I have to agree with codybear, I would vote for you too Btravenn. Thanks for your calculations, however; re: council and info from mgmt they receive and making decisions, you are probably correct.
I have a hard time figuring council out, I think the council members live in the community and hopefully talk to all people, not just afew they rely on for info. I hope they get out in the community and chat with the people, one can find out all kinds of information. Then filtering what is true and not and doing some homework to do what is the best for the community, not just for afew.
Thank you, I do enjoy reading the input from many and great to hear from different views.
Sorry Bettyboop, never said I would vote for BTravenn, just stated I thought he should throw his hat into the ring as he has some good ideas but I don’t know who he is whereas I am acquainted with Justin Case and believe in his ideas. I do agree with you though regarding the input on here and interesting points of view. Too bad Council members don’t have the same thought process or it seems any thought process but this is off topic now, supposed to be a topic regarding the SPCA. That is of vital importance now !
The council denied the SPCA’s funding request and approved the same level of funding as last year, while recognizing that the facility may have to close for lack of funding.
And see an op-ed piece in A Town Called Podunk putting the issue in a wider context of community concerns about the Mayor and council’s handling of financial issues:
Another decision … probably in the who cares? category … is the council agreed in principle without difficulties to a $40K loan guarantee to the golf club. Community consultation is required before the guarantee can be finaliized.
Yes indeed … many of us seldom if ever fly. If you pay property taxes, though, about 7% of what you pay goes towards the subsidy of the airport ferry.
The taxpayers don’t even get a ‘thanks a lot eh’ on the YPR site … it simply notes “Passenger fare included in Airline Ticket”. ypr.ca/html/ferry.html
I suggest that citizens need to encourage individual councillors to take a look at this issue and its impact on overall funding of community services … elections are a long ways off.
Some councillors … by no means all … seem to be increasingly willing to take their own positions rather than just going with the flow of what management recommends, eg last meeting a development permit variance was approved that staff wanted to deny.
LOL … that would no doubt give rise to much discussion in the safety of the club house lounge.
Update to the story, response from the BC SPCA pertinent to the discussion…
The BC SPCA says that although they didn’t receive the $70,000 grant requested from the City of Prince Rupert, the organization has no plans of making changes in the community in the coming year.
And since I won’t editorialize under The Northern View login, I think that’s great news. Lindsay and the volunteers do a great job up there and in the community as a whole, and should be commended for their efforts.
I feel that this does sound a little better for the little four legged orphans up there but looking into this possible situation the SPCA is faced with, this council must or should be called to task regarding the financial situation we find this community in. Why are these salaries for individuals being continued when we as citizens are supposed to remain silent about and accept these decisions being made behind closed doors " meetings ". When is this transparency issue going to go into effect when are the citizens who for whatever reasons elected the present council. It does seem that once the elected parties take their seats everything they ever said during their guest to sit in chamber does not exist any longer. Each member is there to also represent myself and whoever went into that booth. It is not a one person show and each and everyone of you council members work and represent us. It is up to the Chamber of Commerce to sell the city and let the world of commerce know we are open for business.
The Prince Rupert Airport Authority and the Digby Island Ferry are separate entities. It is my understanding the city owns YPR Airport and it doesn’t cost “the city” a dime. So maybe ‘we’ should be thanking ‘them’!
Dex, yes it for real and they were trying to get a grant. I could say the threat came from some PitBull from Vancouver Island and you would still question who owned the SB. Get in touch with SPCA and get your facts.
Well you seem to know much about the SPCA so I figured I could save time by asking you. Your original post on this thread gave me the impression you knew what was happening with the SPCA. So my conclusion is, that this was a case of “give us more money (grant) or we will shut down!” and when denied the money found out later that they didn’t really need to shut down. Does that sound correct?
I don’t know about thanking YPR … thanking them for what? … running an airport under an agreement with the federal government without requiring a subsidy from Rupert taxpayers?
Since the passenger fare for the airport ferry is buried in the ticket price (unlike fares for vehicles), I suspect that most passengers have little or no idea of what they are paying … or that the city uses tax revenue to cover about 40% of the operating cost.
Perhaps the airport authority should take over the airport ferry, run it on a cost recovery basis … like the airport … and save about $1 million a year, which could be spent on community services like the SPCA etc…
Notwithstanding the update from the SPCA that they will ensure that the facility operates in 2010 by seeking contributions from other branches … the future appears uncertain … no promises appear to have been made for 2011 and after.
And I think that the original point remains … the city really needs to re-think its priorities … subsidizing the airport ferry or supporting community services.
[quote=“BTravenn”]
I don’t know about thanking YPR … thanking them for what? … running an airport under an agreement with the federal government without requiring a subsidy from Rupert taxpayers?[/quote]
Which Federal Government agreement would be you referring to?
