This column previously appeared in the Telegraph-Journal on July 27th, 2010.

The article was written by FUSION Saint John’s Claire Ryan:

Once again this summer, Green Feet, Uptown Saint John’s environment committee, is holding a Bring your Own Bag (BYOB) contest, asking Saint John artists to interpret the approaches people are taking to green living and turn them into works of art.

The contest is open to local artists of all ages, professional and amateur alike. The theme is “Green Living in Uptown Saint John” and while last year’s contest saw the canvas bag toted by Saint Johners throughout the city, this year the winning entry will be printed on lunch bags.

“We’re going to do lunch bags this year to show people another way they can grab it to go green,” says Anne McShane, Green Feet member and owner of the Feel Good Store in the uptown. Green Feet has again partnered with the Saint John Community Arts Funding Program on this initiative.

The winning entry will be unveiled at a FUSION Party with a Purpose in October, and will be printed on at least 1,000 natural cotton lunch bags that will be distributed at various uptown retailers this fall. The first-place winner will also be awarded a $500 gift certificate to ESL Art Supplies, with a $150 gift certificate going to the second-place winner. All the entries will be auctioned off, and 50 per cent of the proceeds will be donated to the Joshua Group, a local organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and families in need in Greater Saint John.

In addition to the BYOB contest, Green Feet has worked with community partners on several green activities, including an anti-idling project with ACAP Saint John, a tree-planting initiative with St. Malachy’s Memorial High School and a waste management position with uptown stakeholders. Green Feet also promotes green activities in the uptown through its Facebook page and membership email list. This includes the Marsh Creek restoration initiative, the Fundy carbon fund, the Marsh Creek cleanup, Earth Hour and the City of Saint John’s sustainability tool kit.

“We try to pull in all the aspects of the uptown in anything we do,” McShane said. “Last year was fantastic – more than 100 people attended our party and everyone made a point to embrace the artists and bid on all the art.”

The success of last year’s event resulted in a $400 donation to the Joshua Group.

The deadline for entries in Green Feet’s Bring Your Own Bag contest is July 31. Work may be submitted to Uptown Saint John Inc., located in the Business Resource Centre, 40 King St.

Claire Ryan is on the FUSION Saint John board. Reach her at cryan@mtlpr.ca.

This column previously appeared in the Telegraph-Journal on July 20th, 2010.

The article was written by FUSION Saint John’s Claire Ryan:

This month, MGI Wealth Inc. a Saint John financial company, will be spreading the word on the value financial planning to FUSION members through a Party with a Purpose.

“We’re a new company, and want to be involved in the community,” says MGI’s Kathy Curwin on hosting the event.

MGI Wealth Inc. is a full-service financial company that offers a hybrid of the services offered by bank and commission-based financial advisors in that their advisors are on salary and not selling a specific product.

The company has been open in the city for the past year, and is the only Atlantic Canadian location, which has offices across Canada. They will also be highlighting one of the uptown’s green spaces, as the party will be held in the courtyard behind their office space on Prince William Street.

“The perception is that people need to have money before they seek out these services, but we want to get the message out that we want to help people build wealth,” Curwin said. “The purpose of this party is not to sell anything, we want people to know that there is another option out there.”

For many of us, the recent economic downturn was wake-up call to look more closely at the way we are spending, saving and planning for our futures. One of the best steps anyone could take to protect their finances is to increase awareness of the products, services and options that exist. Having an understanding of how to allocate money is particularly important for this generation, with many people incurring thousands of dollars of debt before they ever even enter the workforce.

Years, and even decades of student loan payments, coupled with the near certainty that the debt load will increase with car and mortgage payments makes it tempting to loose sight of long-term planning and focus on simply staying afloat.

“Everyone knows they need to save money, but the reality is that life gets in the way,” Curwin said. “We want to help people get in a better place financially – everyone needs that.”

We’ve all heard that the earlier you start saving, the better off you’ll be in the long run, but it can be difficult to look at your long-term financial picture – where you want to go and what you need to do to get there – when a large debt already hangs overhead. Seeking advice from someone who is knowledgeable in the industry and well versed in the options that are available can be helpful in putting finances into perspective.

July’s Party with a Purpose is being hosted by MGI Wealth Management, and will take place Friday 23 at 98 Prince William Street.

Claire Ryan is on the FUSION Saint John board. Reach her at cryan@mtlpr.ca.

This column previously appeared in the Telegraph-Journal on July 13th, 2010.

The article was written by FUSION Saint John’s Claire Ryan:

This week the final performance of Opera New Brunswick’s Young Artist Recital Series will take place at the Saint John Arts Centre.

The Young Artist Recital Series was created in 2008 to as a way to give up-and-coming New Brunswick-born singers experience and exposure in the province and to support their vocal development. Each season, recitals are presented in three communities to allow for greater exposure for the singers and the organization.

The recitals are approximately an hour long and performers cover a variety of material ranging from opera arias to oratorio and art song. This range in the programming highlights both the performers’ repertoire and the diversity of the opera genre. The performances also typically include one piece written by a Canadian composer and published in the last 25 years. The series is sponsored in part by the RBC Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and the province of New Brunswick. Winners of the Young Artists Recital Competition are selected by an independent review panel of local musicians and are awarded a honorarium in addition to the costs of travel, accommodation and accompanist fees.

The Young Artists Recital Series is open to singers aged 18 to 30 who have not yet reached full-time professional status. The 2010 competition winners are Lauren Esty, a soprano from Rothesay entering her third year at Dalhousie University; Fredericton tenor Jeremy Dutcher, also a third-year student at Dalhousie; mezzo-soprano Christiane Bélanger, who recently completed an artist diploma at the Université de Montreal; and second-time competition winner Carol Léger, a soprano from Dieppe who is completing a master’s in music at the Univerisité de Montreal.

Opera New Brunswick is a provincial arts organization with a mandate to be a vehicle for the production and performance of live opera showcasing New Brunswick artists and to enrich the province’s overall cultural community. Integral to this is providing a mechanism to support the province’s next generation of operatic talent.

The Young Artist Recital Series gives young musicians a chance to add to their portfolio by performing in front of a local audience. It is also an opportunity for the public to learn about opera and the opportunities that exist within the province to learn more about this genre of music, and the provincial organization that promotes it. This year the series has included performances in Grand Falls, Fredericton, Moncton and Dieppe.

Opera New Brunswick’s next Young Artist’s Recital Series performance will take place Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Saint John Arts Centre. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors and are available at the door.

Claire Ryan is on the FUSION Saint John board. Reach her at cyran@mtlpr.ca.

Flooding Information Session

Staff from the City of Saint John’s Municipal Operations Department is holding an information session for residents of Glen Falls who have been affected by flooding. Residents will be able to see displays and results from recent studies on how we might address the problem.

• Thursday July 15, 2010
• Exhibition Park
• Session begins at 6:30pm
• Formal presentations begin at 6:45pm
• A question and answer session will follow.

Flyers are being distributed to residents in the area.

Also, click here to download the poster!

This column previously appeared in the Telegraph-Journal on July 6th, 2010.

The article was written by FUSION Saint John’s Claire Ryan:

This weekend, runners will meet at Lily Lake for a race that will highlight the city’s green spaces. The Run Through History Celebration of Green Spaces event has set its sights on some of Saint John’s most popular community green spaces and has organized a weekend of environmentally friendly activity.

The Run Through History began in 2004 with the Tri-Fort Run series, and offered runners the opportunity to take in the city’s history and unique scenery on foot.

The idea of offering non-traditional distances served to give runners building up to a 10-kilometre, half-marathon or marathon distance a chance to participate in a race during their training. These distances also allowed race organizers to use new routes highlighting different areas in the city. The Run Through History Celebration of Green Spaces will take place from 2010 to 2012, and highlight the many different and unique green spaces in and around Saint John.

More than 160 people have registered for the event, with runners coming from Nova Scotia, Ontario and across New Brunswick to participate in 2.5-, 9.74- and 16.87-mile races. There is also a corporate relay option – the Stride for Success relay will raise funds for Portage Atlantic’s Recovery Trail project. This event, like the original Run Through History, will award a different medal; all three medals make up an interconnecting scene. This cycle will feature one of the city’s green spaces each year through to 2012.

This event, in turn, also supports other running initiatives in the community. Money earned from one year to the next is used to support other grassroot runs, including the Teen Resource Centre Run for Youth, Rothesay High School’s Walk/Run for ALS, the Rothesay Spring Fling and the Tour de Saint John.

The run will not just encourage runners to appreciate the city’s green spaces, it is also encourages participants to protect them by taking measures to minimize waste.

There is no cost for online registration, and marketing materials – posters, banners, etc. – will be reused over the three-year cycle.

City water in recyclable cups will be used in lieu of bottled water and the race bibs are seeded – runners can plant them after the race. Entertainment during race weekend will be acoustic, requiring no electricity, and Bullfrog Power, a green-power company, will inject green energy into the grid to replace power used during the event upon completion.

The Run Through History Celebration of Green Spaces will take place this Saturday and Sunday at Rockwood Park. Registration is still open for the races, which will be held on Sunday.

Claire Ryan is on the FUSION Saint John board. Reach her at cryan@mtlpr.ca.

“Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.”

When Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote that famous line in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, he wasn’t writing about Saint John; however,with water on everyone’s mind, it’s a fitting line for Saint John’s number one priority – Clean, Safe, Drinking Water (at least on paper).

This past weekend, Deputy Mayor Stephen Chase wrote an article titled Turn down tap on water rates, which discussed potential ways to avoid “rate shocks” for those of us hooked up to the municipal water system.

In today’s Telegraph-Journal, there were more items on the subject of water.

First in the form of an editorial from the editorial titled Don’t blow out water rates.  Below are some key snippets:

Council must offset the impact of this one-time strategic investment. Mr. Chase has suggested one way in which it could be done: by funding the water treatment plant through the city’s capital budget, rather than the water utility’s budget.

If council were to set aside capital projects with less priority, such as the police headquarters and parking garage proposed for Peel Plaza, it might even be possible to build the water treatment plant without raising the tax rate. This would meet two of council’s top policy objectives.

Mr. Chase’s proposal will probably be resisted, since council has shown little inclination to prioritize its spending. Perhaps the debate will begin in earnest when Paul Groody, the city’s commissioner of municipal operations, explains in detail what building the water network will cost.

Along with another article, Chase looking to cushion blow.  Below are some key snippets:

The deputy mayor is scheduled to present a motion to common council tonight that asks city solicitor John Nugent to determine if provincial laws would allow the municipality to help cover the costs of its public water utility.

“We really have to exhaust all avenues to find a means to pay for this without creating a water rate that is just too unaffordable,” Chase said.

“We anticipate the federal and provincial governments will help us, they’ve helped us before, but even one third of the share is a huge cost to the city.”

The proposal would mean that property taxpayers would cover some of the costs of a new water system. To ensure the tax rate doesn’t increase, Chase said the city must cut down on major spending projects.

For example, the deputy mayor said the city could hold off on building a new police station, parking garage and public park in the city centre, a $42-million project known as Peel Plaza.

“You really have to consider your priorities and right now water is the number one priority.”

As discussed in the various articles above, the city must re-evaluate it’s priorities.

If water really is council’s top priority – then there is no reason to continue with Peel Plaza.  We are better off taking the hit on what money has been spent so far instead of spending millions more.

Citizens in Saint John want clean, safe, drinking water – not a police station.  That has been clean since day one.

I just hope that Council realizes it before it’s too late!

Planning is well underway for FUSION Saint John’s Harvesting the Arts Festival 2010.

Our weekly column featured this festival in the Telegraph-Journal on June 29th, 2010.

The article was written by FUSION Saint John’s Claire Ryan:

This summer, the Harvesting the Arts Festival organizing committee is hard at work recruiting artists, musicians, volunteers and community organizations for the annual celebration of the city’s arts and culture community.

“We’re thrilled that so many people have expressed interest in participating this year, but we’re always looking for more volunteers and artists,” said Jessica Gozdzierski, FUSION board member and chair of Harvesting the Arts. “We have tons of exciting exhibitors and performers lined up, and we’re hoping to fill King’s Square with the city’s great talent.”

The festival continues to grow in size and stature, and has become one of FUSION’s annual events. The all-ages, free-of-charge event is organized by a team of volunteers, made up of Saint Johners with a shared interest in the arts. “Every year returning participants are joined by new and emerging talent looking for ways to be seen or heard,” says Gozdzierski.

The number of artists, musicians, performers and volunteers who return year after year is a testament to the event’s commitment to being an inclusive cultural event, and showcase for the city’s new and emerging talent and involvement in the arts. The committee is also partnering with the Greater Saint John Community Foundation’s Environment Committee to highlight local organic foods. The growth of this event over the years reflects the huge amount of creativity in Saint John.

“We have a team of wonderful volunteers – people who commit their entire day to ensuring the vendors, performers, and guests have the best possible experience,” says Gozdzierski. “We’re very fortunate that so many of our volunteers are helping out again this year, but we’re also looking for new people interested in being a part of this great event.”

For the artists, musicians and food vendors involved, it’s an opportunity to raise their profile, network and share their work with the public. Volunteers get to take in the event from a very unique vantage point, and spend the day interacting with the artists and performers, as well as the visitors to King’s Square.

The Harvesting the Arts Festival will take place Sept. 4. For more information on volunteering or participating as a vendor or exhibitor, please visit www.fusionsj.com.

Claire Ryan is on the FUSION Saint John board. Reach her at cryan@mtlpr.ca

For more information on Harvesting the Arts Festival 2010, visit the Harvesting the Arts Festival 2010 webpage, or check out the event on Facebook!

Moose Light Blackberry is now available in New Brunswick, and it seems that Saint John (West) is the first place to have some available in stock!

I snapped a few pictures of the store display along with my case of beer:

I’m very much looking forward to having a few tonight, as the taste testing yesterday left me wanting more!

Don’t forget to check out the NB Liquor website to see details on which stores have some in stock.

Note: Unfortunately, the NB Liquor website acts like it’s from the 1990′s, so you have to manually enter the following UPC yourself when searching: 776029702361.  No way for me to link directly to it.

This afternoon, I had the chance to stop down at Moosehead Breweries and try the new Moose Light Blackberry beer!

Six local people were chosen in a quick contest (using social media) yesterday afternoon, and I was lucky enough to be picked.

Once everyone arrived, we headed down into the Brewery to sample the new brew (shown below):

My first impression was – yum!

It tastes good.  It has the Blackberry flavour; but, it’s not as strong as I was expecting.  I thought it might have been as strong as the Moose Light Lime favour.

Overall, I think it will be a very popular beer this summer; however, if the demand keeps up, we may be able to enjoy in front of a fire in the winter too!

Note: Don’t forget to stay on top of everyone on Mooseheads’s new Moose Calls blog!  There is lots of interesting details on this brew and more.

There was a really great article in today’s Telegraph-Journal on the widening of the Mackay Highway, and I would recommend everyone take a moment to check it out:

Mayor Ivan Court has a point in questioning the widening of the Mackay Highway to make it easier for Kennebecasis Valley residents to get back and forth to their jobs in Saint John.

Oldtime Saint Johners, packing their lunch boxes to work in the factories that gave the port city its gritty manufacturing base, used to scoff at “the swells” who chose to live in suburban Rothesay, while making their living in Saint John.

When I started work in the 1940s, workers from outside the city had to pay a “poll tax” to offset the fact they were enjoying job benefits in the city without paying city taxes. Of course, people have a right to live where they choose, and the poll tax was abolished with Premier Louis Robichaud’s Program of Equal Opportunity in the 1960s.

Why do so many people choose to live in the suburbs? It’s cheaper, it’s prettier, the weather is better, further from the sea that brings so much summer fog. In recent years, there has been an almost explosive exodus to the valley communities. The dual-lane suburban growth area people drive through now bears little resemblance to the quaint suburbia of yesteryear.

But the basic fact remains.

Saint John, with its dwindling population base, is still the economic engine of the area. And suburbanites – who use the city’s roads, water and other infrastructure in their daily job visits – aren’t the ones who are paying the freight to keep it up.

I’m all for better and safer highway systems. But Court makes the point that creating extra lanes to make it easier for suburban commuters to get in and out of Saint John also adds to the city’s own traffic and parking problems.

The popularity of suburban living has brought dramatic growth to the valley. Their levels of government have expanded, they have their own shopping centres, schools, theatres, recreation facilities. They’ve become largely self-sufficient communities. Except for the one essential element.

They come to work in Saint John.

Now more people live in the burgeoning outskirts than live in the shrinking city. And an element of unfairness can be seen in the fact that a majority can take advantage of what the city has to offer, while a minority is stuck with the cost of its upkeep.

I’ve heard suggestions that people would move to the city if it were managed better. That might be a factor, but it’s not that simple. The exodus has been going on for many years, eroding the city’s tax base and providing less revenue to get things done.

Today is the feast of St. John the Baptist, which is why explorers Champlain and de Monts decided to call the place they discovered Saint John. We can bicker about choice and fairness in cost-sharing. I’ve seen this argument going on all my life.

It has always been a sore point, for example, when people can occupy good Saint John municipal jobs – in the fire, police or works departments – yet choose to live in the suburbs – where their taxes aren’t contributing to their city salaries. That’s seen as someone else’s problem, while Saint John’s tax base continues to shrink as more people move to the valley.

We need more consultation and co-operation. But from what I’ve seen developing over the years, we’re ultimately going to have to face a full and fair solution. Saint John is Canada’s oldest incorporated city. It needs to be able to compete with Moncton and other expanding cities.

The word “amalgamation” scares those with vested interests in their own piece of the pie. But Greater Saint John shares a community of interests. We need to explore innovative ways of sharing the load.

You don’t solve a problem by ignoring it.

Fred Hazel is a retired editor-in-chief of this newspaper. His column appears on Thursdays.