Tracks, trucks, and trade: The port city is building a new logistics future that will require significant coordination across the region – and cooperation closer to home
This is a good post, thank you for sharing it. We've been hearing about huge opportunities here in the city for a few years now and it's very exciting! However, it also seems obvious that at least two levels of government have no idea how to work with residents who already live in this community and if everyone doesn't benefit from this industrial activity, there will be resistance this time around. These projects should move forward, but they need to move forward with respect to the people and businesses that are already here.
Industries have carved up Saint John for generations. Past residents may have endured quietly—we weren't there. But today's citizens won't accept being afterthoughts in their own city. When trucks and trains matter more than the people living alongside them, expect resistance, not resignation. Companies planning to set up shop here are learning, slowly: respect for our living spaces isn't optional anymore—it's the price of admission like it is everywhere else. The rest of New Brunswick might be comfortable sacrificing Saint John on the altar of industrial profit, but those of us who call these streets home will be heard. Outsiders wonder why St. Johners are so prickly. Given the history here, we should be pricklier.
This is a good post, thank you for sharing it. We've been hearing about huge opportunities here in the city for a few years now and it's very exciting! However, it also seems obvious that at least two levels of government have no idea how to work with residents who already live in this community and if everyone doesn't benefit from this industrial activity, there will be resistance this time around. These projects should move forward, but they need to move forward with respect to the people and businesses that are already here.
It's that old canard, 'change is hard', come to life, isn't it?
Industries have carved up Saint John for generations. Past residents may have endured quietly—we weren't there. But today's citizens won't accept being afterthoughts in their own city. When trucks and trains matter more than the people living alongside them, expect resistance, not resignation. Companies planning to set up shop here are learning, slowly: respect for our living spaces isn't optional anymore—it's the price of admission like it is everywhere else. The rest of New Brunswick might be comfortable sacrificing Saint John on the altar of industrial profit, but those of us who call these streets home will be heard. Outsiders wonder why St. Johners are so prickly. Given the history here, we should be pricklier.