Letters | Voter warns candidate that luxuries are pricey
As we all are aware by the road signs, the flyers, the ads in the paper and the door-to-door campaigning, the municipal elections are coming up May 12.
Here in New Maryland, we have had signs dotting the highway since early April. It is great to see so much interest in folks running for elected office.
According to one of our mayoralty candidates' billboards, in order for New Maryland to flourish, among other things, we need an indoor pool, an ice rink and a fitness centre.
I would like to publicly ask this candidate how he proposes that the village not only fund the development of these facilities, but also the maintenance and their day-to-day operations.
I see two options, and they are to raise taxes or create a much larger tax base through development.
Given that the village has been exploring the second option through the municipal plan and well exploration and has publicly stated that the village's water supply is limited and can't afford more development, the only viable option to me would be to raise taxes.
I think the candidate in question should advise voters if taxes are to be raised (providing he wins the election), how much we can expect the tax rate to rise to accommodate his plan.
The vote is just a week away and I hope that the candidate will respond in this public forum so all the New Maryland voters are better informed before they head to the polls.
Blair T. Sawler
New Maryland
Reconsider development plans in light of flood
Maybe the smart city of Fredericton will learn from this flood.
Should they really spend millions of dollars building a convention centre with an underground garage?
With global warming, water levels will continue to rise. The next high flood will be higher than this one.
Will the city ever learn?
Since I arrived in town in 1962, when I took a job as construction manager, I have seen downtown businesses - such as The Daily Gleaner, Sears and Zellers - leave for higher ground.
In 1965-66, I advised strongly that the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel be demolished.
Will the city listen? Of course not. This a smart city with a dumb council.
Bert van der Horst
Fredericton
Proposed mine could be bane, not boon to area
Geodex Minerals Ltd. recently announced feasibility studies of a tungsten and molybdenum pit mine near Napadogan. The mine is located on the Sisson Brook at the headwaters of the Nashwaak River.
This project is of concern to everyone in the entire Nashwaak River Valley. Once this mine begins, the Nashwaak River will be under threat from the mine's byproducts for centuries.
The threat comes chiefly from the finely crushed rock dust known as tailings. The tailings are generally stored underwater in a tailings pond. This particular pond would eventually cover 2,000 acres to a depth of 15 metres.
Once a tailings pond is started, it is an extremely dangerous threat until the mine is closed and the pond is drained, covered with rock and soil and reforested.
However, there are also problems with the rosy economic picture painted by Geodex. Geodex predicts that the mine will generate 750 construction jobs for a period of one to two years. It will also create 300 full-time jobs for the 30 year lifespan of the mine.
The job forecast is attractive to many due to the dismal state of the forest industry and the local employment picture. However, a closer look at the history of the price of molybdenum shows the risky nature of this venture.
Feasibility studies by Wardrop Engineering indicate a processing cost exceeding $9.30 per pound of refined molybdenum at the Geodex mine. Over the past 95 years, the inflation adjusted price of molybdenum has averaged $11.20 per pound with a median price of $9.80 (USGS data).
The historical price has been above $9.30 per pound in only 55 of those years. Fluctuating prices and small profit margins have resulted in closure and long periods of inactivity at similar mines elsewhere.
An inactive mine leaves workers and communities to wither in the downturn. An inactive mine extends the vulnerability of the toxic tailings pond much beyond the 30-year life of the mine. The probability of disaster at an inactive mine is greatly increased.
Sacrificing the ecological security of the Nashwaak River Valley for another boom/bust industry is the wrong direction into the future. People of the Upper and Lower Nashwaak River Valleys would do well to give this project a hard look.
One engineering miscalculation or one lapse in maintenance of the tailings would imperil a treasure that has, for several centuries, transformed the harsh life of this climate into a quality of life envied across this country.
Lawrence Wuest
Stanley
Courtesy is a lost art among cab drivers
Because our taxi drivers receive only a small part of the miserable rate charged by the company, they are obliged to rush off to collect the next passenger. I do understand.
Common courtesy once upon a time required a driver to open the door for a passenger, if not all passengers at least people of a certain age or having physical disabilities.
A family member in her mid 80s recently exited a cab, and unable to close the heavy door had it slam against her temple. This happened two weeks ago.
After a doctor's visit, a trip to emergency and two different physiotherapists, a woman who has taken little more than baby aspirin all her life must now be medicated 24/7.
What does it take to get out and open a door?
This week, her friend, also in her 80s, exited a cab, fell as she closed the door, broke her shoulder and the taxi left!
Don't taxi drivers wait to see if you make it to the sidewalk?
In all fairness to drivers, prices are rising, the rates are already low and seniors generally have limited incomes so are probably not big tippers.
Maybe the government needs to subsidize fares for seniors. Maybe we need a company that is able to cater to people with special needs.
Maybe they could hire drivers with manners.
Wendy Dionne
Fredericton
Canada Post doesn't know if it's coming or going
One year ago, two special agents hired by Canada Post came to my door with a letter saying that a mailbox couldn't be put at my residence because it was a danger to the letter carrier and a danger to the other motorists.
Believing I had been discriminated against, I contacted the ombudsman's office in Ottawa, and after many calls, I was told if the letter carrier doesn't want to deliver to you they do not have to do so.
I was told by these agents I could get my mail at neighbourhood boxes or I could pick it up at the post office, so I chose the post office.
These agents stayed in the community for eight months moving mailboxes across the road, up the road and down the road. Several were put in clusters.
One neighbour was told to put his in the middle of his driveway if he wanted his mail and to move it to get his car out.
He agreed to do it and was later told by the letter carrier to put it back where it was across the road and he would hear no more about it.
Later that fall, these two agents went to my mother's home and said her mailbox had to be moved. I had tried to combine her mail and mine earlier, but my request was refused because that would be confusing for the letter carrier.
She told them she couldn't walk that far and that her son would have to do it.
This never came to me so I caught up with them a week or two later and asked what adjustments were to be made on the mailbox. They said the adjustments were so small it was best to leave it as it is.
I figure they did not want me knowing how to set a mailbox or I might get my mail.
Well, a year has come and gone and what changes it has brought. Caution has been thrown to the wind. Mailboxes that were adjusted to be delivered to going west are being delivered to going east.
The carrier is zigzagging across the road putting in danger his life and his helper, not to mention the motoring public.
Who made these changes, after spending countless dollars and wasting people's time in the first place? Maybe I could have my mailbox back. It would just mean one more zig in a long line of zigzags.
A response from Canada Post would be more than welcome.
Don Clayton
Penniac
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One other thing that I would love to hear this candidate speak on is the fact that he has time and time again said that our current council and mayor are running a dictatorship. He needs to either back those statements up or withdraw them.
This is a very disheartening story. But there is an alternative for our elderly and disabled. You could consider having your elderly family member register with the City's Dial-A-Bus service by calling 460-2212.
I feel that we should remove the cap from taxi prices in time for our renewed public transit system that should be expanded next year. That way, the taxis can continue to raise their prices all they want but our public transportation system will be efficient enough to replace taking cabs in most cases. When cabs are expensive and have no courtesy for their customers, the bus, running more routes and more frequently, will be a better option in the near future.