Moving People Efficiently and Comfortably in Saint John and New Brunswick

Here's the pitch: The governments of Saint John and New Brunswick should tie investments in new road construction and expansion with equal investments in the expansion and improvement of a priority public transit network.

How will Saint John solve its significant parking and transportation problems? By rationalising the movement of people in a fresh new way that respects our economic realities, environmental responsibilities, and our time.

Anyone that says a world class transit system in our region is unaffordable should be required to justify the current and planned investments in new roads for a transportation system that most experts agree is being left behind as a relic of the last century. The 2009 operating budget for Saint John City Transit is just over $5-million. Whereas the City plans to spend $8.4-million on improvements to Simms corner - one intersection! Imagine what a difference it would make if that expenditure alone was matched with a similar $8.4-million investment in expanding and improving Saint John transit! Not only would this cause sober second thought to road expansion projects but it would shift the thinking of our Councillors and Planners when it comes to our transportation system. When the city plans new roads for the east side shopping district, is public transit the priority? Of course not.

What if a mandate was established in Saint John to rationalise new highway and road construction focused on getting people to the city and rely on public transit to move people within the city? If this occured, budgeting would change dramatically and put a priority on the reach and quality of public transit. Saint John would not require more parking, we would not need any further road expansion or intersection redevelopment beyond upgrades to overcome deterioration, and our road budget would focus on improved quality and maintenance for the vehicles that remain on the road.

"If Henry Ford had simply listened to his customers, he would have made a better buggy whip"

I am not suggesting simply a bigger version of the transit system we have now as most of us do not consider this to be a positive experience at this point and certainly not enough to get us out of our cars. I am proposing that we invest heavily into our transit system to make it a service that we all will want and prefer to use, which is currently not the case. Like a business serving its customers, what level of service needs to be provided to get us out of our cars? A system that will move us comfortably, efficiently and quickly where we want to go. Allow us to be online while we travel, eliminate road rage and drastically lower the costs to our pocketbook and our environment. Let us check online or by phone for accurate transit ETAs so we avoid the disruption transit often causes. Does anyone think it will cost more than our car culture currently does?

Who thinks it is reasonable to move ourselves 20 kms in 45 minutes? If you live on the border of Rothesay and Quispamsis and travel to Saint John Centre (approximately 18kms) to work during peak times it will take you 25 minutes to drive, 5-10 minutes to park (if you have a reserved spot), and 5-10 minutes to walk to your workplace. Is this reasonable?

The City and Province should not abandon their commitments to continually maintain the roads they have built, but the sizeable investments made every year in this endeavour indicate such a poor investment should not be expanded in light of the shift to public transit that is happening all over the world. In 2008 it cost Saint John $345 per person to maintain roads in the City alone. Add to that the cost of maintaining our highways, cars, etc and the annual investment in maintenance alone is in the tens of thousands of dollars every year for each of us.

It currently costs $780 for a full year of riding the bus system in our city. What if major improvements to the system, improvements that effectively connected us with Moncton and Fredericton and an even wider transportation grid, resulted in that figure doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling? Our out of pocket transportation costs for each of us would still be only a fraction of what it costs us today.

We approve of these expenditures in road construction because driving our vehicles is what we do now. What will it take for us to see our options differently and start to truly plan for the future?

Saint John (with its neighbouring communities) should set itself a goal to establish ourselves as the best transportation system for a city of our size in the world. We can leave the road maintenance budget alone but let's start by legislating that all funds allocated to new road construction or expansion be matched with an equal amount contributed to the public transit budget for expansion and quality improvement for its users. Is there a better way to rationalise our priorities in the 21st century?

Saint John needs to think "Landmark"

UPDATE 13/02/09: The works of Santiago Calatrava were submitted by a reader and worth having a look at: http://tr.im/g33n. This one architect shows what inspirational and imaginative possibilities could find their way to our city should open competition focused on creativity be extended to the worldwide architectural community for major developments in Saint John.

UPDATE 02/02/09: An extremely interesting landmark building will result from the architecture design competition for the new Solomon R. Guggenheim museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. It has been awarded to British architect Zaha Hadid. Any reason why Saint John couldn't do the same?
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Last year local designer Mark Stephens came up with a suggested building design concept for a key location (his vision was for the former sugar refinery site) on Saint John's waterfront inspired by the same thinking as this Open Saint John article: http://is.gd/eCpK.

Not everyone needs to like this design but I encourage everyone to acknowledge that it is not mediocre, it is certainly interesting, and it would leave a memorable impression of Saint John on anyone who laid eyes on our city (pictured to the left in a city context).

Such a signature property would add to our identity, focus attention on our waterfront and make us a destination for anyone visiting the region.

But who would build a building like this? The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain [pictured below right] was financed to the tune of $250 million by regional and provincial governments. Is this kind of money for this kind of project a priority for New Brunswick? And how would our provincial government manage cries from other regions of the province who also want such a signature landmark?

Within the European context, Spain appreciates the power that architecture can have on the perceived value of a community. Several regions of that continent have tourism industries built on architectural gems that also feed an immeasurable pride and protectionism of the architectural and culture assets of each community. In North America, New York and Chicago waged an expensive competition in architectural excellence in the first half of the 20th century that has left each city with landmark characters that serve them well today in the same regard.

Saint John is not Europe, New York, or Chicago. But our architectural heritage is significant as is our optimism for the future. At the very least, Saint John should demand a high quality standard for future developments, ban the use of inferior materials such as vinyl siding (Moncton has already done this), and support great visions and plans.

As a new friend pointed out to me today regarding Bilbao, Spain, it "has less local attractions or physical beauty [than Saint John] yet it took only a great building like the Guggenheim to put them on every travellers map".

Saint John should not settle for mediocre when our history is so grand. This is not about our past, it is about our future. And if we support and value excellence, maybe we'll be blessed with a visionary sponsor who will build greatness again in our city.

The End of Recycling for the Roach Family

In response to this recent TJ article http://is.gd/dkxv, our family will stop recycling by the end of 2009 if curbside pickup of recyclables is not put in place by then.

We will not continue to put in the effort of separating our recycling, packing it in our car and depositing it in community blue bins every week while our neighbours toss anything and everything in convenient black bags and dump them on the curb for pickup every week.

My family has been recycling since 2001, mostly as an example to our children since we believed this to be the responsible and sustainable way to live and protect our community. By the end of 2009 we will stop doing this if our city does not meet us halfway and provide curbside recycling pickup.

Saint John Needs City Hall to Join the Progress and Be Better

City Hall doesn't seem to understand that Saint Johners want our city to work, we want to praise city workers for a high level of service and support and celebrate the improvements that can be made in our city. Complaining and criticising City Hall is not what most of want to waste our energies on.

All around us are people working very hard in cooperation with each other to find better ways to do things and to make our city better and all we are asking is for City Hall to join in and do their part.

Criticism and critique should never go away, it is healthy. But there is an anger building toward City Hall that is legitimate and informed and it must be addressed with leadership and action and not platitudes and PR.

(written in response to the following editorial: Can managers manage to clean up city?)

Support the Fundy Vortex!

Last night I attended the Waterfront Development presentation regarding a proposal for the Reversing Falls with my kids (ages 7 and 9) and we were blown away. After nearly an hour and half (a long time for a little guy) my 9 year old son stuck his hand up at the start of the Q&A and asked "how fast can you build this?!" He couldn't take his eyes off the screen and was fully engaged in the presentation. He even wanted to meet one of the presenters and decided he wants to design projects like this when he grows up.

This proposal is bang on. The research and the logic supports everything they are proposing and the imagination put into it is inspiring.

The public and potential tourists will LOVE this project when it is completed. We must find a way to support this.

Easy Role For City to Stimulate Uptown Residential Growth

We are caught in a "catch 22" in Uptown Saint John: businesses can't stay open evenings and weekends to serve a residential consumer base that either does not exist or is not in the habit of shopping uptown - and no one can expect a residential consumer base to grow or to start shopping uptown when the hours kept and the quality of service is so poor for for those who might learn to depend on it.

If we are to grow our residential base in Uptown Saint John and create a dense urban area that even our Mayor agrees is a necessity for a vibrant community then we need to provide the urban services necessary to attract and service that residential base. But how can we expect uptown businesses to go out on a limb and incur the costs of extended hours before the market exists to support it?

Enter the City Market and an opportunity for City Hall to put its money where its mouth is.

Currently the City Market is rated the #1 attraction for tourists who visit our City. Good for the tourists. But for those of us who live in Uptown Saint John, we only enjoy the pleasure of shopping at the City Market when a cruise ship is in town. We are not considered the bread and butter of that operation and many of us are spitefully shopping outside of our neighbourhood because the Market is turning our business away. On several occasions I have visited the Market 30 minutes before closing only to find the fish and meat markets have decided to close down early, sending me to Sobey's or Superstore to buy the ingredients for our evening meal. When Market merchants get anxious to close Market staff will lock all of the doors and force the remaining valued customers to exit through one door even if it is at the other end of the building. To be fair, some Market merchants get it right but collectively it is all wrong.

None of these practices would be condoned by the owner of a private sector mall - the kind that Uptown merchants like to complain are stealing their business to other areas of the city. We have all heard numerous times that whenever a Walmart or a Costco sets up shop, other businesses want to be nearby to benefit from the increased traffic. If most of us believe the City Market is such an attraction - and I believe it is - could this not be used as a magnet for Uptown retail growth.

The City Market is within the control of the citizens through our municipal government. The best catalyst for a vibrant core is ours to use and it is currently being squandered by putting the interests of its tenants before the interests of its customers and by allowing a poverty-mindset that only sees a potential market in visitors (from the suburbs during business hours or from the cruise ships) to continue in the midst of a sustained boom that has everyone investing in our assets. Our Market has not yet come to the party.

When people list the amenities required to attract people to live Uptown, most of the services on that list are housed or could be addressed with the Market. A grocery store, a late evening coffee shop, evening gathering spaces, unique shopping experiences, boutique specialty shops, etc. A Market that closes at 6pm, does not coordinate its services, poorly insulates its seating area and wastes a second seating area on the other side for merchant storage will not cut it. Several Market merchants only accept cash payments which is a disservice on its own in a country that has adopted debit payments ahead of any other nation.

We've heard this before but it is time to say it again: the City needs to hire a third party management company to turn our Market into something that conjures the excitement and activity that the new Pete's Frootique does in Halifax or that Granville Island or Urban Fare does in Vancouver (the last time I visited the new Pete's in Halifax with my friends from Victoria they said it was enough to make them want to move there!). And tourists want to experience what the local community enjoys, not a manufactured version set up just for them that the locals avoid because of unreliable business hours and sub-standard services for their daily needs. A third party manager will set policies that serve its target customer base for tenants to adhere to within their lease or find another location to set up shop. And by staking out this territory collectively, no one Uptown merchant will have to stick its neck out or be forced to wait for Walmart to hang out its shingle on a Canterbury in-fill lot.

If the Market was just a poorly run City institution we could get angry and complain as we like to do. But the City Market is a jewel that is not being used to our benefit. The City market is a gift in this time of boom and 21st century lifestyle transition. People want to live Uptown but they want the services that are expected of an urban community. Why wait for a competitor to do what we all want our Market to do for us now?

Inspirational Leadership Required

This is off topic but the oratory of Obama and the showmanship of American politics is too entertaining not to share. I have long believed that we need leaders who inspire us and make us feel good about ourselves as a people and not just leaders who know how to manage. America always thrives under inspirational leadership and it will be interesting to see what follows for the United States should they choose this inspirational leader.

Canada should keep this in mind as we head into our own election season this fall.