H alifax Regional Council voted this week to give The Bus Stop Theatre Co-operative $250,000 over two years to go towards the cost of buying its home on Gottingen Street. The motion, which first came to council last spring as a last-chance request to save the arts venue means that if the theatre co-op can get […]
Caora McKenna
Caora was City Editor at The Coast, where she wrote about everything from city hall to police and housing issues. She started with The Coast in 2017, when she was the publication’s Copy Editor.
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sobering centres are “far more humane than the drunk tank”
Advocates say that HRM needs to make drastic changes to how it cares for people with substance-use problemsin our city. Harry Critchley, vice chair of the East Coast Prison Justice Society, and Leah Genge, a physician with specialty in addiction who works at Mobile Outreach Street Health and Direction 180, urged the Board of Police […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
There’s nothing spontaneous about a night out in Halifax for someone who uses a mobility device
It’s been two years since Vicky Levack has gone dancing—like proper dancing. DJ and lights and a hot outfit. On Saturday she dons a red dress, red lipstick to match. Diamond earrings and a black clutch and black lacey tights—seriously ready to hit the town. “All I want is a Purple Haze and a cute […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Which Halifax bars and clubs are accessible—and which ones aren’t
How accessible are Halifax’s dancefloors? The Coast went on a bar crawl to find out. Only downtown Halifax bars with a dancefloor are included in this survey (but you can find inaccessible watering holes and restaurants all over the city). Establishments earn one star (⭐) for having an accessible entrance, one if a wheelchair can […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Small tax rate increase, more debt to fund all of Halifax’s hopes and dreams for 2020/21
Regional council kicked off the new year with budget talks this week. Councillors heard from Jane Fraser, HRM’s chief financial officer, about how the dollar bills the municipality has, earns, spends and loans are all connected—and a new tax rate. Fraser explained what allows HRM to make money moves: The operating budget (revenues minus expenses—keeping […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
2019 Year in review
Dorian and the crane Even before it arrived in Halifax and knocked over that construction crane, Hurricane Dorian made a major visual impact. This was the Category 5 storm that stalled over the Bahamas for a day—huge and strong and ferocious on the weather map—killing at least 70 people. Dorian also lead to #SharpieGate, a […]
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One step closer to Uber, baby, is one step closer to you
Just over a year after 88 percent of survey respondents told HRM they wanted services like Uber and Lyft in the municipality, the transportation standing committee took the first step toward making it a reality. Halifax Regional Municipality’s Transit Standing Committee saw staff’s first draft of the by-law changes this week that will allow Transportation […]
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Home run! HRM says yes to $20 million for a CFL stadium in the municipality.
D eja vu—is that you? It is. In the fall of 2011 Halifax Regional Council OK’d a possible $20 million contribution to a rumoured $60 million stadium. At that time The Coast reported that the money was contingent on a slew of factors (the factors did not come to fruition, the moulah was never spent, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax’s lengthy budget process kicks off
Halifax Regional Council’s budget committee kicked off its 2020/2021 budget process this week, diving into preliminary discussions on how and where to spend the municipality’s—and the bank’s—dollar bills. First up this week was capital spending—better understood alongside its partner in crime, operational spending, which includes year-to-year costs of running a city: AKA groceries. Capital spending […]
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The methadone method
In 2014, John spent the Christmas holidays alone, curled up in a ball on his bed. He’d run through his monthly opioid prescription in the first 12 days of December—like he’d done every month for the last two years of his life—and had to wait until the new year before he could go back to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
“Get over it, menstruation is normal” says Halifax councillor Lisa Blackburn
Staff will take another crack at figuring out how to provide free menstrual products in all HRM facilities, after councillor Lorelei Nicoll—who first brought the issue to council—said the initial pilot project presented this week could do more, and perhaps even cost less. Estimates vary, but it’s said that mensturators spend anywhere from $29 to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax regional council keeps CFL stadium plans on the table for a little while longer
C ouncillor Sam Austin asked his colleagues this week to consider pulling the plug on the Shannon Park stadium plan from Schooner Sports and Entertainment before council hears back from staff about the proposal—originally requested by council a year ago. Austin’s intent with the motion to rescind was to take what he and other councillors […]