There is a statistic that says most people only spend four minutes each week thinking about politics.
If that describes you, I will be quick: the City of Prince George is spending $32 million on a project approved for $12 million. You and your neighbours will cover the extra $20 million without having a chance for input.
So how much is $20 million? Based on the city’s own handouts, $20 million dollars would:
- Put new pavement (rehabilitate is the word they use) on 181 km of city streets;
- upgrade 20 km of our old and breaking down sewer pipes;
- build another pool;
- nearly build a replacement for Rolling Mix Concrete Arena;
- construct many kilometres of beautiful accessible trails.
Or we could have helped buy lots of medical equipment for the hospital.
Or we could have paid for 550 people struggling with addictions to do rehab at Baldy Hughes for a year.
Watching the city council meeting last week, it was obvious to me that council does not yet understand that something is very wrong with how they manage the affairs of the city.
So what is left to the good people of Prince George?
It is still nearly two years to the next election and there are no options for people to pursue other than an election to get some accountability. In the meantime, we can push for change by writing an email. City council does listen when people write in, so please write.
Your email can be as short as one or two sentences, simply saying what you think. You can send an email for the public record to [email protected] or send individual emails to each councillor and the mayor:
It’s been embarrassing to see Prince George make the national news because of this scandal.
Let’s not let the fact that this seems like old news to us keep us from asking for change. Let’s do our part to fix this problem. Take the next two minutes to write an email or a letter and let city council know that you expect them to do a better job managing our money.
