BEST ACTIVIST ORGANIZATIONECOLOGY ACTION CENTRE2705 Fern Lane, 429-2202“I love it,” says Charlene Boyce Young, the recently arrived EAC Outreach and Development Coordinator, of her work environment, referring with a chuckle to an organizational structure that tends to chaos from time to time. “Every day people bring their A game,” she adds. The renowned environmental organization advocates for an eco-centric focus in a number of areas, including transportation, energy, sustainable food, coastal issues and wilderness protection. Boyce Young points out that in full swing right now is the EAC Christmas Tree program, offering chemical-free organic trees grown in Lunenburg County, as well as workshops around alternative energy and talks on understanding carbon jargon. Plus, the marine committee is planning a shrimp and beer fundraiser this month.

1st Runner-up: Halifax Coalition Against Poverty, 2420 Agricola, 444-50602nd Runner-up: Food Not Bombs, 6169 Charles, 429-0293

BEST CELEBRITY SIGHTINGNEVE CAMPBELL“You could feel a ripple, like a shark moving through the water,” remarked a source who was in the audience at Hell’s Kitchen one night this summer---attending an i see rowboats/First Aid Kit/Rich Aucoin show---and saw Neve Campbell gliding through the crowd. “Everyone was disturbed,” says the source, who prefers to remain anonymous. The svelte actor/producer/dancer was in Halifax working on The Sea Wolf, a miniseries adaptation of the Jack London novel, also starring Tim Roth. Campbell clearly was an appreciator of the local culture, as she was also spotted upstairs at The Marquee at a Mark Bragg/Tom Fun Orchestra show, trailing an entourage of fellow music fans.

1st Runner-up: Ellen Page2nd Runner-up: Hillary Swank

BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCHSPRING GARDEN ROADRaised to the Best of Halifax Hall of Fame last year in the Best Street category, Spring Garden Road remains on people’s minds and under their strolling shoes. The premiere shopping district east of Montreal brings the crowds, from the students hanging at The Oasis to the hoi polloi streaming into Il Mercato or Bubba Ray’s or Rogue’s, to the mad shoppers who slap down their plastic with a staccato beat in Mills and Spring Garden Place and Park Lane. There’s also plenty of friendly coffee shops in which to perch and check out the action on the sidewalk.

1st Runner-up: Halifax Waterfront2nd Runner-up: Public Gardens

BEST PLACE TO STALK CELEBRITIESBEST PLACE FOR A FIRST DATETHE ECONOMY SHOE SHOP1663 Argyle, 423-7463, economyshoeshop.caIf you bring your camera and make an ass of yourself, that won’t do, but the Argyle Street hotspot is a hive of little nooks and intimate hiding spots to peer up over your menu and check out who might be loitering. The de facto meeting place for the local film industry, visiting stars will hear about it and drop by. It’s also a popular spot for production wrap parties. We know we don’t have to tell you this, but be cool, OK? Tom Selleck probably won’t appreciate you complimenting his moustache. And the very thing that makes it a good place to spot the famous and infamous also makes it a good place for a first date. In a word: nooks. OK, two words: intimate nooks.

1st Runner-up: The Press Gang, 5218 Prince, 423-92812nd Runner-up: Halifax Waterfront

MOST IMPORTANT LOCAL ISSUEBEST LOCAL POLITICAL MOVEBEST USE OF TAXPAYERS’ MONEYBEST THING TO HAPPEN IN HALIFAX THIS YEARTHE HARBOUR CLEAN-UPA wildly popular choice for what’s good in our socio-political sphere is the over $300 million project that went online this year, removing the most egregious chunks of nastiness that have been flushed in enormous quantities into the harbour for centuries. In a March 2007 article in The Coast, Tim Bousquet reported that, at the time, health officials warned “against even touching the water lest you contract any number of ugly diseases. And the ecological balance of the harbour is hopelessly out of whack—biologists find snails that have mutated into a third, indeterminate sex, and speak of suffocating lobsters.” Now, with the new treatment plants operational for a few scant months, Peter Kelly crowed about the harbour’s cleanliness as a swimming hole---definitely not for days after a big rain, though---and, to his credit, offered himself up as a guinea pig and went for a dip. There can be no doubt that having some kind of treatment system is the first step to a cleaner harbour and a less disgusting environmental footprint.

1st Runner-up: (Local Issue) Public Transit, (Political Move) Not Getting the Commonwealth Games, (Taxpayers’ Money) Bike Lanes, (Best Thing) IIHF Hockey Tournament2nd Runner-up: (Local Issue) Chebucto Road Widening, (Political Move) Sheila Fougere’s Mayoral Campaign, (Taxpayers’ Money) Improving Public Transit, (Best Thing) Elton John

BEST PLACE TO TAKE OUT-OF-TOWNERSHALIFAX WATERFRONTMurphy’s. The Waterfront Warehouse. Historic Properties. Bishops Landing. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. That big blue wave that always reminds us of a giant, chilly tongue. There are plenty of things down on the waterfront to impress your land-lubber cousins from Alberta. You’ll find plenty to enjoy at the annual Busker’s Festival, and in the summer of 2009, expect another flotilla of tall ships to glide into the harbour like a bank of enormous swans. And, for the price of a toonie---well, a couple, if you plan to come back from Dartmouth---the ferry gives you and your visitors a great look across the water, whatever the season.

1st Runner-up: Peggy’s Cove2nd Runner-up: Citadel Hill

BEST PLACE TO WALK THE DOGBEST LOCAL GETWAWAYPOINT PLEASANT PARKYou want to see some real joy in this town? Go for a stroll through Point Pleasant in early summer, when those spring puppies are just big enough to careen with a foolhardy gait through the underbrush, their paws just a little too big and their ears just a little too floppy. While Hurricane Juan’s touch, five years ago now, is still clear throughout the park, we humans can stroll down the multiple paths and enjoy the views of the water all around, while those fuzzy fellows splash through puddles and sniff each other’s bums to their little hearts’ content.

1st Runner-up: (Dog Walking) Halifax Common, (Getaway) Peggy’s Cove2nd Runner-up: (Dog Walking) Shubie Park, (Getaway) White Point Beach

BEST PUBLIC SPACEBEST PLACE TO READ A BOOKHALIFAX PUBLIC GARDENSThough we must admit the tourism-driven-we-love-the-past culture that sometimes pervades this town gets on our nerves, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this exquisite green space, preserved since the 1830s, maintaining a certain Victorian beauty for all to enjoy. The flowers, statuary and perfectly manicured lawns just make us want to get our breeches on, get our rifles, mount up and do some shooting. Or read some sonnets. Since that isn’t likely, we’ll just lounge here in this place of peace in the centre of the city. Well, in the summer months, anyway. The gardens’ treasures are hidden behind wrought iron gates for half the year, so you’ll have to find your peace, and florid dreams of the 19th Century, elsewhere in February.

1st Runner-up: (Public Space) Point Pleasant Park, (Read) Point Pleasant Park2nd Runner-up: (Public Space) Halifax Common, (Read) Citadel Hill

BEST WIFI SPOTUNCOMMON GROUNDS 1030 South Park, 431-3101, coffeesoldhere.com Nicely located south of Spring Garden in the comfortable student annex between Dal and SMU, this location of Uncommon Grounds offers a bit of a New York’s Grand Central Station vibe, wholly unusual for coffee shops or cafes in Halifax. The Manhattanite quality extends to the comfortable seating and the free wifi. Maybe it’s an illusion, but in this environment, you feel a little more anonymous, which is a delicious perspective in a town the size of Halifax. So, hang out. You never need see the inside of a study hall again, grazing the web with your laptop or palm while sipping that dark roast and chowing down on a soup, sandwich or muffin.

1st Runner-up: Starbucks (Queen and Spring Garden)2nd Runner-up: The Wired Monk

WORST THING TO HAPPEN IN HALIFAX IN THE PAST YEARCHEBUCTO ROAD WIDENINGNo surprise here. Though the people living along that stretch of road were up in arms, though transit advocates were irate, with Coast readers amongst them, the trees came down and the roadway is being widened. A flashpoint event, it was never really about this piece of land or the taxpayers’ expense, it was about the principle of the thing, an example of the small-mindedness and band-aid thinking that keeps Halifax from being everything it could be. It’s also a reminder of the absolute failure of amalgamation, that the needs and priorities of people in the suburbs and the sticks are simply different from those living downtown, and unless we somehow find a way to reconcile them, we’re all going to be screwed.

1st Runner-up: Keith Urban or any concert that ruins the Common2nd Runner-up: Celine Dion fiasco