Off the rails

Welcome to 2024

Jan 15, 2024

Happy 2024. I had intended to start up again last week but I felt like there was so much to get through that the prospect of doing so felt overwhelming. I still feel that way, which is why I’m just going to get through as much as I can as quickly as possible in this newsletter. So here’s a quick catchup on some of the major news stories.

The mayor has decided to start reporting his expenses on a monthly basis

While some in the community have gotten angry that the mayor’s expenses were the subject of reporting, Simon Yu himself has largely taken the public view that he will use the opportunity to get better. To that end he informed council that he would start providing a monthly account of his expenses so both they and taxpayers could have a better idea of what he’s been up to on a more regular basis. When this came before council there was some question of whether future mayors would have to do the same — for now, no, unless a vote is held to make it a requirement. Instead, this will be voluntary.

Also of note: Yu posted a pretty extensive Instagram video highlighting many of his travels and meetings from the past year.

The Little Prince could be coming off the rails

This unless the city finds some money in its coffers (or at other levels of government) to start paying for operations of the small 112-year-old steam engine. Exploration Place CEO Tracy Calogheros was straightforward with council when she informed them of this last Monday, telling them that the train is a city asset, the museum has been operating it for the city at a loss for the past decade-and-a-half and they will no longer be doing so moving forward. She was also straightforward with councillor Brian Skakun when he asked why this was suddenly such an urgent problem and why it wasn’t dealt with sooner: “I have been telling city council since 2012 that it is vastly underfunded so from my perspective this is happening because I wasn't listened to,” she said.

In other Exploration Place news, they are starting the process of becoming an accredited zoo.

Gravel-gate is one of the weirder bit of city politics I’ve seen in a while

You can read about it here but essentially some city-owned gravel intended for one place wound up going somewhere else, an RCMP investigation was launched, they didn’t find evidence of criminality, a closed council meeting was held to discuss whether council would like to ask RCMP to pursue the case further, everyone except Cori Ramsay and Kyle Sampson voted to drop it, then Brian Skakun was apparently upset enough about them wanting to pursue things further that he pushed to get the results of that vote put out into the main public meeting, where a heated debate was held. I think my main question is this: It was apparently about 130 yards of gravel that was redirected and, even if it wasn’t criminal, there seem to be questions about who decided it could go from one project to the other. Conservatively, that’s about $2,000 in value and less conservatively, anywhere up to five times that. If $2,000 (or more) in cash intended for one city project were redirected elsewhere without going through proper chains of command to the point that an RCMP investigation was launched — even if no criminality was found, would folks be as cavalier about it? And perhaps more to the point: Is there any indication that this was a one-off, or is $2,000 in materials here and there going from project to project without any oversight? Maybe it’s not a police matter but it kind of seems like a city issue?

The city and the province are still at odds over the homeless situation

To kick off 2024, the city put out an extensive press release outlining some of the problems they’ve been having with the province when it comes to trying to tackle homelessness. This was followed by B.C.’s minister for housing, Ravi Kahlon, having a fairly spicy interview on CBC Daybreak North, accusing the city of dragging its feet. You can read the back-and-forth here. I will say, one of the weirder things is the province seems to be really concerned with the fact Prince George would like a facility near Mocassin Flats because it’s on a flood plain — despite the fact most of the downtown, including multiple federal and provincial buildings, are on that exact same flood plain. Heck, the much-touted 1st Ave. facility, which the province led on, is on the same flood plain. So why is this one building the city would like to see so special?

Meanwhile, Premier David Eby is in town this week and outreach groups are inviting him to tour Moccasin Flats.

Quick news:

Trelle Morrow has died. The architect, author and historian is responsible both for the design of many of our most prominent buildings and preservation of a huge cache of history through his many books, both of which earned him the Freedom of the City last year. He was 93.
The school board has finally hired a new superintendent. As one Redditor quipped, “I wish him luck for the next five months (before being fired or quitting)”.
Also on Reddit, the property tax assessment thread seems to indicate most neighbourhoods saw assessed value decline over last year’s highs, with the Hart being an exception. And an optimistic forecast for the local housing market from some analysts.
2023 was the driest year on record for Prince George since 1918 and, as of last week, snowpack remains low.
A Prince George Tesla owner drove to McBride and back during last week’s cold snap to do some tests on how EVs perform in extreme cold. It worked out!
With wildfire evacuations now an annual event, the city is looking for a permanent emergency reception centre to welcome evacuees from other communities.
The school district and RCMP are hosting a forum on sexual extortion and youth at Vanier Hall tonight.
Plans for Prince George RCMP to wear body cameras — part of a provincewide initiative — have been pushed back to 2025.
No helipad for the hospital’s new surgical tower.
This Prince George Cougars jersey designed by Lheidli T’enneh artist Kym Gouchie is beautiful.
No temperature records set in this latest cold snap.
Here’s a TikTok about your local Facebook group whenever it snows.
Here’s me after taking some photos and video to showcase the frigid temperatures we’ve been having — some of which made it to The National. Hope you’ve been keeping warm!

Today’s song:

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