Yesterday I went to the recycling depot and the staff was listening to straight-up pirate music. Technically they are probably called sea shanties but it was three songs in a row of literal yo-ho-ho’s. It inspired me to do something I’ve been thinking about for a while, which is to put a song of the day of each newsletter, so you’ll have to scroll to the end for that.

Council notes:

As mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter, one of the most noteworthy items on last night’s council agenda was the request for funding for a new soundsystem for the CN Centre. The director of civic facilities and events, Andy Beesley, explained the need by pointing out several of the components dated back to the 1990s and the overall system had been “stretched out ass long as humanly possible,” warning that some parts were already failing and that a largescale failure was a mtter of if, rather than when. The ask was $950,000 for a complete replacement of the existing system which, he said, was nowhere near top-of-the-line but would get the job done for roughly the next 25 years and would cost less than estimated in previous budgets.

A few of the questions from council included why this was an urgent need now and wasn’t in the budget considerations earlier in the year (the answer Beesley gave was that they wanted to wait until it was a “need to have” rather than a “nice to have”), whether a local company would be installing the new system (local companies are aware of it but it sounds like it would legally have to go to contract) and if the new system could last longer than the existing one (tough to predict because technology changes so much). Councillor Cori Ramsay, in voicing her support for the project, brought up what her family’s cellphone looked like in the 1990s and said no one would really expect a home entertainment system to include technology that old, so there’s no reason that the city’s main large-scale entertainment venue should be. The motion to allocate the funds passed unanimously.

Other council items

New transformer

This was later followed by an allocation of $890,000 to replace the downtown transformer helping power city hall — in this case, a piece of technology from the 1960s. The transformer being purchased will not only be able to work for city hall but for other buildings planned for downtown growth, which city staff estimate will save money long-term.

New electronic sign

The company that owns the land wehre the WalMart is wants to build an electronic sign, which would look roughly like the above. Because it’s taller/bigger than is currently allowed under zoning, it came to council, who had questions about distracted driving and safety. I didn’t quite catch all the nuances of this one but in the end, it seems to be moving forward with maybe a future discussion about the rules governing electronic signage overall in the works?

Coun. Klassen opposes greenspace management plan because of potential targeting of unhoused people

This was an interesting one. A fairly simple request up to $60,000 to do greenspace management turned into a small debate about the city’s overall treatment of unhoused people. While the primary reason for the ask was to clear out brush and deadwood in city parks for fire management reasons, the request from staff also included this line:

Councillor Trudy Klassen, making an observation that anyone who’s been in brush near the downtown recently, worried that this was yet another move by the city to target unhoused people who weren’t moving into Moccassin Flats and said, given research showing that many of the people in this situation are there because of government policy (referencing, I assume, residential schools) and that the lack of shelter/affordable housing still hasn’t been addressed, said she couldn’t support the motion. Othe councillors clarified whether this was primarily a project aimed at fire mitigation or one aimed at clearing out camps and the answer was fire mitigation, so the motion passed, but it does sort of beg the question — why did this line about “undesireable activities” have to be included in the proposal at all?

More on this later.

Misc.

A few other items of interest — Rogers is building another new cellphone tower, this one along the Foothills deadzone, council supported a request for improved mental health counselling in the region and a request for support for Hydra Energy’s plan to apply for a $10 million grant for its proposed hydrogen production plant near the airport and welcomed a donation from Miracle Theatre.

If bears learn to drive we’re doomed

Not Prince George, but:

Jumping to conclusions

“We don’t want to jump to conclusions but…” begins a Facebook post from the city of Prince George that kind of jumps to conclusions that teenagers are responsible for racist graffiti that’s been going up in College Heights:

People in the comments then start jumping to their own conclusions including one about “transient vagrants” that have apparently moved up to the neighbourhood and are, in the views of this commentator, likely the real reason for all of this.

This language stood out to me because when did we all start using the word “vagrants” again all of sudden? It was repeated several times in this story about why the McDonalds downtown wouldn’t call an ambulance for a man, even though “he wasn’t dressed like a vagrant.” In both these cases there is 100 per cent a negative connotation going on here — in the first case, the fact that people are “vagrants” means they are likely responsible for racist graffiti, in the second the fact that someone isn’t dressed like a vagrant is why he deserved an ambulance to be called, the implication being that anyone who does look like a vagrant doesn’t. Speaking of jumping to conclusions.

Celebrating feces

This seems like as good a time as any to share an email I got recently about the situation near the Moccasin Flats homeless camp from a resident of the Millar Addition, the neighbourhood just above it. They write:

Time for a cleanser:

Quick news:

• The official community plan engagement session is at Two Rivers Gallery today starting at 4:30.

• B.C. Transit is also looking for feedback on changes to some bus routes but it isn’t saying what those changes might be, yet, so watch this space.

• The Citizen is continuing its series profiling residents of both Moccasin Flats and the Millar Addition.

• The Snotty Nose Rez Kids are in town tonight for a First Nations health forum.

• ‘Accelerator tables’ created to help value-added wood manufacturers.

• The RCMP has issued a reminder you can report crimes online.

• Here’s a crow stealing cardboard from the recycling:

Today’s song:

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