◆ Smart meters raise questions over bill increases ...
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◆ Celebrating Literary Awareness
week on the North Coast... PAGE 9
◆ Rainmakers return from the provincials... PAGE 24 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012 Proudly serving the North Coast - The eNVy of the North www.thenorthernview.com 250-624-8088 VOL. 7 NO. 11
Feature Property SOLD
WATOTO CHILDREN’S CHOIR…
801 2ND AVE WEST For Sale:
$
299,000
Located on the corner of a four way intersection with lane access & ample parking in heart of Prince Rupert’s commercial district this level 125 X 100 property is an excellent property on which to located your new business. The Prince Rupert Daily News operated their 100 year old Newspaper business from the 4380 square foot building on this location successfully for many years. This property has SOLD! Call Gordon today @ (250) 624-9298 for further information on other similar properties that we still have available for sale.
Gordon Kobza Broker/Owner
Office and Cell: (250) 624-9298 Email: info@gordonkobza.com • www.gordonkobza.com Suite 6 - 342 3rd Ave W. Prince Rupert, BC V8J 1L5
Need help with your taxes? Martina Perry photo
On Sunday, March 11, Beautiful Africa, the Watoto Children’s Choir, performed at the Lester Centre of the Arts courtesy of School District 52. The choir has travelled internationally for nearly two decades now, sharing Watoto’s vision and mission through their stories, music and dance. The Watoto choirs act as ambassadors to raise awareness about the plight of the orphaned and vulnerable children living in Africa. For more on Beautiful Africa, turn to page 13.
◆ CITY INFRASTRUCTURE • Serving the Northwest area & Haida Gwaii
First meeting on emergency buildings By Alan S. Hale The Northern View
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250-627-1371 Fax 250-624-6929 Toll Free 1-800-663-3200 Email: pjohal@johalcga.ca PO Box 728, 607 - 2nd Ave West, Prince Rupert, BC V8J 3S1
Prince Rupert City Council held its first meeting on the issue of the City’s aging RCMP building and Fire Hall on Monday night. The five months of meetings were envisioned by the council to be a chance for the public to be involved in the process and to ask questions to those making presentations on the issue. That was the vision, though attendance was a little more underwhelming. After seeing council chamber’s public gallery filled to capacity by Enbridge pipeline opponents only one week earlier, the group of about a dozen people that showed up on Monday seemed
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like a small turn-out. The whole council wasn’t there either with the mayor and two councillors missing from the meeting. The City also had a phone bank and an e-mail address set up to take questions from those watching the meeting at home, though only a handful of question were sent in. The night’s presenters were Bill Horne from the City, who gave an review of all the city’s pressing infrastructure needs, Inspector Bob Killbery who described the problems with the current RCMP building, and Fire Chief Dave Mckenzie who described the Fire Hall’s problems. Many of those who got up from the gallery to ask questions to these men were more concerned about preventing a tax increase than about the condition of the buildings.
Some of the speakers were incredulous of the claims by Inspector Killbery and Chief McKenzie that their operations were too big for their current buildings, even though the city’s population continues to fall. It should be noted however, that while it is true that the city’s population has fallen, the recently released census shows the rate at which it is falling has slowed significantly; only 2.5 per cent over the past four years. “As a tax payer of Prince Rupert, I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, but with a population of only 12,000 people we have one of the highest per capita property tax rates in the whole province,” says resident Janet Crocker. See Emergency, page 3
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ployment” 627-5627 624-5845 “Your Path to Em
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