Will townhalls and committees solve downtown safety issues?
Maybe not but here they come
I have lived in Prince George my entire life — nearly four decades! — and I don’t remember a single moment in that entire time when “downtown is bad” wasn’t one of the top two or three issues in the public conversation. The details have changed over the years but the general sentiment that “we need to solve downtown” has been potentially the most consistent theme of living here. 15 years ago, former premier Mike Harcourt was invited up for a “Let’s Get Started Rally!” to fix downtown that helped launch the political career of Shari Green, who went on to be mayor following Dan Rogers and preceding Lyn Hall, all three of whom also made fixing downtown a priority. To give you a sense of how lasting their results were, mayor Simon Yu is forming a standing committee on public safety — mostly focused on downtown — in May. You can read the terms of reference here, but basically it will include Yu, three councillors and three community members, along with a representative from Downtown Prince George and the RCMP.
The purpose of the Committee is to undertake observation and collection on crime statistics and to explore solutions through tested best practices learned from local and other jurisdictions in order to address public safety issues facing downtown Prince George including the area east of Queensway.
Meanwhile, councillors Cori Ramsay, Kyle Sampson and Tim Bennett have submitted a notice of motion to hold a community safety townhall to “provide an opportunity for community members, business owners, and other stakeholders to share their concerns, ask questions, and share ideas with key City of Prince George staff and members of Council in addressing the encampments, and complex social issues throughout our community.”
The intent with the Community Safety Town Hall is to provide council and staff a coordinated opportunity to hear from residents, business owners, and other stakeholders. This platform will allow them to ask questions, share ideas, and relay concerns – to be heard. The proposed format would see the Town Hall divided into two halves, the first being a three- to four-hour open house style function with information boards and one-on-one engagement with staff and council; and the second half being a two- to four-hour facilitated panel where participants can interact with council, staff, and invited guest panellists to share their ideas and concerns. At the very least, our residents can be heard and interact with council and staff, but I also hope to encourage representatives from BC Housing and Northern Health Authority to attend and participate in both halves of the Town Hall.
The formal portion of the event is a facilitated panel which will include key city personnel (City Manager, Fire Chief, Manager of Bylaws, Director responsible for Community Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives, as well as RCMP OIC Superintendent), and mayor and council. The session could include (very) brief introductory remarks from each member of the panel, followed by a Q&A session with public participants.
Again, a focus is placed on inviting downtown residents and businesses, along with the Lheidli T’enneh and other levels of government.
Our actions will not necessarily solve these problems, but at the very least we can still do our best to mitigate the impacts and address some of our citizens concerns. We cannot allow the safety, health, and overall well-being of the rest of our community continue to be disproportionately impacted.
I don’t want to sound pessimissistic — I actually don’t fully buy the “downtown is bad and worse than it’s ever been” narrative. Certain parts, like the Crossroads corner, the Nancy-Os/Zoe’s/Homework block of 3rd and 4th are healthier than they’ve ever been. On Wednesday, I tried to get a sandwich from Wall of Fame and there was a line out the door, and there was a similar line on Thursday at 3 p.m., so it’s clear that certain businesses have the power to bring people down there, at all times. I also don’t want to deny that in other areas, problems have become more entrenched. At the same time, I think it’s important to recognize that 1. This is not unique to this point in time — it hasn’t been a downhill slide from the 90s until today, and optimistically we are in a slightly better position than we were then and 2. To the extent that things are worse now than they were in recent decades, we are not alone. For reference, see literally any other city in North America.
Again, none of this is to deny that there aren’t problems or challenges but to try and contextualize them against wider historic and societal trends. The extent to which any committee or town hall can be constructive in finding solutions hinges in part on the ability, I think, to recognize that we are not unique.
News roundup:
You aren’t allowed to smoke illicit drugs in hospitals, health minister says.
Rural residents bear carbon tax brunt unless BC drops wage-tested model, says pundit.
11-time Boxing B.C. champion Kelly Lally is being inducted into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday from the Ramada Plaza downtown, as is the late international baseball competitor Amanda Asay.
B.C. establishing 'first of its kind' fire training centre in Kamloops.
Cougars' playoff bandwagon picking up steam. Funk and Thornton named B.C. Division player and defenseman of the year.
Lotto Max ticket purchased in Prince George wins over $96,000.
Today’s song:
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Send feedback by emailing northerncapitalnews@gmail.com. Find me online at akurjata.ca.
3 Goblins Games has also been a big add to downtown. They're coming up on their first anniversary this week and the store has brought me downtown on a weekly basis. That store helped me realize that I like going downtown.
There is A LOT of negative hyperbole about Downtown PG.
I work downtown and there are issues of course that don't need to be repeated here. But it's not the war-zone many make it out to be. Mon-Sat there is enough activity that it feels like a generally functioning downtown. Sunday is definitely owned by the street crowd though.
Arguably it was on a strong upswing prior to Covid-19, which unfortunately knocked all of that hard work at turning the corner back 10-15 years. Now it's a slow grind back up again.