Neighborhood Investment

1
Neighborhood Investment Councillor Peter
McGuire City of Saint John, New Brunswick
2

• The City of Saint John has a
• Population of approximately 70,000 people
• Mixture of Industrial, Commercial, and Government
  based economy
• Projected growth in the next decade of 19
  Billion due to energy growth
• Possibility of a second Oil Refinery, expanded
  LNG Terminal and second Nuclear Power Plant

3

• The City of Saint John has
• A poverty rate of 22, the highest poverty rate
  in New Brunswick
• Five vulnerable neighborhoods
• Been plagued by high unemployment rates, literary
  issues and very poor housing conditions
• Some of the poorest neighborhoods in the Country
  based on the 2001 Census Data
• Over 40 of the citizens in these neighborhoods
  living below the poverty line

4

• Neighborhood Focus for Today's Presentation is
  Crescent Valley
• Built in the late 1960s and at the time was seen
  as progressive social housing
• All three levels of government supported the
  project
• Approximately 1000 people live here, 300 of which
  are children including a large number of single
  parents
• Consists of 330 units of social housing

5

• Crescent Valley is the youngest Neighborhood in
  the City and is physically cut off from the
  rest of Saint John by a major highway
• Only 40 of the Neighborhood is employed compared
  to 60 of Saint John
• The Neighborhood is in close proximity to two of
  the Citys largest employers the Regional
  Hospital and the University of New Brunswick
  Saint John Campus

6

• What Changed since 2005
• Progressive Director of Provincial Department of
  Social Development
• The City of Saint John appointed a Councillor to
  Social Development
• Very active Neighborhood Advocacy Groups Vibrant
  Communities and BICAP
• Caring Member of Legislature

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• Citizens were tired of being left out
• Senior Provincial Bureaucrats wanted change
• Minister of Social Development wanted a better
  neighborhood
• All of the above forces came to the same
  conclusion within 3 years CHANGE MUST HAPPEN

8

• Municipal Actions
• City Council held a Town Hall Meeting in Crescent
  Valley and spoke directly to citizens asking what
  could be done
• Also in attendance were Senior City Hall Staff
  and both the Local MP and MLA
• This was the first time such a relationship
  gathering had occurred
• Heavy Media attention
• The Neighborhood had been lost by the City for
  decades and a critical step was accepting that
  as a City we were responsible for this
  Neighborhood

9

• Council and Staff worked with the Citizens to
  determine a priority list of actions and one of
  the key issues was lack of sidewalks
• The Citys Municipal Operations Department
  (engineers) worked very closely with Citizens to
  re-design several streets and sidewalks. Some
  very honest debating took place and the Citizens
  owned the re-design work
• Engineering Staff became a part of this
  neighborhood and for the first time in many years
  the Citizens felt that someone was listening
• The re-design work was greatly enhanced by
  neighborhood input, especially by children trees
  were added and the traffic calmed down

10

• Citizens began to call Engineering Staff by their
  first names, and the citizens also brought coffee
  to the work site
• Cost of this Project was 1.2 Million
• The re-design work gave the Neighborhood some
  Hope and a sense of Value
• We have now moved on to re-design work to build a
  Neighborhood Park- again the key input is coming
  from children
• Several years ago when the process began only
  five people attended the meetings, last week
  there were over fifty people that attended a
  move-ahead meeting

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• Investment Ideas
• Relationships, relationships and more
  relationships
• Key elected and Municipal Staff accept
  responsibility for Neighborhood Investment
• Belief that Citizens have the answers and that
  children have great ideas
• Constant listening and conversations that matter
  are required
• Vulnerable Neighborhoods must get in front of
  City Councils and Policies must be developed that
  bring the two together.