I recently wrote a blog post in which Bob Hallett spoke out about the arts funding cuts and increase in taxes to residents and business owners in downtown St. John’s. (Bob Hallett (and Alan Doyle) speak out about local council cuts to arts and increased taxes….a response (Part One) date 2 January 2016). As a result of a public protest, a decision was made by St. John’s Council to reinstate the arts grants. However, the increase taxes remain. Bob has continued his protest on social media and by writing letters to local newspapers to raise awareness of the consequences of the taxes and problems for those in business in downtown St. John’s.
The first article is a copy of a letter by Bob Hallett to The Telegram that describes the importance of the downtown area to St. John’s, to tourists and residents alike, the hardships faced by many businesses (including parking and construction) and the decision to overturn the art’s funding cuts. To the best of my knowledge Bob Hallett’s letter to the Council has not been responded too.
I was interested to read the Mayor of St. John’s favourite spot in the city was Bowring Park. Although I have heard of it, as a tourist I don’t think I have ever been there. Yet, I have been downtown many times to the shops, pubs and restaurants and cafes. St. John’s has one of the oldest entertainment strips in North America which is attracting visitors from far and wide and is the heart and soul of the city for local people.
I don’t understand why the Council is not interested in doing everything in its power to create a sustainable shopping and entertainment area for the present and the future downtown St. John’s. There are plenty of examples of local historical, tourist and street shopping areas being sabotaged by local councils in favour of multinational shopping centres and turning them into commercial centres in Australia. Then councils find out they made a mistake because multinational shopping centres are everywhere and tourists and visitors want something different from what they have at home. Then it is too late to reverse the damage done.
Another point raised by Bob Hallett was the cancellation by the Council of the New Year’s Eve fireworks for safety reasons. Bob Hallett states “Over the decade or so since the celebration’s removal, those of us in the hospitality business have watched in sad dismay as one of the biggest nights of the year has been eliminated, at the whim of the council. The argument about safety seems ludicrous.” Every year millions of people around the world watch fireworks in city centres without incident. An example is Sydney, Australia right there on the harbour. These fireworks are world famous and people come to Australia just to celebrate New Year’s Eve. In fact fireworks seem to be one of the most common ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve. I am sure there would be hundreds of local councils around the world who would be able to provide appropriate consultation to the St. John’s City Council about doing fireworks safely in their city centre.
The second article ‘City Council reinstates arts funding’ by Daniel MacEachern, was about the City Council’s decisions to reinstate the arts funding was published in The Telegram newspaper on the 4 January, 2015. The article is supported by voices from the arts community including Phil Churchill from the Bob Hallett managed folk band The Once.
‘Things are not great when you’re downtown.” by Bob Hallett published on
the 9 January, 2016.
For some time it has seemed to
me, and so many others, that there was a massive disconnect between those who
purport to run the City of St. John’s and those who live and work here.
In the current
recession, downtown businesses are suffering and struggling more than most — we
operate on tighter margins with restrictions and constraints on parking and
planning and equipment that make it a very challenging place to do business.
Yet we persist — because we love this city, and the old downtown, and we
believe in it. Personally, I have spent much of my career singing, writing, and
talking about this city, and I have invested my life savings in business and
other properties located here.
For his part, the mayor loves
Bowring Park, and has often described it as the “jewel in the crown” of this
city’s civic offerings. While the park may be the best landscaped piece of
geography whereabouts, the reality is that this city’s economic and tourist
heart is the downtown. The handful of streets between Military Road and the
harbour offer a mix of retail, hospitality, industrial and residential uses
unmatched in North America for a city of our size. This area should be
celebrated for its diversity and historic character. Certainly the city and
provinces’ own tourist literature and marketing materials are based almost
entirely on a vision of a historic, colourful and lively downtown. The city
should be doing everything in its power to protect and enhance this area.
Instead we feel neglected and
abused.
The harbour fence was my first
indication that something was going wrong in the city I love. Who thought this
was a good idea? And why did we have to pay for it when so many people hated
it?
Along similar lines, earlier this
year there was a brief debate about returning fireworks to the waterfront on
New Year’s Eve. A decade ago this city had a harbour front New Year’s Eve
celebration to rival cities 10 times its size. Now much of the downtown is
silent and empty at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. Over the decade
or so since the celebration’s removal, those of us in the hospitality business
have watched in sad dismay as one of the biggest nights of the year has been
eliminated, at the whim of the council. The argument about safety seems
ludicrous. Can’t that bloody great fence keep drunks from falling in the
harbour?
The council's indifference to the
rigours of the so-called Water Street big dig was another indication that
something really strange was going on. In meeting after meeting, business
owners wondered, “How can they not see how hard this will be for us? Downtown
is a pedestrian area. If the streets are dug up and access barred, we will
struggle to get customers into our premises.” And yet we had blithe
reassurances that all was good, and in five or six years or whenever it got
done, we would all be immensely better off. After a firestorm of criticism, it
was delayed. But still we wait in fear, because we know it is coming, and we
have no idea what — if any — measures will be taken to ensure our continued
operations.
Now in the midst of a crushing
recession, we face a tax increase, a massive and destructive one. While the
city has touted an average commercial increase of a little over 14 per cent,
(as if this was a good thing) many downtown businesses are looking at increases
of over 20 per cent, at a time when they are barely getting by. Many are
appealing appraisals that seem utterly divorced from reality. Downtown business
owners are scared — they quietly whisper about revenue falling 30-40 per cent
over the past six months. Quite a few are still struggling to pay their 2015
taxes, not to mention the bills that will soon arrive for 2016. Last winter saw
a number of closures, many empty shopfronts have yet to be filled, and with the
leanest months of the year coming on, business owners grow more and more
concerned for their very survival.
In the city’s own pre-budget
materials, council stated clearly that their aim was “to maintain services and
invest in capital expenditures through innovative approaches and new sources of
revenue.” A massive property tax increase shows zero evidence of innovation,
and it is hardly a “new” source of revenue.
Several councillors have also
spoken about the efforts made to spread the revenue shortfall around. Yet the
most cursory read of the city’s budget documents reveal the opposite is true
— most city departments are seeing increases, some of them huge — the
mayor and councillors’ offices will see a $23,000 boost; strategy and
engagement increases by $29,000, administration services, $120,000; human
resources by a half a million; legal services by over $250,000; water
treatment, $2.5 million; taxi Inspections, $10,000 — and so on.
Finance committee chairman Count.
Jonathan Galgay's cut in arts funding was mean spirited, and his turnabout
predictable — a mere diversion, a distraction from the taxation debacle.
Similarly, the mayor’s announcement that we soon will have the opportunity to
buy land from the Galway development sends us again in the wrong direction.
Danny William’s development has nothing to do with the current budgetary
crisis. More to the point, if the City of St. John’s can’t afford it, perhaps
Galway should be ceded to the City of Mount Pearl, where topography and logic
suggests it should already be located.
The fault for this state of
affairs lies entirely at the steps of St. John’s city hall, in an optimistic
and expansionist fiscal agenda which was divorced from economic reality. It is
in council chambers where the solutions to our problems lie.
Those who voted for this
debacle cannot sit idly by while this city sails off a cliff. Coun. (Bruce)
Tilley’s city website touts his interest in “taxation (and) economic
development.” Coun. (Danny) Breen boasts of his interest in “strong fiscal
management of the city’s finances.” Gentlemen, now would be a good time to put
these interests into action.
This budget is bad —bad for the
residents, bad for the taxpayers, and worst of all, it ruinous for those who
have invested their own lives and savings in making the downtown the special
place it is. This budget is not “building for the future” — it is destroying
it.
I beg you all — fix this mess, or
admit failure, and let others try and dig us out of this hole.
Bob Hallett
resident and business owner
downtown St. John’s
‘City Council reinstates arts funding’ by Daniel MacEachern…in The
Telegram, 4 January, 2016.
With members and supporters of
the St. John’s art community filling council chambers’ public gallery — and
spilling over into a nearby room — councillors reintstated funding for arts
grants cut in last month’s budget.
“I think we’re doing the right thing by
looking at the budget as it was presented and saying we’re willing to continue
to consider how we support our community and make decisions as a council,” said
Coun. Dave Lane before council unanimously voted to reinstate the funding.
When the city’s budget was
introduced in December, the cuts to arts — council also axed its annual $20,000
in arts procurement — drew public criticism and protest, prompting Coun.
Jonathan Galgay, chairman of the city’s finance committee, to announce he would
ask council to reconsider the cut to grants.
Grants funding will be bumped
back up to $200,000 instead of the $100,000 in December’s budget, with the
money coming from reserve funds in the community grants funding program, held
in reserve in case of special instances requiring funding outside the annual
application process.
Filmmaker and playwright Ruth
Lawrence said Monday night before the meeting that arts supporters turned out
for the vote to show council they’re serious about the importance of arts
funding.
“We really stand behind what
we’ve said all along,” Lawrence said. “We’re not just going out, making one
quick grandstand. We really have to fight for this, and we’re here until we get
satisfaction that they understand and that, really, they’re going to put that kind
of support behind us.”
Musician Phil Churchill said
Monday he’s tired of having to convince people of the value of arts.
“I’m tired of having to beg for
and convince people of things,” said Churchill, a member of folk trio The Once.
“I’m at the point where, if you don’t get it, and it doesn’t make sense to you
right away, you shouldn’t have this job and you don’t deserve it.”
Churchill said he didn’t believe
council’s reversal of the arts cuts signals a change in thinking by councillors
on the importance of arts funding, adding it’s just “appeasement” in response
to public criticism.
“I don’t need to be convinced of
the need for communication, for transport, for health care, even oil in this
country at this point, until people can move away from it. I don’t need to be
convinced of these things,” he said. “Whenever you have a bunch of people who
are holding the purse strings who need to be convinced of simple facts that
everybody else seems to get, that’s where, to me, it ends. … If we need to
convince you of this, you shouldn’t be in this position, and you should just
bow out, and move aside for someone who’s a little more broadminded and able to
figure this stuff out.”
Actor Pat Foran said the protests
show most residents know the importance of arts to the St. John’s economy.
“The work that we create, be it
in music, theatre, visual arts, helps to draw tourists and business here to the
city,” Foran said. “An investment in the arts returns dollars directly to the
municipality in the form of property taxes. Once you get that initial seed
investment, whether it’s a band’s first album, an author’s novel, etc., the
residual income off the act of creating a piece of art has a long lifetime. So
the city benefits quite a bit from having professional artists here.”
