Quote:
Originally Posted by sailor734
Sorry but as a life long SJ resident it annoys me to see us seemingly falling behind other cities in the Maritimes and across Canada. When stuff does get built it often seems to be less than inspiring and certainly not as good as it might have been. It's hard to get excited about boring looking four story, stick built boxes of apartments going up or about a new fast food chicken place opening. (and yes I know we are in desperate need of housing that is even remotely affordable so these buildings are perhaps the price.....that doesn't mean we have to like it or not regret we couldn't have more attractive looking/interesting buildings)
As a teenager and young adult in my 20's I lived through an exciting uptown renaissance from the late 70's through early 90's with major projects like Brunswick Square, Market Square, The Hilton, York Point, Harbour Station, The Imperial, the Aquatic Centre, major City Market reno, the extensive pedway system and sidewalk/steetscape upgrades all being built in rapid succession over about 15 years. Since then we have kind of stagnated with things happening far more slowly/sporadically and lots of projects announced with great fanfare but then coming to nothing.
While I'm delighted to see some activity on Fundy Quay it's taken 20 years of false starts and big announcements that went nowhere to get here.......and then there's Percy's Perma Pit that is about to celebrate it's third birthday.
From my POV the jury is still out on the former Loyalist Plaza overhaul but I'm not yet convinced we got the best bang for the buck........ or that it is going to be as interesting, attractive or welcoming a space as it could have been. Time will tell I guess
The Museum is certainly one bright spot I will admit although I do wish it could have found a home in the Utown core (preferably on the water). That ship has sailed so we all just need to hope the Douglas Ave location will be as impressive as we all hope it will be.
I think if some here would take off their rose coloured glasses and take a hard look at Saint John development vs other cities they'd find there is plenty to be critical of.....and plenty of room for improvement.
What some here view as negativity I see as being realistic. I see this forum as a place to debate and discuss development and various projects, not as a place to provide unrelenting complements to mediocre developments.
Just my 2 cents.
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Hard to believe we disagree so often, when I agree with basically everything you've said here... especially the bolded parts.
Yet, I'd like to remind you the name of this forum... SKYSCRAPERPAGE.com
You don't seem to be in favour of big, bold policy solutions and incentives to actually get some legit skyscrapers built here in Saint John. Not only should mid rises and high rises be a bigger part of the solution here in Saint John from a supply and demand perspective... taller builds should be part of the solution to make Saint John feel more like an
actual city, rather than a small town that happens to be the second or third largest port in Canada depending on the metric used.
It's hard to be optimistic when so many projects that receive all kinds of hype from local politicians, decision makers, and thought leaders are so far from the big, bold solutions and projects we need to fundamentally transform Saint John for the better.
Is it really that hard to attract investors to build skyscrapers here in Canada's "original city", which also happens to be Canada's second or third largest sea port? Or do negative perceptions of tall buildings from the local powers that be and the general populace play a bigger role for the lack of upwards skyline development in Saint John?