Residents give projects high marks
By SHAWN BERRY
berry.shawn@dailygleaner.com
Published Tuesday March 11th, 2008
Appeared on page A1
Residents believe Fredericton's a great city that's headed in the right direction.
That's the result of the city's 2007 Citizen Attitude Survey that was released Monday night.
Of the 400 people surveyed, 95 per cent said they would recommend Fredericton as a place to live.
And 82 per cent of respondents would recommend the city as a place to work.
Mayor Brad Woodside said council is pleased with the results.
"There is pride in this community,'' said Woodside. "(Residents) do feel that we're growing, they do feel we're headed in the right direction."
A growing number of residents indicated that they think it's easy to find a good job in Fredericton.
The number increased from 30 per cent of respondents in 2005 to 42 per cent of respondents in 2007.
Still, 45 per cent of respondents in 2007 disagreed with the statement.
Of the respondents, 64 per cent said Fredericton would be a good place to find a job while 17 per cent disagreed and 16 per cent said they didn't know.
"As far as the inadequacies in the report, I think they're well-deserved and I think they're great points and ones that should be acted on. Economic development is everything," Woodside said.
"The big issue of today and into the future is economic development growth. We're competing with everybody else.''
He said the city has to beat the bushes.
"We have to be out there telling people that we're a Top 7 intelligent community and we have to be out there attracting people.''
Residents also gave high marks for city services, with 90 per cent expressing satisfaction with the police force as a whole and 97 per cent expressing confidence that the fire department could respond to a fire in their neighbourhood.
Levels of satisfaction for other services were also high. The lowest satisfaction rates were with sidewalk snow removal, fall leaf pickup, snow removal on roads and the household recycling program.
Woodside noted that the survey was conducted in November, well before this winter's spate of storms hit the city.
He said he's sure any discontent has been erased as crews have done their utmost to clear the snow.
Those who knew about the city's construction developments were generally supportive of the endeavours.
About four in every 10 respondents had visited the Willie O'Ree Place. A total of 92 per cent of them expressed satisfaction with the facility.
Only 54 per cent knew about the two new fire stations and a training facility the city will build, but 95 per cent of them backed the project.
A total of 58 per cent of respondents knew about the water treatment plant going up on Waterloo Row and 96 per cent of them support the project.
Of the 76 per cent of respondents aware of the sports and leisure complex to be built on the south side, 88 per cent back the endeavour.
A total of 72 per cent of respondents knew of the downtown conference centre project and 79 per cent of them support the project.
"We have to continue to grow, to increase our tax base to provide the services we do without increasing the tax rate. I think people understand that," Woodside said.
The survey, conducted by marketQuest Research, is considered accurate within 4.88 percentage points 95 per cent of the time.
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Single-detached starts up in Fredericton -- report
By MARC HUDON
hudon.marc@dailygleaner.com
Published Tuesday March 11th, 2008
Appeared on page A5
OTTAWA - Single-start home construction in southern New Brunswick's urban centres outpaced the national average last month, but consumers can expect that trend to cool, says a housing-market analyst.
Claude Gautreau, senior market analyst for New Brunswick with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said there were 63 residential construction starts in February, compared to 34 units during the same period last year.
In Fredericton, year-over-year single starts jumped 54 per cent, with 15 new homes under construction in the capital city compared to six last year. There were no multiple unit starts.
Housing starts in Fredericton during the first two months of 2008 are up 57 per cent compared to 2007, while Moncton's numbers have tumbled 32 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Gautreau said one of the factors contributing to this year's decline in housing starts in Moncton is inclement weather.
"The past two or three years have been mild winters with very little snow," he said. "This year has been one of the worse winters for snow in the past decade or more. That has created a drag on construction."
Despite the snow, Gautreau said, the diversified economies of Moncton and Fredericton continue to create jobs, which are contributing to positive gains in southern New Brunswick's housing market.
He said proposed capital projects in Saint John, such as a new refinery and the refurbishment of the Point Lepreau nuclear power generating station, should also help push housing starts up in the port city.
Gautreau said home construction during 2007 and the first two months of 2008 has been positive in southern New Brunswick despite a cooling trend across Canada.
He said New Brunswickers can expect the province's housing market to realign itself with the rest of the country before year's end.
"Given that the national trend has been a slight slowdown, it is likely that we'll see that here," he said. "We do see the housing market pulling back, but nothing drastic."
In urban centres across Canada, home construction increased 42 per cent in February.
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