The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread - Page 372

Ire Narissis · #**7421** Posted **Oct 1, 2012, 2:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreDay

I've never been in the Pharmasave, but Parkway is my preferred Liquor store. I was actually inside a couple weeks ago, for the first time in 15 years, and there is one store in there with no outside access. It was some glasses frames store, I cant think of the name.. Remember when there was a movie theater in there?? That place used to be bumpin

20/20 Vision Care. My favourite place to get glasses.

KnoxfordGuy · #**7422** Posted **Oct 3, 2012, 6:06 PM**

I was walking down Germain St. the other day and oh my gosh, what an amazing gritty urban victorian street! I would love to live there! The area near St. Andrew and St. David's church! So awesome! I felt like I was in a gritty part of London, UK!

kwajo · #**7423** Posted **Oct 3, 2012, 6:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KnoxfordGuy

I was walking down Germain St. the other day and oh my gosh, what an amazing gritty urban victorian street! I would love to live there! The area near St. Andrew and St. David's church! So awesome! I felt like I was in a gritty part of London, UK!

It is pretty amazing, I love living Uptown, I'll never go back to another part of the city.

cdnguys · #**7424** Posted **Oct 3, 2012, 7:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by KnoxfordGuy

I was walking down Germain St. the other day and oh my gosh, what an amazing gritty urban victorian street! I would love to live there! The area near St. Andrew and St. David's church! So awesome! I felt like I was in a gritty part of London, UK!

Try it when it is foggy, with Trinity Church bells ringing - kinda feels like Jack the Ripper is around the corner. That's what makes city so unique despite its challenges.

DreDay · #**7425** Posted **Oct 3, 2012, 7:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ire Narissis

20/20 Vision Care. My favourite place to get glasses.

Nice. Is that because of their selection, or the gorgeous sales lady that made me do a triple take?

KnoxfordGuy · #**7426** Posted **Oct 4, 2012, 12:28 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Try it when it is foggy, with Trinity Church bells ringing - kinda feels like Jack the Ripper is around the corner. That's what makes city so unique despite its challenges.

I'll totally do that! I'm sure I'll catch Saint John on a foggy day haha

Ire Narissis · #**7427** Posted **Oct 4, 2012, 2:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreDay

Nice. Is that because of their selection, or the gorgeous sales lady that made me do a triple take?

Haha... mostly the selection; they sell high-end designer frames. My glasses may have been a lot more expensive that a Vogue Optical POS frame, but they'll never break on me. And I may opt to put new lenses in the same frames when my prescription changes.

That is, unless I decide to just get PRK or LASIK. The pricing on those procedures has come down so much that getting one eye done costs about the same as one good pair of glasses.

dhottawa729 · #**7428** Posted **Oct 5, 2012, 5:36 AM**

...boring. When can we expect to hear something about Fundy Quay? Or anything development-related for that matter? There's been a lot of discussion and side chatter about irrelevant things lately... is there really nothing going on out there? Not even anything going on anywhere in the east coast for that matter that we might find interesting to fill the void?

I had spoken to someone at the (now defunct?) harbour bridge authority a few years ago about illuminating the underside of the harbour bridge. I put them in contact with a lighting engineer here in Ottawa but I guess nothing ever happened from there. That would spruce things up a little. If the city found a way to spend money on the partially illuminated hollywood-esque sign that I once ironically saw "_aint _o_n", then maybe that can be their next business development splurge.

JHikka · #**7429** Posted **Oct 5, 2012, 3:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhottawa729

I had spoken to someone at the (now defunct?) harbour bridge authority a few years ago about illuminating the underside of the harbour bridge. I put them in contact with a lighting engineer here in Ottawa but I guess nothing ever happened from there. That would spruce things up a little. If the city found a way to spend money on the partially illuminated hollywood-esque sign that I once ironically saw "_aint _o_n", then maybe that can be their next business development splurge.

It would be really nice if they added lighting underneath and put in a footbridge so pedestrians/cyclists could get to Lower Westside relatively quickly.

There are a few projects going on at the moments but they're either really boring (Parking Garage) or we're bored of them (Peel Plaza/Justice Complex). At least when Fundy Quay (someday) gets started up we can get a thread going for that.

There's odd news today about Exhibition Park. CHSJ is reporting that the new deal with Horse Racing NB and Woodstock First Nation will improve the racetrack and give it a more modern "look and feel". However, there isn't much more information than that and that there won't be any additional seating added, which I thought was the main problem. Can anyone else shed some light on this?

There was also a writeup in today's TJ about Mayor Norton and the City being more friendly and open to developers.

TJB · #**7430** Posted **Oct 6, 2012, 1:36 AM**

Does anyone have a picture of the progress at the West side Zellers/ Walmart?

Whaler · #**7431** Posted **Oct 6, 2012, 11:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJB

Does anyone have a picture of the progress at the West side Zellers/ Walmart?

It is all done and will be opening very soon! Looks like every other Walmart.

homebody · #**7432** Posted **Oct 6, 2012, 5:31 PM**

I noticed while driving down Millenium Dr yesterday some form/foundation work being done on the big piece of land they cleared across from the new RV place. Any idea whats going in there?

CdnEh · #**7433** Posted **Oct 7, 2012, 12:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GregHickman

There's odd news today about Exhibition Park. CHSJ is reporting that the new deal with Horse Racing NB and Woodstock First Nation will improve the racetrack and give it a more modern "look and feel". However, there isn't much more information than that and that there won't be any additional seating added, which I thought was the main problem. Can anyone else shed some light on this?

Lawd. It seems like there have been "deals" and "talks" going on for the past 20 years...

Can someone please just build something so we can finally stop hearing about it?

Maybe it's just my lack of interest in harness racing, but holy mother of god.

CdnEh · #**7434** Posted **Oct 7, 2012, 1:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJB

Does anyone have a picture of the progress at the West side Zellers/ Walmart?

Helladog · #**7435** Posted **Oct 8, 2012, 5:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whaler

...Looks like every other Walmart.

OMG...he was right!

ErickMontreal · #**7436** Posted **Oct 8, 2012, 8:54 PM**

The Telegraph had an article over the weekend covering the unemployment that is soaring in the Greater Saint John region. The unemployment topped at 9.1 %, the second highest of all CMA country wide. They were pointing to the lack of big projects weakening the overall economy as Point Lepreau and the Courthouse are on the way to be completed.

In my opinion, the actual workforce skills do not match the opportunities available on the market right now. I have always thought that the workforce in Saint John was both vastly and overwhelmingly uniform. At this point, perhaps it is the time to think outside the box and stop waiting for the next big thing that would spur growth for the next two years and start to put the emphasis on small and medium businesses that will create stability.

On side note, I just bought a house in the inner city and the market is literally flooded by houses. There are about 12 houses per 1000 people available which is one of the highest in the country. It maybe an indication that some of the people who moved back and bought a house between 2006 and 2009 during the peak of the boom on the hope of the positive economic forecast will materialized are packing and leaving to go out West. There is obviously an out migration that needs to be taken seriously.

someone123 · #**7437** Posted **Oct 8, 2012, 9:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErickMontreal

In my opinion, the actual workforce skills do not match the opportunities available on the market right now. I have always thought that the workforce in Saint John was both vastly and overwhelmingly uniform. At this point, perhaps it is the time to think outside the box and stop waiting for the next big thing that would spur growth for the next two years and start to put the emphasis on small and medium businesses that will create stability.

I think one problem is that the megaprojects are "sexy" and offer a quick fix to politicians interested in job creation. Larger projects can bring jobs but they are unreliable and typically require subsidies. It is much better, as you suggest, to base an economy on smaller companies with stronger local roots that will stay in one spot and hire locals as they grow.

Unfortunately the Maritimes in general have not been very entrepreneurial for a long time and Saint John in particular is not a very well-educated city. I think one of the problems with entrepreneurship is the historically high tax rate and emphasis on subsidies; it's relatively easy and profitable in the Maritimes to work for the government (in NB for example there are 55 provincial MLAs, compared to 107 in Ontario!) or to ask for handouts, and if you do manage to create a successful company you end up being the one to pay for everybody else's entitlements. It is not a very successful system.

RyeJay · #**7438** Posted **Oct 8, 2012, 9:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErickMontreal

The Telegraph had an article over the weekend covering the unemployment that is soaring in the Greater Saint John region. The unemployment topped at 9.1 %, the second highest of all CMA country wide. They were pointing to the lack of big projects weakening the overall economy as Point Lepreau and the Courthouse are on the way to be completed.

In my opinion, the actual workforce skills do not match the opportunities available on the market right now. I have always thought that the workforce in Saint John was both vastly and overwhelmingly uniform. At this point, perhaps it is the time to think outside the box and stop waiting for the next big thing that would spur growth for the next two years and start to put the emphasis on small and medium businesses that will create stability.

On side note, I just bought a house in the inner city and the market is literally flooded by houses. There are about 12 houses per 1000 people available which is one of the highest in the country. It maybe an indication that some of the people who moved back and bought a house between 2006 and 2009 during the peak of the boom on the hope of the positive economic forecast will materialized are packing and leaving to go out West. There is obviously an out migration that needs to be taken seriously.

A lack of available jobs and industries, concurrent with a city that has gone into debt building a massive, financially unsustainable, suburban framework that is unmarketable to today's young working demographics demanding urbanised living options, means that the average age of Saint Johners will increase with its unemployment rate and municipal debt.

Costs for products and services will continue climbing, as consumer spending drops, which translates into decreased corporate investments.

And the cycle continues.

Saint John = a bigger example of northern New Brunswick. Immediate political action is necessary to change course. For Christ's sake: please commit to a stronger pace of inward urbanism; please reform your tax system so that even the suburbs are paying their fair share. It is the least they can do after draining SJ's infrastructure budget, which is now maintained by federal equalisation payments (people not living in New Brunswick).