups. Save the downtown by putting the people there who care about it, using narrow lot housing and student residences, as well as recreation and recording spaces.
Step five: adjust transit to change market behavior. Currently, there are buses that roam the older suburbs half empty, but allow rent seekers to let houses that aren't near amenities.
Reroute transit so that it favors east of Central Street, and watch as empty lots begin to be filled.
Step six: decentralize snow clearing services. There are too many models for shared community services to be cited here, but outside the bowl area, the tempo and need for snow clearing changes. Let these communities decide how best to tackle snowfall with their own funds.
These six steps and their underlying necessities, are key to the success of Prince George. There are several more steps that ought to be taken, and though I must admit I do not have fully formed thoughts on all of them, they do include:
Having Victoria surrender all authority over local schools and their budgets to local boards and municipalities; getting Northern Health to bring back public elections for the hospital board and regional governance; closing down Third Avenue for buses and pedestrians only while simultaneously re-establishing the one-way on Fourth; and making better use of waterfront property around town for restaurants and recreation.
As I've said time and time again, this city has the potential to be truly great and live up to its name of "B.C.'s Northern Capital."
And yes, this will take restructuring and some honest self-assessment about destructive behaviors that haven't worked in the past. But with a little elbow grease, good will, and foresight, Prince George could become the excellent home we've always wanted it to be.
