A word on downtown development in Moncton

If you read the ‘Sleuth’ today in the Times & Transcript, you would have read of ‘big new plans’ for downtown. However, they all depend on Premier Lord and his legacy. The new justice centre, apparently, is critical to the development.

Well, if history is any judge (read: Gunningsville Bridge), they could be in for a long wait.

Is it just me or does it seem to you that whenever government money is involved things take ten times longer to get done.

Maybe one of the signs that Moncton has become a ‘real’ city would be when it could get a few deals done without waiting for years for the political climate in Fredericton to be right.

Here’s a thought. Build your hotels, office buildings, convention centre, et. al. Leave a hole for the Justice Centre. When, and if, Fredericton gets around to approving the funding for it, it will get done.

But Moncton’s downtown development would get done without worrying about a Premier’s legacy.