By Cheryl Jahn

Downtown Prince George gives Council a message

Jul 17, 2023 | 3:43 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Downtown Prince George has been an advocate for the City’s core for years and its makeup is extraordinary.

“It’s 41 blocks. It’s quite large. And in those 41 blocks, we have over 30 restaurants. We have over 70 retail shops.”

But the downtown has become a bone of contention for City Hall and Downtown Prince George. In a recent presentation to Council, Downtown Prince George laid it out.

“A few years ago we were concentrating on basic litter. We were we have the brain-injured group that goes out and we call them the Downtown Clean team. And literally going out on the front sidewalks and curbs, cleaning up litter. But in the last several years, what we’ve noticed is we have to clean up needles. We have to clean up biohazards. And we’re noticing it’s not just having to clean up the front of our buildings, but the back alleys as well. And so what we’ve done is we’ve added some partners as well to that whole Clean Team program, and we call it a social enterprise. “

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And as noted by Council that the work done by the various organizations – Dart, the Brain Injured Group and Acme – is not new to the city and Prince George is not alone.

Downtown Prince George created the Clean and Safe Program and there was funding under the Strengthening Communities grant was available to help offset the cost of providing those services. But the costs associated with that have risen exponentially.

“So we went from spending $36,000 a year on litter cleanup in probably 2017, 2016 to $200,000 in 2022. And there’s no doubt about it, we have funding that comes through our levy and we leverage funding through grants and sponsorships, but that strengthening communities grant did allow us to fund the increase in those programs.”

She says, while the demand has increased, the funding has not. But partnerships make the difference. “So we’ve had to look at our program, see how we can still deliver the best service possible and also look to other partnerships. So we did create a partnership with Northern Health and they’re keen to support what we call our peer programs because we’re working with people who might not otherwise be employed.”

Flash forward to December and Downtown Prince George has a wish list for Christmas. What takes the top spot on that list?

“My wish list would be to really be able to have a coordinated approach to the cleanliness in our downtown and work in collaboration with the city of Prince George. We know they’re out there as well, and we know that everybody’s noticing an increase in the kinds of expectations that people have in terms of cleanliness.”

She feels that coordinated effort is frustrating to achieve when so many groups are trying to do their own thing in such a large and elaborate neighbourhood.