Horse Track

Originally posted 11/30/06 on PersonPlaceorThing.blogspot.com

The city of Saint John made a bold decision to not give a year long option to the developers proposing a horse-track/vlt racino for the waterfront.

While it would be good to see the old sugar shack site developed with a strong project, a horsetrack might not have been the best choice. If the project were completed with all of the elements proposed (a hotel, racino, horse stables, spa and residential units) this could have added significant bodies to the uptown area and might have increased the city's tax base. However, not all elements - or even any of them - were gaurunteed.

By giving these developers a year long option on the site while they searched for more funds, other developers with other ideas would be turned away or told to wait and see what came of the horse track development.