It's pretty frustrating to see how PG has developed overall, but I'm hoping we shift away from car-centric infrastructure, especially downtown (we won't). The city should also look to other post-industry towns in Ontario, like Thunder Bay and Kingston, as examples of pivoting our economy and civic development.
There's so many examples in Canada (and abroad) of how to steer the ship away from this car-centric, sprawling mess. My fiancé is from the St. Catherines, ON area and they've completely 180'd their downtown over the last decade. It's slow work but it can happen.
Also pretty familiar with St. Catharines, and double points for it being a "multi-pronged city" like PG, with Port Dalhousie, the Downtown, and Port Weller as separate areas all having their own cool things going on. A rising tide raises all ships, and it doesn't have to be JUST College Heights, JUST the Hart, or JUST downtown. We can totally do it all!
But, again, know your audience and set expectations accordingly :(
I'd love to hear a bit more about that thought. I do agree - we've inherited a city that is more than its downtown so an OCP that acknowledges The Hart, College Heights, etc is totally necessary but I'm also a pretty big believer that we should be re-centralizing everything we can muster downtown.
Oh yes the sprawl! As to my comment I’ve heard stories from people looking to start businesses that the city tried to push them to locate downtown instead of say west of the bypass, not everyone wants to be downtown I guess. I just hope we aren’t closing the doors on potential businesses from opening because of the OCP.
Not a City Hall issue, but a lot of landlords downtown have horrible lease terms which make it hard for small businesses to start out. I definitely want the area to succeed and see we have a lot of work to do!
I think consultants have their time and place and my hope is we can find the good ones who fit our needs - ideally, local or regional talent (another topic for another day).
I also don't expect UNBC's proffs to do all this work for free or without incentive but having spoke with many of them, I know they'd be ready and willing to sit down and chat.
Come on, man, what do you want them to do? Invest a bunch of money in the most tax profitable part of town by employing a bunch of people to build new city infrastructure and amenities that people then get to enjoy and spend money at, thus creating a feedback loop of PGers making their city better, and then spending more time and money in their city and local economy, that can then employ even more people to make their city better, and on and on forever?
Is that what you want? To live in a good place with a vibrant diversified economy? How dare you.
I will say that one reason "water is wet" studies/consultations are good is to have something to point to if challenged, or to demonstrate support for an idea. If someone is like "why are you doing [thing], no one wants it and it's a waste," then the city can respond with "well actually people DO want this, here's the consult report." Do I think we need a full consultation for every single decision? Absolutely not. Does PG have a reputation for having the least transparent governance? Absolutely: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/full-disclosure-prince-george-selected-as-most-secretive-municipality-in-canada-889690338.html
All that said, there's a reason I'm not on city council: I don't have a solution to this. Generally I think hiring consultants is indeed a waste of time and money, and they do end up producing reports full of seemingly common sense recommendations. But sometimes we do need someone to come in with "hey we polled the citizens and they think water is wet, here's some of their suggestions for managing this wet water" even if those suggestions are "close the tap to turn off the water" or "this sink needs a drain because the water is spilling everywhere."
Thank you Darrin for another thought-provoking and conversation-starting post :)
It's pretty frustrating to see how PG has developed overall, but I'm hoping we shift away from car-centric infrastructure, especially downtown (we won't). The city should also look to other post-industry towns in Ontario, like Thunder Bay and Kingston, as examples of pivoting our economy and civic development.
There's so many examples in Canada (and abroad) of how to steer the ship away from this car-centric, sprawling mess. My fiancé is from the St. Catherines, ON area and they've completely 180'd their downtown over the last decade. It's slow work but it can happen.
Also pretty familiar with St. Catharines, and double points for it being a "multi-pronged city" like PG, with Port Dalhousie, the Downtown, and Port Weller as separate areas all having their own cool things going on. A rising tide raises all ships, and it doesn't have to be JUST College Heights, JUST the Hart, or JUST downtown. We can totally do it all!
But, again, know your audience and set expectations accordingly :(
I’m all for an OCP but it can’t just be “put everything downtown”.
I'd love to hear a bit more about that thought. I do agree - we've inherited a city that is more than its downtown so an OCP that acknowledges The Hart, College Heights, etc is totally necessary but I'm also a pretty big believer that we should be re-centralizing everything we can muster downtown.
Oh yes the sprawl! As to my comment I’ve heard stories from people looking to start businesses that the city tried to push them to locate downtown instead of say west of the bypass, not everyone wants to be downtown I guess. I just hope we aren’t closing the doors on potential businesses from opening because of the OCP.
Not a City Hall issue, but a lot of landlords downtown have horrible lease terms which make it hard for small businesses to start out. I definitely want the area to succeed and see we have a lot of work to do!
Yes, it is a waste of time and resources
Also consultants are usually not worth the money. Using INBC would be a good investment
I think consultants have their time and place and my hope is we can find the good ones who fit our needs - ideally, local or regional talent (another topic for another day).
I also don't expect UNBC's proffs to do all this work for free or without incentive but having spoke with many of them, I know they'd be ready and willing to sit down and chat.
Come on, man, what do you want them to do? Invest a bunch of money in the most tax profitable part of town by employing a bunch of people to build new city infrastructure and amenities that people then get to enjoy and spend money at, thus creating a feedback loop of PGers making their city better, and then spending more time and money in their city and local economy, that can then employ even more people to make their city better, and on and on forever?
Is that what you want? To live in a good place with a vibrant diversified economy? How dare you.
I will say that one reason "water is wet" studies/consultations are good is to have something to point to if challenged, or to demonstrate support for an idea. If someone is like "why are you doing [thing], no one wants it and it's a waste," then the city can respond with "well actually people DO want this, here's the consult report." Do I think we need a full consultation for every single decision? Absolutely not. Does PG have a reputation for having the least transparent governance? Absolutely: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/full-disclosure-prince-george-selected-as-most-secretive-municipality-in-canada-889690338.html
All that said, there's a reason I'm not on city council: I don't have a solution to this. Generally I think hiring consultants is indeed a waste of time and money, and they do end up producing reports full of seemingly common sense recommendations. But sometimes we do need someone to come in with "hey we polled the citizens and they think water is wet, here's some of their suggestions for managing this wet water" even if those suggestions are "close the tap to turn off the water" or "this sink needs a drain because the water is spilling everywhere."
Thank you Darrin for another thought-provoking and conversation-starting post :)
I agree it's a waste of money. Love the idea of using UNBC