The community announcements that start off every city council meeting are normally pretty dull affairs. Announcing events, shouting-out local constituents who went above and beyond in the community, things of that nature. But at Tuesday’s meeting, councillor Paul Russell used his time to announce a diagnosis of cancer. He told council he expects to make […]
Matt Stickland
Matt spent 10 years in the Navy where he deployed to Libya with HMCS Charlottetown and then became a submariner until ‘retiring’ in 2018. In 2019 he completed his Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King’s College. Matt is an almost award winning opinion writer.
Posted inNews + Opinion
It’s never been easier to yell at councillors!
One of the recurring complaints about citizen participation at municipal meetings is that it’s hard—logistically and practically taxing—to speak at public meetings. It’s hard for people who work the 9-to-5 grind to speak on a weekday at 10am, 1pm or 6pm. And it’s hard for people on the fringes, the Ecum Secums of the world, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
After 12 years of procurement Halifax Transit app is finally here
Halifax Transit got a little bit of good news on Thursday Nov. 2, with the launch of an electronic payment app called HFXGO. It can be downloaded in the Apple store or the Google one. Bus tickets bought with the app can expire before being used—that is a requirement of the software—but if you have […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax admits failure on pedestrian safety, lowers safety standards
Thursday was a big meeting for Halifax’s Transportation Standing Committee. The committee got a handful of updates about how poorly the city’s Integrated Mobility Plan has been implemented since being adopted in 2017. The city got an update on its Strategic Road Safety Framework, which was brought forward by councillor Patty Cuttell as an information […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Police take request for 24 new hires to the public
The Board of Police Commissioners met virtually on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 25, to get public feedback on the police budget priorities. Halifax Regional Police made the same budget asks at this meeting as they did at last Wednesday’s BOPC meet—which keen readers may remember we described with the headline ”Talk of hiring 24 new cops […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Two ideas for expanding democracy are heading to council
On Monday, the city’s Executive Standing Committee met to get a report on electoral reform. When the city did the public consultation for the required-every-eight-years District Boundary Review, they heard about the things we citizens might want to change about our democracy. Based on our feedback, staff explored potential changes to lowering the voting age, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Wanderer Grounds podcast: The very best of the Halifax Wanderers’ 2023 season
The Canadian Premier League will announce its 2023 regular season award-winners on Thursday, Oct. 26, but here at The Coast, reporters Martin Bauman and Matt Stickland have come up with a far more prestigious (and definitely official) set of awards: The inaugural Wanderer Grounds Awards. Er… Groundies? Wandies? We’re still not entirely sure. Four Wanderers—all […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Grand Parade podcast: Should Halifax de-amalgamate?
In this week’s Grand Parade episode, Coast reporters Matt Stickland and Martin Bauman dive into the HRM’s Integrated Mobility Plan and what it secretly not-so-secretly suggests: Maybe Halifax would’ve been better off had the province not amalgamated the region in 1996? Matt fills Martin in on why John Lohr’s housing power play is a recipe […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Everything you need to know about HRM council’s Oct. 17 meeting
Big news to start off this regular Tuesday meeting: John Lohr is the new mayor of Halifax! Okay, this is an abbreviation of the civics lesson required to bring everyone up to speed about the change to today’s agenda: The addition of agenda item 18, Information Item 6 – Memorandum from the Chief Administrative Officer […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Talk of hiring 24 new cops is a waste of time
On Wednesday Oct. 18, Halifax’s Board of Police Commissioners had the first meeting in their budget pre-season. It’s largely unclear what the point of this meeting was, but we’ll get to that later. The meeting started with Halifax Regional Police giving their first budget presentation of the 2024 budget season, asking for a grand total […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Watersheds board pushes back against “developer’s language”
The Regional Watersheds Advisory Board met on Thursday Oct. 12, for what was supposed to be a pretty routine meeting. They elected a chair and vice chair. They got a report on last spring’s edition of Bedford West’s water quality monitoring, although the samples weren’t taken in the spring because of the fires and consultant […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Grand Parade podcast: Here lies the Integrated Mobility Plan. It was nice while it lasted.
Remember the Integrated Mobility Plan—that vaunted guide that was meant to usher Halifax into a new era of transportation? The one where people could walk, wheelchair, bike or take the bus from their home and feel safe doing so? The same one that was meant to help the HRM slash its carbon output amid a […]