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-   -   [St. John's] The Steel-Toe Boot Squad (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=203312)

SignalHillHiker Jan 4, 2013 8:41 PM

[St. John's] The Steel-Toe Boot Squad
 
The St. John's Steel-toe Boot Squad

We've heard the phrase The Rubber Boot Crowd used in reference to residents of our beautiful city who passionately oppose any new developments in our downtown core.

Like us, they truly love our city and they only want what they believe is best for its future - but, some or even most of the time, we disagree with their views.

So it's time our city got The Steel-toe Boot Squad.

We've all said we should work together to support developments we, individually, like. And this is the thread we can use to organize ourselves.


Suggested Rules for Posting

Whenever there is an opportunity for members of this forum to support a particular development, be it sending a letter to council before an upcoming vote, or attending a public hearing, please post here.

Provide (or link to) as much information about the project as you can so that we can decide for ourselves, individually, if we support this particular project. Those of us who do, please send that email, or attend that meeting.

And this goes for you lurkers as well! If you're reading this, but not a member of our forum, there's no reason you can't still send that email!

So, in the future, please check this thread whenever you see it has a new post and - if you support the referenced project - show it. We can make a difference - and we have.


Contact Information

It's High(rise) Time: St. John's Central Business District Facebook Group

St. John's City Councillor Email Addresses (Scroll down for a single, all-Councillor email address)

We've represented

http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1b80ec62.jpg


http://i1327.photobucket.com/albums/...pse50b902b.jpg

christopher_chafe Jan 4, 2013 11:01 PM

Eventhough it will be from afar......COUNT ME IN!!!

J_Murphy Jan 5, 2013 1:25 AM

Awesome idea! Count me in.

jeddy1989 Jan 5, 2013 1:29 AM

I'm in too obvs :P:yes::yes:

jeddy1989 Jan 5, 2013 8:05 PM

GATHER THE TROOPS!!!! and take the rubber boots by surprise!!!


Quote:

Originally Posted by Townie709 (Post 5960709)
News on the Hilton! I e-mailed the developer regarding our concerns for the new design. Even the developer does not like the new design and thinks the first one is better, haha! This is what he sent me:

Quote:

Matt, I agree with all of your comments below.
The elevation design was revised, to appease some councillors' comments on
"heritage". The design will be developed as we go forward. I even agree
that the first design was better!
The removal of windows facing the residences in the back was in response to
the concerns of the neighbours. The facade will be designed so that it does
NOT look like a blank wall.
At this stage, our main concern is to complete the rezoning. Then we shall
embark on detailed design.
Hope you will attend and speak up at the Public Hearing that should be
announced soon.
Happy New Year!
Vahe

So there is hope for this project after all! It seems like this is just a concept and a detailed design will be created after the land is re-zoned. Also there will be a public hearing announced soon so we'll have to stay tuned :)


Looks like our first mission!!!

What shall we do!? emails?
We MUSTTTT have a presence at the public meeting!! MUST and we have to go in numbers!

SignalHillHiker Jan 5, 2013 8:38 PM

Perhaps start by emailing the developer and letting them know the original now has support? We may want to wait and see the revised proposal before just in case it is the best one.

jeddy1989 Jan 5, 2013 8:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker (Post 5960753)
Perhaps start by emailing the developer and letting them know the original now has support? We may want to wait and see the revised proposal before just in case it is the best one.

I do not think the first one is great, I think they should have just made some modifications to the first one ... the heritage thing is RIDICULOUS!!! this is in a field next to the Delta and across the road from forits place :shrug: :koko: WTF ..

PoscStudent Jan 5, 2013 10:46 PM

The more I look at the first design there were some great aspects to it, I think if it was a better detailed render I'd even like it better. I do think that the the design needed some changes though. When it comes back up at council again I think we should start emailing in protest of the new design, and make sure we get responses. I'm not sure how the email address that sends it to all councillors works exactly, I think I'd prefer sending an email to each of them individually so if they do respond it's not getting sent to all councillors. (If that makes any sense)

J_Murphy Jan 6, 2013 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeddy1989 (Post 5960755)
... the heritage thing is RIDICULOUS!!! this is in a field next to the Delta and across the road from forits place :shrug: :koko: WTF ..

I was just going to post this exact same statement.

statbass Jan 6, 2013 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeddy1989 (Post 5960724)
GATHER THE TROOPS!!!! and take the rubber boots by surprise!!!





Looks like our first mission!!!

What shall we do!? emails?
We MUSTTTT have a presence at the public meeting!! MUST and we have to go in numbers!

With a newborn baby in the house, I probably won't be able to attend a public meeting anytime soon! However, I will be vocal and contact council to let them know my support (once I see a revised proposal and like it, of course).

:cheers:

Marty_Mcfly Jan 6, 2013 2:08 AM

Where are my boots? I'll try to do as much as I can from away. As soon as some proposals pop up which may be controversial I'll send emails of support to council :)

MrChills Jan 6, 2013 3:59 AM

Mobilize the troops!!

An easy way to create some stink, is any time there is an issue we want to press, someone draft up a blanket email and provide the email address to send to and we can copy it, add our name and any additional info and send.

Looking back, I really kick myself that I didn't attend more public meetings on development when I lived in St. John's, and throw a pro-development voice into the mix. I would be the first to complain to friends and co-workers about the heritage hippies, or blog about it or, or vent here.. but never got off my ass to beat the street and provide an educated voice for development.

jeddy1989 Jan 7, 2013 3:13 PM

Hey guys I think we need to push to have a designated section of Downtown (downtown west) to be height exempt and to incourage highrise development. we could start by organizing emails to send to council to start to put specific pressure on them to do this and possibly a facebook group that people can join to support such actions. Enough is enough ... we need to move forward and make things clearer for the people and companies that will sustain our economy and provide not only us but generations to come with jobs.

Edit: as Signal mentioned to me... this is an election year and the municipal plan is not out yet, so NOW is the time to get this going

SignalHillHiker Jan 7, 2013 3:23 PM

Done. This is what I sent:

Good day, St. John's Council,

With the municipal election fast approaching and our new municipal plan in the works, the positions and visions of our city's Councillors are a hot topic of conversation, as I'm sure you can imagine. In conversations with family and friends, I've discovered many of us share a similar vision that I'm unsure if anyone has ever shared with you all. In the interest of trying to make a positive difference, I'm doing that now.

I believe in the importance of preserving our heritage, especially the stone fascades of Water Street and our entire old town rowhouse district centered around Gower Street. I think all new developments in these areas should at least reflect our heritage, even if only in an abstract way. I am thrilled about the new Star of the Sea Building, for example, as well as the completed Bluedrop Building. Even the Marriott Hotel expansion is approriately and sufficiently influenced by our heritage, in my opinion.

That said - our downtown West End, especially west of Waldegrave Street - has little heritage to speak of. The Newman Building and Wine Vaults, of course, must be preserved - and the rest of that row of old buildings should as well. But the Downtown West End, otherwise, is filled with buildings that should not be anywhere near our downtown. They should only ever be seen on the Trans Canada Highway outside Goobies.

As a friend, eloquently put it, oil boom cities simply don't stay at 106,000 residents. From Calgary to Dubai, they boom - and to their benefit - if led properly. For this reason, I strongly suggest council consider officially sanctioning the empty lots of the Downtown West End for office and mixed-use towers. This part of the city should have a height minimum, not a height restriction. It's surrounded by the Delta, the Cabot Place complex, Fortis Place, the Deacon Building. It is our modern Central Business District. Allowing modern developments in this area doesn't destroy our downtown, it extends it farther west. And we're going to need a bigger downtown. It's already too small for 106,000 and, if we don't welcome the investment, Halifax is going to get it. It's big enough and close enough and convenient enough that the oil and gas industry can easily serve its needs from there.

And it will alleviate some of the pressure to develop in inappropriate, modern ways in the Downtown East End, which it is our duty to preserve. The beauty of old St. John's is not its grandeur, but its completeness. That's what we offer: a totally immersive heritage experience. Halifax has bigger and better heritage buildings than us - but they're isolated clusters of one or two buildings surrounded by modern developments. We offer something closer to Quebec City: the full experience. That's why we need to fight tooth and nail to protect every single heritage building in the Downtown East End.

But if we don't open up the Downtown West End for development, there are only two possible outcomes:

1. We lose, and our heritage is slowly but surely erased.

2. We win, and protect our heritage but at the cost of stagnation. Halifax booms on our resource windfall and we're left at the end of it without much to show for it.

I urge you all to have a look at the attached picture, prepared by user Townie709 on SkyscraperPage.com. It identifies many of the properties in the Downtown West End that would be perfect for towers. We could transform a run-down, empty, embarassing part of town into a modern central business district to rival anything else in Atlantic Canada, befitting a city with our proud history. And we could safeguard our historic old city in the process. I hope you'll consider officially sanctioning developments in the Downtown West End, and without requiring to honour heritage to the point of becoming hideous monstrosities - like the absolutely awful new Hilton Garden Inn proposal. The old one was MUCH better, though not perfect.

Thank you very much for your time and I hope you have a good day. Also, to those of you not running again, thank you very much for your service to our city. Although we may have disagreed on some specific issues, this previous council made some very wise decisions - transformative ones. Take approving the Henry-Bell Condo Complex, for example. We're turning two abandonned buildings and an empty lot into St. John's first taste of real, downtown urban living. I would sell my parents into slavery for one of those units. And it's going to bring people and life back to a long-neglected chunk of downtown.

And, to those of you running again, best wishes and good luck!

- [SignalHillHiker]
[XX] Prince of Wales Street
St. John's, NL

J_Murphy Jan 7, 2013 3:26 PM

Well written SHH.:tup:

"I am thrilled about the new Star of the Sea Building, for example, as well as the completed Bluedrop Building"

what is this about the bluedrop building? Did I miss something?

SignalHillHiker Jan 7, 2013 3:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_Murphy (Post 5962583)
Well written SHH.:tup:

"I am thrilled about the new Star of the Sea Building, for example, as well as the completed Bluedrop Building"

what is this about the bluedrop building? Did I miss something?

Maybe, here it is.

J_Murphy Jan 7, 2013 3:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker (Post 5962587)
Maybe, here it is.

Thanks...but what I meant was, are there any plans for additions or further upgrades to this building/site? Just the way it's worded made think that it is not yet completed??

jeddy1989 Jan 7, 2013 3:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_Murphy (Post 5962589)
Thanks...but what I meant was, are there any plans for additions or further upgrades to this building/site? Just the way it's worded made think that it is not yet completed??

nope he just likes the style

SignalHillHiker Jan 7, 2013 3:34 PM

Oh, no, sorry. I just meant it's done, and no longer a proposal. :D

SignalHillHiker Jan 7, 2013 3:54 PM

I just received a response from Councillor Galgay. It's not too late and my letter will be included with public feedback as part of the new municipal plan development process. So please, members and lurkers, email.

You might want to make different points than mine, but whatever those ideas are that you just wish you could be in charge long enough to implement, let council know!


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