Wanted: your amazing ideas to improve Saint John's central peninsula
If you've been walking in the south end, uptown or in Waterloo Village, soaking up the spring sunshine, and thought "Hey, I've got a great idea to make Saint John better," tonight's your chance to share it with the city.
A public launch of the Central Peninsula Neighbourhood Plan will get underway at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday at InterAction School of Performing Arts on Germain Street.
In addition to gathering ideas and input from the people who live and work in the area, the Central Peninsula Neighbourhood Plan launch will roll out an online tool for the public to weigh in on what needs improvement in the core.
Get invested
Kay Gillis, the chair of the Neighbourhood Action Team, said she got involved because she bought a house uptown and felt invested in the community she's lived in her entire life.
"I live here, and if there's any way that I can help make it better, that is really interesting to me," said Gillis.
Mark Reid is a partner with Toronto-based urban design and planning firm Urban Strategies based in Toronto, which also helped develop the municipal plan, PlanSJ. He said the meeting will focus on input from people who actually live in the neighbourhood.
"They live here — they know what works and what doesn't work," Reid said. "We want to hear people's thoughts and ideas about how to make this area better."
He will also share a big-picture look at the needs identified in the community.
"Some of the work that we've uncovered to date is that there is something like 290 vacant properties on the peninsula," Reid said. "If those properties were used for active, tax-generating uses, the whole situation in the city would be quite different. So there are some tough issues that we need to grapple with."
Despite the challenges, many factors make the south-central peninsula an appealing place to live and work.
"There's a ton of momentum right now in the uptown," Reid said. "There are some 14,000 jobs, many of them in technology, professional and scientific knowledge-based services — the kinds of jobs that are attracted to very urban, walkable places, and that is what you've got here."
Uptown 'a jewel'
The event kicks off at 4:30 p.m. with remarks from Mayor Don Darling, followed by presentations on the project and on how people in the community can get involved.
"There are opportunities to participate online, and at events," said Gillis." You'll be able to chat and discuss ideas.
Members of the public can also offer their feedback online at takingshapesj.ca or via text message at 506-799-4141.
"You've got a jewel in the uptown," Reid said. "But there are also challenges and areas of disinvestment.
"The challenge is how to strengthen the things that are very good, and shift the things that are challenging for this community and make them better for everyone."
