Saint John at it's best....

[raveneffect]

What started out as a thought is now turning into a topic of discussion. We all know that living in SJ has been pretty interesting. We have a mayor who cannot look after the city and only thinks about what will benefit himself in the long run. Take the LNG deal and water tax deal he gave a certain company. Longtime citizens have been paying out the nose fot taxes at the end of the year for water & sewage, property taxes and many more. How can someone justify the value of your house and determine what it is worth and then send you a notice to pay a certain amount. The same goes for water and sewage, we're paying more for certain backdoor deals that the mayor has made and in return they get what they want and the people who bust themselves working pay more out than anyone else. No offence to people living in apartments, either they realize what comes with buying a house or enjoy their lifestyle. I know that people have discussed this before but take a look at another aspect. The scandal or shall I say the snafu with the whole paid sick leave policy. If they actually did something to benefit the citizens and not themselves then our roads would look better and our car repair bills wouldn't be as high.
There is so much to discuss and I'm looking for ideas on what to post so keep them coming because I'm sure that there is alot more out there that people aren't discussing at the moment.
That's my rant for today.

[Doug James]

You're absolutely right -- just keep pressing the button over these issues over the next 13 months. Norm would love that voters forget the Irving deal. Don't let them. It is a vivid example of his lack of leadership. Irving acted as an irresponsible corporate citizen in asking for the tax break. The Mayor AND council were totally insane to approve it.

Doug James

[Chinna Dah]

Saint John voters put him in this seat, guess we all have to deal with that mistake dont we.

Hope people learned thier lesson and next election, out he goes!

for now, Deal With It!

[Rae_Maill]

Saint John voters put him in this seat, guess we all have to deal with that mistake dont we.

Hope people learned thier lesson and next election, out he goes!

for now, Deal With It!


yes saint john voters did put him in his seat and he should remember that. The great thing about living where we do is that we are all supposed to have a say in our government and if you vote and then have some complaints then VOICE THEM, nothing will be fixed if you don't, don't just deal with it, if you don't like it speak up!!!! and if you don't like the rants then don't read them. If more people had spoken up about the LNG or the pipeline, if they had actually voiced their opinion then maybe things would have happened diffrently. Norm isn't a tyrant, he just lacks common sense. :rolleyes:

[Chinna Dah]

However, Saint Johners do not tend to stand up and fight, they get on isaintjohn and complain.

[murraydow]

Ok now....for the other side of things....
I for one have seen this city start to come to live for the first time in years.
There is a lot of new construction happening....we have not seen this sinse the 70's. New condos, apartment buildings, shopping centers.
None of this would be happening if it was not for the LNG, the new refinery, and a few other projects planned for this area.
There are several new housing subdivisions in the works.
Perhaps if more people stopped complaining about the same things over and over again and took a look at what was happening around us, they would discover that this is not such a bad place to live.
You can not have new industry anywhere with out making some concessions, and you can not have the growth we are now seeing without new industry.

[raveneffect]

It has come to life but how many new stores do we really need? We are already saturated with stores now and the traffic congestion is there with no possibility of the roads being expanded to accomdate this. Why do we vent on isaintjohn? Well, the city wouldn't listen to us anyways.

[Doug James]

While the LNG terminal and the proposed refinery may spur development -- the city should not have given massive tax concessions to the Irvings, a well-established, highly profitable company. Indeed, the Irvings should not have even asked for them -- let alone suggesting they might have to take the project elsewhere if they didn't get them. That was just downright sleezy. The fact that the Mayor and council gave them these tax breaks demonstrates their lack of courage and lack of concern for the average taxpayer in Saint John. How about everyone participating in this forum write to the Mayor and demand a similar tax break for themselves just to make a point. I repeat do not let your fellow citizens forget about this sell-out leading up to the next election. It is McFarlane's achilles heel, not to mention a weak spot for all of the other councillors who voted for it. Saint John will never be successful until its politicians stop acting like serfs in the shadow of the Irving Manor.

Doug James