Over the last few weeks there have been a lot of news in the media around the proposed project.

However, not all of the news has been positive.  The vocal minority, who would rather have a parking lot, have been front and center bashing the proposed project. They have even been meeting with the Mayor and several other councillors, trying to convince them to vote against the project.

With all of this bad media, why is it there is such overwhelming and growing support for the project?

Simply because it is a no-brainer.  The city stands to gain nearly $2 million dollars per year in taxes, a great looking LEED building right on the waterfront, and a redesigned Fort LaTour.  Opportunities like this are few and far between, and that is why we should be acting on it right away.

The Mayor, who is against the project and against anything else that Irving supports, is trying to push out this process as much as possible.

Countering this strategy are campaigns by many local citizens to encourage everyone to let Council know what they want.  An interesting project was started by Wayne Smith, owner of W. Smith & Co., who is encouraging people to have their say by giving away a $10,000 diamond ring!  He is asking people to participate in a plebiscite by filling out a ballot that will appear in the newspaper.

The ballot will ask the same question that common council is posing at a special meeting on Aug. 11: “Should the municipality agree to sell the former Lantic Sugar site at fair market value in order to facilitate a possible transaction between the Saint John Port Authority and Irving Oil Ltd.?”

The ballots, regardless of the answer, will all be thrown into a drum, with the draw for the diamond to be held on Saturday, Aug. 9, in Smith’s Brunswick Square jewelry store at a time to be announced. No purchase is necessary to fill one out but only one ballot per person will be entered.

Smith wants to hear from everyone, from the suburbs to folks in the city centre, and hopes to hear from about 60,000 people. He will bring the ballots to the Aug. 11 meeting in the council chambers.

“This is a great project for uptown Saint John,” Smith says of the Irving Oil proposal.

“I want to show that we are in growth mode and we want to move ahead. We need to make it happen.”

All I can say is wow.  It’s great to see someone going out of their way to get people involved, let’s just hope that people take this chance to show council that the vast majority of people are in favour of this!

It’s a really sick story; but, last night a man randomly started stabbing a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba.

Soon after, the other passengers on the bus fled while the attacker continued to decapitate the stabbed passenger.

One comment on the CBC really said it best:

“Two words - Death Penalty. If there is no question about who did it or what happened, kill him. Why make the rest of us pay for the rest of his life. I only agree with capital punishment when there are numerous eye witnesses and there is no question about convicting the wrong person.

Who cares if he pleads some sort of insanity. Why do we keep these mental jobs alive just because they are nuts. A murderer who pleads insanity and a murderer that pleads guilty are both insane. Why should one get sent to jail and the other to a mental institution. If it were up to me, I’d sentence both of them to death - providing they are obviously guilty.”

My latest letter to the editor was printed in today’s newspaper:

I would like to respond to Pat Riley’s public attack on Deputy Mayor Stephen Chase. Mr. Riley has been trying to imply that the deputy mayor’s meeting with port management was “improper.”

I strongly disagree with that statement.

What people need to understand is that Mr. Riley has been meeting with the mayor and several other councillors himself, which is why I find his comments so hypocritical.

There are no reasons for his arguments except for politics.

What he needs to realize is that there will be consultation, the councillors will listen to the community, and they will make a decision.

Meeting with port officials to fully understand the issue is common sense, and it’s the right thing for the councillors to do.

Shawn Peterson
Saint John

Pat Riley (Ivan Court’s co-campaign manager during the 2008 election) has attacked the Deputy Mayor for meeting with the port manager to discuss port matters.

In today’s newspaper, Stephen Chase responded to these ridiculous allegations.

“There’s an assumption that I’m involved in strong-arming people into forming their position, which is absolutely not true at all,” Chase says.  “They’ve met with other councillors. What’s the difference?”

The difference is that Pat Riley doesn’t understand the following phrase:  “pot, kettle, black“.

While trying to attack the Deputy Mayor, he admits to meeting with other councillors himself, including his buddy Ivan Court.  He also admits to meeting with councillors Bill Farren, Carl Killen and Donnie Snook.

Stephen Chase also explained what the meeting was about:  “Bill gave an overview of issues at the port, including federal funding going into Quebec ports, cruise ship terminals. The conversation also included the proposal for Long Wharf.

“There was no ask for commitment. Part of my role there as deputy mayor was not only to facilitate that meeting but to make sure everything stayed above board.”

Chase says that part of his job is to meet with stakeholders in the community.

“As deputy mayor in a leadership role, if I can facilitate dialogue, then I’ll take that opportunity.”

“It’s important for members of council to be engaged in the community; sometimes that’s over toast and coffee, sometimes it’s fish and chips and sometimes it’s just a telephone call.”

There you have it.  Our Deputy Mayor is being attacked for doing his job!

Just take a look at the various comments posted on the Telegraph-Journals website, seems I’m not the only one that strongly disagrees with Pat’s statements:

“With all due respect, does Mr. Riley not have anything better to do than point fingers and whine about this deal? The only activity at Long Wharf in memory is the cruise ship berth which leaves a substantial part of the land untouched.”

“Riley is implying heavily that the mayor is on his side. Which smells of backroom dealings.”

“Bottom Line People …. Saint Johner’s have two directions to go:

1. New development and new excitement for the city.

2. Union controlled city affairs - everything from how we spend our ever increasing property tax dollars to what beautiful buildings we can put up.

If we continue to be strong armed by unions and capitulate to them - we might as well move away.

What sickens me is so many union people like longshoreman’s and fire live outside of the city - yet have a hand in our politics. My dad was a hard working carpenter for 35 years and lost alot of money and had food taken from his children’s mouths by firemen “working” on the side building decks, etc…

Pat Riley is the face of old Saint John - we need to move on.”

“This is rediculous to say that the deputy mayor shouldn’t be meeting with people. He was elected to get things done. If the deputy mayor decides that it is within the interests of Saint John to have the development, he should be meeting with anyone who will listen to try to get this done.”

“Thank you Mr. Chase for acting for the taxpayers in researching what is best for us, not what is best for Pat Riley and his union buddies.

Does anyone not understand that Pat Riley, Able Leblanc and the municipal union leaders who supported Ivan Court have the ear of the Mayor? They should, the unions bought and paid for a stacked council.

This Mayor hears only what he wants to hear, and that is not anything to do with cutting costs or saving money or allowing the Irvings to go ahead and pay a whole lot more taxes. He doesn’t like the Irvings and has made his feeling known so often no one in their right mind would believe he is impartial.

The Deputy Mayor on the other hand has no axe to grind and is to be congratulated for listening to all points of view.”

“I, for one, would rather see the ILA rot than see Saint John’s growth not happen. The ILA represents the past for this city, and their position on port matters should just simply be retired and abandoned, as well as that whole union.

Whether anyone likes it or not, Saint John must grow to be successful. We just simply cannot continue to live like it’s 1978 anymore, and start growing a pair when it comes to improving this place. And if there are those who don’t want to see improvement in this city, you can move out of Saint John, and not return.

Cause you’d just simply be useless surplus population at that point, harming this city by your apathy and your ignorance instead of looking for ways to be active in your community all the time.

I’ll admit, I voted for McFarlane a 2nd time back in May, and even with the controversy surrounding him with the LNG thing, I figured Saint John might have been forgiving and not have been so harsh to him. Sadly, that never happened.”

It’s about growth, progress, and doing what is right.  Our Deputy Mayor is doing just that, and he should be congratulated.  Keep up the great work Stephen!

Last night the votes were in and Patty Higgins was declared the winner.

Ward 2 will finally have two councilors sitting at Council’s table.

The final results were:

• Patty Higgins - 1,586 votes
• Carl White - 1,296 votes
• Debbie McCormack - 821 votes

I was at Carl Whites house when the polls closed.  After the results were finalized, there was a flurry of phone calls; but, Carl was quick to thank everyone who supported him, and he committed to keep working hard for the community.

I am disappointed with the results; however, Carl ran a great campaign and received a good share of support from people in the community.

There are a huge number of development opportunities that are going to land on council’s table in the comming years, and this city needs someone that will work for the citizens - not special interest groups, to make sure that this city keeps moving forward.  I hope that Patty keeps that in mind after being sworn in!

Don’t forget to double those prices if you live in Canada!

After a long campaign in May, the candidates in Ward 2 were dealt a heavy blow.  There were numerous issues around the marking and counting of ballots.  These issue lead to the call for a byelection in Ward 2.  Once again, the candidates were faced with the task of running another full campaign.  The final decision will be made tomorrow; however, the question is - who will come out on top?

I believe the strongest candidate is Carl White.  Carl has the proven experience to get things done on council, as well as the common sense to do what is right. He has also been open to looking at various ideas before making decisions.

I believe he is a strong contrast to Patty Higgins who has shown herself to be close minded to issues (including the Irving Oil Headquaters plan), as well as easy confused when being asked questions.  Just take a look at what she was saying during the last debates:

“Patty Higgins, a vocal opponent of the pipeline through Rockwood Park, also plugged for consultations. But she got her facts wrong and was confusing at times. She suggested the province and the city should swap land for the old YM/YWCA site so the police would have better surveillance and could land a helicopter on the roof, even though the police don’t have one. She also said something incomprehensible about the unemployment rate, making it sound like it was running at 180 per cent.”

This city needs a strong voice in the Council’s table, and I belive the best person to do that is Carl White.

Tomorrow, get out and vote, and encourage your friends and family to vote as well.  Every vote counts!

Fusion Saint John is looking for input from its members on the proposed waterfront development.

“Fusion wants to hear from you on the latest waterfront development announced for our city.

Please take a moment to tell us what you think by filling out our short survey on the recent Long Wharf proposal, which includes an Irving Oil office building, extended public park spaces for Harbour Passage, a secondary cruise ship terminal, and the restoration of Fort La Tour.”

Help out by completing the survey here!

For more information on the proposed development, check out Irving Oil’s press release and frequently asked questions.

The most ridiculous news was announced today, Telus and Bell (the two cellphone carriers on the CDMA network in Canada) will start charging customers 15 cents per received text message.

Did I mention that spam messages or other unwanted messages will also cost you? Oh, and these new charges start in August!

The two carriers want people to purchase text messaging plans or bundles (you know, the $5+ a month plans), and they are using this new pricing scheme to force people into them.

What about Rogers (the cellphone carrier on the GSM network)? Well, as far as I can tell, they plan to continue allowing free incoming text messages.

Makes me glad that I made the switch to Rogers when I did.