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Posted Dec 11, 2007, 4:46 AM
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Sarcstic Caper in Exile
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Calgary
Posts: 3,114
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Saturday, December 8, 2007
Cape Breton Post
Quote:
Louisbourg getting facelift for 2008
Section: Business
By Doug MacKenzie, Cape Breton Post
Louisbourg is looking at a facelift in 2008.
Cape Breton County Economic Development Authority hosted a Louisbourg Facade Program meeting last Sunday at the Louisbourg fire hall and response to the program was positive.
"It was absolutely an excellent meeting," said Eileen Lannon Oldford, chief executive officer of CBCEDA. "We had a very good turnout from the business community and we're looking at launching the applications by the end of January and this facade program will run from the spring until the fall of '08."
The success of the program in other areas was one of the many reasons the program has moved on to Louisbourg.
"There are a number of reasons we're looking at Louisbourg," said Lannon Oldford. "It's a very unique community. It's very much tied in with a major attraction for tourism and it has a beautiful streetscape and we want to enhance that character a bit more."
Brian Lahey, who serves as the Cape Breton Regional Municipality councillor for District 1, which includes Louisbourg, was at the meeting and is looking forward to the program getting started in the area.
"In 1995 we had the (encampment) in Louisbourg and there has been nothing down in Louisbourg since then," said Lahey. "A facelift on any hotels, motels or any of the businesses is great. I think it's long overdue."
Timing for the project couldn't be better as the town is set to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the second siege of Louisbourg, July 26-27, 2008, More than 600 re-enactors will take part in the 2008 encampment which is expected to attract thousands of tourists to the area.
The program is broken into three priorities with the first priority to include both sides of Main Street, beginning at the town entrance and ending where Wolfe Street and Riverdale Street begin.
"The first priority will start taking applications (by the end of) January and they have to be in by March 31," said Lahey. "You have to do your Main Street first and we had meetings before so everyone new what the priorities were."
"The first priority will be open for applications from Jan. 31 to March 31 and then we'll move on to the second priority and a third priority," added Lannon Oldford.
The second priority will include Wolfe Street to Fortress Louisbourg and Riverdale Street while the third priority is for eligible buildings located on side streets within the town boundaries.
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This road is still terrible, and the upgrading is good, but it will be used as just another excuse to not give us our twinned TCH and Hwy125 which were both promised long before 1998.
Quote:
Minister responds to call for Route 4 upgrades
Section: Cape Breton
By Doug MacKenzie, Cape Breton Post
Just a few days following a community call for the upgrading of Route 4, some questions have been answered.
Tuesday, the Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce and Strait Area Chamber of Commerce joined forces with the community-based Route 4 Highway Committee to issue a plea to government to upgrade the road between Sydney and St. Peter's.
Since 1998, approximately 15.5 km of Route 4 have been upgraded with 44 km remaining to be done. While the project has been ongoing, the concern of the groups involved is that it will not be completed until 2020, a date they feel is unreasonable.
"We appreciate the upgrading that has taken place on Route 4 to this point, which has made these portions of the highway safer and more accommodating to traffic," said Owen Fitzgerald, president of the Sydney and Area chamber during Tuesday's press conference. "However, much of this road remains in a state of disrepair, to the point of being a safety hazard and a roadblock to economic growth. We agree with the current focus on upgrading, but we want it to happen more quickly."
All three groups are proposing a plan which would see the entire Route 4 upgraded by 2012.
Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Murray Scott said the provincial government is committed to the upgrade continuing and being completed in a timely fashion.
"It's a priority for the government," said Scott, Friday.
"When we put forward our list to the federal government for cost-sharing for roads, that would be one of the ones we're putting through as a priority. Our intention is to continue spending approximately $4 million each year until we finish it."
Scott said the current plan for upgrading the road would most likely be completed by 2013, one year after the 2012 asked for by the local groups, and seven years earlier then their worst case scenario.
"I know the chambers are asking to have it done by 2012, but the way we're projecting it right now it would probably be 2013," said Scott. "Who knows, depending on the funding network, what could happen, but right now our plan is to continue to spend money each year for the next number of years to finish it.
"I've heard from the MLAs about it. I know how important it is to the Island and I've made sure in our department it's a high priority for us and we are committed to spending those dollars each and every year till we get it finished."
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Quote:
Constitutional win wouldn't mean any instant cash payoff for CBRM
Section: Comment
Column: Letters to the editor
We're not claiming a specific amount of money, we're looking to seek a declaration. A declaration is the appropriate remedy.
This is an important comment by Toronto-based constitutional lawyer Neil Finkelstein that caught my eye when he told a judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia last week in Halifax during a hearing in the case between the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and the Province of Nova Scotia.
Although I read with interest the coverage of the application I'm a little confused by Finklestein's comments as the lawyer for CBRM. They seem quite a departure from the impression the public has, from comments by Mayor John Morgan and others, that when the constitutional challenge is won on its merits by CBRM that this would result in a significant financial gain for the municipality.
Finkelstein said the case is not about money but about what the citizens of CBRM deserve, such as a provincially comparable level of municipal services at a reasonable level of taxation.
Well, taxpayers, when you interrupt these words and understand the Constitution there will not be an immediate windfall of cash for CBRM. No money would be awarded directly, so taxpayers don't add anything to your Santa wish list.
As well, this legal case has been going on for years already and this hearing was simply a preliminary bout. This is not even the main action. It appears that it will take an extraordinarily long time for the legal proceedings to run their course.
In the meantime, Finklestein indicates that if the existing equalization scheme within the province is unconstitutional, it is the province that creates the new one.
CBRM's written submission states that it is not for the court to tell the government and legislature of Nova Scotia how to fulfil their commitments pursuant to Section 36 of the Constitution but it is for the court to declare that those commitments have not been fulfilled and then leave it to Nova Scotia to determine the manner and form of fulfilment.
It's now up to Justice John Murphy to decide whether CBRM's application accusing the province of short-changing the region by millions of dollars in equalization payments will continue its lengthy process through the legal system.
Murphy told the court he wouldn't set a timeline for his decision. "You haven't made my job easy, but you've made it easier than it could have been," Murphy said before adjourning the court.
Indeed, this is an interesting case but this is also a major political story that needs plenty of answers, no matter who wins and who loses.
Finally, what is the true cost of this legal battle to the taxpayers of the CBRM? Win or lose, the mayor has some explaining to do. Political rhetoric should be put aside and the facts should be stated to the citizens.
Questions should be asked such as: What is CBRM asking the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to do? How long is this process going to take? How much is it going to cost?
Farside of me
To enable others to look beyond themselves and their immediate concerns, and to give without expectation of fanfare represents the most vital contribution of the quiet hero.
Famous quotation
For whatever reason, God has blessed me with the ability, put me in a position, to make these leaps and bounds. I'm fulfilling my part of the bargain, which is to give back and be a positive influence on others. That's all you can do; take what you've been given and spread it around.
- Denzel Washington (1954-), American actor
My e-mail address is:
fjackson@cbpost.com
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Why would an area of 100,000 people need their own airport when they can drive 5 hours on mostly 2-lane highway to get to one?
Quote:
Despite sky-high fares, island gets poor air service
Section: Comment
Column: Letters to the editor
As the largest employer in Cape Breton, we are actively recruiting health care professionals to Cape Breton on an ongoing basis. In addition, staff are involved in many national and provincial initiatives that require them to attend meetings outside of Cape Breton.
Don't bother trying to come to Cape Breton by air from the Dec. 15 to 24 because there is not a single seat available, according to Air Canada's website and checks with local travel agencies.
As was noted at the 10th anniversary of the Sydney Airport Authority, we have some of the highest cost-per-air-mile fares in Canada, and it now appears we have some of the poorest access, with rumours that Air Canada is considering reducing even further the size of the planes flying into Sydney.
Without viable air service to Cape Breton, we will not successfully recruit or retain specialized health professionals that we need in our community. I encourage all travellers to write to the president of Air Canada Jazz, Joseph Randell (in care of Halifax International Airport, 310 Goudey Dr., Enfield, N.S. B2T 1E4), stressing the importance of continuing to provide Cape Breton with fairly priced, reasonably accessible, air service.
John Malcom
chief executive officer,
Cape Breton District Health Authority
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Another comment on the highway...and yes, the highway system is this bad on the island.
Quote:
Highway 4 effort gets up to speed
Section: Comment
People used to joke about how often John Buchanan announced the permanent crossing of the Barra Strait - at least once per election cycle - before it was actually built. The reconstruction of Highway 4 is a worthy successor as the political cow that never runs dry.
Write a letter to the government complaining about this test circuit for vehicle undercarriage and chances are you'll get a courteous reply pointing out that a new tender is in the works at this very moment for the next construction season and you'll be zipping along on another three kilometres of fresh asphalt somewhere east of St. Peters before another calendar year is out.
Owen Fitzgerald, the new president of the Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce, pointed out back in June that at this rate the reconstruction of Highway 4 from St. Peters to Sydney would take 15 or 20 years - by which time many of the "new" sections, some already nearly 10 years old, would need to be redone.
As the reconstruction proceeds on its leaden pace, the new sections throw into sharper relief the deplorable conditions of the untouched highway. In an effort to do an end-run around this timeline to eternity, the Sydney chamber has gotten together with its Strait counterpart and the community-based Route 4 Highway Committee to press for completion of the reconstruction within five years - by 2012.
With only 15 kilometres done on a project begun in 1988, the groups figure $27 million to $37 million would be needed to finish. To put that in perspective, construction of eight kilometres of twinned bypass for the Antigonish area announced a month ago will cost $50 million. A federal-province infrastructure deal signed at that time will pump $634 million into the province for projects ranging from highways and public transit to sewers.
No doubt the priority for the Strait area remains twinning of Highway 104 east past Antigonish and on to the Canso Causeway, with a bypass between the Port Hastings and Port Hawkesbury areas. Nevertheless, Strait chamber president Bob MacEachern, in a statement, supported completion of the Highway 4 upgrade "as soon as possible." There's no reason that one priority should preclude the other, and no one should be duped into accepting that they can't happen together on their own merits.
The joint lobby approach has been tried before. Back in March 2004 the then warden of Richmond County hoped that a "concerted effort" with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality might move the province to more urgency. Earlier, CBRM had toyed with the idea of charging tolls to help finance a new twinned highway across the island.
Nothing made much difference in the pace of the work, though perhaps the necessary focus and persistent follow-up weren't there. This new push looks different.
The slow pace of Highway 4 reconstruction suggests itself as an object lesson in Cape Breton's political impotence, self-inflicted in part by parochialism and an inability to put aside partisanship for the sake of a common goal that's in the public interest. Even now, Richmond Deputy Warden Clair Rankin complains that most of the work done on Highway 4 has been in Cape Breton County. Never mind that completion of the 100 series highway from the Strait to St. Peters has to be included in any fair assessment, and at the other end Highway 4 is a heavily travelled urban commuter artery for the Sydney area.
Let's try to stay focused on this as one project that Cape Breton needs done and see where that gets us.
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