Mayoral Candidates Discuss Issues Facing Priority Neighbourhoods

Saint John’s four mayoral candidates met Monday for the first forum of the 2021 campaign to discuss issues facing the five priority neighbourhoods.

Darrell Bastarache, Donna Reardon, Mel Vincent Jr., and Howard Yeomans responded to questions about topics including affordable housing and how to rejuvenate the city’s old north end.

Hosted by the Human Development Council and moderated by Julia Wright, the questions were crafted by the five priority neighbourhood committees.

Affordable Housing

Candidates were first asked how they would improve the city’s stock of affordable housing options.

Reardon began by suggesting the next council could take cues on dealing with affordable housing from other municipalities.

“Moncton is talking about density bonusing, which would mean if you can only go up four floors, the city would allow six floors if those floors were going to be affordable housing,” she said. “Vancouver is looking at waving zoning. So if it requires rezoning over so many floors, if you wanted to add on a couple floors of affordable housing, the zoning process could be waived.”

Vincent said council should work toward continuing to increase city construction, which would allow the market to solve the problem.

“We need to increase the supply (of housing), which is happening rapidly in our city, and will over the next four or five years, which will help lower the cost of the existing market where you can afford and repair those units much more affordably,” he said.

Yeomans suggested working with the province to provide developers with a five-year tax break for taking over dilapidated buildings and turning them into affordable units.

“Within one year if they would completely renovate, they will be set on a limit of what they can charge on the rent so people can afford to live in it,” Yeomans said.

Bastarache said he’s spoken with landlords who have had issues finding rent subsidies. He said one told him they were rejected for a subsidy because a unit didn’t have a double sink.

“I don’t see any reason why a landlord should have to worry about thousands and thousands of dollars in renovations to qualify for rent subsidy, when it’s already fine enough to live in now renting at 11, 12, 13-hundred dollars a month,” said Bastarache.

Transportation & Safety

Asked about inadequate public transit service, the candidates were asked to explain how they would prioritize street safety while also improving active transportation options.

Vincent said transit cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic affected front-line workers in priority neighbourhoods, and they never should have happened.

“(The cuts were) poor insight and poor direction,” he said. “To our vulnerable population: we must deliver first-class service that meets your work schedule. Buses can’t run nine to five, that’s when most of you aren’t working. We need longer hours.”

Next, Yeomans suggested the upcoming coucil consider economical solutions to lower costs for Saint John Transit, like buying smaller buses.

“Something much more economical that can do these runs, and pick up the number of people that are there,” he said. “If we start looking at it that way, maybe we can start redoing some of these routes the way they need to be done.”

Bastarache, meanwhile, said the city needed to look more to the employees of Saint John Transit for ideas, rather than paying for outside consultations.

“A lot of bus drivers are telling me they’re not getting answers from City Hall,” he said.

Reardon cited the hundreds of kilometers of streets and sidewalks across the city, which provide huge price tags for road work each year.

She encouraged residents to get involved by participating in a public feedback session on reducing lanes on University Avenue to make it safer for cyclists.

Community Policing

The candidates were also asked whether they support community policing programs set up in the priority neighbourhoods to help build relationships between officers and residents.

Yeomans began the segment by talking about how the city’s financial situation has negatively impacted its emergency services.

“We need to be able to bring new people here, new businesses, encourage businesses here to grow,” Yeomans said. “We need to do all the things we can that are positive in order to have the finances to do what we need to do.”

Bastarache agreed community policing is important, because of the relationships it helps build.

“It actually allows communication to most importantly younger individuals to gain trust in the police force,” he said.

Reardon also supports the initiative, adding that community policing provides mentorship opportunities for residents.

“One of the criticisms coming out of the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. is the police don’t know and understand the population they’re policing,” said Reardon. “That demonstrates community policing is important.”

Finally, Vincent echoed the support of the other candidates, saying the city needs to grow before it can afford the service.

“The only way we can achieve that is through growing our economy and building a taxbase,” he said. “That gives us the funds to do the things that we need to do.”

The candidates were also asked to discuss multi-generational poverty and how to prioritize community service agreements across the city.

A full video of Monday’s forum has been posted to the Human Development Council’s Facebook page.