LSD Residents Debate User Fees Vs. Taxes

People in the 6 local service districts who use the River Valley Community Centre in Grand Bay Westfield are up in arms over a provincial plan to keep taxing them to use it or have them pay user fees.  

The facility's mortgage was paid off in July of 2011. 
Residents were upset about the lack of publicity with the previous vote on the matter. 

A letter from the province informing them of six information sessions arrived in their mail recently.

Brenda Rathburn who lives in Westfield West tells CHSJ News almost 12 thousand people pay taxes for the arena but only 180 people actually use it.

She says if you use it they don't mind paying a decent user fee but it you don't use people shouldn't have it taken out of their taxes.

A community session is coming up tonight at the Nerepis United Baptist Church at 7pm.
Another vote will be held January 7th.

Celebrating Learners With Turkey

The staff, board, volunteers and students of the Saint John Learning Exchange hosting their annual turkey dinner at Stone Church.
Executive Director Christina Fowler tells CHSJ News she loves doing the dinners.

She says they do it because they want to give back to the community for their partners and learners after another year of hard work.

Fowler adds the Learning Exchange does a lot involving food including some catering so its a good to celebrate and give back.

Tories Announce $280 Million For Transportation

The province announcing nearly $280 million dollars for buildings, bridges, highways, rural roads and equipment in the new Transportation budget.

The projects include over $12 million for the Route 7 Welsford Bypass, $10 million for work on the Harbour Bridge and more than 7 million for the One Mile House Interchange project in Saint John.

The department will also invest $44 million dollars into rural roads.

Common Council Told What's Needed To Get Rid Of Dangerous Buildings

Common Council will have more money to work with next year because of pension reform with the big question being where that will be spent.

Council has been told alot more could be done to deal with vacant and dilapidated buildings around the city with more funding. Council members appear to be receptive to that argument.

Buildings that are unoccupied and falling down have become inviting targets for arsonists.

City Building Inspector Amy Poffenroth would like to see funding returned to what it was in 2011 when 67 cases were resolved with either demolition or renovation.

She also says when the city adopts a more aggressive approach to getting rid of dangerous buildings, landlords get the message and either demolish or fix up.

Women's World Curling Championships Coming To Town

Hurry! Hard!

The 2014 Ford World Curling Championships will be held in Saint John's very own Harbour Station.

The event will run March 15-23. It's the first time the Port City has hosted a world championship since 1999.

City Posts Highest Apartment Vacancy Rate In Nation

It's a mixed blessing if you are in the market for a new apartment - Canada Mortgage and Housing says the city led the nation in October with the highest apartment vacancy rate coming in at 9.7-percent - up four percent from the same month last year.
And while that means more choice for apartment hunters - you can expect to pay more when you find one - C-M-H-C says the average rent for a two bedroom in the city has jumped 20-bucks to 691-dollars a month.
Moncton had the third highest vacancy rate in the country while Regina had the lowest.

Gas Prices Drop

Drivers are getting a bit of a price break after the weekly setting.

Self serve regular is going for $1.17.3 a litre around town, a decline of more than 2 cents. 

Diesel is also less expensive by a few cents at $1.33.6. 

Heating oil is more than 3 cents a litre cheaper at $1.13.1 and propane has a maximum price of 94.9 cents a litre, which is down a bit.

Arts Centre Reveals New Printing Press

Despite all the activity around them with Peel Plaza construction, the Saint John Arts Centre is alive and well.
 
Executive Director Andrew Kierstead tells CHSJ News the local arts community in the City and beyond will benefit from the addition of new Intaglio printing press which is used by artists for etching plates.

He says the plate would be etched in an acid bath and manipulated to create an image and ink is applied to the plate and the plate is put on the press, paper would be placed over the plate and it would be put through a roller.

Kierstead says the metal plate can be replaced with other materials like linoleum and wood. 
He says it's a major investment by Buckley Patterson Asset Management of Rothesay who paid $12,000 for the press and other renovations for the print studio were covered by the volunteer board of the Arts centre.




Kierstead says lots of people are exciting about this adding it's great news for the community. 

For more info, click here







 

Some Rural Areas Getting New Clinics

Some rural areas will be getting new health centers and improvements to hospitals with the announcement of this year's capital budget for the department of health.

Stanley and Fredericton will get a new health clinics, and 1 million will go to designing a new hospital for Perth Andover. Bathurst, Moncton and other communities will balso get a boost to existing health services.

The 2013-14 capital budget will be $53.2 million and the department will be working with commmunities to allocate that money.

Give A Bit Of Canadian Nature For Christmas

For the hard-to-buy-for nature lover on your list, the Nature Conservancy of Canada rolling out a new fundraiser that allows you to sponsor animal habitat in the name of someone you care about.

Paula Noel of the NCC tells CHSJ News you can symbolically purchase a snowy owl or a lynx.Gifts range from $40 to $400 for which the recipient gets a  certificate for the recipient and a 2013 NCC calendar. The calendar featuresscenes of conserved lands from across the country.

In addition to an acre of habitat ($40), two of the species being highlighted nationally reside in various parts of New Brunswick.

=For more information on how you can help conserve NB's nature beauty, click here

Pipeline Would Mean Big Business

President of the Saint John Board of Trade thinks the idea of a west to east coast oil pipeline is an exciting opportunity.

Imelda Gilman tells CHSJ news it's still in it's early phase and only time will tell what could happen. She says regulation will need to be put in place and businesses will need to jump on board. 

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver announced his strong support in creating a pipeline to ship Alberta oil to Saint John yesterday. Gilman believes it would take about a decade to come about but would bring a lot of economic spin offs such as increased business, more jobs, revenue and would bring people back to the province to work.

VIDEO: Big Donation Gives Free Lunch Program A Future

570 kids will have free, hot lunches for the next 2 years, after Potash Corp donated $25,000 to the Chicken Noodle Club. The Chicken Noodle Club provides hot lunches to needy young people and was in danger of shutting down a few weeks back.

Brian Earle has been treasurer for club for over 17 years, he says the donation was a wonderful surprise since they've never had close contacts with Potash Corp before.

Founder and Common Councillor Donnie Snook tells CHSJ news this year they saw a huge increase and demand for the club.  He says the money will go directly towards the food and keep them going for another two years. 

Potash Corp GM Stuart Brown says when they heard the program was close to closing, they jumped on board to help. Brown laughed saying a lot of the kids were asking if they could cash the cheque themselves.

The program provides lunch for 3 different schools, 3-5 days a week.

Libs Have Questions Over Capital Budget

The Opposition Liberals have several questions for the Alward government about their Capital budget.

Of the $466 million dollar budget, $3.5 million is set aside to start new project done considerably from the previous year. 

Liberal Finance Critic Hedard Albert says a lean budget was delivered but they have questions for the Ministers of Transportation, Health and Education on their budgets.

Albert points to a lack of funding for the twinning of Route 11 adding both Premier Alward and Minister Williams have said this is a priority for them yet, they have not been able to secure funding from their feds on this project.

He also singles out the commitment for funding to a Perth Andover community hospital saying the details on the project are scarce.

Albert hopes to get answers to these questions when the Ministers in question deliver their budget speeches today. 

Chicken Noodle Club Gets Helping Hand

The Chicken Noodle Club, which provides hot lunches to needy young people and was in danger of shutting down, has been given a financial boost thanks to a 25 thousand dollar donation from the Potash Corporation. 

A ceremony will be held at noonhour today in St. John the Baptist-King Edward School in the south end.

Pave Paradise, Put Up A Gravel Quarry?

Red Head might be designated a rural resource area but it's still our home  That message was voiced loud and clear to the city's Planning Advisory Committee about a dual application by Debly and Thomas Construction to expand a quarry along Bayside Drive. 

Deborah Kneeland of the Red Head Community Association tells CHSJ News they're worried about their wells, their property values and the noise from blasting. Another resident described how runoff from the existing quarry wiped out her driveway.

Consultant Rick Turner and representations from both Debly and Thomas say they live in Red Head too and wouldn't be pursuing the plan if they thought it would negatively impact quality of life in the neighborhood. 

The rezoning application will go to public hearing before Common Council on January 7th but the PAC is asking the companies to reconsider the depth of excavation, limit work to between 7am and 8pm and complete a report on storm water management.

St. Patrick's Students Cook With Celeb Chef

Students in the St. Patrick's school cooking club learning from a pro--celebrity chef Chuck Hughes.

The school won a $15,000 grant from the Hellman's Real Food Movement and used the money to makeover their kitchen.

Chef Hughes was in the City today and spent time with the students cooking chicken fingers and guacamole.

He says everywhere he goes in this country in a group of five students, one will become the chef.
Hughes adds when the kids cook together they are talking and sharing lunch but they are also communicating on another level which is a gift for life.

Community School Co-ordinator Krista Turnbull tells CHSJ News the kitchen reno last month would not have been possible without the help of their PALS partner Irving Tissue.

School District Superintendent Zoe Watson says it's fun to stand back and watch the kids in their chef's hats and aprons adding it's a positive day for everybody. 

To learn more about the Hellmann's Real Food Movement grant program, click here 

 

Rothesay Delivers 2013 Budget

The tax rate will stay at $1.19 for Rothesay's 2013 budget.

Rothesay Mayor Bill Bishop tells CHSJ news losing about $100,000 dollars or 25% from the province didn't affect the budget. 

Just under $2 million will be spent to improve roads and sidewalks while half a million will be used to improve storm sewers and drainage. 

The water rate will remain the same but the sewage rate will cost an extra $15 a year due to higher training costs and manhole repairs. The budget also includes the purchase of a new $141,000 truck to plow the streets. 

Rothesay Common will see major improvements with drainage, a stage, washrooms and an ice chiller. 

Recreation upgrades will also include improvements to the Hillside trail and bike lanes. $2 million being spent for design costs towards a multipurpose recreation complex.

Bishop says the $1.19 tax rate includes garbage collection which other towns have to pay for.

PRO Kids Sponsors Recognized

The Mayor hosting a reception to thank the many sponsors of PRO Kids that help children between Grand Bay Westfield, Saint John, Rothesay and Quispamis play in lots of ways.
 
PRO KIDs chair Kathryn Davison tells CHSJ News the kids on their waiting list have wide ranging interests.

She says dance, cheerleading, guitar and piano lessons are popular in addition to sports.

Davison says PRO kids was placing 200 kids a decade ago and last year they reached 1100 children looking for placement in recreation activities. 

In addition to needing more sponsors and volunteers, Davison says she would love to see PRO Kids manager Tammy Desaulniers get some help even if it was part time.

Federal Minister Strongly Supports West To East Pipeline

The Federal Minister of Natural Resources is in favour of a west to east oil pipeline, saying it's in Canada's national interests.

Joe Oliver, speaking at the Irving Oil Refinery today, says a pipeline to Saint John would provide cheaper crude oil and the port is a critical hub for oil, gas and other resource products.

According to Oliver, 99% of Canadian crude oil exports and 100% of natural gas goes to the United States but we need to diversify our markets by exporting to new locations.The U.S. reportedly will be self sufficient in oil and natural gas production by 2020.

Oliver says Saint John is the perfect supply route for countries like India and this will create employment.

Provincial Healthcare Graded

The provincial healthcare system is getting a grade of "C" from the New Brunswick Health Council in its latest report card, which is the same as last year.

The C-E-O of the Health Council Stephane Robichaud tells CHSJ News the provincial healthcare system is very good at acute care when your life is on the line but less so when it comes to managing chronic conditions and then there's getting in to see your family doctor.

Robichaud says some patients are also waiting longer for some surgeries including hip fractures and knee replacements.