Tell Us Your Big Idea!

Idea:

Setting off fireworks, particularly in the downtown area, causes undue stress to dogs and other animals in the downtown core. They sound like gunshots as they echo off the buildings.Perhaps setting them off from an alternate location — the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge perhaps — is a better choice

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for your further thoughts on fireworks. These, too, have been forwarded to relevant staff.

Idea:

There's a fenced-in building at the end of Aberdeen St. where it meets the trail. There are a lot of saplings growing into the trail from inside the fence. Please trim these. Also, there's a spot very close to the Railway Bridge where the edge of the pavement is eroding. It's a steep bank and getting pretty unsafe. One more idea...how about some kind of a daily garbage pick-up? The downtown and central Northside sections could certainly use it.

Staff Feedback:
Thanks for your insights. We have shared your post with the staff at Parks & Trees.

Idea:

Respectfully ask that fireworks be discontinued for Canada Day Celebrations, at least from a downtown location. They echo off the buildings and sound like gunfire in the downtown, upsetting, not just my dog, but others as well. Is it possible to at least move the location, perhaps setting them off from Carleton Park on the north side, where the sound and the echo would not be so prevalent? I believe it's worth a discussion.

Staff Feedback:

Thanks for your submission. We have shared your thoughts with relevant staff.

Idea:

The core used to have entertainers abound.

Staff Feedback:

Thanks for your thoughts! Our free summer programming will kick off on June 12^th with the Fredericton Heritage Walking Tours. As well, watch for our Ceremonial Guard and their sentry changes around the downtown, the Calithumpians Outdoor Summer Theatre (starting early July) and we hope you’re able to take in the Garrison Night Market which kicks off tonight (June 8) and will run every Thursday this summer.

We’ll continue to expand our free public programming once the revitalization of Officers’ Square is completed.

Idea:

I know that College Hill has been a thing for a long time, but has anyone ever thought of spreading the campus's out around the city? It seems to me that having all the schools in one place doesn't make sense if you want to integrate the students into the fabric of the community and retain them as citizens. Having separate campus locations would have greater economic benefits for the local economy and add a vibrancy to the city experience. College hill seems to be a bygone of the days when young people were kept separate from the big table. This wouldn't be a short term idea, but something you should think about to support transit, local business and residential development. Connecting these young people to the community should be our top priority, but sticking them all together on one hill doesn't seem to lend itself to that outcome. It would also be nice to see the schools make some bold architectural choices and recognise their role in building the city's future, culture and tourism.

Staff Feedback:

Thank you sharing your idea! The City’s post-secondary institutions are important partners for the long-term growth of the City. The City’s Municipal Plan encourages the city to collaborate with Fredericton’s post-secondary institutions to:

1. Attract students, researchers, and faculty to the City;
2. Retain and integrate trained graduates into the City’s workforce; and,
3. Support the development and attraction of business and industry to the City.

The Municipal Plan also includes policies to work with the City’s universities and colleges to ensure an adequate supply of housing is provided to meet the diverse needs of the student community. There is no restriction on where students can live and so providing more housing throughout the city will help contribute to the overall supply. Recognizing the importance of the student community and young professionals in Fredericton, many new developments throughout the city are including smaller unit sizes and more bachelor/one-bedroom units that are a more affordable product. One recent example that is within close proximity to the universities would be the Micro Boutique development on Waterloo Row.

There is also a Secondary Municipal Plan for the College Hill area, established in the early 1990s. As the city continues to grow, a comprehensive review of the College Hill Secondary Municipal Plan will certainly be necessary for the evolution of the area.

The City’s Growth Strategy also identified four new neighbourhoods to accommodate substantial residential growth over the next 25 years. One of the new neighbourhoods identified is Endowment Development Lands owned by the University of New Brunswick (UNB), referred to as “Uptown.” This area is bookended to the west by major retail designations and Knowledge Park, and to the east by the Grant Harvey Centre. As part of the Growth Strategy and Municipal Plan, the City will work with UNB to realize a variety of housing in a transit-oriented community with neighbourhood-scale amenities in a mixed-use node at its heart. This area is planned for 5,000-6,000 people over the next 25 years. Overall, the City’s post-secondary institutions and the student community are very much a part of the city’s development policies and play an important role in shaping the city.

Idea:

Thinking way out of the box. Could the capital city offer up the space over the river for the Canadian Military to provide Drone shows? (think the RCMP musical ride horses, but way cooler drones) Entertaining.They could do this once/month or maybe every weekend during the summer and on special occasions. Always different. It could be a tourist draw, but also good training for the military. a win/win for the local economy and a recruitment tool for the military too. I don't know how the military works training, but couldn't they use the show as a way to train members to operate and program drones, execute stunts etc...? This may not be possible with the Military, but could a private company or a city initiative create some sort of events like this?

Staff Feedback:

Thanks for sharing these thoughts with us! We've forwarded your idea to the team at the City's Tourism dept for their review.

Idea:

Pedestrian streets are a great way to increase foot traffic in an area. As well, this would further promote alternative transportation methods (bikes, walking, etc). Cities such as Victoria, BC utilize pedestrian streets in key core areas to increase foot traffic, support cultural displays (often music performances), support local business, and increase the livelihood and tourism in strategic areas. Moreover, cities such as Guelph, ON close off main downtown streets during key hours on evenings and weekends in order to promote their night culture, foster safety, and entice a younger nightlife in the core. Fredericton should look at different strategies to engage the citizens and create more liveliness in the core. Strategically developing a pedestrian street in the core would entice more weekend pedestrian traffic. To add, this may in-turn help to further develop regional tourism. . Furthermore, if an approach is taken that allows for a mix of static and rotating entertainment, it may enable a natural evolution of the street that reflects the local culture. For example, rotating buskers can help attract regional musicians to the area. To add, rotating food trucks or alcohol gardens would allow the city to showcase local cuisine and breweries. Whether it is a block or two or Queens street (if this can be planned while providing alternative traffic options) or a few key alleys and streets. There is value in having public visibility of community engagement.

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for your suggestion to increase pedestrian streets in our downtown! We wholeheartedly agree that this would provide significant benefits to local businesses, tourism, and overall liveliness of the area. In 2015, the City of Fredericton adopted the City Centre Plan to help guide our downtown core through a vision and framework for growth and change. One of the key strategies in this plan aligns with your idea for increased pedestrian street, specifically titled “The Queen & Carleton Cultural Corridors” (section 3.5). The City has identified Carleton Street as the primary location for these activities and plan on improving the pedestrian infrastructure of this corridor when feasible. If you’re interested, you can read through the Plan to review the many exciting and unique strategies we have proposed throughout the City Centre.

The City of Fredericton will continue to work with our adopted plans, advocate for more pedestrian activities, and facilitate improvements to the City Centre. This work is always ongoing and we hope to bring forth greater pedestrian engagement in our downtown. We appreciate you taking the time to voice your thoughts!

Idea:

Many newcomers to our city come from places where night markets are a staple in society. Walking to the local market is a daily occurance, no matter the time of year. The downtown is often dead when it's not summer because of the lack of reliable markets and public spaces. Please allow businesses to use these venues so the city can be happier and healthier, and shed winter depression in the process.

Staff Feedback:

A great idea! Our big challenge is the number of staff it takes to run a market like the Garrison Night Market. We're very fortunate to have our summer students, who play an integral role, but they leave to go back to school in September. This, in addition to the Garrison Night Market being an open-air market, unfortunately makes year-round operations challenging and cost prohibitive.

Idea:

Please support convenience and growth in the core of the city. When it comes to city living people want to live, work and play in the same neighbourhoods.You likely know this from city planning. Public transit needs to get people where they want to go and do it conveniently. The less transfers the better. I’d like to suggest a city centre bus route. The route would run from downtown along Regent St. to uptown before crossing Prospect St, then down Smythe St. and across King St. downtown before turning back up Regent St again. This route should run 7 days per week and run every 30 mins. at least. From this core route build transit to feed the loop. This city centre route creates a walkable city centre and creates a stable place for developers to build commercial and residential. I think this would do a lot for ridership convenience. Zone more density along this route to support ridership. People in the core will be able to do everything they need along this route and people coming into the city can just transfer onto this loop and manage all their needs. You can probably do something similar on the north side too.

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for this great idea! Fredericton Transit has recently installed new technology that looks at how many customers are getting on and off the bus in certain areas, and when. This new technology will help us determine which areas are in higher demand and which ones aren’t. From there, we will look at creating new routes that will accommodate more passengers in the future. Hope this helps and thank you for using Fredericton Transit!

Idea:

There are a lot of alleyways downtown that could be livened up - and Art is one of Fredericton's tourism draws.

Staff Feedback:

Thanks for your comment! We love murals, too. In fact, the City commissioned the mural by Emma Hassencahl Perley on the Pedway platform along the river and recently sponsored several painted wooden benches along the trails throughout the city. In terms of alleyways downtown, it's important to know that the buildings there are privately-owned and so the owners of those buildings would need to agree to have murals painted there. Several private owners have, and we agree that murals always liven things up!