Charles Leblanc's Other Blog: Fredericton Council vote to remove Acadian Line from the Downtown area! Does this send a message Universities students are not welcome? Ward failed??

Friday, July 17, 2009

Fredericton Council vote to remove Acadian Line from the Downtown area! Does this send a message Universities students are not welcome? Ward failed??

Sorry for the delay, I got caught up in other issues.

I showed up for Monday decision on the Acadian Bus line to move from the Downtown area.

You could hear the noise from blocks away.

Click below -

I knew they are strong activists but I didn't know they could sing???

Not bad if you ask this blogger.....

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Fredericton Councillor Jordon Graham was watching the show from a distance. He's the youngest Councillor to be elected in Fredericton.

Many students were wondering what would he do? Which way would he vote?

He decided to give a little speech to the citizens.

It began to rain so I had to put my camera under the umbrella.

Click below for his speech.

Irving journalist Heather Mclaughlin was taking notes. She's the watch dog at City Hall!!

It was raining but the speeches continue!!!!

Everyone gathered inside for the Big vote!!!!

Once inside the meeting began and I was surprise to see the posters hanging from the gallery. I had a feeling that this wasn't a good idea.

The first to speak was Councillor Scott McConaghy!!

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He voted to support the move of Acadian Bus Line from the Downtown area.

Seconds after his speech, the people in the gallery booed the guy. I was once again surprise because I don't believe this is the place to voice your objections. Maybe they should have waited till the vote was over but then again? This is Canada!! Freedom of speech.

Councillor Jordon Graham voted to keep the Acadian Bus line Downtown. This was a smart move from his part because many students uses the Bus.

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The gallery exploded with applause. It was one to one!!! A tie!!! It was just like watching a hockey game. IT WAS EXCITING!!!!

My Councillor Stephen Kelly voted to move the Bus from the Downtown core. Well? He won't get my vote in the next Municipal election. A little too ignorant for this Blogger.

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Councillor Marilyn Kerton voted to support to keep the Bus Line in the Downtown area. Of course, she works for Family Services so it would have been stupid for her to vote otherwise and I might add this blogger would have gone on a tirade for months in this blog against this Councillor.

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Councillor Tony Whalen voted for the Bus line to move from the Downtown area. I'm surprise on this one. Have to do a youtube with Tony the next time I see the guy on the street.

New Councillor Stephen Hicks voted to move Acadian Bus line from the Downtown area. I was surprise because he works with trouble youths and many of them would need the bus to travel out of the City. I wonder if he'll pay their cab fare to travel way out over the hill? I believe someone from his ward made a presentation pleading Council not to move the location of the Bus line.

Councillor Bruce Grandy was a strange one. You didn't know if he was going to vote against the move or not? At the end, he voted to support the Bus terminal from the Downtown core.

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Councillor Michael O'Brien would be an interesting dude to watch because he's the Chairman to locate people to live in Low Housing Units. Of course, he has heard the hardship of the less fortunate to travel way over the hill for the bus. I was surprised he voted to support the move of Acadian Bus line to over in nowhere land. This is another guy, I will do a youtube interview with.

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Councillor Dan Keenan voted to move the Acadian Bus Line from the Downtown core. I don't know much of this guy.

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Another Councillor that I don't know much about is Eric Megarity. He voted to move the Bus Terminal from the Downtown core.

Councillor Stephen Chase voted to move the Bus Terminal in nowhere land. But this is where the meeting got ugly and Mayor Brad Woodside had to step in!!!

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Then came outspoken Councillor David Kelly. Now? This would be interesting because the new terminal will be located in his ward and many citizens in that area have voice their objection to the move. What would he do? He voted to keep the Bus Line downtown.

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It was all over!!! Council voted to move the Bus Terminal from the Downtown core.

The citizens watching the vote were upset and I noticed a few tears in some of the citizens eyes.

It was over and the City of Fredericton just took a huge step backward towards the future.

The situation was getting a little heated.

I noticed Fredericton Deputy Police Chief Leanne Fitch on her Blackberry.

Was she calling for Police officers to come to City Hall? Hey? I was right there!!! Could be some good youtubes?

The Mayor wisely called for a time out!!!!< Smart move >

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Councillor David Kelly who voted against the move came outside of the chambers to meet the citizens.

Part one -

Part two -

Activist Julie Michaud face the media after Fredericton Council gave the OK to Acadian Bus Line to move from the Downtown area.

The concern students and citizens were very upset that Fredericton will lose their Downtown Bus!!!! First Costco and now this!!!!

Here's some youtubes -

Part one -

Part two -

So? What does this means? Does this send a message to all Students around the Province that Universities students are not welcome in this City???

Many students will not be able to afford the Taxi fare to that new location in nowhere land.

Many people are saying that Tim Horton's will benefit from this.

Well? During the cold windy winter months? It still will be way too far for a coffee.

Yes, the three Councillors who voted against this move did well and will be rewarded during the next Municipal Election.

But these guys will have a very difficult time because the old days of saying- Ohhh...in three years from now? People will forget this issue. Sorry...with the information highway? People will not forget!!!!

But my question is this???? Does the Ward system truly works??? If the Councillor believe his/her riding is not concern about a certain issue? They'll vote against the Bill and don't care what other citizens thinks.

This is twice Council went against students concerns. I see some very interesting issues coming up during the next Municipal election.

So? Fredericton is now known as the City without a Bus service in the Downtown area!!!

Shame...shame...shame....

P.S. I predict future problems with the new location because the Citizens in that area don't want the Bus line in their neighborhood!!!

There are no sidewalks so I expect some protests!!!

Stay tuned!!!!

15 comments:

Cathy said...: Council did not vote to move the bus station. They voted to amend a zoning at the proposed new bus station. City can't force a business to stay downtown, if that business wants to move it's their choice. You should tell your protester friends to go see Acadian. You are writing misleading blogs. I used to trust your blogs but lately I can't trust your blogs as you write misleading things.; 11:11 AM, July 17, 2009
Charles LeBlanc said...: Council could have sent a message telling Acadian Bus line new location is unacceptable!!!

I'm glad you used to trust my blog!!!!

:); 11:14 AM, July 17, 2009
Anonymous said...: Why is the new location unacceptable?; 2:49 PM, July 17, 2009
Magos said...: The owners of the building kicked them out of the downtown, not the city. Acadian would still be there if the owners had renewed their lease.

What message would the city be sending Acadian? The location they picked isn't liked by anyone, including Acadian I'm sure, but it's the one they picked.

If the city didn't approve rezoning, then what would Acadian do? What if city voted "No" Acadian might pick an even further out location, maybe even Oromocto.; 2:38 PM, July 17, 2009
Anonymous said...: Just because they can make a song and dance in front of City Hall does not make them the majority. They don't get to decide how the councillor votes, the councillor does. If they don't vote they way you want them to vote, it isn't a loss of democracy.

The first song that was played mentioned the loss of the downtown liquor store and the bottle depot. Council had nothing to do with those, yet these out-of-touch protesters seem to want us to believe that they did.

If council voted no on the Woodside Lane vote, would that keep the station downtown? No, it would just mean that the station would go outside the city and cost even more $$$ for taxis. I don't think that anyone wants it to move out of downtown, but council really can't do much to keep it there.

Charles, if you've been wondering why you aren't treated like a real journalist, I'll tell you why just by pointing out the 3 things wrong with the headline:

"Fredericton Council vote to remove Acadian Line from the Downtown area!" - This is wrong, they only voted to allow Acadian the option to move. They did not force them out of downtown.

"Does this send a message Universities students are not welcome?" - Really? That's fairly outlandish. If you want to be treated as a journalist, you need to start thinking about what people say and filter out the crazy stuff. If you don't you'll turn into Fox News.

"Ward failed??" - No the ward system is not a failure.

I also think they have you brainwashed. I know that you aren't stupid, but maybe you should ask all of your 5 brains whether what those people are saying is crazy or not. If it's crazy, then don't treat it as fact. You can do much better than this. You do great things for the poor people of the city and province, don't get caught up in the crazy. Don't let all of that go to waste by getting yourself associated with the crazy people.; 1:23 PM, July 17, 2009
mikel said...: The city CAN obviously 'force' a business to stay downtown-that's what zoning is all about. They 'perhaps' couldn't force them IF they were zoned commercial, but they were not, they were not on 'the list'. That's why the zoning needed to be amended and that's how governments control businesses. If they had voted 'no', then obviously Acadian could NOT go uptown. And as anybody knows who has butted heads with government-they CAN do a lot of 'forcing'.

That was a fantastic piece of reporting Charles. The one suggestion I have is that you get some software to create videos. You really should have ONE video that you can youtube that has all your relevant points plus all the pictures and video clips. Then you could link it at the side. While you make your opinion known, this was better coverage than ANY media has presented on the issue. Irving had a 'we say' where they basically cheered the council and blamed the Conservation Council for all the protest.

As for the ward system, that's long been a debate-doesn't St. John use a different system? That's always the case in municipal politics, if you have something in your ward that needs fixing, you have to go to council, where the decision is made by people who may never set foot in that ward. And the ward councillor for that ward is only ONE vote, so its easy for the other councillors to vote against it.

Toronto has such massive wards that they are actually bringing in a system where concerns of that ward will be decided by ONLY that ward through a system of referenda. That's really how this should have been decided, but then thats how I think MOST political decisions should be decided.

Anyway, great reporting charles, more stories like that and you'd really be giving the mainstream media a run for their money.; 2:01 PM, July 17, 2009
James. C said...: Oh now Charles is making fun of someone making a spelling mistake. That's the pot calling the kettle black.

I agree 100% with Cathy; 1:18 PM, July 17, 2009
Anonymous said...: Mikel makes valid points here.I also see no comparable coverage on the news story, kudos to Charles. I am not sure how the citizens of Fredericton are being well served by this decision. Yet, i understand it is a business decision, but yet another in which the Irving interests seem to figure prominently. So, what if, to borrow a phrase, the new development,on King St corner, whatever that secret may be, would incorporate both a bus station and multi level development? Is the owner going to re-develop, and if so , what plans have been forwrded to our City Council Planning people for approval? Could this just possibly be the time to add a clause to the development strategy that must include a successfull completion of the wretched former Train Station situation proir to any other development? Was not Empire involved in a $900 Thousand plus development package on Regent with its new store set up?? Lets get this together council, tax payer funds deserve better attention. By the way, what is the plan for whom will run this new convention center we are building? Maybe i missed something, but news seems to be scarce on this, please inform. Afterall, a huge center of this magnitude, must need to be operated by very professional people if it is ever to return any money to our tax base! Tax Payer John; 8:17 PM, July 17, 2009
Michael G. McKay said...: McGarity voted to move the bus line, He will not have my vote, we have that ball and chain in our ward over here on cliffe street.I hope that he is no longer her come the next Municipal election MCGarity, say bye bye.; 9:38 PM, July 17, 2009
Anonymous said...: Cathy - If council can't tell them to stay downtown why were they voting on the matter at all?; 10:05 PM, July 17, 2009
Magos said...: Because council has to vote on all matter of rezoning, it's kind of their job.

next question.; 10:27 PM, July 17, 2009
Anonymous said...: Anon poster 10:05 you must be reading my thoughts. This is then just a dram filled waste of money then.What a waste of time...........; 10:35 PM, July 17, 2009
Anonymous said...: ugh - I don't know much about this issue, but it seemed to me like it was city councils duty to do SOMETHING to keep the bus station downtown.

But - I must say, I watched this on Rogers and the way that Woodside took his glasses on and off for the photos, that was so vain! I mean, I can understand a younger handsome person caring a bit about how their photo turns out, but him!? I was like, who does this guy think he is? He looks sickly, and he is this white male right-wing conservative - how unsexy can you get!?; 1:16 AM, July 18, 2009
Anonymous said...: Woodside is a Liberal.; 6:50 AM, July 18, 2009
Anonymous said...: Last time I ride the bus if these freaks of nature are sitting next to me.; 6:49 AM, July 18, 2009