Where Do We Go From Here?
A rant in 2 parts
Al McPhail
Part 1
Now, the hard part. How do we get our village on the right road again? How do we make ourselves whole? The past couple of years have been the most challenging in the history of our village. We are facing an uncertain future and it is only by coming together that we will have any chance of winning this, our greatest battle. And by the way, I’m not talking about the flood and the physical uprooting of our village. I’m talking about the malaise that has settled on this village like a plague – a plague that will destroy us all unless we come together.
I’m 62 years old and I have spent all but 10 of them here and I have never in my lifetime witnessed the hatred, backbiting, distrust and division that is so rampant in our community today. I cannot for the life of me understand this. We will get absolutely nowhere with redevelopment or anything else unless we can heal this open wound. It’s everywhere. So many discussion forums on Facebook are nothing more than outlets for foul mouthed commentary and for some of the most prolific contributors, obscenity seems to be the new currency. The more obscene and outrageous the comment, the better. They never offer a constructive idea but take great pleasure criticizing any suggestion that anyone might offer. We can never rebuild our community while we spend our time ripping each other apart. Where did this “us versus them” thing come from? Who are these “elites”? Who are “they that don’t want anything”? This is madness!
But this disease is just not a Facebook thing though sociologists will tell you that the anonymity of the internet certainly lends itself to this type of behavior. No, this disease walks freely among us every day and unfortunately at the very highest levels of elected representatives in our municipality. Our mayor and Council have spent the past 20 months doing absolutely nothing but fighting amongst themselves. They have not had any time to do anything else. When we most needed leadership we got nothing but bickering. When we needed direction they couldn’t or wouldn’t provide it. Council doesn’t trust the mayor and he has no use for them. He spends his time stoking the fires of division, cyberbullying the councillor he likes the least (if teenagers were doing this the RCMP would be involved for sure…it is criminal activity in my mind) and looking for the conspiracy in everything regardless of how mundane the subject. What a waste of an amazing intellect! If the time they spent fighting had been spent on village business we would all be far better off today. Leadership comes from the top. It’s time to show some.
It’s time for some statesmanship. It’s time to find a way out. If you agree call the mayor and councillors and tell them to get their act together. And remember this next municipal election. It’s important to get out and vote and, if you can make a difference, and actually want to, it is vital that you offer your candidacy.
We have to fix this thing immediately or the road we choose will be the road to perdition.
Part 2
So our neighborhoods that were previously situated along the river have quite literally headed for the hills. Things sure will be different. Whether they will be better or worse is largely up to us. Before discussing this, it bears repeating the obvious first. In our hearts, nobody really wanted to relocate and have their lives turned upside down. We loved our village and our neighborhoods just the way they were and we all wished the flooding never occurred but it did…over and over and over. Some of our seniors have been through 5 or 6 floods. How much more could they be expected to suffer in their flood ravaged homes? Clearly, NB Power and the government can’t/won’t control the flooding. While I expect that legal action will be initiated against NB Power in the not too distant future this action will be costly and lengthy. While the mayor claims that this statement is “foolish”, the reality is that it is true. There is no doubt about the cost and as to the length I can only say that CPR reportedly commenced legal action against NB Power for the loss of the train bridge in the 1987 flood and that case as far as I know is still in litigation over a quarter century later. Relocation was the only logical course of action. It would be unfair to flood victims to refuse government assistance to relocate and hold them captive to a long drawn out legal process. We would be rolling the dice with people’s lives. I want no part of that.
So over the next couple of years folks will get their new lots landscaped and settle in to their new lives and I hope that the sense of safety they have will compensate in some small way for all the misery and anxiety they have experienced throughout this latest ordeal. And to those who elected floodproofing, I hope you never experience rising waters again. But what do we do about those vacated lots?
I don’t know how exactly they will be redeveloped (or repurposed as the consultants like to say) but I do know that they will be in the fullness of time. Of course whatever we do there we do with a keen eye towards the river…..that beauty which is our greatest curse (for about a week in certain spring times) but always our greatest asset as well. Clearly, it will play a central role in the redevelopment of the village. The possibilities in those vacated areas are huge. As the Chinese saying goes “crisis = opportunity”. And what an opportunity we will have. It’s important that we get this right. We don’t have to rush out and try to get something done right away. In fact, it would be a grave error to proceed without a solid, detailed development plan – one that will probably take a few years to devise. For certain, I see no way that a golf course will be a part of that. The economics are just not there. There is no business case for it and there are 5 or 6 courses within a 30 minute drive all of which have financial issues. It was an off the cuff suggestion made initially by a government guy from Fredericton. The idea seems to have a life of its own. Drive a stake through it!
Now there are some interesting ideas coming out of the
Georgetown Conference and elsewhere that we could certainly use. And of course the river will be a focal point. Remember 20 years ago when we had riverboat cruises, kayaks, paddleboats, etc? That’s what we need to concentrate on. And with our friends at Tobique First Nation we could arrange for a small interpretative/welcome center here in town and then take a river cruise to the reserve to see the “real thing” and then have tourists enjoy an overnight stay at local campgrounds or perhaps the Castle Inn. Or Joe Gee’s amazing efforts regarding the NB terminus of the
Underground Railroad – what potential! And Roddy MacIntosh’s suggestions regarding
downtown redevelopment. There are so many possibilities. I personally like the idea of a drive-in. It’s worth looking at and it is suitable for the land available. You no doubt have ideas of your own. They need to be heard.
In my opinion, this part is going to be much easier than Part 1. If we get that mess straightened out, there will be no stopping us as far as redevelopment is concerned. We just need to work shoulder to shoulder for our common good. Our future depends on it.
Here’s hoping we can!
