Put resources into recreation
Published Friday July 3rd, 2009
Saint John's residents are so desperate for new recreation facilities that one entrepreneur has proposed putting ice surfaces under fabric-covered storage sheds.
This would be selling the city's resources short. Saint John doesn't need an Olympic training facility, just new rinks and playing fields. Other communities have demonstrated it is possible to build them on a modest budget.
To deliver the facilities citizens want, council must re-evaluate two factors: what the city is spending its money on, and how it is approaching recreational development.
Saint John's annual operational budget is large enough to accommodate new investment in recreation. To free up the money, council will need to bring the cost of municipal services down to a reasonable level.
The per-capita cost of fire and policing in Saint John is disproportionate to the value residents receive. Moncton pays less for these essential services and budgets twice as much as Saint John does for recreation.
Councillors need to re-align municipal operations to reflect the city's true needs and the average cost of services in Atlantic Canada. The law of diminishing returns applies: beyond a certain point, spending more on fire and police protection doesn't yield better protection, just bigger bills.
Applying the brakes to Peel Plaza would be a good start. Saint John doesn't need a $28 million edifice to house its police force. The money saved by building more modest accommodations would go a long way in recreation.
Council needs to apply the resources of the community to the cause of recreation. Grand Falls has 60,000 fewer residents than Saint John, yet its E. & P. Sénéchal Centre is being built as a state-of-the-art sports facility. The 1,130 seat arena will include a walking track, fitness centre and a regulation-sized ice surface, with room to expand. Heat recovered from the building's refrigeration unit will warm the seats, floors and dressing rooms.
The centre was designed by architects at Murdock & Boyd in Saint John, and it's being built with the help of a $1.5 million private donation worth 10 per cent of the overall cost.
Saint John has the talent and the finances to take on a similar project. It just requires a commitment and intelligent follow-through by City Hall.
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Comments (4)
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And posters, please try to keep the debate on topic. All the "flaming" going on only undermines your credibility as a debater. Personal attacks indicate a weakened debate position, and should be viewed as such. It's the on line version of "na na na na na na", and just as immature.
What crap! All down the eastern seaboard, other large multi-national corporations were sweet talking other municipalities with EXTRA benefits. But nooooo, not here. We give huge tax breaks!!!
Seems to me as well, from what I've heard, that one of the Big Wigs in the Arts and Cultural Society in Saint John who would like Peel Plaza to have all of the bells and whistles has a last name that starts with "I". If it weren't for these people, we would be able to have a Police Station without all of the green spaces, fountains, statues and other crap to pretty it up.
To me, this is just another way for the TJ to take pot shots at the Mayor and Council as well as the Management of the City of Saint John because they refuse to be bullied by the Irvings. Nothing new in this article!