Prince George City Council will be taking a letter from the owners of CrossRoads with them when they meet with Premier David Eby.
At tonight’s (Wednesday) meeting, City Council voted on sharing the letter with Eby and other relevant Provincial Ministers when it comes to public safety.
The letter came from yesterday’s Standing Committee on Public Safety meeting, where CrossRoads Owner Daryl Leiski told committee members: “I will not rebuild in this climate at all.”
At that meeting, Councillor Brian Skakun suggested having the letter to present to Premier Eby during their meetings at the Union of BC Municipalities convention, scheduled for next week.
Councillor Kyle Sampson said this should just be part of the meeting with Eby, not the cornerstone.
“I think it’s stronger when it strengthens the work that we are and have been doing, rather than maybe charts its own path a little bit,” he said.
“It’s still the same tool to be used, I just am worried about the wording being this is going to be the topic with the Premier when I think this can supplement to conversation with the Premier.”
He also asked it be referred to the City’s Standing Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs for advocacy.
Skakun also asked about requesting funding for private security downtown, something the Public Safety Committee has been working on as well.
“Since we’ve led on the HEART and HEARTH project, we’ve been with the province on a number of initiatives, if we could also put in there, that we would like, or we request to get $400,000 base funding for the first year, and see how it goes,” he said.
“I think the province needs to step up, we don’t have time to wait for a number of things to take place before that happens.”
Skakun originally put forward the $400,000 but the motion was amended to remove any mention of a dollar value.
The full letter from CrossRoads Co-Owners Daryl Leiski and Cindy Zurowski reads:
Dear Mayor Yu and Council
On September 5th, 2025, our lives changed with a single criminal act. An unhoused individual with a significant criminal record committed arson. That one act destroyed our business, displaced 50 employees, and disrupted the lives of hundreds more – families, partners, community members, and neighbours. Their lives, and our lives, are forever changed. This incident shines a light on the crisis that downtown Prince George is facing. We are under siege.
CrossRoads was not just a business. It was a historic building, a major investment in the heart of the city, built on our belief that downtown Prince George could thrive. We built it downtown because we believed in this city. For eight plus years, we gave people a reason to come downtown – to gather, to celebrate, to feel proud of our community.
We are proud to have been part of downtown Prince George. CrossRoads touched the lives of countless residents and visitors. It was a place to meet, to connect, to mark life’s moments. It became a cornerstone of our downtown – a symbol of what this city could be when people invested in community.
And it was lost in a reckless, deliberate act of arson.
We cannot continue to put our employees, our families, our community and our businesses at risk. We need action – real, urgent, decisive, action. Give us back our streets. Give us back our sense of safety. Without it, businesses like ours cannot survive, let alone rebuild.
We respectfully request your full attention and resources to make the downtown safe and vibrant again. We will try to rebuild CrossRoads. We cannot do it alone.
Sincereley, Dr. Daryl Leiski & Cindy Zurowski.
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