The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[Walk then Run]

Just to add a little bit of a pump up, I've added the YouTube video from the Sea Dogs home opener, it was well done and I love it! The first minute makes you feel proud to be a SJer and it gives an idea that our walls are rising! Of course this is a video for hockey so the remaining part is entertaining too...FYI, the Dogs are going to be hard to beat this year...five in a row as of today!

WARNING TO ALL FANS OF THE Moncton Wildcats: the following YouTube video contains images of the Memorial Cup being raised, if you are pregnant or you easily experience weakness / dizziness watching your closest rival be crowned CHL champions, please stop watching and contact your physician immediately! If you belong to the 'herd nation', then watching may scare you slightly, but most likely bring back good memories of 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0KmlIYXWXg

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Southpaw78

A series of articles this week on the potential comeback of Saint John's Old North End. Here's one:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...anor-1.3795655

Key word would be potential. The ideas are there at least. Having many of the vacant and boarded-up properties switch hands would be a good start but i'm unsure how much a vast swath of non-profit housing would improve the overall area, although the idea of a land bank isn't an awful one. The neighbourhood needs more working and employed homeowners and property owners living onsite who care for their neighbourhood.



Here's a really rough estimate of currently boarded up buildings (yellow) and lots vacant from being demolished in the past five years (orange). There are a lot of unhighlighted properties that pose little to no potential for renovation and would be better off torn down.

I will agree that the neighbourhood now is probably the best it's been in my lifetime in terms of activity. Growing up there were a lot of drug dealers, homeless, people wandering around at all times of day. Now it's mostly barren. Most of people that are around likely won't bother you too much - many are poor but most aren't illicit like they would have been 5/10 years ago. That's been a big change.

Getting more property owners living in the immediate area will help a lot in having respect and responsibility. In the past there were landlords who never approached the neighbourhood and never took care of who they were renting to or what was happening on their properties. Having owners actually living in the neighbourhood will be a good step towards having something a bit more positive.

[Southpaw78]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Key word would be potential

Maybe not the best word choice....Guess I was feeling optimistic. Regardless, really interesting series and that CBC chose to focus on this area of SJ and allow us to dream of what COULD be.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Southpaw78

Maybe not the best word choice....Guess I was feeling optimistic. Regardless, really interesting series and that CBC chose to focus on this area of SJ and allow us to dream of what COULD be.

I think a lot of it, like most things in the City, are about expectation management. Are good things happening in the North End right now? Absolutely. Will they continue to happen? Perhaps maybe. We'll have to wait and see. It depends on what sort of barometer you want to set for the area itself. Someone like myself, in my 20s, just wants to see a neighbourhood that isn't beset by crippling poverty. Someone in their 70s or 80s will tell you of a bustling Main Street, with many businesses and streetcars, and how that'll never return. Their expectation of a revived North End is slightly different than mine and perhaps both have different routes of how to get there.

I'm not being negative on this - i'm simply trying not to get irrationally carried away until there's some solid progress being made on the ground. Having features on the CBC about a poverty-stricken neighbourhood is great but that doesn't mean the work's done.

[Ire Narissis]

Any railfans in the house? Wondering what NBSR is up to at Simms Corner... to my untrained eye, looks like signal upgrades and laying new rails. Maybe improvements in anticipation of increased traffic with the west side port upgrades looming? Preparing for construction materials and equipment to arrive by rail, perhaps?

There are forthcoming street closures to upgrade the crossings themselves: http://www.saintjohn.ca/en/home/news...ms-corner.aspx

Thank goodness for that; I'm tired of having to swerve to avoid the ruts approaching the rails. Still leaves me wondering if this has to do with the port, though, since that's the only place trains are headed going through Simms Corner.

[RR Drummer]

Originally Posted by Walk then Run

Just to add a little bit of a pump up, I've added the YouTube video from the Sea Dogs home opener, it was well done and I love it! The first minute makes you feel proud to be a SJer and it gives an idea that our walls are rising! Of course this is a video for hockey so the remaining part is entertaining too...FYI, the Dogs are going to be hard to beat this year...five in a row as of today!

WARNING TO ALL FANS OF THE Moncton Wildcats: the following YouTube video contains images of the Memorial Cup being raised, if you are pregnant or you easily experience weakness / dizziness watching your closest rival be crowned CHL champions, please stop watching and contact your physician immediately! If you belong to the 'herd nation', then watching may scare you slightly, but most likely bring back good memories of 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0KmlIYXWXg

Awesome!!

[Southpaw78]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I think a lot of it, like most things in the City, are about expectation management. Are good things happening in the North End right now? Absolutely. Will they continue to happen? Perhaps maybe. We'll have to wait and see. It depends on what sort of barometer you want to set for the area itself. Someone like myself, in my 20s, just wants to see a neighbourhood that isn't beset by crippling poverty. Someone in their 70s or 80s will tell you of a bustling Main Street, with many businesses and streetcars, and how that'll never return. Their expectation of a revived North End is slightly different than mine and perhaps both have different routes of how to get there.

I'm not being negative on this - i'm simply trying not to get irrationally carried away until there's some solid progress being made on the ground. Having features on the CBC about a poverty-stricken neighbourhood is great but that doesn't mean the work's done.

Just to reiterate my point that it was more interesting, as opposed to suggest an indicator of progress, to have a focussed series of articles on the North End. So I agree on your point.

I think it can be about expectations and perspective. I am in my late 30's and went to SJHS in the early-mid 90's. Uptown at that time was an eyesore. I remember walking down Canterbury to Brunswick Square at lunch past abandoned and boarded up buildings. The only decent places to eat were Subway on Prince William and the food court in Brunswick Square. Prince William was only full of dance clubs and rowdy drunks on the weekend - pretty much a ghost town during the week. At that time there was virtually no investment in the uptown buildings. Who would have thought 20 years later, we would see the transformation we have today. Though I could always envision potential in what the uptown could be, when I was still in my early 20's, I would have never saw what we have now coming. All to say that my expectation then was pretty low.

[CdnEh]

Originally Posted by Ire Narissis

Any railfans in the house? Wondering what NBSR is up to at Simms Corner... to my untrained eye, looks like signal upgrades and laying new rails. Maybe improvements in anticipation of increased traffic with the west side port upgrades looming? Preparing for construction materials and equipment to arrive by rail, perhaps?

There are forthcoming street closures to upgrade the crossings themselves: http://www.saintjohn.ca/en/home/news...ms-corner.aspx

Thank goodness for that; I'm tired of having to swerve to avoid the ruts approaching the rails. Still leaves me wondering if this has to do with the port, though, since that's the only place trains are headed going through Simms Corner.

I'm surprised they're even being allowed to completely cut off such a vital intersection - I would've thought they would have to do half the width and allow traffic to flow over the remaining half.

When the Simms Corner rail crossing is closed, what other options are there for detour to access the west side when coming from the Reversing Falls Bridge? You can't even access the mall without going through that rail crossing.

Short of going the opposite way and driving completely through Fundy Heights and coming out the other end @ Bleury Street, I don't know of any alternatives.

[UptownJeff]

Originally Posted by CdnEh

I'm surprised they're even being allowed to completely cut off such a vital intersection - I would've thought they would have to do half the width and allow traffic to flow over the remaining half.

When the Simms Corner rail crossing is closed, what other options are there for detour to access the west side when coming from the Reversing Falls Bridge? You can't even access the mall without going through that rail crossing.

Short of going the opposite way and driving completely through Fundy Heights and coming out the other end @ Bleury Street, I don't know of any alternatives.

Unless I'm missing something, when you go west over the falls bridge you access the west side by turning at Romanos - heading east by the Tim's is going to be a pain but you can get on Main St West or the highway or go through Fundy Heights.

[Ire Narissis]

Originally Posted by UptownJeff

Unless I'm missing something, when you go west over the falls bridge you access the west side by turning at Romanos - heading east by the Tim's is going to be a pain but you can get on Main St West or the highway or go through Fundy Heights.

Won't be able to go that way when the crossing is closed, though. It's before Romano's. Going through Fundy Heights will probably be the only option, unless they do something like narrow the hill coming from the mall down to one lane up and reverse the other lane for traffic coming from the bridge.

[CdnEh]

Originally Posted by UptownJeff

Unless I'm missing something, when you go west over the falls bridge you access the west side by turning at Romanos - heading east by the Tim's is going to be a pain but you can get on Main St West or the highway or go through Fundy Heights.

Harding St is on the opposite side of the tracks. The tracks run in front of the Tim Hortons/Wendys.

Of course, it doesn't make it any better that the Market Place highway ramp is also closed, meaning that it is necessary to use the Bleury St exit, and then commute through that area to get to the Lower West as well.

Driving in West SJ isn't going to be any fun this weekend.

[Walk then Run]

Originally Posted by CdnEh

Harding St is on the opposite side of the tracks. The tracks run in front of the Tim Hortons/Wendys.

Of course, it doesn't make it any better that the Market Place highway ramp is also closed, meaning that it is necessary to use the Bleury St exit, and then commute through that area to get to the Lower West as well.

Driving in West SJ isn't going to be any fun this weekend.

Rest assure, they opened up the last bit of the one way from Sims corner to the Tims/Wendys exit. This allows traffic coming from Reversing Falls and Lancaster to go in and down towards Fairville Blvd. Its not that bad for traffic flow and is actually a nice change of pace

Also, thr Market Street exit opened up last night to traffic...very nice and smooth

[Ire Narissis]

Drove over the upgraded Simms Corner crossing this morning on my way to work; they're doing the one-way bit today but the main road section was finished over the weekend.

It's a 1000% improvement. Completely night and day.

[MonctonRad]

Interesting article in the New York Times travel section about Saint John:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/tr...ists.html?_r=0

[kwajo]

New container ship cranes are on the way to our skyline this week, a friend sent me this photo of them entering the Harbour earlier today. Should be a big change to the look of our central core/harbourfront.

[Helladog]

Originally Posted by kwajo

New container ship cranes are on the way to our skyline this week, a friend sent me this photo of them entering the Harbour earlier today. Should be a big change to the look of our central core/harbourfront.

I remember many years ago there used to be 1-2 more cranes at the harbour, and they ended up selling them since they were under utilized. Are these going to go next to the two current cranes?

I can see them on the CBC webcam...

[magee_b]

Originally Posted by Helladog

I remember many years ago there used to be 1-2 more cranes at the harbour, and they ended up selling them since they were under utilized. Are these going to go next to the two current cranes?

I can see them on the CBC webcam...

They are going to replace the current two cranes... The two older red-white cranes will be scrapped early 2017. They stated that once the port modernization is complete there will be 2 more cranes brought in.

[RR Drummer]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Interesting article in the New York Times travel section about Saint John:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/tr...ists.html?_r=0

Very interesting indeed, thanks for sharing!

[Ire Narissis]

But what will they use to unload the cranes?!

Craneception...

[UptownJeff]

I hear that Irving Oil has bought the triangle of land at Union and Waterloo and will be turned into a park. Also the Golden Ball will become the Irving Museum.