The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[Gnarly]

Originally Posted by Clearly Canadian

I was walking by the Paramount today and they had a crew gutting out the inside of the building. The theatre seats were out on the sidewalk by the bus stand with a for sale sign.

How do I go about buying some of these seats, for my own Paramount theater?

[Peter_johnns]

RIP Paramount. Maybe an entirely new theatre could replace it by Cineplex when they finish rebranding Empire... A guy can dream

[Fischbob]

I hear it'll be gone within the week.

*sigh*

[thefishingnut]

It's been a valiant effort to keep the Paramount and the owner gave a lot of time to see if something could come of it, but (IMO) it's really time to move on. The thing is a firetrap in waiting, my fear is waking up some morning to hear that the entire block went up in flames. First step in getting something of value in there is to demolish it. Bus stop outside, across the street from the market and Kings Square, walking distance to the major office buildings, to me it would be the ideal spot for a condo development. Hopefully something will start getting talked about.

[KnoxfordGuy]

To me, the place was in really bad shape and the area will look better for it. I do hope that something goes in there in the not to distant future.

[Peter_johnns]

Originally Posted by thefishingnut

It's been a valiant effort to keep the Paramount and the owner gave a lot of time to see if something could come of it, but (IMO) it's really time to move on. The thing is a firetrap in waiting, my fear is waking up some morning to hear that the entire block went up in flames. First step in getting something of value in there is to demolish it. Bus stop outside, across the street from the market and Kings Square, walking distance to the major office buildings, to me it would be the ideal spot for a condo development. Hopefully something will start getting talked about.

Well said. It's time to move on. An uptown theatre can always still happen at a different location

[Helladog]

I think the old Paramount and the under utilized spot on the corner where the Eider Rock offices were would make a great spot for condos, or some office complex. The parking lot in back takes up a lot of space too.

I know this is a daydream considering the market at the moment, and the proposed Funny Quay is a priority for development, but when the market swings back, it'd be nice to see something with density in this place. Imagine how a building here would look in the skyline.

[kwajo]

Don't worry everyone, this site will be a priority for redevelopment under the True Growth 2.0 in-fill strategy, as will the other parking lots around the square and the Imperial block.

[Clearly Canadian]

Work To Demolish Paramount Starts Today

Work to demolish the iconic Paramount Theatre is beginning today, according to owner Paul Daeres.

Crews could be seen taking down the chimney of the iconic uptown theatre, which has been permitted to fall into disrepair since it closed its doors in the early 2000s. The building has been vacant since 2005.

Daeres says the concrete construction presents a particular challenge in terms of demolition, saying the building was "built to last." Crews will be working to take the roof and supports down for by hand for the thirty days before excavators are brought in at the end of the month.

The 1947 building is set to be demolished by November. Deares says a parking lot will take its place.


Posted by CHSJ News at 8:40 AM - http://country94news.blogspot.ca/2013/09/work-to-demolish-paramount-starts-today.html

[Fischbob]

Originally Posted by kwajo

Don't worry everyone, this site will be a priority for redevelopment under the True Growth 2.0 in-fill strategy, as will the other parking lots around the square and the Imperial block.

Ah yes, this document [PDF].

It's up to all of us to make sure those principles are actually followed through on. Most people probably don't even know this is part of the True Growth 2.0 strategy.

We also need to promptly shelve the final recommendation of a recent tourism roundtable that casually suggested that we should significantly increase the uptown parking supply.

[kwajo]

Originally Posted by Fischbob

Ah yes, this document [PDF].

It's up to all of us to make sure those principles are actually followed through on. Most people probably don't even know this is part of the True Growth 2.0 strategy.

We also need to promptly shelve the final recommendation of a recent tourism roundtable that casually suggested that we should significantly increase the uptown parking supply.

It'll be a bit more pointed than that, I'm the project lead for the Urban In-Fill Strategy, and we're pushing for some hard actions to be in place by next Fall, including direct Q&As with developers and concept renderings/drafting done for several empty lots.

...and yes, that tourism report recommendation needs to be killed.

[Fischbob]

Originally Posted by kwajo

It'll be a bit more pointed than that, I'm the project lead for the Urban In-Fill Strategy, and we're pushing for some hard actions to be in place by next Fall, including direct Q&As with developers and concept renderings/drafting done for several empty lots.

Ah, that's excellent! My fear was that, as usual, those recommendations would just be sitting on a shelf. I'm glad this isn't the case and that things are in the works!

[swish]

As a tourist who visits the Port city more than once per year and i always stay in the fine Chipman Hill place near the old Paramount i can say I walk all over uptown Saint John and we leave our car parked in the school after hours and so I am not looking for more parking lots. I want to see more density to your beautiful city and i will be there in November and see what is left of the Paramount.

[Peter_johnns]

Originally Posted by Fischbob

Ah yes, this document [PDF].

It's up to all of us to make sure those principles are actually followed through on. Most people probably don't even know this is part of the True Growth 2.0 strategy.

We also need to promptly shelve the final recommendation of a recent tourism roundtable that casually suggested that we should significantly increase the uptown parking supply.

Anyone have any idea why SJ artists are not getting provincial funding nearly as much as fton or mton? The table clearly shows a huge contradiction where SJ has more artists than anywhere in NB therefore hugely underfunded

[swish]

Has not this Saint John getting less funding not a long running but disgraceful practice in NB? Does it not date back to the days of Frank McKenna and company practically ignoring Saint John? Saint John produces so much money for the province but they don't get back a fair share.

[Peter_johnns]

Originally Posted by swish

Has not this Saint John getting less funding not a long running but disgraceful practice in NB? Does it not date back to the days of Frank McKenna and company practically ignoring Saint John? Saint John produces so much money for the province but they don't get back a fair share.

How are civic politicians allowing this to be still going on? Wake up Norton, Rodney, Reinhart, Killen, Sheppard etc!
This literally warrants protest in SJ streets

[JHikka]

Do we have any solid numbers on arts funding across the Province?

[mylesmalley]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Do we have any solid numbers on arts funding across the Province?

People love to quote that, but I highly doubt it. Name something Moncton has received in the past 5 years that overshadows the Route 1 Gateway and Point Lepreau, just to name two? And I'm not saying that to mean that I think Moncton deserves more.

[Peter_johnns]

Originally Posted by mylesmalley

People love to quote that, but I highly doubt it. Name something Moncton has received in the past 5 years that overshadows the Route 1 Gateway and Point Lepreau, just to name two? And I'm not saying that to mean that I think Moncton deserves more.

How is Lepreau somehow a grant to Saint John like you are insinuating?
Arts funding is continuously askew. Look at the PDF doc. posted above, SJ has more artists than Fton and Mton according to Stats Canada and is hugely underfunded.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Peter_johnns

Anyone have any idea why SJ artists are not getting provincial funding nearly as much as fton or mton? The table clearly shows a huge contradiction where SJ has more artists than anywhere in NB therefore hugely underfunded

I think it's pretty obvious actually.

The ability of artists to lobby for provincial (or federal) subsidization depends heavily on the presence of institutions or organizations willing to act on the artists behalf.

Fredericton has two universities, TNB and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery which would all be able to provide organizational support. Being the capital city doesn't hurt either as this allows proximity to the halls of power.

Moncton has U de M, the Centre Culturel Aberdeen, Gallerie Sans Nom and Le Theatre l'Escauoette. Note that these are all francophone organizations. The Societe Acadien is also a very powerful lobby group. There is no question that there is a bias in favour of supporting minority language institutions for "cultural" reasons. This would help to explain the discrepancy. If you dig deeper, I think you would find that anglophone artists in Moncton are probably just as poorly funded as the artistic community in Saint John, so don't use too thick a brush to cast your aspersions our way.......