More police and the need for a local treatment facility were two of the takeaways from a presentation at last night’s council meeting (Monday) by the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, Downtown PG and the Gateway Business Improvement Association.
All three groups would like to see the city provide an additional six officers and two support staff to the RCMP, which would be assigned to do patrols of the downtown and Gateway areas.
However, the total cost of this would be about $1.8 million dollars per year.
Downtown PG President, Eoin Foley told MyPGNow.com this is long overdue.
“It’s unfortunate we have come to such a boiling point because the time to address these issues was 20 years ago.”
“People want to see that presence of uniforms on the streets to make them feel safer because that is deterrent to the crime disorder that they see.”
PG Chamber CEO, Todd Corrigall adds this would come in handy during the winter months.
“Boots on the ground is a big thing. Lighting, safety and having the pathways in the parkades much brighter are some of the issues that are prevalent during darker hour months, so we are in those months right now and in fact, they call it low-hanging fruit, there’s an easy opportunity here.”
Another idea that was they suggested was for the city to lobby the BC Government and Northern Health to develop a sobering facility in Prince George.
Corrigall adds the suggestion has received plenty of support from local politicians like Shirley Bond, Mike Morris, Bob Zimmer, and Todd Doherty.
“The challenge becomes how do you breakdown those silos and how do you message appropriately? We have two huge supporters in our MLA’s and two huge supporters in our MP’s here, so there is a chance to work through those challenges and we fully intend to.”
“One of the ongoing stories that we hear is in order for people to seek out that treatment they have to go to the Lower Mainland and be detached from there families and core circles and any route to recovery requires that you have access to your friends and family.”
Foley, on the other hand, wants Northern Health to take more immediate action on the clean up of discarded drug needles, something the city has out preformed them on.
“We would like to see Northern Health do more of their fair share on the needle cleanups. If there was a bunch of takeout boxes from my businesses scattered around the downtown, my neighbors would be pretty upset with me if I allowed that kind of behavior from my customers.”
The trio of groups plans to bring these issues back up again at the BC Chamber AGM, which will be held in Prince George next May.