Blog Watching, week ending September 4, 2016

Our return to blogging after a two week break put a focus on city Council developments over the last fourteen days, with the Mayor and the City's Six councillors feeling some heat from local user groups at the Civic Centre when it comes to the city's new fees for ice use at the Arena.

The long running debate over liquor sales in the community also came to an end last month as Council put in place restrictions for any new liquor sales establishments during their only public session in August.

Health issues at Prince Rupert Hospital dominated much of the news cycle over the last week, while the Port of Prince Rupert made news twice in the last seven days.

The first note from the Port came with word expansion plans at Fairview Terminals, with the Port announcing the construction of new maintenance and warehouse facilities on the city's west side.

The Port also found itself in the midst of the national and international news flow this week, as it worked to deal with the bankruptcy situation facing the Korean shipping line Hanjin, with one of the company's vessels stranded at anchorage in Prince Rupert harbour.

The top story of the week however followed the latest push back from the public when it comes to how the City of Prince Rupert is handling recreation department issues in the community.

Ice Fees issues send the Recreation Commission back to the drawing board --  The newly introduced schedule of fees for use of recreation facilities continues to face somewhat of a user group backlash with City Council left to sort it all out  (posted September 1, 2016)

That article was followed by:

Korean bankruptcy proceedings leave container ship in stranded situation in Prince Rupert harbour -- As the Hanjin shipping line works through its bankruptcy process in Korea, one of the shipping lines container vessels found itself stranded in Prince Rupert  (posted September 2, 2016)

North Coast MLA steps in to seek answers for Prince Rupert patients --  Concerns over the cleaning of hospital equipment at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital found MLA Jennifer Rice in a letter writing frame of mind, as the MLA raised the concerns of North Coast residents with the provincial health minister. (posted September 2, 2016)

Prince Rupert Port Authority launches maintenance facility project --  The continued success of the Fairview Container Terminal and the current expansion project on the waterfront means the Port Authority now must relocate its maintenance and warehousing facilities on the city's west side.  ( posted September 1, 2016)

Cut off time in Prince Rupert! Council restricts number of liquor establishments with one kilometre rule --   Protecting local jobs proved to be the over-riding factor for Prince Rupert City Council as they delivered a bylaw to restrict the establishment of any more liquor sale outlets in the city (posted September 1, 2016)

You can find our Blog watching featured posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace.

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Our archive of weekly Blog Watching can be found here