Well done. I also have beef towards the countless empty buildings downtown sitting vacant and dangerous, while areas in North nechako and university Heights get clear cut logged for new shopping centers and 5 bedroom multiple suite mansions. We have the space in PG to densify both residentially and businesses but it feels like developers in town only have one setting: log and build massive
Angry news letter, but a good one. I’d agree, it seems the city simply bows to every nimby out there. Big, hard decisions aren’t always popular. If you lead by trying to please everyone, you please no one. Further, there are case studies to follow which show the unpopular decision ended up being very popular. Slovenia’s capital banned cars from their city centre. The mayor received death threats. Years later, residents are enjoying a vibrant pedestrian friendly city centre. PG NEEDS higher density. It’s not longer a “want.”
The infrastructure is so wildly expensive and it won’t get any cheaper without higher density.
For sure. Ask a toddler what they want for dinner - it ain't broccoli but boy do toddlers need broccoli to grow. We're not very good at identifying the best thing for us.
Quesnel is an even closer example. The decade-long overhaul of their downtown to make Reid St. as nice as it is now was notoriously unpopular and, if I am remembering correctly, made Bob Simpson the target of a lot of hate.
Nowadays? Nobody remembers that but their downtown benefits from having one of the cutest, most walkable streets/plazas in Northern BC.
nailed it! The next thing that is going to ACCELERATE sprawl in a big horrible way is the province deciding without ANY consultation to make UNBC and "transit hub" which isn't about transit but about mandating density. We should be prioritizing density downtown or on 15th, or around the mall. Not up on the f-ing hill!
I wish I could remember which architect website, but I recently stumbled across apartment drawings for a tower next to Park Place condos by city hall. Maybe there is more to come? Would be great to have a couple hundred more people living right downtown.
Two or three years ago, I went up to that "high end neighbourhood" to purchase something from FB Marketplace. It was the weirdest development ever, just kind of dropped in the middle of nowhere, houses jammed together and, yes, it was winter and trying to navigate piles of snow and kids with hockey gear was a ridiculous challenge. I couldn't figure out who thought that was a good place for a development and so poorly designed for access, and how it got approved as it was... let alone, who would buy a big house on a small lot, jammed next to another and another, at the very edge of city limits, that is zero-percent friendly to anything other than the automobile (and even that was terrible). It was odd enough to be burned into my brain.
Cue the news that there was a manufactured home park planned beside/behind it, and I was, like, "hell yeah!"
Now I'm "hell no!" to mayor and council for their incredibly thoughtless opinions and their apparent lack of real critical thought about the types of homes proposed for the development, the affordability, the potential for expanding transit, and just a better future in general.
Absolutely perfect break down of how we got here Darrin . Ahem, city hall are you listening!? We have the space and time to start really re-planning how our neighborhood’s look.
To your second point - I think I'd really emphasize how the OCP was completely disregarded in this decision and we can plan and re-plan all we want but when push comes to shove, there needs to be the political will to actually follow those recommendations and make "unpopular" decisions. So yes, plan but also yes FOLLOW THE PLAN.
The mobile park was a very short sighted decision. The access could have been solved by working with the developer just like the famous round a bout. Bus and school are other short term situations which would have been fixed.
I am glad you are not shying away from pointing out these poor decisions.
Well done. I also have beef towards the countless empty buildings downtown sitting vacant and dangerous, while areas in North nechako and university Heights get clear cut logged for new shopping centers and 5 bedroom multiple suite mansions. We have the space in PG to densify both residentially and businesses but it feels like developers in town only have one setting: log and build massive
I very much share that beef. So much easier to let developers build a new strip mall than incentivize downtown business growth.
Angry news letter, but a good one. I’d agree, it seems the city simply bows to every nimby out there. Big, hard decisions aren’t always popular. If you lead by trying to please everyone, you please no one. Further, there are case studies to follow which show the unpopular decision ended up being very popular. Slovenia’s capital banned cars from their city centre. The mayor received death threats. Years later, residents are enjoying a vibrant pedestrian friendly city centre. PG NEEDS higher density. It’s not longer a “want.”
The infrastructure is so wildly expensive and it won’t get any cheaper without higher density.
For sure. Ask a toddler what they want for dinner - it ain't broccoli but boy do toddlers need broccoli to grow. We're not very good at identifying the best thing for us.
Quesnel is an even closer example. The decade-long overhaul of their downtown to make Reid St. as nice as it is now was notoriously unpopular and, if I am remembering correctly, made Bob Simpson the target of a lot of hate.
Nowadays? Nobody remembers that but their downtown benefits from having one of the cutest, most walkable streets/plazas in Northern BC.
nailed it! The next thing that is going to ACCELERATE sprawl in a big horrible way is the province deciding without ANY consultation to make UNBC and "transit hub" which isn't about transit but about mandating density. We should be prioritizing density downtown or on 15th, or around the mall. Not up on the f-ing hill!
I wish I could remember which architect website, but I recently stumbled across apartment drawings for a tower next to Park Place condos by city hall. Maybe there is more to come? Would be great to have a couple hundred more people living right downtown.
How is the mayor allowed to say something so despicable without repercussions? How is such blatantly classist policy allowed?
*sigh* could always be worse, I guess?
https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/04/05/Quesnel-Mayor-Residential-School-Denialism/
Two or three years ago, I went up to that "high end neighbourhood" to purchase something from FB Marketplace. It was the weirdest development ever, just kind of dropped in the middle of nowhere, houses jammed together and, yes, it was winter and trying to navigate piles of snow and kids with hockey gear was a ridiculous challenge. I couldn't figure out who thought that was a good place for a development and so poorly designed for access, and how it got approved as it was... let alone, who would buy a big house on a small lot, jammed next to another and another, at the very edge of city limits, that is zero-percent friendly to anything other than the automobile (and even that was terrible). It was odd enough to be burned into my brain.
Cue the news that there was a manufactured home park planned beside/behind it, and I was, like, "hell yeah!"
Now I'm "hell no!" to mayor and council for their incredibly thoughtless opinions and their apparent lack of real critical thought about the types of homes proposed for the development, the affordability, the potential for expanding transit, and just a better future in general.
Love it Darrin. Keep it up.
Thanks, Res! :)
Absolutely perfect break down of how we got here Darrin . Ahem, city hall are you listening!? We have the space and time to start really re-planning how our neighborhood’s look.
Thanks, Josh.
To your second point - I think I'd really emphasize how the OCP was completely disregarded in this decision and we can plan and re-plan all we want but when push comes to shove, there needs to be the political will to actually follow those recommendations and make "unpopular" decisions. So yes, plan but also yes FOLLOW THE PLAN.
The mobile park was a very short sighted decision. The access could have been solved by working with the developer just like the famous round a bout. Bus and school are other short term situations which would have been fixed.
I am glad you are not shying away from pointing out these poor decisions.
“Property value” is a prominently placed tool of oppression on a privileged person’s tool belt. Agree or disagree?