www.pgfreepress.com
Friday, January 3, 2014
11
www.pgfreepress.com
City could learn from YRB Inquiry rather than rhetoric
Editor: Re: Snow removal and pedestrian safety at the junction of the Hart Highway and Austin Road After numerous failed attempts to have Bill Gaal of the City of Prince George and Mayor Shari Green assume some responsibility for snow removal at this dangerous intersection, I found that my requests fell on deaf ears and it was obvious that they have no interest in pedestrian safety. The City of Prince George crew even buried our pedestrian path, that we developed to the shopping centre at Tim Horton’s from the northeast signal standard, under eight to 10 feet of snow. The City of Prince George intermittently does plow a narrow strip along the off ramp from the southbound lane of the Hart Highway by the Hart Dental Centre. Other than this, pedestrians were forced to walk in traffic lanes since the pedestrian accesses were buried in very deep snow piled up by graders and loaders. With this in mind, I contacted YRB (Yellowhead Road and Bridge) through their website on December 22, 2013 and Photo submitted explained the problems and dangers at the Access to crosswalk at Austin Road and Highway 97 in the Hart. intersection of the Hart Highway and Austrian, could safely cross the Hart Highway and Austin Road West tin Road. YRB is one of the maintenance contractors for roads within the jurisdiction of the BC Ministry of and easily navigate the approaches to both, because of the efforts of the YRB night shift crew in removing the huge accumulations Highways. YRB shares the maintenance of this intersection with of snow. the City of Prince George, or that is supposed to be the arrangeI would like to take this opportunity to express my utmost ment but the City of Prince George does not do its share at all. On thanks and gratitude to Ryan and the night shift crew of YRB of December 23, 2013, I received a phone call from YRB in Prince December 23, 2013, for doing an excellent job of creating a safe George and we discussed the existing dangerous situation for passage for the pedestrians of the Hart. Your co-operation and pedestrians at this intersection, created by snow accumulations. efforts in dealing with this matter are very much appreciated by all He totally agreed with me and said he would make every effort to have the night shift of December 23, 2013, create areas of safe pas- who travel this route. I also appreciate the excellent customer relations demonstrated by Ryan of YRB. The City of Prince George sage for the pedestrians of the Hart. could learn a lot by the example that you set. The next morning I walked to the the Hart Shopping Centre at Patrick Stapleton about 9:15 a.m. and I was pleasantly surprised that I, as a pedesHart Resident
An open letter to Prince George-Peace River MP Bob Zimmer In your recent letter you defended the announced Canada Post service cuts/fee increases as changes necessary to move toward a sustainable economic model. I won’t argue against change. After all, as Robert Gallagher once waxed, “Change is inevitable … except from vending machines.” However, while this may not invoke HSTlike rage, many Canadians, especially senior and disabled folks, will certainly not enjoy the reduced standard of living imposed by community mailboxes and rising postal fees. Therefore, tough questions need to be asked. I want to know if job cuts will include Canada Post executive and managers. Some have claimed that the organization is top heavy. If so, will this not worsen if only weather-hardy letter carriers lose their jobs? How will the composition of these cuts be communicated? Others have stated that Canada Post has been profitable before the hiring of the CEO Deepak Chopra. And, last year, while the company lost money, he was given a 33 per cent bonus to push his salary over $500,000. Should the restructuring of corporate bonuses and sky-high executive salaries be considered before making Canada the first industrialized nation to end door-to-door delivery? Should we expect better ideas from these high-paid executives than cutting service and boosting prices? Could we not have gotten this level of thinking from unpaid interns? Also, I wonder if Deepak Chopra can be trusted? He doesn’t believe belonging to a think tank that schemed changes to Canada Post is a conflict of interest but what would a typical Canadian say? And, let’s ask seniors if they agree with Chopra that they will appreciate community mailboxes for the exercise to clear the street in front of their house for the opportunities they provide. Exactly how much benefit of others? citizen consultation was done? Mad, simply mad. Chopra also claimed that Canadians should Marv West have been aware major changes would be Prince George coming. However, a recent poll of 10 members of my service club, all said they were surprised. And, why wasn’t Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, in the loop? He states that hiking postal prices will have significant impacts on business owners. Why were they not conin the business community. Has it not been the sulted? goal of the City of Prince George and Initiatives Furthermore, the RCMP recently warned Prince George, as well as Tourism Prince George the public that community mailboxes are and the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, to heavily targeted and thefts have been surging, encourage new business to Prince George? Who especially in B.C. with over 5,000 incidents. does she think the “naysayers” are? I would guess How secure and sturdy will the additional that almost every resident in Prince George either mailboxes be? How will they affect traffic owns a business, works for a business, resides patterns and safety? Where will they be put with family members who work for a business, or high-density urban areas? has family members and friends who work for a Finally, I am also very curious if any business. Conservative MPs, such as yourself, asked I find it insulting that the Mayor suggested that questions of Chopra during a parliamentary naysayers move to greener pastures. In any given committee on Dec. 18? situation in which there is a problem, the best As you can see, I have plenty of questions action to take would be to find a solution and not and I wonder if your constituents would be to tell those who disagree with you to take a hike, better served by inquiry instead of the reinespecially if you are a mayor. forcement of political messages? Jacqueline Levesque Greg Jonuk Prince George Prince George-Peace River constituent
Shovel beyond your own driveway Editor: Bill Phillips opines that snow clearing in Prince George is not acceptable. True, a week after two fairly major dumps, many of our streets are still in a sorry state. He suggests more capital expenditures (i.e. taxes). May I suggest that we already have the capital equipment – all those snow shovels propped up in car ports. After the first dump, my neighbor got fed up pushing stuck cars in front of his house so he shoveled the road there. His neighbor did the same. Then a third did. That section of the road is still passable. Only that part, sorry to say. The wave of good works stopped there. As I slogged my bike up one slimed area, I was mildly amused how a homeowner with a great big shiny new snow blower cleared – literally to the
inch – only to the edge of his driveway and nothing more. Then again, what am I thinking? Asking private citizens to expend a dollar of their own money on extra snow blower gas, or an hour of their time,
Desperately needed: Communications Director for the City of Prince George Editor: Please someone apply for the position of director of communications for the City of Prince George. Or please someone within city council, or perhaps the city manager, give Mayor Shari Green some advice before she speaks to the media. She needs some communications advice. I read an article dated December 27, 2013 in which Mayor Shari Green defended her city in 2013. The article reads, “Green said it ‘astounds” her as to why there are so many naysayers within the community. ‘If it’s such a terrible place, surely there must be greener pastures somewhere for them.’” Can that actually be her answer to complaints from residents of Prince George? Move to greener pastures? Surely Mayor Shari Green must realize that the residents of Prince George include those
Editor: