Saint John mayor asks citizens to spread the word about city's dire financial situation

The mayor of Saint John is asking residents to talk about the city's poor financial situation with their MLAs and fellow Saint Johners.

Don Darling and Coun. David Merrithew held a "City Budgets and Beers" town hall event on Wednesday night, where about 40 civic-minded people gathered at UStation on Prince William Street to talk about the city's finances, including a projected operating deficit of $12 million by 2021, and possibly come up with some solutions.

At the meeting, citizens were asked to write their MLAs, talk with friends and provide feedback both written and in-person to city council. 

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"I think people left here tonight thinking about what else they can do," Darling said after the meeting.

The Saint John mayor came up with the idea to engage citizens over the current fiscal situation after the province delivered its reform package in a report titled Sustaining Saint John last week. 

Council was going to reject the reform package until Coun. Donna Reardon made a last-minute tabling motion giving the city and province 30 days to come to an agreement on municipal reform. 

Fighting for Saint John

The reform package lays out a three-part plan to assist the city through its financial crisis but it does not extend emergency funding that was provided by the Liberal government in 2017.

"My personal view is that the goal has not been met and that it's too important for us to give up," Darling said.

He said 30 days gives the city a chance to "come together and find better solutions." 

Instead of just saying we need to come together and be loud, how do you plan to get people to come together?- Christian Acosta, Rothesay resident

At the meeting, Darling and Coun. Merrithew also went through some of the obstacles in the city's budget, how the reform package addresses the city's needs and how it needs to be improved. 

"We need to get loud," Darling told the crowd.

"We need to fight for our city. And I think we just need to say to our hardworking local MLAs, 'We care. We need you engaged in this. We need you to find solutions with us.'" 

Keeping citizens engaged

Paula Radwan, the owner of the Taste of Egypt restaurant in Saint John, said she wasn't going to stop at writing just one MLA. 

"I'm going to write to all four MLAs and the premier," she said. 

She's hopeful a letter campaign will bring more people to the mayor's next event, including newcomers who have invested their lives in Saint John. 

"I think that it's things like this and … bringing attention to the subject over and over and over again, that is actually going to put pressure on provincial government," she said. 

But if the city wants to really engage citizens, Christian Acosta said, it needs to have a firmer action plan. 

"Instead of just saying we need to come together and be loud, how do you plan to get people to come together?" said Acosta, who lives in Rothesay but works in Saint John.

"How do you plan to incentivize us, to spur us to join you in that cause?" 

Acosta said he'll also be writing his MLA, Ted Flemming.

A second event will be held July 23 at 5:30 p.m, at the BMO Studio Theatre at 112 Princess St., and two more are in the works. Pre-registration is required.