Council approved deputy mayor Tony Mancini’s motion to incentivize non-profits working in affordable housing to actually break ground. His motion asking for a staff report on what waving municipal construction fees for non-profits passed this week with an amendment from councillor Lindell Smith making sure eligible non-profits actually work within the realm of affordable housing. […]
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
Council to vote on spending surplus money to keep tax bill down
O n Friday, council will decide how it’s going to pay for the grocery list of parked expenses approved for next fiscal year. At the last budget meeting, council hacked the list of $7,118,400 parking lot items almost in half, approving $3,704,100 worth of additional department expenses. The parking lot process, which aims to help […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
NSCAD faculty strike ends, classes resume
N SCAD’s 95 faculty and librarians ended their strike on Tuesday after just over a week on the picket line. This came as a great relief of the university’s MFA students who staged a sit-in demanding the administration agree to negotiating an to end the strike. The strike meant that faculty supervisors of three MFA […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
New roots for urban garden, new land for Birch Cove Lakes and Barrington Street’s greenway
Common Roots Urban Garden gets the go-aheadThe urban garden gets approval to move just one month before the deadline to leave it’s home at the QEII Health Sciences Centre Emergency Department. The Bi-Hi Park sandwiched between Bayers Road and the exit ramp of the 102 will host 110 of the 200 garden plots that are […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
NSCAD faculty and librarians on strike
After 18 meetings and five days of sessions with the university’s administration, NSCAD faculty and librarians are on strike. Almost 100 students, faculty and community supporters attended a rally in support of the strike on Friday at the university’s Granville campus. The striking workers are asking for improved job security for the 56 part-time teachers […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The pigs have flown: Cogswell redevelopment to go ahead
After more than a decade of lagging attempts and false starts, the Cogswell Redevelopment plan is onto the last leg. The 90 percent plan was presented to city council on Tuesday and passed unanimously after some housekeeping amendments were added by councillor Waye Mason. The quick turnaround from last week’s release of the updated plan […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Common Roots Urban Farm awaits approval of their new home
It’s up to city council to decide on recommendations for Common Roots Urban Farm’s relocation plans passed by the community planning and economic development standing committee. If passed, the community garden, which has called the land outside the QEII Health Sciences Centre Emergency Department home since 2012 will be broken up, with 110 of the 200 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax activists get face-to-face apology from Trudeau
Halifax leaders who spoke up about a racist incident at Parliament this month got their apology in a big way yesterday. Prime minister Justin Trudeau met with Halifax activists Trayvone Clayton and Kate Macdonald in a closed-door meeting at the Black Cultural Centre in Dartmouth yesterday. Clayton, a Saint Mary’s University student in Halifax, spoke […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Taxi changes aim to fix gender disparity and safety issues
Council moved Halifax’s taxi reform on to the next stage this week by passing all recommendations put forward by staff in the Vehicle for Hire Licensing Program Review. Sweeping “housekeeping changes” from making GPS units mandatory, increasing language testing requirements, tightening the rules around talking on the phone while driving passengers and making credit and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax activists speak out against racism in Ottawa
A coalition of Black, human rights, labour and youth organizations held a press conference at the George Dixon Community Centre in Uniacke Square, Halifax today. Kate Macdonald, Marcus James and Trayvone Clayton spoke to their community and media about an incident of racial profiling that happened on Parliament Hill this past week. Macdonald and Clayton […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax taxi reform highlights accessibility
Uber’s inevitable arrival inches closer after council’s transportation standing committee sent the Vehicle for Hire Licensing Program Review through to council Tuesday morning. With a few amendments, the staff report, based on Hara Consultants review will make big changes for the municipality’s taxi drivers from increasing training for drivers, adding GPS in cars, making credit […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Waitlist, schmaitlist
Adam Barrett, 34, was brushing his teeth and scrolling through Facebook last week when he saw a post about Family Practice Associate’s clinic in the north end accepting new patients. After 40 minutes on hold and a couple of questions, he had a family doctor. Just like that. “It was just really dumb luck,” says […]
