the broken typewriter

The top story in The Broken Typewriter this week was a report from McElhanney to the Peace River Regional District regarding options for the Adeline Kelly Building at the North Peace Fall Fair grounds in the North Peace Regional Park.

While the building’s fate is still undecided, McElhanney’s engineers felt the best path forward is to repurpose the building as storage and build a new structure to accommodate the kitchen, washroom and exhibit spaces the North Peace Fall Fair Society had wanted to put in the Adeline Kelly Building. This path would create a building more structurally sound, with a longer lifespan than retrofitting the Adeline Kelly building.

In Fort St. John, the Council’s Response Committee on Housing and Emergency Shelter (CRCHES) presented their report on the last six months of investigation into the state of homelessness in the city to the rest of council.

The information the three-person committee uncovered showed that contrary to popular belief, the majority of unhoused people in Fort St. John have been members of the community for years – not bused in from other locations – and that the reasons for lack of housing are due to a variety of factors, other than drug addiction.

CRCHES maintained that there is no quick fix, but by studying what other communities have done to ease similar situations, they have come up with one path forward that they believe can provide a base for other forms of assistance – Co-op Housing.

Also, from City Council – Director of Public Works and Utilities, Jeremy Garner presented the plan for upgrades to Surerus Park, which are scheduled to start this year with the replacement of the playground, upgrades to the washroom building, tennis courts, and paving of the parking lot.

Optional items were suggested in the report, including a dog park, a skating rink and a pickleball court. However, this skating rink would double as a ball or roller hockey area in the off-season, and the pickleball court would be a separate facility.

In Smart Money this week, Brad Brain discussed investing when the world is in chaos, and how the crazy things happening in the world right now don’t have to stop you from moving closer to your financial goals. Just remember to always pay yourself first.

With the melting snow, you may have noticed additional signage on our rural roads have appeared. That’s right, it’s the season of Road Bans, and with it, the heavy vehicle traffic is restricted to the hours of 10 p.m. to 10 a.m., on many routes in the North Peace.

Finally, this week, The Broken Typewriter introduced a new feature – The Sidebar. In the world of newspapers and magazines, a sidebar is a small article related to a larger piece, but on the side.

At The Broken Typewriter, the concept of a sidebar has evolved a bit, to become a space for any smaller news items that are related to the North Peace. By putting all these smaller items in one column, readers won’t be bombarded with multiple notifications when a story is published, yet you’ll get more news.

The first Sidebar was published yesterday and contained an update on the hacking incident at the City of Fort St. John; the announcement that Bluey Day registration is open; Prophet River First Nations’ announcement of plans to build a data centre in Fort St. John; and a request from police for more information about an incident which took place on March 6 in the vicinity of 100 St and 102 Avenue in Fort St. John.

How often The Sidebar comes out depends on how many little gems of news cross my desk, I’m confident there will be at least one per week.

Coming up this week:

Monday, March 10 is an exceptionally busy day for local governments:

• The City of Fort St. John is not only holding its regular council meeting at 3 p.m., but has also scheduled an Open House for the 2025 Capital and Operating Budget from 5-6 p.m., at City Hall, followed by a Public Meeting on the budgets at 6 p.m., and a separate Public Hearing for a Zoning Amendment for a parcel kitty-corner to NPSS is also scheduled for 6 p.m. Now that the city’s website is functional following last week’s cyber attack, agendas for all three meetings can be found here.
• The District of Taylor is holding its Committee of the Whole at 3:30 p.m., and Regular Council meeting at 5 p.m.
• School District 60 is holding its regular monthly board meeting at 5:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, March 11, the Fort St. John and District Chamber of Commerce is holding its monthly luncheon, guest speakers for the second month in a row are members of Doig River First Nation who will provide insights into Doig’s treaties and indigenous rights through their Treaty 101 workshop following the luncheon.