ENVIRONMENT: Looks like we’re in for a normal flood season A3 Friday, April 12, 2013 NDP seniors’ critic Katrine Conroy visited Prince George this week A3
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DBIA is back for five years DELYNDA PILON
newsroom@pgfreepress.com
Final reading of the Downtown Business Improvement Area bylaw during Monday’s city council meeting passed, granting the Downtown Business Improvement Association a renewed mandate, this one of five years, to continue its initiatives to improve downtown businesses. The DBIA is funded through a local service tax, levied on businesses within its boundaries. A delegation from the DBIA appeared before council at an earlier meeting to renew the bylaw, requesting it be done through a ‘local area service on council initiative-subject to petition against’. This means the city informs those who will be subject to the levy about what is going on by publishing the information for two weeks
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in a local paper. They also mail letters regarding the bylaw to affected property owners which includes information council will proceed with the bylaw unless sufficient petitions are received within 30 days after public notice has been given. This is followed by a second public notice and a report from the corporate officer with the results of the petition. If at least 50 per cent of the owners of the properties representing at least 50 per cent of the taxable value of the land petition against the change within the time frame allotted, then council may not grant final reading of the bylaw establishing the DBIA. If council does not receive the required amount of petitions against the bylaw within the allotted time, council may grant final reading to it.
Text leads to woman’s rescue A woman being held against her will managed to text a friend and, using the global positioning system in the phone, the police were able to locate her. It all happened on Monday when the 26-year-old woman texted her friend saying that her boyfriend had prevented her from going to work for the past week. He had been threatening to harm her and was not letting her go. Information provided by the victim via text was that the 24-year-old boyfriend had her in his transport truck and they had left Williams Lake and were travelling to Kitimat. Dispatchers contacted the service provider for the victim’s cell phone and obtained GPS coordinates. The phone was pinged to an area southwest of Burns Lake. RCMP were familiar with the suspect as they had dealings with him in the past. Members were able to identify the transport truck he was driving through the company he worked for. An hour and a half after the initial report came in, the suspect vehicle was located by police in Smithers. The suspect was taken into police custody without incident, and the victim was found in the truck and taken to safety.
Prince George
Te re s a M A LLA M / Fre e Pre s s
Erin Reynolds models spring fashion wear from Dandylines Sunday at the A Flower in Fashion show, a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society.