[Saint John] Uptown Thread

[jonny golden]

And according to the Globe & Mail article, it would also increase the tax base.

[rdaner]

It also helps that Calgary actually has a fairly large central area and extensive lrt network. In addition the university is fairly close and everyone seems to be moving there so demand is high.

[sailor734]

A stabbing at mid afternoon Monday on the corner of Union and Waterloo followed by a shooting that night in the south end.

https://saintjohnpolice.ca/media-rel...o-street-area/

Not the greatest recommendation for Uptown Saint John.
"A small city with a big heart'? more like "a small city with big city crime"

I fully understand the issues are far from unique to SJ but if we want the Uptown to prosper and see growth as a place to live surely we have to come up with effective answers to these issues.

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by sailor734

A stabbing at mid afternoon Monday on the corner of Union and Waterloo followed by a shooting that night in the south end.

https://saintjohnpolice.ca/media-rel...o-street-area/

Not the greatest recommendation for Uptown Saint John.
"A small city with a big heart'? more like "a small city with big city crime"

I fully understand the issues are far from unique to SJ but if we want the Uptown to prosper and see growth as a place to live surely we have to come up with effective answers to these issues.

I feel like some of the expectations I hear or see online for Uptown are unrealistic for any urban centre. Anyone expecting zero crime, trash-free streets, no poverty, daily all-ages events, free parking next to ever shop, etc. is setting us up to fail, because I have yet to visit or live in a major city that had any of that be the case.

As you said, not only is the issue you pointed out not unique to Saint John, but neither are the responses and expectations I pointed out above. You could go into any urban forum across North America and see the same basic fears and complaints represented, they are bigger systemic issues and partially a result of the increased visibility afforded by social media for example. I'd take the current state of Uptown over any time in the past few decades,

We have real issues with street drugs, I'm very aware of that as someone who walks around Uptown on a daily basis to work, to my home, and to the homes of friends who live on Waterloo and other areas. But steering clear of these areas is not the answer, despite what a few vocal folks might say online. I think the future is bright for the area, but we also need to breed realism within our population and provide more opportunities for those in the other areas of the city and region to spend time in the core and understand its unique issues so that the solutions get supported instead of vilified because they don't have to see it every day.

[adamuptownsj]

It was less dirty and crime-filled at the city's low point in 2010 or so. We need to remove the tent cities and 'safe injection' sites, immediately. No more enabling this.

[cdnguys]

I lived in Trinity Royal now for 30 years, and this past year is the first time I felt unsafe in my own neighborhood. I’m a 10 min walk to all the restaurants but will drive now. It’s not imagined either - by Queen Sq I was walking and just looked up at a passing car and established eye contact. The guy pulled over, jumped out of his car and starting walking towards me, but luckily my two friends came over to me and the guy did a 180 back to his car. I used to pick up garbage in the neighborhood but had to stop due to risk of uncapped needles in the brush that I picked garbage out of. Druggie bashed my new car door in on Waterloo St; on the receiving end of a slur from a car passing by on the busiest block of Prince William St with total impunity; theft and constant rummaging through back yard/property; car rummaged through. IMO we always had these problems, but the difference now is they are more brazen and quite often less hesitant to pull a weapon.

[sailor734]

Another fire in a homeless encampment.....two dead this time.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...fire-1.7155394

[DyAm00394]

Work on Charlotte Street Reimagination Project begins, but questions remain surrounding former Woolworth site

"In the months and years ahead, uptown Saint John residents will notice big changes on one of its most popular streets.

This week the city began preliminary work on its Charlotte Street Reimagination Project, which aims to improve safety and access for all types of transportation from Union Street all the way down to Broad Street.

“The current work is a little bit of investigative work,” says Ian Fogan, the city’s commissioner of utilities and infrastructure. “Mostly it’s in relation to the location of infrastructure and just confirming the condition of the pipe, where they are located in streets, is the waterline okay, those sorts of things.”

Fogan says Charlotte Street will be on the city’s first “complete streets” which includes good and safe pedestrian access.

Bike lanes are one of the main elements to be implemented, which will be dedicated for the streets west side. That will mean the loss of an unspecified number of parking spots with parking to only be permitted on the east side of the road.

“There will be some greening too,” Fogan points out, saying trees and grass will be added along the redone road.

The entire project must be competed by 2027 in order to ensure government funding is secured.

Fogan says the road will be done in sections, with the first area to be completed on the streets south end between Broad and St. James Street.

“We are trying to get it all wrapped up before the school opens at the bottom of Charlotte,” says Fogan referring to a new kindergarten to grade eight school being built in the Rainbow Park area that runs along Charlotte Street.

Fogan is also hopeful a few other sections of the street will be completed this year, including the top stretch of the strength from Union to Kings Square North. Just beyond that intersection, city crews find themselves in a hold up with the former Woolworth’s site uptown still sitting as a giant hole almost three years after it was demolished.

“I think it’s a disgrace, it’s pitiful,” says resident Robert Fox on the status of the pit. “People come in on boats and stuff like that cruise ships and they look at that in the centre of the city, a hole with nothing there.”

“Something should change, someone needs to do something about it,” agreed high school students Kieran Kirkpatrick and Cameron Wilson. “It’s been here for way to long and they should take charge and do something about it.”

The pit is not only holding up parts of the Charlotte Street Reimagination Project, but also part of the city’s 10-year strategic plan for the Saint John City Market that would pedestrianize Market Street south.

Percy Wilbur is the developer for the site, and still plans to build an approximately 180 unit apartment complex that would have commercial outlets on the main floor.

If it were up to him, he says he would be ready to get shovels in the ground in the next month, but the biggest hold back in terms of starting work at this time is because of the provincial government.

“The federal government and the local municipality have bent over backwards to try and assist developers in creating incentives to sort out this housing shortage,” says Wilbur. “The New Brunswick government is not following suit with most of the other provincial governments in eliminating or easing the PST (provincial sales tax) portion for residential construction.”

Wilbur finds it puzzling the province won’t ease that amount, saying the province is collecting around $8,000 a year from a hole in the ground but it would be closed to half a million dollars once the building is up and running.

He remains committed to getting work started before the end of 2024.

“You just try your best,” says Wilbur on residents frustrated with the lack of progress. “If they don’t understand then that’s there issue not mine.”

https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/work-on-...site-1.6823310

[DyAm00394]

Saint Patrick Parking Lot closing for construction

"The City of Saint John is advising residents of the temporary closure of the Saint Patrick parking lot, beginning Thursday, March 28. The closure is in preparation for construction on the Saint Patrick Street pedway.

The parking lot is expected to be closed for the duration of the project. More details of the pedway construction project will be released at a later date".

https://saintjohn.ca/en/news-and-not...g-construction

[adamuptownsj]

Presumably-Mexican restaurant named Abuelita's opening at The Wellington. Windows papered over with their logo.

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Presumably-Mexican restaurant named Abuelita's opening at The Wellington. Windows papered over with their logo.

A source has mentioned it’s the same owners as Nourish NB: https://nourishnb.com

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Presumably-Mexican restaurant named Abuelita's opening at The Wellington. Windows papered over with their logo.

Spanish for "Granny"

I suspect probably Mexican rather than Spanish

Kind of disappointing from my POV......of all the various international cuisines Mexican is one of the few where most dishes are a hard "no" for me.

I really wish we had a family style/home cooking/diner style type place like Carman's in St Stephen or Hyne's in Moncton......

That and a really good upscale seafood restaurant. Something like this would be great on the waterfront in Fundy Quay.....

https://www.provencemarinaside.ca/

[Sabien]

Originally Posted by sailor734

Spanish for "Granny"

I suspect probably Mexican rather than Spanish

Kind of disappointing from my POV......of all the various international cuisines Mexican is one of the few where most dishes are a hard "no" for me.

I really wish we had a family style/home cooking/diner style type place like Carman's in St Stephen or Hyne's in Moncton......

That and a really good upscale seafood restaurant. Something like this would be great on the waterfront in Fundy Quay.....

https://www.provencemarinaside.ca/

"...family style/homecooking..." sounds like you're actually describing Mexican cuisine. The city needs more variety like this. However, I do agree that we also need an upscale seafood place. Maybe there will be some seafood on the menu at Abuelita's - Mexican seafood is amazing! Excited for some new options!

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by Sabien

"...family style/homecooking..." sounds like you're actually describing Mexican cuisine. The city needs more variety like this. However, I do agree that we also need an upscale seafood place. Maybe there will be some seafood on the menu at Abuelita's - Mexican seafood is amazing! Excited for some new options!

Nope, not a Mexican fan at all......

My idea of a great homecooking/diner style restaurant is more traditional........ homemade soups like chicken noodle, beef vegetable, turkey, fish chowder etc, hot turkey or beef sandwiches, fish and chips, hamburgers (real beef patties made there with buns grilled on the griddle so they are crispy and slightly greasy) fresh cut fries and good selection of made to order sandwiches on bread baked in house.....along with daily specials like pan fried haddock, turkey dinner, meatloaf, roast beef dinner, corned beef dinner, beef stew, shepard's pie etc


In addition to a fine dining level seafood restaurant we could also use a really good Tuscan style Italian place.

[JakeNB]

Only in Saint John. Word of an authentic Mexican restaurant comes out and place is immediately trashed because it’s not serving greasy grilled burgers.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by JakeNB

Only in Saint John. Word of an authentic Mexican restaurant comes out and place is immediately trashed because it’s not serving greasy grilled burgers.

Not trashing it at all.....just commenting that it's opening is of little interest to me because I don't care for Mexican food. It had been rumoured that a diner or family style place might be going here and so this news was a bit disappointing.

It seems like almost every town and small city has an iconic old fashioned diner or unique family restaurant serving quality, homestyle comfort food. They've often been there for years and in many cases are being run by a second or even third generation. .....Think the type of places featured on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive ins and Dives" with Guy Fieri or the Canadian version that was called something like "You Gotta Eat Here"

Places like this are what I'm trying to describe...https://mainediner.com/full-menu/

I find Saint John kind of odd in that we really don't have anything like that. The closest thing was probably Reggie's but it was really just a breakfast/lunch counter with some seating.(although I still miss it)

One the other end of the spectrum we also really don't have much n the "fine dining" category either.

I had a friend who had a hospitality industry supply business tell me one time that Saint John was a really tough environment for upscale restaurants because we had never developed a business lunch culture. It's tough for restaurants to cover costs on just a few nights a week of dinner service without the additional income from a strong lunch business.
An example of this was a place called the Continental that was in Market Square when it first opened in 83. It was European style fine dining and the food was amazing. It was busy on Friday and Saturday nights but it only lasted about 2 years. The owner moved to Charlottetown, opened a similar place and was hugely successful for 30 years until it closed upon his retirement. Different dining culture I guess?

My friend's theory at least partly blamed the Irving style business culture of "take 20 minutes to grab a sandwich and keep working"

[sailor734]

delete

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by JakeNB

Only in Saint John. Word of an authentic Mexican restaurant comes out and place is immediately trashed because it’s not serving greasy grilled burgers.

Haha, I couldn't agree more.

This should be a nice addition to the already great SJ restaurant scene and exciting to see it part of a residential development.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by nwalbert

Haha, I couldn't agree more.

This should be a nice addition to the already great SJ restaurant scene and exciting to see it part of a residential development.

You actually think Saint John has a "great restaurant scene"?

[Woho]

Originally Posted by sailor734

You actually think Saint John has a "great restaurant scene"?

Thandi's, Britt's, Lemongrass, Grannan's, Vegolution, Billy's, Steamer's, Italian by Night, Pomodori's, Gahan House, Decimal 81, York Bistro, Cask & Kettle, Suwanna, Churchill's, East Coast Bistro, Port City Royal, Mimimi, Royal King, Katsubi, Ta-Ke, Vito's, Mix Resto Bar, Ale House, Beer Bread, Barred Rock/Toro Taco, Asia's Best Cuisine, Splash, Taste of Egypt, Casa Latina, Let's Hummus, Mashawi Zein, Kim's Korean Food, Marci's Salads, Lily's.

I left out a lot and didn't bother including some I wouldn't consider part of Saint John, such as Mexi's, Kim's Fry Time, Boaz and Sushi Blossom, all of which are in Quispamsis.