Here is what every councillor said when I asked if they owned short-term rentals (Spoiler: It was "No")
And why are there so many dust devils at Pine Centre Mall?
With city council prepared to use facetime in Victoria to continue to try and get out of the province’s new short-term rental rules I am seeing another round of people speculating on the financial stake individual councillors may or may not have in Airbnbs, VRBOs and the like.
As it happens, I have an answer from every councillor and I am sharing their responses here for reference for anyone who might be interested. The short answer is they all say they don’t have any personal stake in short-term rentals but their full answers are below.
Here is the email that was sent (for clarity, a version of this email was sent to elected officials in some other cities, too — this is a provincial issue).
Initial email, sent March 1:
Hello, following our coverage of municipalities pushing back against the province's short-term rental rules, we have received numerous questions from audience members in Prince George and other impacted cities wondering whether councillors own or have a personal financial interest in any properties that are or have recently been on the market as short-term rentals.
I am following up with all the elected leaders of multiple cities that have spoken out against these rules to help answer that question.
A simple yes or no answer will suffice, but feel free to provide more context if you would like. If you choose not to answer, that may also be reported.
- Do you own or have any partial ownership or financial stake in short-term rental properties?
Thank you for your time
Responses received, in order - March 1:
Garth Frizzell:
No.
Cori Ramsay:
I do not own or have any partial ownership or financial stake in any short-term rental properties.
Susan Scott:
No, none. Not ever.
Thank you for asking
Trudy Klassen:
Hi, Andrew! Glad you are asking. No, I do not own or have any stake in an STR property. My sole interest in the matter is the need for this type of accommodations in our city.
I would be happy to answer any other questions.
Kyle Sampson:
Simple yes/no answer:
No.
That said, I would point you in the direction of our Council Financial Disclosure documents that we are required to file with the provincial government on an annual basis that disclose all information, such as investment properties, income, investments, etc..
But the answer to your question is no from me!
Ron Polillo:
Hi Andrew, thanks for reaching out. The answer is No for me. As I stated during the public meeting on February 26th, this is a top down approach from the provincial government that is not best option for Prince George and our unique situation.
Tim Bennett:
Thanks for reaching out.
The only property that me or my wife own is our primary residence.
Any real estate within the City we own that is not our primary residence does need to be declared every January as part of our Statement of Disclosure. So if things change they are reported on annually.
On March 5 I received an email from Mayor Simon Yu’s executive assistant:
Good afternoon Andrew,
Mayor Yu and/or his family do not have any short term rental properties.
The only person I did not receive an email from was councillor Brian Skakun. However, he was asked about this when he was interviewed on CBC Daybreak North. His answer:
No, of course not and if I did it would be on my financial disclosure statement and I wouldnt’t be pushing this at all. I’m very transparent, I have one home with my wife so that’s not an issue.
Anyways, absent being able to opt out of the rules, Coun. Brian Skakun is clearly eager to learn how little effort the city will be required to put into tracking/enforcing the new rules.
You spin me round right round right round
On Saturday I drove past Pine Centre Mall and saw a couple of dust devils in the parking lot. I later saw this video of this multi-storey dust devil posted to Facebook. Then, yesterday, I was walking out of the mall and I saw another dust devil! Why so many whirlwinds?
They occur when a patch of air close to the ground is much warmer than the air above it, causing it to rise rapidly. When conditions are just right, the column will start spinning, forming a dust devil.
Mahdavi says they almost always form on calm, sunny days, and on flat surfaces that absorb heat well — like the mall pavement seen in Gibson's video.
Conditions in Prince George have been warm, with multiple days of sunshine and unseasonable highs into the teens.
You can watch more about why this is happening here.
News roundup:
My Prince George Now takes one more look back at the Cougars record-breaking season, a year which includes most wins, most points, most goals and a bunch of player stats, mostly for Zac Funk and Riley Heidt but several other players, as well. Not surprisingly, six of those players have been named WHL all-stars.
City council has increased the amount of money it sets aside to support community groups.
D’Lano’s restuarant is shutting down. Meanwhile, Audelicious is delaying its opening.
No commitment from Ministry of Education on D.P. Todd expansion.
Theatre NorthWest holding second Pride stage reading of season tonight.
A look at the street sweepers ready to do their thing on Prince George roads.
Today’s song:
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Send feedback by emailing northerncapitalnews@gmail.com. Find me online at akurjata.ca.
Yeah, we know they don’t have short term rentals. But which have long term rentals? This legislation could increase the number of long term rentals on the market and through supply and demand potentially drop the price of long term rentals.