Is River Point Shopping Centre the ideal neighbourhood?
Plus, your emails and comments
I’ve had a few emails and comments I’ve wanted to share so we’re going to get to those today.
First, though, I want to point to this Reddit comment that picked up on something I was thinking about recently:
So is the new downtown like... Pine centre and river point plaza?
Pick up some chicko chicken at 2:30, hit up marble slab at 3:30, hang outside pet smart and pet all the animals coming through, then mosey on over to pine centre at 5, pick up a frapp and stroll through the mall? Look at jewelry you're never gonna buy, sit on a bench until they close and head home and wonder to yourself "I've been here for 14 years, and ive never been to the very end of 2nd Ave."
Putting aside the question of whether this area is “the new downtown” I would argue that this area has developed into a fully-fledged, self-contained neighbourhood — and possibly THE most fully-fledged, self-contained neighbourhood in the city, which is ironic for a place that is buttressed by two highways. But think about it: If you got a job in, say, the mall, and lived in the apartments by Mr. PG, you would have multiple restaurants, clothing stores, groceries, pet supplies, banks, a bakery, a live performance space, a casino, a climbing gym, a curling rink, a golf course, hotels with attached bars and pools, and more all within a 10 to 15 minute walk of your door:
The problem with it, though, is walking around there is brutal because everything is a parking lot and pavement but I really gotta believe there is a way to add some paths to make it somewhat nice because… if we’re that close to making an amazing neighbourhood almost by accident you might as well go for it? Maybe public access to the edge of the golf course or something. I’m an ideas person, here, don’t ask me to work out the details.
Letter bag
I really appreciate all the emails and comments I get! Unfortunately I have a bad organizational system at the moment so I know there are a few I didn’t put here but I do read them all!
Ancient Forest
Let’s start with a respoinse to my question of whether the Ancient Forest is part of Prince George, which I asked in light of a new Tourism PG add which leads with a couple visiting the destination. It comes from Colin Carson of Tourism PG:
The Tourism Prince George mandate is to attract visitors, increase their length of stay, and share their experiences. Our philosophy is that we will support and promote the attractions and events that benefit Prince George, which sometimes includes experiences outside city boundaries. For example, we do promote Powder King as well (although it's tougher now without the bus). The rationale with Powder King and the Ancient Forest, is that often their visitors are staying and spending money in Prince George.
Also, the Lheidli T'enneh has been doing some great work in building the Ancient Forest as a tourism destination and part of that (hopefully soon) is bus access from Prince George. Mentioned in this article.
I actually missed this bus plan so I’m glad you wrote!
Gulls
This one comes in response to a post I shared about the number of gulls in the city and where they came from. Tyler Sabourin writes:
So, I had this question for years and I finally found out the answer a couple years ago: they aren't seagulls, they are Grey Gulls. There's actually 8 different species of gulls in BC, and I believe what's commonly known as a seagull is a Herring Gull.
I legit had no idea there were so many types of gulls. I thought they were just gulls and we erroneously called some of them seagulls.
Screamers
This was, of course, after my post about the origins of the Screamer. Ryan Clare writes about finding them in Kamloops:
Growing up, the Tranquile Market by Norkam always had screamers! They closed, but recently reopened with Screamers! I’m not sure if they claim to have invented them, but we had them growing up too! Until I read your article I thought it was a Kamloops only thing.
I was also told that as a result of reading this piece, someone discovered Screamers in Kelowna!
Climate anxiety
I’ve been a bit on-edge about the smoke and heat for a while and a little self-conscious about it, so this was nice to get from Mandi:
This is my nightmare as well – I’ve always been someone who is “a worrier” (if the speaker is being diplomatic) and my fire anxiety is already higher than it’s ever been. We’re in that uncomfortable spot between “wow this is really bad” and “it could be worse” (as you said) and I hate it.
Thank you for also saying it out loud. At least we have stress solidarity 🤝
*salute emoji from me*
And Heather writes:
I will have to make a point of explaining to my kids how it used to be. I'm so sad that's all they've ever known is smoke like this every other year. We're trying to plan a trip to southern BC in the summer and I don't even know if we can go because I'm not going if it's smokey. It used to be a foregone conclusion that you could go anywhere in the summer
Yeeeeep.
You can write to me by hitting reply to this email or leaving a comment on a post if you’re reading it on the web. Thanks to all of you who do!
Wildfire update
The city of Fort St. John got good news which meant the city of Prince George could close its emergency reception centre after one day. The Teare Creek fire near McBride is also “being held,” which is more good news. Unfortunately, the air quality remains poor and you really should take that seriously so here are some tips. And a campfire ban goes into effect Friday.
Also, I learned that the Prince George Wildfire Centre is “an area ten times the size of Vancouver Island and totalling 31.8 million hectares.” (I knew it was big, encompassing the northeast quarter of the province but hadn’t seen it articulated this way).
Quick news:
Canada’s smallest railway, the Little Prince, will only be operating eight hours a week this summer 😞
New drive-in owner excited for the season. Fun detail: Dude already owned a different drive-in.
Beaverly resident builds 900-foot-long dike to protect her property.
Value Village is temporarily (hopefully? it looks like?) closed.
Former PG-er and regular musical visitor Saltwater Hank has released a new track.
This is a bit of a deep cut but made me laugh:
Let me know if I need to explain it.
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