With the Junos set to descend upon the city this weekend, some civic disruptions are to be expected, including (but not limited to) the presence of Ben Mulroney. eTalk at the Junos will be filming a red carpet arrivals show along Argyle Street on Sunday, which means you, Joe Not-A-Celebrity, are not encouraged to attend. A CTV press release sent out last Wednesday informs us that “Argyle Street will be closed from 9 am on Wednesday, March 29, to 6 am on Monday, April 3, between the south side of Duke Street and north side of Carmichael Street. Traffic can come down Carmichael Street and turn right.” On Sunday, the day of the big show, even more downtown streets will be affected, including Sackville, Brunswick, Market, Grafton, Prince and the Citadel National Historic Site. The press release goes on to say that sidewalks along these streets will remain open to “controlled pedestrian traffic”—even that doesn’t sounds overly welcoming, but at least you might be able to get from point A to point B. A word of Reality Bites advice: if you’re heading downtown on Sunday, leave the car at home.
Wage against the machine
Minimum wage workers in Nova Scotia will get a boost on Saturday—the minimum hourly provincial wage is set to increase from $6.80 to $7.15. Minimum wage workers can expect to have their annual income increase by about $728. It may not seem like a huge change, but it does move Nova Scotia into a more competitive position on the national scale—even mighty Alberta only doles out $7.00 an hour as their minimum rate of pay. So what’s the downside, you ask? Well, $7.15 an hour still leaves minimum wage workers below the poverty line; don’t expect to see many lavish celebrations over the change.
Culture shock
City council approved a 10-year cultural plan for the city this week, a document designed to encourage cultural growth in Metro and to better focus resources that are channeled towards the arts. The plan outlines “seven pillars of cuture” in the city, including heritage, the arts, community design (streetscape and architecture), lifelong learning, community diversity, leisure and celebration, and economic development. Over the past few weeks, local citizens have been encouraged to contribute their own comments about the cultural plan. Among the public suggestions: establish a downtown performing arts centre—wonder if that one came from the former patrons of the Khyber Club.
Contempt of court
Urban planners unveiled three specific visions for the area near Spring Garden and Queen Streets. Of the designs, the most popular included a new public library on the corner of Spring Garden and Queen and over 370 new residential units in the area. The other two designs, which both included a provincial courthouse, didn’t garner as much public support.
Party like it’s 1996
And finally, a big ol’ happy birthday goes out to the amalgamated Halifax Regional Municipality, which turns 10 this Saturday. Gosh, how time flies—seems like only yesterday we were bickering about whether or not joining Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and Halifax County was a worthwhile venture. Good thing all of that nasty debate is behind us, right?
This article appears in Mar 30 – Apr 5, 2006.