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Yanking our chains »

Thursday, March 16, 2006

REALITY BITES

Mike Fleury dishes nuggets of news.

Posted by Michael Fleury on Thu, Mar 16, 2006 at 10:50 AM

Turn off your TVs, dim the lights and grab a sweater, kids. As of March 10, Nova Scotia Power has received approval to go ahead with an 8.9 percent power rate increase, or in more digestible terms, about seven extra dollars a month for what Nova Scotia Power calls “the typical household.” No word yet on what exactly Nova Scotia Power considers “the typical household” (we bet it isn’t geothermal), but we’re pretty confident that the typical household resident isn’t thrilled about the second major power rate increase in just under a year. Of course, any disgruntled Nova Scotia Power customers are always free to switch their service over to…uh….

Thanks to one of the freakiest non-winters in recent history, the municipality has decided to prematurely lift its oft-maligned winter parking ban. Now, residents are free to park wherever they want! Well, except for the provincial overnight winter parking ban, which remains in effect until the end of the month. For those of you keeping score at home, that means there is still no parking permitted from 1am to 7am on streets and roads located in the former County of Halifax and maintained by the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Public Works. Got that? No, neither do we.

The 2006 Commonwealth Games are now underway in Melbourne, Australia, after an official opening ceremony on March 15. For the 17-person Nova Scotia delegation in attendance at the Games, including former premier John Hamm and Halifax mayor Peter Kelly, the real games began over the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, the delegation made their carefully scripted presentation (you know—the one that justified the $500,000 budgeted for the Australian journey) to the Commonwealth Games Federation’s executive board and general assembly. Early reports suggest that the Halifax presentation was well received in Melbourne, but support for the bid may be slipping at home. A Corporate Research Associates Inc poll released last week suggests that Metro residents have lost some of their enthusiasm about hosting the Games. Talk about awkward timing—who’s going to break it to the delegation when they get home?

Speaking of getting home, the Enfield International Airport—excuse us, the Halifax International Airport—recently placed first in three separate categories as part of an international airport customer satisfaction survey. Among the accolades, the International Air Transport Association survey ranked Halifax first in overall passenger satisfaction among airports that serve less than five million passengers—for the third year in a row. This year’s triumph comes as a bit of a surprise for the HIA, given the fog problems and runway reconstruction that led to delays and cancellations for thousands of Halifax travellers last July. Must not have been when they were taking the survey.

A taxi safety committee wants city council to consider installing cameras in all metro cabs. The mandatory camera proposal was inspired by Winnipeg, which made cabbie video cameras mandatory in 2002, and have since seen a significant drop in incidents of violent crime committed against local cab drivers. If such a plan were ever adopted here in Halifax, a small fare increase would likely cover the cost of driver safety.

News to me: michaelf@thecoast.ca