Mayor Mel Norton might see Saint John as the "renaissance city"; however, the fact remains that there are still more boarded up storefronts in the uptown than most would like to see.
Common Councillor Donna Reardon tells CHSJ News despite the effort put into of PlanSJ the focus of retail development is still the sprawl of big-box stores on the East Side.
Reardon proprise Saint John should strike the same sort of deal with big-box retailers as have some European countries, in which have to put a satellite location in the uptown if they want to open up in the mall area.