I have lived in Fort St. John B.C. for the last 24 years and in Taylor B.C which is 15 KM south for 4 years. I got some kind of idea of the mentality of this place. It always amazes me how people manage to get their way and push things down other peoples throats. You can’t even call it an old boys club as the people that do these things are not old boys from here. They do however have the odd self interested backer.
When I first moved up here 28 years ago, one of the people that broke me in said that in Fort St. John if you can’t do it without a bulldozer it is not worth doing. How right he was.
The forman comming to chase me away. He asked if I worked for the city. I said no, that I work for me, myself, and I. He could not believe that. I had no safety clothing on. He was right and I never put up an argument. He said that I had to destroy my pictures. Right.
This is a massif structure for a town of 18,000 people (5142 taxpayers at 3.5 people per house). A speed skating rink. There is a skating rink on the second floor. City council said that this will attract athletes to Fort St. John. Right. How much money do young people training hard bring? How many athletes will come to Fort St. John when we have more coaches in the bigger cities?
City council tried to raise business taxes by 40% and home owner taxes by 15% a short time ago. They had a good show up at the next council meeting. When they started this project they said that they would get money from the provincial and federal governments. Well they started things before they got the money. Ha Ha. The Feds gave money to B.C. already for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Province did give them money, but where will the rest come from? You can see in the pictures that not to many construction people are around. When you talk to contractors that are around town they laugh and laugh about who is paying. Well Fort St. John stopped paving streets this year. We have a lot of unpaved streets as there has been no industrial tax base in this town. The oil industry is outside of town. We get ripped of this way.
Well I just have to say, well done city council. What ever the Mayor’s name is. You remind me of the past Mayor Pat Welsh. He paved streets that had no houses on them for 15 years and I lived on a street with no pavement for 20 years. Well done. You screwed this town for many many more years to come.
i love to see women that is doing some figure skating , they are really beautiful and gracefull.*-”
What on earth does Fort St. John need with “one of only three indoor Olympic sized long [speed skating] tracks in North America”? How many speed skating competitions will the town host each year? How many Olympic hopefuls will be moving to Fort St. John to train? Really?
My my my, how uninformed you are.
The Mayor now? Bruce Lantz, google it if you want to have any credibility.
Your photography skills are nagging as well. If you look close at the pics, they seem to be digitally enhanced.
And I wonder if you have even attended ANY city council meetings to voice your concerns. I highly doubt it.
You just sit on the computer and complain. Wow. Effective.
Oh, and no wonder why the foreman kicked you off site… YOU WERE ON A CONSTRUCTION SITE… a…duh.
My my my
The pictures are from a digital camera, a Canon G9 so they are digital. I had to get off the computer to take the pictures and I am a bit of a rebel.
Thanks for the comment.
I’m 100% in agreement with your comments about the Enerplex Mark (Often referred to Eglinskiplex) The way cost over-runs are popping up, this will end up costing in excess of 60 million dollars. If anyone thinks a city the size of ours can afford this massive debt, imagine a city the size of Calgary approving a debt of 35 billion dollars for a recreational complex. Because that’s how it roughly pro-rates. We know, of course, they have a little more common sense! Wake up Eglinski and Co. and do your job!
I am so tired of all the complaining and finger pointed regarding the enerplex!!! Jum Eglinski was not Mayor when the enerplex was brought in, he was a councillor, who had a vote on it – ONLY!! Once it was voted in, who oever is mayor must finish the previous mayors commitments – the enerplex is one of them. As for money that young athletes bring in..it is LOTS – every hockey tournament brings in 8 or more out of town teams, every figure skating event or speed skating meet bring often hundreds of people to our community – who spend money, here in FSJ. They buy food, spend nights in hotels, go to the movies, swimming, bowling, often buy clothes/amenities if they come from smaller towns and the list goes on and on. Althetics is a very healthy way for children to grow up. Would you rather we spend millions of dollars on soemthing productive or those millions trying to rescue our kids from drugs, gangs and the streets. Athletics is a proven motivation to keep kids on the healthy track of life. Fort St. john is ever growing, the only way we continue to grow is to build and expand and yes that takes money – lots of money, money many of us do not have a lot of. I have been a long time tax payer in FSJ and though do not always agree with the way my money is spent – I truly cannot wait until the day that my family and I can enjoy the enerplex! Hurry up and build it!!
and if you believe that….