A ‘Save Our Streets’ rally drew a crowd of more than 1,000 to the CN Centre in Prince George Thursday evening.
Organized by the Prince George Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Prince George, the event encouraged those concerned about public safety to deliver a strong message to senior governments regarding the need for urgent action to address ongoing crime, violence and public disorder.
Late Tuesday evening, someone sitting near a small fire in the alley behind Gurney House of Vision in downtown Prince George was captured on security video fanning a burning piece of paper near the shop’s back door and gas meter.
Optician Cathy Lortie called RCMP as she watched the business’s live surveillance feed on her phone.
“My heart stopped,” Lortie said in an interview Thurs. “When I saw that, I was like, this is it. Our store is going down. We’ve been waiting, how sad is that, we’ve been waiting for this to happen.”
Lortie has called Prince George home for thirty years.
The city with a population of more than 80,000 is known as the hub of northern B.C., but Lortie said it’s not safe anymore.
“It’s just very sad, we just want to go to work,” she told Global News. “When they go to burn our business down, then I’m out of a job,” she told Global News.
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Prince George brewery destroyed in fire may not rebuild
Some 50 employees were displaced on Sept. 5, when an early morning fire destroyed the building at 508 George Street, which housed CrossRoads Brewing & Distillery.
Richard Alex Gordon Titchener, 57, is awaiting trial on a charge of arson causing damage to property.
Richard Alex Gordon Titchener.
The owners of CrossRoads Brewing have said they’re not willing to rebuild downtown if the current climate persists.
Another major overnight fire on Sept. 28 consumed the building on 1st Ave housing the Nechako Bottle Depot, which remains closed until further notice.
At the time, the city of Prince George said the cause of that fire remained under investigation.
RCMP confirmed Friday their investigation remains ongoing as they await fire investigator reports from multiple agencies, and the cause of the bottle depot fire is still undetermined.
Prince George’s only full refund bottle depot has been around for more than 25 years, and said it is working diligently to reopen at a new location soon.
“My biggest fear is that I, you know, lose my businesses, lose my livelihood,” said restaurant owner Eoin Foley.
Foley owns and operates two restaurants, Nancy O’s and Betulla Burning, and a sports pub, The Dudley.
He said fires and vandalism have become the norm at night, and buildings, including his, are charred and damaged from the constant close calls.
“It’s scary,” Foley told Global News in an interview. “We need bigger, transformational change that’s going to have a real impact – not just for business owners and my staff – but for the vulnerable people on the street that are really in the thick of it.”
The damage to Eoin Foley’s restaurant following a fire set near the building earlier this month.
Eoin Foley
The damage to Eoin Foley’s restaurant following a fire set near the building earlier this month.
Eoin Foley
Pacific Body Jewellery & Piercing owner John Zukowski said he regularly deals with street disorder outside his shop on 4th Ave., and has even called 911 to get assistance for individuals passed out on the sidewalk.
Zukowski said the rear of his business has seen attempted break-ins, vandalism and repeated fires set overnight.
“This is getting out of control,” he said in an interview. “We need to do something; folks are absolutely done.”
“Our downtown businesses are really at a breaking point,” Downtown Prince George executive director Chrisie Berry told Global News.
Berry said most of her members are experiencing crime or vandalism on an almost daily basis.
The non-profit society serving property owners, businesses and tenants in the downtown core said a recent survey revealed fires, crime and vandalism cost 55 businesses approximately $4.5 million in damages in just one year.
With downtown foot traffic in decline due to the public feeling unsafe in the area, Downtown Prince George is asking all levels of government to work together to address the root causes of the challenges driving the disorder – including addiction and homelessness.
In an Oct. 14 open letter to the residents of Prince George, the mayor and council said public safety is the city’s most urgent challenge, and acknowledged the recent fires and ongoing downtown issues have made many residents feel unsafe.
Despite considering every tool available to address safety concerns including increasing funding for bylaw and RCMP and cooperating with the province to build more housing for people living on the streets, the mayor and council said downtown remains in crisis.
“The frustrating reality is that municipal government does not have the authority to address the fundamental problems in the mental health and criminal justice systems which allow widespread street disorder to persist,” stated the letter posted on the city’s website.
While Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday the federal government will propose bail reform legislation aimed at cracking down on violent crime and repeat offenders, council said it would also like to see the province hire more Crown counsel and expand services to provide custodial care for individuals committing crimes due to untreated mental illness or acquired brain injury.
“Every one of these steps is outside the authority of municipal government, but Council has been advocating fiercely to attract Provincial and Federal attention and resources to Prince George,” stated the letter.
Council said it has also invited provincial government ministers to attend a community meeting to discuss solutions to the public safety challenges Prince George is facing, and is awaiting their response.
If nothing changes, Zukowski is concerned that community members will resort to vigilante justice.
“People are going to be pushed to the point where they’re going to do something on their own – that is a fear I have,” Zukowski told Global News. “I don’t want to see a good person pushed to the limit where they end up doing something that ends up costing them everything.”
Fortunately, the fire set at the back of Lortie’s building on Oct. 14 didn’t spread, but she said it’s only a matter of time.
“It’s eventually going to happen and that’s how everybody feels down here,” Lortie said on Thursday. “It’s eventually going to happen.”