By March 2020, Halifax had lost a full forty percent of its historic buildings in 11 years. Out of 104 buildings inventoried as heritage assets in 2009, 43 had been demolished. More have tumbled since then. And barring drastic action to save them, the remainder will fall to the wrecker soon. Halifax Regional Council finally […]
Larry Haiven
Posted inNews + Opinion
Why Schmidtville matters
On July 17, HRM council unanimously approved the neighbourhood of Schmidtville as a Heritage Conservation District. And there is much to learn for everyone in the city. Nine years after Friends of Schmidtville applied, this unique locality will receive protection from encroaching development and preserve the ambience of the largest and oldest contiguous historic area […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dump trucks and social dumping
The large dump trucks of construction waste thunder by my Schmidtville window with a downshifting growl on the grade outside my house. One every six minutes, by my count. It’s not warm outside so my windows are closed. But just wait for the warm days when I have to open them. When this round of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A nightmare of evocation as Halifax falls to the wrecking ball
One of my dystopian nightmares (I know that term is redundant but I want to emphasize just how scared and disgusted it makes me) goes like this: At some point in the not-so-distant future, everything that makes Halifax livable, lovable and distinct (common lands, public spaces, historic buildings, heritage neighbourhoods) has been razed and replaced […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
We need to save the wow
[Image-1] We all love our new, international award-winning Halifax Central Library. Its first year boasted 1.9 million visits—twice what was predicted. Remember the awe you felt on your first visit? For me it was like someone was reading my mind when I overheard, “This is SO NOT the Halifax we’re used to.” This library cost […]