An open letter to people who care about downtown Prince George:
What do you think of the premise, "if you build it, they will come?" I was never one to put a lot of stock in that phrase. And yet, after asking several students at the College of New Caledonia what they would like to see in Downtown Prince George, the highest trending suggestion was housing. This idea is nothing new, but it might have new implications given the source.
Students are an anomaly when it comes to demographics. They are hyper-participatory citizens, as any given page of this paper will show you: sports, academic achievements, clubs, charity work, and community projects are literally a way of life for many students. And while some of their delivery is not always the most polished, one must credit their heartfelt effort and goals.
Call me presumptuous, but there appears to be a mutual benefit waiting to happen on this count. People who like to participate want to live in a part of our city that needs a lot of community effort; coincidentally, there's already an infrastructure of cool places to hang out at down there anyway. And given that the revitalization of several downtowns across the Western world has occurred simply by letting young, entrepreneurial people just have at it, this might be worth a shot.
Obviously, none of this is going to go forward without the cooperation of property owners downtown and the progressive city council at 1100 Patricia, which might be its own exercise in conflict resolution. But the end goal of having people live downtown is to permanently solve the "improving downtown" issue, and that transcends ideology.
Attracting businesses downtown, or improving service delivery can only go so far, which ought to be obvious at this point. If anyone really wants to solve the issues facing the downtown, I would invite you to help make student residences downtown a reality. It is a verifiable fact that the best places to live are places where residents are passionate about improving their neighbourhood. I would suggest we make a home for where a student's heart already is.
