Tell Us Your Big Idea!

Idea:

I travelled to Norway in December a few years ago and the cities of Stavanger and Oslo have fantastic winter activities in their downtown in evenings and weekends: it's an outdoor festival with tents for shelter and wood or gas fireplaces for heating. People are able to roast marshmallows and have hot chocolate or non alcoholic hot cider and browse a winter market. Some even have a small playground, crafts for kids, and a beer or mulled wine garden. It's a wonderful way to make long, dark nights more bright and cheery, while building community. Something like that in the winter to fill the hole of the winter shutdown of the Garrison night market would be a great way to improve community and the experience for folks in the winter, and it would animate the downtown which can get a bit grim and lifeless in the winter.

Staff Feedback:
Yes to ALL this! Winter markets can be wonderful community-building events and we agree that they provide bright spots during what can be a pretty tough season for many of us! We passed your idea on to our staff at Tourism and they love it. They suggest it could be part of Fredericton's annual FROSTival once the revitalization of Officers’ Square is complete. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us!

Idea:

I very much like the concrete ping pong table in Wilmot park. It would nice to have a few more around the City, maybe in Odell, or even around the skate park.

Staff Feedback:

We're big fans of the ping pong tables, too! We've shared the options you're suggesting with the team at our Recreating Dept.

Idea:

Our city roads are supported financially by all of us, providing an ever expanding network in support of more and more private vehicle ownership. If you are someone who is not able or wanting to own and drive a car, or you want to reduce your dependence on a private vehicle, your taxes are still invested heavily into this infrastructure. These taxes could be invested in an efficient and free bus system for these people and encourage more people to follow their lead. This has been done in other cities. Let's follow their lead and try this in Fredericton!

Staff Feedback:

Thanks so much for your thoughtful suggestion. We've shared it with the team at Transit!

Idea: Intersection / traffic circle - Forest Hill/Beaverbrook St/Waterloo Row

Idea:

Could be in any of the existing parks, EX: Odell, Wilmot park, queen square, and Morell park. All we need is to fence a green area that can be accessible by walking, bike, or any other mode of mobility. The existing dog parks are not convenient for everybody. You need a car just to go to the dog park.

Staff Feedback:

Thanks so much for sending in this idea for a dog park in the downtown! We've shared your idea with the team at Parks & Trees.

Idea:

Roller Skating has had a huge resurgence since the pandemic. With roller discos opening up across Canada, Fredericton should open a purpose built roller rink which can host roller discos and other roller sports such as Roller Derby, Inline Hockey, Artistic Skating and more! Great for kids, adults and families. Would be a big attraction for the city.

Staff Feedback:

We love roller skating, too! While building a rink dedicated to roller skating would likely incur significant cost, it could definitely be considered during the preparation of the new recreation master plan which the City will begin working on in the fall of 2022.

Idea:

The walking path between the walking bridge and morrell park should be paved like the rest of the trail has been on the green. When you get closer to the soccer fields the path is over grown and turns into a narrow walking lane. This area does get some flooding, but it isn't any greater than the rest of the water front. It looks like it is suffering from years of neglect, and should be paved, if not repaired. It's a highly travelled footpath so many would benefit from this upgrade and it would complete the circuit.

Staff Feedback:

This is a great idea! The city is currently looking at making changes to this section of the trail and look forward to potentially making upgrades.

Idea:

This has been an issue for the last 30 years and should be seriously considered. People treat Waterloo row as if it's a highway so pedestrians and local residents in the town plat area trying to cross are at the mercy of drivers stopping to let them cross. I've seen on countless occasions cars stopping to let people cross the road and neglectful drivers will pass on the inside almost hitting them as they try to cross. I don't know why we waiting for a serious accident in order to make a change for public safety. There are crossings at the very start and ending of this road, but the entire street should be a pedestrian crossing so they have the right of way. It doesn't require a stop walk, but just a zoned area. This would drastically reduce people speeding, but also encourage awareness. Don't let a incident child's death be the reason for change.

Staff Feedback:

Thank you for your feedback. Pedestrian crossing follow detailed federal standards. The rationale behind this is both consistency and the need to concentrate the location that pedestrians will cross to specific locations that are safe and well lit. Pedestrian crossing zones that aren't predictable in this way could have unintended effect of making the roads less safe for pedestrian and drivers. The exception to this would be shared streets where there is a high pedestrian volume and low traffic volume.

Idea:

LDH is what is causing housing to be unaffordable. It doesn't help that Fredericton is very low density due to our lack of apartments. We need more condos, townhouses, and apartments. Otherwise Frederictonians will increasingly become homeless.

Staff's Feedback:

Thank you for the comment! Densifying residential developments was an important goal of the City’s Growth Strategy and a key priority in the City's new Municipal Plan. Between 2018 and 2021 over 80% of the City’s total residential building permits have been for multi-unit residential developments. We're making progress and will continue to look for opportunities to create denser, complete communities and neighbourhoods.

Idea:

Garrison Market 2 evenings per week please. It is so crowded all the time.

Staff's Feedback:

Hi there! Great idea! There is currently a lot of construction taking place within the area but as that wraps up, we’ll be expanding the market's presence in the downtown. Stay tuned!