Park will be unique
Telegraph-Journal
Published Thursday September 27th, 2007
Appeared on page C1
SAINT JOHN - It's been a long time coming, but skateboarders got their first glimpse of the Port City's new skateboard park Wednesday night at the Mary Oland Theatre.
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"It's been a long process and I'm sure the kids are tired of hearing about it," said Jason MacLean, the driving force behind the project.
Standing under the viaduct, MacLean and designer and contractor Kyle Dion of New Line Skateparks surveyed what is now a parking lot, but will next year be full of skaters grinding axles and flipping boards.
"We want their buy in," MacLean said Wednesday afternoon.
The park will have some 30 elements to entertain area skaters, but the ramps that were planned around the concrete viaduct supports have been removed because of sewer, water, gas and other utility lines in the area. The utilities snaking every which way just metres below the surface have complicated the design and meant digging must be limited. The design must also accommodate maintenance vehicles that require access to the underside of the viaduct. "So it really forced us to go in a certain direction."
"The major challenge on this site is every kind utility you can imagine is running through the site in all different directions," said Dion.
The 1,300-square-metre skatepark, which will sit under the viaduct between Harbour Passage and Harbour Station, will open by early summer.
The price tag for the park will hover around $500,000 with major donations coming from the province, corporate donors and the city.
"We really have to give a lot of credit to this council for being supportive of this project," MacLean said. "The political will was there."
To the uninitiated, the park will resemble some haphazardly placed concrete steps, rails and half-finished pipes, but to skateboarders the park will be a concrete wonderland that resembles the elements of any city that skaters love to ride over and on.
Sgt. Jim Flemming of the Saint John Police Force and a booster of the park said it shows a commitment and investment in area youth.
"Most of these kids are just trying to have fun," Flemming said. "The problem is there's no place to go."
Dion said there may be constraints, but the Saint John park is unique and will stand out because its located in the uptown core and not hidden in a suburban or industrial wasteland.
"Its context is amazing," Dion said. "So it really has a very, very unique sense of place. It's going to scream 'this is the Saint John Skatepark.'"
Using red brick and the like, Dion said they will tie the park into the city's heritage architecture.
"We want to bring some of that flavour into the park here," Dion said. "We're not going to be all things to everybody, but (we'll) just try to create a really unique skateboarding space within the city and hopefully it's just sort of a catalyst to more."
The park may not be the largest, but Dion said it will be one of the most unique in the country.
"It will never get boring."
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Council to get vision goals, statement by end of October
John Mazerolle
Telegraph-Journal
Published Thursday September 27th, 2007
Appeared on page C3
SAINT JOHN - Deputy city manager Andrew Beckett says common council will likely be presented with a completed vision statement for the city by the end of October, along with eight to 10 goals that will have come directly from the public.
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"The notion of participatory democracy only works if people actually participate," Beckett told a crowd of about 100 Saint Johners, as they wrapped up a day-and-a-half workshop called "Shaping the vision - a community conversation."
The crowd - which included some council members, city staff, community leaders, high school students and average citizens - had the opportunity to take two steps forward in the city's process of changing the way it's run: They got a first crack at refining the city's first-draft vision statement, and they created the first draft of eight goals for council that will flow out of that vision.
The vision has been hailed by city staff and common council members as a key step needed to make city business and services more efficient, effective and sustainable. Other ongoing city projects such as governance changes, service profiles and an urban plan for the South End will feed directly off the vision of the public, city staff have said.
The goals, meanwhile, will be made part of a sustainability plan, as well as four-year action plans.
Beckett and Mike Schulze, the head of the citizen's committee that has been interacting with the public since April, say the next step is to refine both the vision statement and the goals. Beckett said there will be two or three focus groups asking people what they think of the second draft of the vision.
The first draft was a six-paragraph statement that touched on civic pride, history, the environment, waterfront, neighbourhoods, good governance, education, diversity, culture, and health and safety.
Schulze said the original statement was drawn up using a number of sources, including the 3,000 responses his committee received during its outreach campaign, the already existing True Growth and waterfront strategies, and the Telegraph-Journal's CityThink surveys.
Beckett said the draft statement's closing sentence - "Our Saint John is where life is on our terms-" purposefully echoed the slogan that grew out of the True Growth strategy to show that the current process, dubbed Vision 2015, is not meant to wipe out everything that came before.
That last sentence will likely change anyway, Schulze said, based on the feedback they received during the workshop; the entire statement could change substantially, he said.
Schulze said the economy and growth are two factors missing from the vision that may be added based on the feedback so far.
The eight draft goals taken from the workshop were, in order of the priority of the workshop attendees:
1. Create a green spaces plan that will improve existing parks and protect natural environments.
2. Create a public policy that promotes alternative transportation, maximizes efficiency and encourages choices other than cars.
3. Be sure that all construction - whether new or enhancing already existing infrastructure - is sustainable and "of a quality that enhances the image of the city."
4. Capitalize on the potential of local universities and colleges to "reinvent" Saint John as a magnet for innovation, cultural diversity and to address social needs.
5. Make sure neighbourhoods are adequately served by facilities (community centres, sports fields, etc.) and that those facilities have programs for people of all ages.
6. Improve the uptown in a way that expresses the best of the city's history, its "vibrant at the core" culture, and its potential to be an "urban magnet."
7. (Tie) Ensure that nobody who works full-year, full-time lives in poverty.
7. (Tie) Create and maintain a diverse, flourishing economy.
Many people in attendance seemed energized by the process. Randy Hatfield of the Human Development Council was particularly excited about the poverty goal. "Let's have a pact, an accord, in this community that if you work full-time, full-year, that you shouldn't live in poverty," he said after the workshop.
Julie Assaff, the marketing and communications co-ordinator with the economic development group Uptown Saint John, said she was happy to hear from people who have different backgrounds and points of view.
"I want to join, like, 10 different volunteer groups now," she said.
Kristie-Lynn Smith, a Grade 10 student at Simonds High School, said there are more people in the community ready to help out than the city realizes.
"I actually felt it was very informative, and I didn't fall asleep once, which is a good sign," she said.
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Wave energy firm makes pitch to set up shop in N.B.
Reid Southwick
Telegraph-Journal
Published Thursday September 27th, 2007
Appeared on page B1
SAINT JOHN - Saint John is in line to be home to the first Canadian manufacturing plant for generating stations that harness the power of ocean waves.
The plant would create roughly 150 high-paying jobs in an industry that is estimated to be worth $12 billion in about 10 years, says Perry Toms, the firm's vice-president of business development for Wave Energy Technologies, a Winnipeg-based firm that has a patent on the technology.
Toms told the Atlantic Canada Power Summit on Wednesday Wave Energy could set up offices in the Port City before the end of the year.
The two-day event saw utility executives, government officials and other leading experts highlight challenges and opportunities facing the Atlantic region and beyond.
Following New Brunswick Energy Minister Jack Keir's keynote address, Toms made an impromptu proposal to grow a Canadian waves-based power generation industry from Saint John.
"We can build a business here that will export some very, very bright Canadian technology to the rest of the world," Toms told the minister in a question and answer session following Keir's speech. "That's about manufacturing, that's about smart jobs; and that's about more than just exploiting a natural resource, but about exploiting an entire industry."
Keir expressed interest in the proposal and welcomed further discussion on the matter. He later told reporters the province would ensure such a project fulfilled the necessary procedures and policy requirements.
Wave Energy Technologies' product has been in development for 17 years. The company is now looking for the best location to open a manufacturing plant and is considering jurisdictions in the Maritimes, Canada's West Coast and the United States.
The company is in the middle of raising $10 million to fund its operations, said Toms, and it expects to grow an organization worth between $600 and $700 million over the next 10 years.
Toms said the technology is designed to complement, and not replace, tidal power technologies. While tidal power harnesses undersea currents, this technology captures the movement of water on or just below the surface of the water to drive a turbine.
Companies in the United States and Europe have been studying waves-based power generation for some time, and the industry is expected to see major growth, said Toms. New Brunswick, meanwhile, has the opportunity to host a made-in-Canada manufacturing plant that can capitalize on the revenues, he said.
Toms said New Brunswick offers good universities, an intelligent workforce and a government that is interested in developing an energy industry, all characteristics that give the province an edge.
If New Brunswick gave Wave Energy Technologies the nod to launch a plant in Saint John, the company would be able to open head offices and begin hiring staff before the end of the year. The company would prepare the product for market until the end of 2009 and would be ready to start manufacturing by the following year.
The plant would create 150 jobs, including designers and engineers, which would last beyond the construction stage.
"This isn't just about construction jobs," said Tons. "This is about a long-term investment in this province and this region."
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