They didn’t quite hit the mark.
The City proposed loans for 11 different projects totaling around $32 million this year, and instead of holding a referendum for their approval, they opted to hear the public via the the Alternative Approval Process.
Within that, 10% of voting Prince George residents needed to sign and hand in a 26-page document voicing opposition.
When the results of the vote came in yesterday (Wednesday), just over half of the required signatures were handed in for each category.
Phil Beaulieu, creator of a Facebook group called Enough Already! City of PG AAP., has been vocal about his opposition to the loan since it was first put on the table.
“Definitely disappointed. We didn’t hit the numbers we needed but at the same time, there are positives. We got a third of the people that actually vote in this community to express their dissatisfaction with the borrowing,” he said.
“I think you need to quantify it with voter turnout. In those numbers, we did well when you look at the people who voted in the referendum for the pool.”
According to the city’s website, 7879 people voted on the Four Seasons Pool Replacement, and 7875 were votes were submitted for the Fire Hall.
Beaulieu said it’s difficult to get people to sign a 25 page document, and that the process itself was set up to fail.
“I don’t agree with the process. It’s not an approval process, it’s a negative option program. To even call it an alternative approval process is double-speak at its best. If you do nothing, they’ll count you in favour”
He said he’ll keep the Facebook page going to continue sharing information.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
