Rupertites ready to take to their two wheels for Bike to Work week

The prospect of Bike to Work Week normally involves a careful scan of the long range weather forecast, our unpredictable weather patterns offering up more than a few challenges to the truly devoted.

Still, late May should be better than late March (though you wouldn't have known it last week) so with fingers crossed Prince Rupert residents that signed up for the week long celebration take to their bicycles this week.

The Ride your Bike to Work event  was officially kicked off on Saturday, with registration taking place at the Ice House Gallery.

The One week challenge will see individuals or teams competing from Monday May 26th, to Saturday May 31st.  Participants need to only ride their bicycle once during the week to qualify for a number of prizes, with a range of activities planned for the week ahead.

The wrap up to Bike to Work week comes up on May 31st with a BBQ and awarding of prizes to take place at the Salmonberry Farmer's Market at the Prince Rupert Courthouse.

Here for your bike riding planning, is the week long forecast for Prince Rupert from Environment Canada.

You can find out more about the Challenge from the facebook page created for the event.

Blog Watching, Week Ending May 25, 2014

As part of a weekly feature on the blog, every Sunday we offer up this weeks recap of the top five items viewed over the course of the last seven days.

Included in the countdown, we will provide links to the articles in question, offering up with one click of the mouse, those items of the week that you may have missed.

This week, LNG issues, the Teacher's Dispute and the Mayor's thoughts on recruiting doctors top the list of items viewed.

With our top item of the week being a look at the start of some push back against the increasing pace of LNG development planning across Northern British Columbia

From there, the developments in the Teacher's dispute in the province dominated the week of blog viewing.

The Mayor's plans to discuss Doctor recruitment with the current group of physicians in the community and the need for Pacific Northwest LNG to provide more information for the CEAA round out the top five items of the last seven days.

Kicking off the review, our top item of the week:

An LNG pushback  --  A look at some of the latest discussion points from those that are looking to see a slower pace or complete reversal of the Province's plans for LNG development  (posted May 21, 2014)

That item was followed by:

BCTF responds to employer's salary rollback and lockout plans --  Events heated up significantly in the last seven days between the province and its public school teachers, our item outlining some of those developments proved to be a popular resource offering this week. (posted May 22, 2014 )

School District 52 outlines plans for Tuesday's teachers strike  -- With rotating strikes planned for May 26-29, School District 52 outlined some background for parents for Tuesday's Prince Rupert walkout (posted May 22, 2014)

Mayor to discuss Doctor recruitment with local medical professionals -- The Mayor offers up some observations on Doctor recruitment for the Prince Rupert regain (posted May 21, 2014)

CEAA reportedly requests more information regarding Petronas Environmental Assessment -- The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency sends a letter to Pacific Northwest LNG seeking some more information on a number of items from the Assessment application  (posted May 23, 2014)

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.

The Permanent link to the feature can be found here or above our Blog Archive section, found on the right hand side of the title page.

For those looking for updates to items as they are posted to the blog, don't forget about our email alert access.

A daily review of the latest items on the blog can be delivered to your email in box, simply by entering your email address into the information bar, items posted to the blog will be delivered to your e-mail account each day.

You can find the link to that feature on the upper, right hand side of the blog.

City of Prince Rupert website gets a makeover

It's shiny and new and with a click of your mouse it is waiting for you!

Prince Rupert residents, as well as those from afar interested in learning more about the City of Prince Rupert are going to find a whole new visual presentation on the City's website.

The on line portal now features a brand new look, providing for a modern presentation compared to the old version, a time capsule of a website which looked very much lost in the early days of Internet information delivery.

The updated portal provides much the same information as the old version, however it looks quite impressive in design and provides for an easy to navigate home page.

The new site offers an easy to use  interface which directs users to whatever kind of information they wish to access.

The home page is divided into a number of key information options, Opening with a rotating review of what the City has selected as the top items of interest located at the top of the page.

For most residents and out of town visitors the Popular Links destination probably will deliver the bulk of desired information.

Among some of those information links are:

Emergency Information, News Releases, Online Services, as well as items from the Mayor and Council, Bylaws and Policies and Recreation items all make up part of the main focus.

You can also access information on Community Events as well as view the latest session of Prince Rupert City Council from the home page.

In addition to the main information items dedicated to the website, the redesigned home page from the city offers up links to it's Facebook page and twitter feed.

At the very top of the new web page is a task bar that provides for a drop down menu of other items. Providing a wide range of options that residents and visitors may find very useful as they seek out information on any number of topics.

The new design moves the City's information portal into the modern era of information delivery, though in the end, the website will only be as good as the information that is provided for it.

In past months, the City has not made the best use of its Internet options, information was slow to be delivered to their portal and news releases and notices were decidedly of the dated variety.

Hopefully, with a shiny new website will come the opportunity to provide much more information to public and offer it up in  a timely manner.

A whole new concept to the term "stuffing the box"

The prospect of a fast increase in economic development on the North Coast has provided for some concern as to how to accommodate the large volume of workers anticipated to arrive with the start of some of the many project proposed for the region in the years to come.

During the course of this weeks LNG in BC conference, BigSteelBox Structures of Kelowna have set up shop at the Trade Fair that is running as part of the conference.

The company is providing a hands on display model for conference participants, as well as some background on a unique solution to the prospect of employee housing at large scale developments.

The company is offering the prospect of 10 by 40 foot Steel containers, described as high end condo style accommodations, easily transported to various work camps simple to set up and offering a wide range of accessories that could make camp life as enjoyable experience as possible.

You can review some of the specs on the container housing model from the company website.

BigSteelBoxes recently announced their plans for Northern Expansion, to service the Northwest and North Coast, with an eye on the many projects projected for development in the region.

Some background on their presentation at the LNG in BC conference can be found below:

Steel boxes outfitted as luxury LNG work camps
"Luxury" Shipping Container Rooms Unveiled for B. C. LNG workers

Over 2.8 million dollars in Infrastructure funding available to Prince Rupert from Federal Gas Tax Fund

The shovels can hit the ground shortly for any number of Prince Rupert infrastructure projects, as an agreement has been reached on funding through the Federal Gas Tax Fund.

Thursday, the Province of British Columbia outlined the terms of a renewed agreement on the Federal Gas Tax Fund, which will provide local governments across BC with the opportunity to choose and plan infrastructure projects based on their priorities.

“Renewing the Gas Tax Agreement sustains support for key local infrastructure projects in British Columbia over the next ten years. Achieved by a partnership between the Government of British Columbia, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities and the Government of Canada, the agreement provides significant funding to help B.C. communities continue to prosper as great places to live, work, invest, play and visit.” --  Coralee Oakes, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development speaking to the Gas Tax funding agreement with the Federal Government 

James Moore, the Federal Minister of Industry, Provincial Minister Oakes and Rhona Martin, President of the UBCM all heralded the agreement as a key aspect of municipal funding for infrastructure concerns across the province.



The news will be a welcome development for the City of Prince Rupert, which has a long list of projects to address some of the aging infrastructure in the city.

According to the table distributed yesterday by the UBCM, Prince Rupert will receive $2,873,131.74  in funding over the next five years.

2014-15 -- $552,519.10
2015-16 -- $552,519.10
2016-17 -- $580,145.38
2017-18 -- $580,145.38
2018-19 -- $607,802.78

Port Edward has been allocated $373,772.31 over the same five year period.

2014-15 -- $71,855.64
2015-16 -- $71,855.64
2016-17 -- $75,448.44
2017-18 -- $75,448.44
2018-19 -- $79,162.15

The full list, featuring amounts for other Northwest communities can be found here.

Details on the Gas Tax Fund Announcement can be found here.

The UBCM explains more on the program through this item in the Compass.

The nature of infrastructure requirements in Prince Rupert have been a frequent discussion topic at Prince Rupert City Council, the short list of what's in the works for the year ahead can be found below.

City Engineering Department outlines its "To Do" list for 2014

For more on developments at City Hall see our Archive page.

Mystery Tsumami warning for North Coast on Environment Canada site

Considering our location on the shores of the Pacific, anytime the word Tsunami gets mentioned catches ones attention.

Such was the case this morning as we made our daily check of the local forecast, only to see an advisory that our Tsunami Warning had come to an end.

Now being a curious type, we decided it might be worth our time to head over to the USGS webiste, which provides the best delivery of earthquake information for North America. Looking to find out where, when and how strong any major earthquake on the Pacific may have been.

However, a look at the listings and maps provided there show no major incident of note today, nothing worthy of a Tsunami warning near as we can tell.

Likewise, a review of the items listed at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre provided few clues as to what Environment Canada was providing notice of.

Then it dawned on us, earlier this month we made not of Emergency Preparedness Week in British Columbia, the week dedicated to stressing to British Columbians that they need to prepare for any possible emergency.

Maybe the mystery notification is part of an education program to create awareness of our location and how information will be delivered should the need arise.

If so, mission accomplished!

If not... best to look over the emergency kit!

To review how you can be prepared for natural disasters consult the Emergency Management website

And then, there was an answer to the question of what the heck?

(Nice to know we are on the morning reading list at City Hall )

CEAA reportedly requests more information regarding Petronas Environmental Assessment

PacificNorthwest LNG will apparently have to do a bit more research when it comes to their bid for environmental approval for their Lelu Island Terminal Proposal.

According to an item posted today from the Bloomberg News Group, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has asked Petronas/Pacific Northwest LNG to provide further details regarding questions about the impact of the proposed project on marine resources, air quality and how it may affect aboriginal groups in the region.

The request was reportedly made by way of a correspondence to the company on May 9th.

The time that is required by PacificNorthwest to compile the additional information will not be held against their 365 day time limit for the assessment.

However, the need for more information by the CEAA could mean a delay when it comes to any final approval decision from the Federal Regulator.

You can review the Bloomberg News item here.

The CEAA page for the Pacific Northwest LNG Project can be found here.

Our archive of items on the Pacific Northwest LNG proposal can be found here.

Update:

By way of his twitter feed, Globe and Mail reporter Brent Jang, provided some background on the  response by Petronas/Pacific Northwest LNG to the CEAA developments.