It’s a team effort, or at the least it should be. We have a fundamental issue within Prince George city council and that’s a lack of ability to work together.
Why are we not seeing changes in the community to address the crime, loitering, vandalism, fires and open drug use? In a past article, I called out our mayor and council for their lack of action. It comes down to a team effort and all hands should be on deck working to effect change. You can’t get anywhere when only three elected members are working to make change and the others are nowhere to be found.
We have eight councillors and one mayor, with the mayor the most forward-facing member of that council as the full-time elected employee. The others are, or should be, supporting members in that group. We expect them to work together on positive initiatives to improve our community. That doesn’t just mean you show up at public events, smile, shake hands, meet people and make nice. That also means getting into the trenches and working the good, the bad, and the ugly issues of concern.
I personally escorted Coun. Trudy Klassen around the morning of the explosion downtown, to see the businesses affected by the blast. I walked her around and did the introductions and she spoke to the Third Avenue business owners. She took the time to fully understand what issues each business would be facing moving forward. She was the first on the ground to fully understand the insurance issues and the scope of the losses firsthand. There were others who “eventually” got around to look, but not engage in serious discussions with the businesses affected.
Responsibility and accountability are the key words here, Trudy Klassen and Brian Skakun are the ground zero city councillors, people who engage the public when they need to see city representation. Even Mayor Simon Yu will attend to the needs of the public and the homeless.
But as for the others on city council, they tend to shy away from the hard work or the ugly issues of the community. These are the folks that need to start actually “helping” with changing the course the city is on. They need to start working as a team on council.
It’s not about them, but they are getting paid to lift their share.
John Zukowski
Prince George
