Even as a regressive form of taxation, property taxes are still redistributive. What we discussed yesterday would have represented 0.25% of a mill on the overall rate. Looking at total costs is an important component to this conversation as well, 1/ https://twitter.com/CJPDoyle/status/1306260168863289344

Imagine you are new to St. John’s. You move here in May, your routine: walk to school to pick up the kids and then the bus takes you to swimming lessons. Winter comes. You can’t walk to the bus stop safely with your kids to get to swimming lessons, you start to save up for a car.

Instead of $30 a month for the bus you now spend $150 on car payments, but it’s worth the safety. Once you have a car, then the bus service loses 1 mother and 3 future users. That will increase the subsidy required for Metrobus as ridership is necessary for a sustainable service.

After 50 families do the same, the ridership decrease leads to cutting routes to the suburbs where a lot of affordable rental units are located in order to balance the budget. Newcomers to those neighbourhoods arrive, see there’s no bus, get a car immediately. Maybe 2.

I struggle to understand how anyone can fail to grasp the penny wise and pound foolish approach of failing to have a sustainable public transport system. Your taxes will increase if people don’t ride the bus. And this is only 1 cost associated with failing to winterized YYT.

Imagine you’re lucky enough to live on a sidewalk route (we only clear 10% of sidewalks!!!). What happens when you break your ankle after falling on the icy sidewalk on your way to buy milk at the corner store? You can’t go to work at your retail job, lose 6 weeks of wages.

Instead of using disposable income to go out for a lunch date with a friend downtown, you have to borrow money from your parents to make rent. You take months to recoup the costs from losing this income, and the small biz who depend on you lose your business.

Imagine you live in Toronto, but you’re from St. John’s. You’re a typical NL expat: homesick, would do anything to find work and return to the city you love. Finally, a big break comes and you get a job in an office on Lemarchant Road.

You are used to clear sidewalks and you expect that since the 15 years you’ve been away that the city got its together on winter mobility. You notice there was a new council including pedestrians! After 3 winters, you’re back to searching for apts in Toronto. Not worth it.

Or, you leave your beauty of an apartment you got on Patrick Street and move to Mount Pearl, where the sidewalks are better in the winter, your rent is cheaper, and your parents gave you their second vehicle while they were downsizing to a condo.