As an expat from 30 years ago, I really liked Pr. Rupert and I’m somewhat dismayed by some of the current comments on this site. But sadly, I must admit, many of the concerns that I have recently read on htmf were true then and seem to be true now. My question is: Would you encourage people that you love and respect to move there now? And why/why not? And what could you as an individual do to improve the situation? Do you feel like Pr. Rupert is worth promoting, or do you just want to stay there and slag it until it dies? Do you want to be the last one leaving that has to turn out the lights?
PS: I love Pr. Rupert and all the inhabitants that I met over the years. They probably don’t want me back, but I still miss them! Big happy face. (can’t figure out how to inject an emoticon)
When I moved there a little over 30 years ago, I truly loved the place. It was very good to me, I made a lot of good friends, got married and started raising kids there. BUT having lived away from there for a decade and seeing how a lot of what I loved about Rupert get pretty damned run-down or disappear, I have to say that if one of my kids moved there for a job, I’d remind them that it is the end of the road up there. I used to joke about it but it doesn’t seem as funny anymore-I have a family member visiting up there right now and he’s not seeing much improvement over our last visit a few years ago. I think those people who still love it up there are very blessed but after living in both larger and smaller communities since then, I know I never could go back.
I also lived in Prince Rupert many yrs ago. I am still hungover and toweling off. After many visits since,I have been toying with the idea of returning, at least for some extended visits…Regarding Rupert economy : In 1976 i asked a friend , who was born and raised in Rupert, if he thought the rumors that Rupert was “about to boom” were true. He said “I have been hearing about the boom for 30 yrs. 30 yrs from now, the boom will still be just around the corner”…Weighing all the pluses (there are many) and negatives, Yay or nay to Rupert is a tough call… A few weeks ago, i read in a local e-rag that Rupert was going to open a 3rd needle exchange location. All I can say about that is WTF. That, my friends, tipped the scales. I am staying on the “safe coast” and would encourage worksforbeer to come and check it out.
Its really quite sad. Prince rupert has lots of opportunity and a chance to boom. Unfortunatly it will never happen. Big business is shunned and those that do persist have to pay their protection money to the wannabe mafia that apparently feels entitled to a cut of everything. Prince rupert isn’t worth it. I say this after a recent extended stay.
Prince Rupert is a beautiful place that is undergoing a decades-long slump and decline. The flicker of hope that is continually called out by the faithful few is the “just around the corner” mantra. That and maybe someday all those archaic despots and monarchs will rule over us once again. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Being unable to transition and diversify from being a once great company town after the company has left the town is contributing to our stagnation. The leaders who were capable of forward and over-the-fence looking have left or been replaced by, well not so great navel-gazing chumps. Plus home-spun, amateur politicians who greedily hover over and pick at our carcass is not what’s going to get us up and moving now, or ever.
Well I guess I need to buck the trend in here and I say for my situation, Rupert is a dream place to live. I am born and raised here, but I lived away for 7 years and it truly made me appreciate Prince Rupert even more, and have moved back with my wife, since completing University. I was able to land a great job right out of school here, so it worked out well for me.
If you come here without a job lined up, then I would say that your chances of being happy here will not be very good because good to high paying jobs (45,000K and over a year) are locked up and are hard to come by up here right now (Ridley, PRG, Port ect), but the prospect is good with many of these outfits planning expansions soon. I would say though, that struggling in Prince Rupert is certainly better than struggling in Vancouver/Victoria/Kelowna where the price of living is 3 to 4 times as much as here.
Prince Rupert has beautiful scenery (lots of trails, lakes and forests to explore), cost of living is cheap (compared to major centre), housing is affordable, small town feeling to raise a family, great selection of restaurants, night life is decent for the city’s size (if you are into that sort of thing), the ocean is right at your doorstep, the air is beautiful, crisp and clean. People are friendly and its easy to get around the city.
Of course the negatives are the rainy days (but rupert is paradise when it is sunny out and at least we don’t have 3 to 6 months of snow like our many northern neigbouring communities), city hall is in turmoil, lack of shopping (but a few trips to Vancouver a year certainly gives you that retail fix) and that we are at the end of the highway, meaning, its a long journey out and an expensive one (stock up on airmiles/aeromiles).
If you have a work guaranteed it’s a great place to live. The rain is tough to take at times; especially compared to places like Kamloops, Kelowna or Penticton. However, I can guarantee you that you won’t shrivel up from been baked in the sun everyday
Without your employment secured, and I mean by someone you know that assures you a guaranteed length of employment I would stay away from this city. Because when you are looking for employment…you won’t find it.
One thing that frustrates me about Prince Rupert is people who move away and then have nothing buy bad things to say about it here. Prince Rupert was good enough for you or your parents to raise a family in, what’s really changed? The answer for me is “nothing truely important”. I understand why people move away. Economically this is a tough place to live. I don’t bad mouth people for moving away… I just can’t understand why people who do then go about saying such bad things about where they came from. The people are what makes up a community, and Prince Rupert has some truely great people here. It’s a tight knit community and I can’t imagine a better place to raise my family. Yes, if I lost my job I would likely have to move away. I sure as hell wouln’t be running my mouth about how bad it is here on my way out of town though.
The fishing industry didn’t make this town great. Neither did the mill. What made this town great still exists. Don’t view it from the point of view of the HTMF forums, or even from the run down appearance of the stores. Take a look for the heart of this community and you’ll see it’s the same as it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago.
I echo bthedog’s sentiments completely. I also am born and raised in Rupert, moved away to the lower mainland for six years in my early twenties to pursue an education and career, which then brought me back here to raise my family in 1990. I am very passionate about a wide variety of outdoor recreation activities, which is what I love most about living here, as all this is right at our doorstep. I loathe big cities, crowds, line ups, traffic, and many other aspects of life that higher populations densities bring.
I have been extremely fortunate to have had an excellent job here in a stable industry, and a wealth of family and long time friends who share many common interests, and not a single day goes by that I am not very thankful for all of these things, as we have all known many people who have been basically forced to leave for economic reasons to pursue work elsewhere, and we have all lost many friends that we will miss, and the community has lost a huge human resource as a result of this. Also it is a very different place for my / our generation than it is for young people now, as so much has changed, and I don’t think our children will be able to make similar choices? But then the whole world has changed.
Many people seem to move away from here once they retire, and as this time nears for us we have considered this and decided we enjoy all that we have here way too much to consider leaving. Every place has it’s ups and downs, good and bad, the yin and yang of it, and life anywhere is pretty much what you decide to make of it.
[quote=“CrazyMike”]One thing that frustrates me about Prince Rupert is people who move away and then have nothing buy bad things to say about it here. Prince Rupert was good enough for you or your parents to raise a family in, what’s really changed? The answer for me is “nothing truely important”. I understand why people move away. Economically this is a tough place to live. I don’t bad mouth people for moving away… I just can’t understand why people who do then go about saying such bad things about where they came from. The people are what makes up a community, and Prince Rupert has some truely great people here. It’s a tight knit community and I can’t imagine a better place to raise my family. Yes, if I lost my job I would likely have to move away. I sure as hell wouln’t be running my mouth about how bad it is here on my way out of town though.
The fishing industry didn’t make this town great. Neither did the mill. What made this town great still exists. Don’t view it from the point of view of the HTMF forums, or even from the run down appearance of the stores. Take a look for the heart of this community and you’ll see it’s the same as it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago.[/quote]
I hope that I didn’t give the wrong impression to you and that your remarks are directed to the naysayers on this whole forum. I loved Pr.Rupert, and really would like to move back there. But as a retired guy on a small pension, it would be a major decision for me, and I would have to consider many factors. Housing, cost of living, social and commercial amenities, etc.
Have a funny story about people that were born and raised in Rupert. My elder brother went up to Pr. Rupert for work years prior to me. Late '60’s. He became friends with many of the locals at the Commercial Hotel (does it still exist?) Anyway, one of his new found friends was born and raised there but had obtained a job in Vancouver. At his going away party in the Commercial Pub, one of his buddies casually stated “So you are finally leaving the Island!” Supposedly the guy leaving said “What Island are you talking about?” And as the story went, he didn’t realize that Pr. Rupert is on an island. Okay, my big brother was noted for tall tales, and it could have been a recycled “Newfie” joke, but to this day he still maintains that it is a true story.
lol. Only if they would accept $10 down and $10 a week. And unless they have done extensive renovations since I last saw it in 1985, that might be too much to pay.
[quote=“dabbledon”]Prince Rupert is a beautiful place that is undergoing a decades-long slump and decline. The flicker of hope that is continually called out by the faithful few is the “just around the corner” mantra. That and maybe someday all those archaic despots and monarchs will rule over us once again. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Being unable to transition and diversify from being a once great company town after the company has left the town is contributing to our stagnation. The leaders who were capable of forward and over-the-fence looking have left or been replaced by, well not so great navel-gazing chumps. Plus home-spun, amateur politicians who greedily hover over and pick at our carcass is not what’s going to get us up and moving now, or ever.[/quote]
FYI, the mill shut down in 2001. That’s one decade, although I suppose you could say that the fishing was bad the decade before that. But really, until the mill actually shut down, people were living pretty well up here. And, just curious, but what exactly are the signs that you’re looking for in a healthy economy? More filled storefronts on 3rd? I see a lot of people still moving INTO town to work at all sorts of various jobs so why aren’t the locals getting those? And if they’re not qualified for those jobs (for whatever reason) what exactly would they be doing if, say, a Canpotex or whatever opened up here?
Is a healthy economy marked by the amount of unskilled labour positions available? Why can’t Rupert simply be a healthy economy for about 12,000 people rather than a sick economy for 13,000? Is this what “attrition” looks like?
So why is Prince Rupert so bad anyways? I understand that the main companies shut down so there was a lot of jobs lost. But is there any other reasons like some of the building need restoration or some of the businesses need to updated? I would imagine that would be a big deal that would cause people to hate the place. I understand that the scenery is beautiful there…
So Why Prince Rupert?
I understand that the scenery is amazing but really why stay around all the year when unemployment is rising and there doesn’t look there’s going to be a boom any time soon. You would think that more people would leave but instead they stay.
But on the other hand, if you have a good job then you are set. What do is with Prince Rupert that people don’t like? Is it the businesses that are not up to date or the building falling down? Can it be restore? Not enough community centers?
