The potential relocation of a liquor store in Prince George brought community safety issues to the forefront in tonight’s (April 11th) Prince George City Council meeting.
An application was brought forward to move the liquor store located at 6475 Hart Highway to 1933 Queensway.
The applicant, Nick Drazenovic of Prince George (a former player with the PG Cougars), said that he was required to relocate the liquor store as part of taking over the business, and that he recognized the issues residents brought up, and wanted to work to address them.
The third reading for the rezoning amendment passed unanimously, as did the liquor license application.
But the gallery filled with residents from the Millar Addition and Connaught areas in opposition to the liquor store being placed in the neighbourhood, for fear of it agitating an already serious problem residents are facing.
Over 40 letters were submitted in opposition to the project, with some people saying prostitution, theft, and other crime was already a problem, and a liquor store would just make things worse.
“I would really like to have the convenience of having a liquor store close to my house that I could walk to, that would be a nice idea. However, I don’t know if having a liquor store on Queensway would be a good idea,” said one of the residents, Diane Nakamura, during the public hearing.
Nakamura said she knew the area was susceptible to crime, but has seen things escalate.
“I have noticed in the last year, at least, that there has been an increase in people posting videos of people breaking into their vehicles, into their yards, it’s been frequent.”
“We are feeling like we are under siege, that we are being robbed, left, right, and center, and there’s nothing that can be done about it.”
Nakamura noted that most recently, an elderly woman in the community who lives alone has been broken into twice.
Another resident, Lindsay Hughes, stressed to the City’s councillors that they were concerned for their safety.
“After 10 PM, 11 PM, who’s watching? It’s me, I can see that building, I can see the alley, I’m the one who has to call the police, I’m the one who has to chase people out of the alleys at 5:30 in the morning when I’m getting ready to go to work. I don’t feel safe in my own backyard sometimes, because of people climbing fences. It’s not right.”
Hughes noted that there was a promise made to help the community, but nothing has changed.
“In 2016 we had a town hall meeting here, with Superintendent Brown for the Queensway Initiative, which was for Queensway, Juniper, and Norwood. And we were promised that we were going to have a safe community, and nothing was ever done, nothing. We called the police, we called everybody. We were supposed to report people on bikes, prostitution. They’d say, what do you want us to do about it, that’s what our response was.”
Six other residents stepped forward echoing the same sentiments.
The response from City councillors was that the issue at the moment was anything regarding land use or rezoning, and that the social issues were a separate topic that needed to be dealt with on their own.
City Council also received a presentation from the BC Summer Games Society, an application was greenlit to bring in potential money to help address PG’s homeless population, and the Treasure Cove Casino’s application to expand their liquor license moved forward.
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