Council hopes temporary housing project will support bid to dismantle homeless camp
Plus, what to do with all those reusable shopping bags? And city blames building owners for Achillion blast; Vancouver told to follow Prince George progressive lead
I received some messages about not being able to read the link I shared on Meta AI yesterday — here is a gift link that should work.
In Friday’s newsletter I wrote at lenght about the temporary housing project proposed for downtown and the level of support for it reflected in letters to council for people who live in the neighbourhood. You can read all that here. Towards the end, I talked talked about the city’s options when it comes to their ability to shut down the camp without approving the project, writing, “I can pretty much guarantee that new spaces not being built or opened is the easiest way to keep the camp as a permanent fixture of the city. And I’m sure the city knows this, which means they are somewhat up against it when it comes to the decision of whether to approve this project or not.”
And, I was pretty much bang-on, which is not that impressive because it really is about the only option available to council. And that’s how the discussion went — councillor after councillor basically expressing support for the project based on the notion that if they ever want to be able to go back to court to try and shut down the camp, this project needed to be approved. Most, if not all (I didn’t take notes) apologized to the residents of the Millar Addition for everything they’ve put up with the past few years, a couple acknowledged that life wasn’t that great for people living in the camp and spoke about them as residents of the city as well (Susan Scott, Simon Yu, possibly some others — again, I didn’t take detailed notes). But basically in the end they just said — hey, we gotta do this and voted the project forward. Now the ball is firmly in the province’s court.
I didn’t watch the rest of council but I’ll be watching for the news reports because it seems to have gone quite late — so something dominated a lot of discussion and I don’t know what it is! This is why there are paid reporters going to council.
Vancouver told to follow Prince George’s progressive lead on cannabis
Not sure when the last time Prince George was held up as a progressive example to the city of Vancouver when it came to pretty much anything, but cannabis advocates have become this city’s new champions after the weekend’s 420 festivities:
The BC Craft Farmers Co-Op is inviting the City of Vancouver to reconsider their 4/20 celebration policy and develop plans to host a major international cannabis tourism event that could bring tens of millions of dollars to the city and shine a light on the world’s best cannabis farmers.
“Instead of erecting barriers and using valuable police resources to shake down vendors, the City of Vancouver and Destination BC should embrace the concept of cannabis tourism,” said BC Craft Farmers Co-Op President Tara Kirkpatrick. “Vancouver has an opportunity to sanction an annual and professionally run special event similar in scale to Vancouver’s Pride Parade that celebrates British Columbia’s rich cannabis culture, promotes BC’s legendary craft cannabis farmers, and result in tens of millions of dollars for the BC economy. Some estimate the global cannabis tourism market to be over $15 billion. Our whole province can benefit from getting a piece of this market.”
The BC Craft Farmers Co-Op hosted their successful annual cannabis summit this weekend in Prince George. This year’s event featured BC’s first legally sanctioned cannabis street party in Downtown Prince George. The City of Prince George issued a permit downtown for an all-day 4/20 street party on Saturday. Thousands attended without incident, including the Mayor of Prince George.
What to do with all those reusable shopping bags?
For Earth Day there was a big report on how the ban on single-use plastic bags is resulting in a proliferation of multi-use shopping bags which is its own problem. This doesn’t solve the environmental problem but if you find yourself with an excess of these bags, the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store by Books and Company would happily take them:
City blames building owners for Achillion blast
This is a Citizen exclusive so I won’t summarize, you can just read the latest report on court filings over here.
Community announcement:
Calling all fiddle and guitar players, and those who just love to listen to fiddle music! The BC Old Time Fiddlers are having their 7th Annual Spring Jamboree this weekend and everyone is welcome to take part in the workshops Sat/Sun, attend the Fri dance or Sat concert. SATURDAY CONCERT 7:30 pm (doors 7) Tickets $35 ($20 under 18) available by e-transfer to pgfiddlers@gmail.com, Books & Co or at the Door.
The BC Old Time Fiddlers’ Association has been active in Prince George for 56 years, when informal fiddling jam sessions in the 1960s led to the formation of the association, which soon expanded to include branches all over the province. The Prince George group (Branch #1) has 70 members and keeps busy with weekly Tuesday night jams, group beginner lessons and monthly dances, as well as regular playouts at senior homes and community events. The club is run entirely by volunteers and is a source of learning and enjoyment for musicians and supporters of all ages, as well as being an inspiration to community members to develop an appreciation for old time fiddle music!
Every year this club brings in talented professional instructors/performers and hosts a Jamboree, where musicians can receive top-notch instruction in fiddle or guitar, and the community can enjoy a concert by the instructors. This year will feature Metis Master-Fiddler Alex Kusturok, Singer-Songwriter-Fiddler Chloe Davidson, and Bruce Coughlan and Nolan Murray from the Whisky Minstrels and Tillers’ Folley. These four are sure to put on a fabulous concert, as well as provide first class instruction over the weekend. The weekend kicks off with an Ice-Cream Social Family Dance on Friday night at 7 pm, where for $10 (kids free) you can do the old-time dances to live fiddle music, get instruction to take part in group dances, and eat ice cream!
People can take in one or all three events this weekend. All events will be held at the Knox Performance Centre, 1448-5th Ave.
For more information about any of the weekend events or the club's regular activities, email pgfiddlers@gmail.com or phone (250) 565-1025, or Facebook.com/pgfiddle.
News roundup:
Neighbouring regional health districts not interested in helping pay for UHNBC surgical tower.
In Vanderhoof, women are increasingly reluctant to seek help from the RCMP.
Exploration Place CEO welcomes $500,000 loan from regional district.
Trades expo a highlight of Northern B.C. Home and Garden show.
Today’s song:
Northern Capital News is a free, daily newsletter about life in Prince George. Please consider subscribing or, if you have, sharing with someone else.
Send feedback by emailing northerncapitalnews@gmail.com. Find me online at akurjata.ca.
Can the citizen not come up with a better word to use than ‘vagrants’? It’s giving old timey monocle wearing cigar chomping milburn pennybags vibes.
I personally don't find the bag thing that hard (I guess I don't whine enough about low ball things?)
I keep a supply of bags in my vehicle.
Also, if I don't happen to have a bag, it keeps my purchasing down to the important things.
I do notice less trash floating around because of this.