Recently tagged Memorial University
The taxman goes to the Breezeway
Given the thousands - make that tens of thousands - of students who have walked through its doors over the last four decades, the Breezeway at Memorial University is arguably one of the best-known bars in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The bar has changed over the years. The dimly lit pub in the old TSC is no more; the Breezeway is now a not-particularly-well-lit pub in the student centre. It definitely is missing some of the old ambience.
There’s no doubt that the Breezeway is a bar. What’s been in contention in a long-running dispute is whether the bar should be exempt from municipal tax.
The Memorial University Students’ Union, which owns the bar, felt so strongly about the matter that it fought it right to Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.
And it lost.
In a decision released Wednesday, Justice James Adams found that the Breezeway is not exempt from both property tax and business tax. Further, other money-generating enterprises run by the student union (a copy centre and another place called the Attic) must pay the municipal business tax.
How much money is on the line? That remains to be seen.
One excerpt from Adams’s decision jumped out:
The Students’ Union has argued in the alternative that if I find that it is subject to business tax then I should set the tax rate at zero. Even if I were inclined to do so (which I am not), I find that I have no authority to set the business tax rate for the City.
Tags: Memorial University
Pizza and politics and St. John's city council
Where’s a good (or at least likely) place to find pizza? Frequent travellers will tell you the best pizza is often where young people can be found.
It’s no surprise, then, that Domino’s has wanted to set up shop on Elizabeth Avenue, just a couple of blocks west of Memorial University’s main campus in St. John’s.
Last night, Domino’s won permission from St. John’s city council to renovate a store at an automotive store on the corner of Freshwater Avenue. (Older residents may remember the Brick Shirt House, which used to operate in the same spot.
The approval, though, didn’t come all that easily. While some neighbours supported the store, others were flat-out opposed, raising concerns about noise, traffic and even rats.
That said, council passed the application unanimously. “I think it would be unfair to not approve it,” said Coun. Debbie Hanlon, who said she met with residents on both sides, and noted that petitions from either side attracted the same support.
“But after looking at it and speaking with my fellow councillors, I don’t feel that this take out pizza business is going to have any difference to Brown’s automotive, or any other business that’s been there.”
Domino’s is expected to start renovations soon … which means that Memorial students will likely be able to pick up an after-class cheese-and-pep in the fall.
