Nurturing a northern revival

Shari Green was walking through downtown Prince George several years ago when she took cover in a doorway as gunshots echoed through the street.

It was hard evidence that the city of 72,000 was attracting more and more Vancouver-style gang violence, driving away residents, businesses and investment.

"That was an, 'enough is enough' moment for me, and that's what got me to city hall," said Green, a downtown business owner who was elected mayor in November.

Late last month, Green was in Vancouver for a Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) job fair focused on northern B.C.

Her mission?

To tell Vancouverites that you don't have to pay $1 million for a house – you can move to Prince George, or anywhere else in the north for that matter, pay between $200,000 and $300,000 for a house and find a well-paying job in one of B.C.'s booming industrial sectors.

"We need to work harder to make sure everybody in the province is aware there's a world beyond the Lower Mainland and it's driving this economy," Green said. "There's a tremendous amount of activity going on in the natural resource sector, so for someone to be in Vancouver and be unemployed [during] this economy in the north is not necessary."

But getting workers to leave behind the beaches, bars and cushy coastal lifestyle isn't easy, especially when you're asking them to move to a city that MacLean's magazine has twice named the most dangerous in Canada.

"My vision, my mission is to change the conversation [about Prince George]," said Green. "We need to make sure we're open for business, that we're attracting business."

One part of her mission has been made easier thanks to mining, forestry and infrastructure expansions across the north that are generating hundreds of new jobs.

Some 20 companies set up booths at the job fair February 29, attracting 800 job seekers.

Peter Jeffrey, vice-president of CME B.C., said there didn't appear to be any shortage of Vancouverites interested in northern jobs.

"We had to turn away about 200 job seekers," said Jeffrey, "so from the goals we had set the event was a great success."

But the other part of Green's mission, to rebuild Prince George's reputation as a great place to invest and live in, is an uphill battle.

In addition to gang violence and grow ops, the city's police officers have dealt with everything from sawed-off shotguns and AK47s on the streets to a serial killer who murdered three women in late 2009 and 2010.

On top of that, Prince George's downtown has been plagued with drug abuse and property crime.

That's made it difficult to convince businesses to hang out their shingles downtown.

But a few years ago, residents, business owners and community leaders fed up with the city's poor reputation joined forces to turn things around. In 2010, Business in Vancouver detailed how Dan McLaren, president of Prince George-based Commonwealth Financial, teamed up with his investors to snap up dozens of lots in the downtown and start rebuilding. (See "Business and government join forces to revamp Prince George" – BIV issue 1073; May 18-24, 2010.)

Since then, a derelict bingo hall has been turned into a medical centre, and a 36-unit seniors' housing complex is expected to open its doors in six weeks.

"An awful lot has happened," said McLaren, "and it's all good news."

The old Prince George Hotel has also been ripped down, making way for the province's Wood Innovation and Design Centre.

Although ground has yet to break on that building, it's expected to house leading-edge research to develop and explore new uses for wood products.

"What we're looking at was to try and strengthen our relationship with the university and post-secondary education; it has made a world of difference driving our economy," said former mayor Dan Rogers.

Crime statistics have also dropped dramatically since city hall and the local RCMP detachment started working more closely together.

The RCMP's downtown enforcement unit has helped reduce crime in Prince George's downtown core 24%.

And not one murder was recorded in the city in 2011.

The city and Northern Development Initiative Trust have also partnered to set up a 10-year revitalization tax exemption program, which provides municipal tax exemptions for certain development projects in the city.

And Green recently struck a select committee on business, which last month delivered 16 recommendations to attract more investment to town.

Kirk Gable, a commercial realtor at Doucette Realty in Prince George, said the resurrection of the resource economy has already started to drive demand for industrial land.

"We're seeing huge demand coming in right now from all over Western Canada," said Gable, adding that prices are still reasonable, ranging between $7.50 and $8 per square foot compared with upward of $9 in Vancouver.

But no one in Prince George is convinced that all of the city's problems have been solved, especially Green.

"Until it's a place Prince George can be proud of we're certainly not going to expect anyone else to fly in and fix it for us." •